Delirium (delirium(a)hackish.org) [050505 14:26]:
So the Indian or Singaporean
is two degrees of accents away from the German speaking English, while
the American or Briton is only one degree away.
I remembe going to Glasgow and attempting to buy beer from a Swedish shop
assistant who spoke in a Swedish/Glaswegian accent.
(Mind you, just trying to buy lunch required my American friend to interpret
the waitress's Glaswegian to English for me. Of course, they all understood
Australian, because every single person in Britain is required by law to
watch 'Neighbours'.)
Although it smacks of a bit of accent imperialism, the
most widely
understood accents are probably some sort of middle-of-the-road American
accent (i.e. not a strong New York, Southern, or Texas accent), and some
sort of middle-of-the-road British accent (i.e. not Cockney). Of
course, we could always provide multiple readings...
There shouldn't be anything in the way of multiple readings, unless
people's egos get in the way.
- d.