Delirium (delirium@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.