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David Gerard wrote:
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.
cf. [[English_language#Classification_and_related_languages]] for a good description of this. Here's the first few paragraphs:
English is the primary language in Australia (Australian English), the Bahamas, Barbados (Caribbean English), Bermuda, Dominica, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica (Jamaican English), New Zealand (New Zealand English), Antigua, St. Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom (British English) and the United States of America (American English).
English is also one of the primary languages of Belize (with Spanish), Canada (with French), India (with Hindi and 21 other state languages), Ireland (with Irish), Singapore (with Malay, Mandarin, Tamil and other Asian languages) and South Africa (along with Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, and Northern Sotho).
In Hong Kong, English is an official language and is widely used in business activities. It is taught from kindergarten level, and is the medium of instruction for a few primary schools, many secondary schools and all universities. Substantial number of students acquire native-speaker level. It is so widely used and spoken that it is inadequate to say it is merely a second or foreign language.
My guess is that people from countries in the first paragraph (EN-N) could understand each other (EN-N) and English speakers from the other countries (EN-3); people from the countries in the second paragraph (EN-3) could understand the "native" speakers (EN-N), and EN-3 speakers.
EN-N and EN-3 speakers could probably understand EN-2 speakers (people who have learn English as a foreign language) but would need to be careful to make themselves understandable; EN-2 speakers may have some difficulty understanding each other.
I remembe going to Glasgow and attempting to buy beer from a Swedish shop assistant who spoke in a Swedish/Glaswegian accent.
Regional accents, especially heavy ones, can be difficult even for native speakers to understand.
(Mind you, just trying to buy lunch required my American friend to interpret the waitress's Glaswegian to English for me.
It's well known in the non-American English-speaking world that American's don't actually speak English, they speak American :)
Of course, they all understood Australian, because every single person in Britain is required by law to watch 'Neighbours'.)
I feel sorry for them :p
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