Muscle Lads, Inc.

[bodybuilderbeef]

6 hours ago, muscleaddict said:

I'm not surprised! My tweet was popular too. I think I might be following that Instagram, mate. 

Really? Thank you for your support there! Hope you like the pics and videos I share there.

[Mdlftr]

On 7/19/2023 at 1:54 PM, msclbldr said:

I thought this was apposite to the story
except he is Scouse not Manc
And I have just realised that this is your Twitter

 

Does anyone have a clue what he is saying? Without captions, it's like a foreign language film!! LOL

[Hialmar]

39 minutes ago, Mdlftr said:

Do anyone have a clue what he is saying? Without captions, it's like a foreign language film!! LOL

Oh, he's perfectly comprehensible, @Mdlftr! Though I, as a foreigner, would prefer BBC English, this man's English is far from as bad as American English or an episode of Vera. 

[Hialmar]

The five persons who speak (or spoke) the most comprehensible English in my opinion were or are:

• Sir Alec Guinness
• Paul Eddington
• Sir Nigel Hawthorne
• Derek Fowlds
• Sir David Attenborough

I grew up with Yes Prime Minister and Natural World.

[Keychain]

2 minutes ago, Hialmar said:

The five persons who speak (or spoke) the most comprehensible English in my opinion were or are:

• Sir Alec Guinness
• Paul Eddington
• Sir Nigel Hawthorne
• Derek Fowlds
• Sir David Attenborough

I grew up with Yes Prime Minister and Natural World.

I’d like to add Miriam Margolyes to the list, if I may. Her diction is impeccable.

[Keychain]

56 minutes ago, Mdlftr said:

Do anyone have a clue what he is saying? Without captions, it's like a foreign language film!! LOL

A Liverpudlian accent is often difficult to understand, even for Brits. The challenge is all the more difficult when it is spoke in an echoing room like in this video. I’m British and have family from Liverpool, so I’m used to the accent, and even I struggled to understand this gentlemen. The echo/reverberation of the room really doesn’t help.

[Hialmar]

2 minutes ago, Keychain said:

I’d like to add Miriam Margolyes to the list, if I may. Her diction is impeccable.

You have a point there! I agree! And she's got a hilarious sense of humour.

[Keychain]

Just now, Hialmar said:

You have a point there! I agree! And she's got a hilarious sense of humour.

She cracks me up every time; a perfect combination is sophistication and vulgarity at the same time. She is a delight.

[Hialmar]

2 minutes ago, Keychain said:

The challenge is all the more difficult when it is spoke in an echoing room like in this video. I’m British and have family from Liverpool, so I’m used to the accent, and even I struggled to understand this gentlemen. The echo/reverberation of the room really doesn’t help.

I would say that the echo is the problem, rather than his particular accent. When even someone like myself, who only studied English as a foreign language, understand him, it can't be that bad, can it?

I've been accused of mixing Oxford English, Mancunian and German, but perhaps that's how a Swede sounds like in British ears. One Brit asked me if I were Dutch.

[Keychain]

1 hour ago, Hialmar said:

I would say that the echo is the problem, rather than his particular accent. When even someone like myself, who only studied English as a foreign language, understand him, it can't be that bad, can it?

I've been accused of mixing Oxford English, Mancunian and German, but perhaps that's how a Swede sounds like in British ears. One Brit asked me if I were Dutch.

The trouble is three fold; 1) You guys often speak English so well that your accents are quite subtle. 2) The UK is comprised of four countries with their own distinct cultures, languages and accents. 3) Our accents change massively even in short distances- sometimes the next town over will have a slightly different accent. 

The Cornish language is a good example of the 3rd point. Cornwall is a small coastal county in the Southwest of England. They aren’t even their own country, but they still have their own language and distinct culture. Many locals still speak Cornish and there is a huge drive to have it taught in schools. 

All of this can make it difficult to pick out subtle foreign accents. 
 

For example; My fathers side of the my family are all from Scotland and have several types of Scottish accents. My Mothers side are from Manchester and Liverpool. Me and my brother are from the Southwest of England. Dad= Scottish Accent, Mum= Mancunian Accent, Me and my Brother= RP Accent or BBC Accent. That’s three totally distinct accents and dialects in one house all the time. My granny has an incredibly strong Glasgow Accent, so there are four distinct accents to deal with when she is around. 
 

All of this has made me a bit accent blind. I can be talking to someone with a very obviously German Accent for half an hour before my brain will, out of nowhere, notify me that they are German. 
 

I had a Dutch friend at Uni and she spoke English so well that I thought she was Welsh for about six months. Only when I heard her speak her native tongue did it click with me. So I asked her where she is from, and she burst out laughing when I told her I thought she was Welsh. 
 

All of this is to say that Scandinavian and many European countries have perfected the art of teaching foreign languages to their children; most of you guys speak English better than many Brits do. Our ability to correctly teach our own language to our children is shocking, and our ability to teach them foreign languages is even worse!