Of all the accents in the UK, broad Geordie, Glaswegian and Belfast are probably the best known as some of the hardest to understand, especially when spoken fast interspersed with local idioms.
For the entire world, American accent is most universal. British, Scottish, Irish and Australian accents are pretty unfamiliar with all ears of the people around the globe. Irish English is the easiest to understand.
New England accents were the hardest to understand. Rhode Island came in at No. 1, Maine at No. 2, Connecticut at No.
Proof That This Is an Emerging Problem
“They had a lot more trouble understanding both accents with background noise, but the British was harder to understand than the American.” “When young, normal-hearing listeners were in quiet, they did just as well with British English as with American English,” she adds.
Geordie is considered to be one of the strongest and most striking English accents. At the same time, the dialect is also known as one of the friendliest for its sing-song sound.
Of foreign accents, the British accent is the #1 most liked, chosen by 69% of respondents. In addition to being the general favorite, it also ranked among the sexiest and most intelligent.
Similarly, the northeast accent was surveyed to be the “smartest sounding,” with 47% of those surveyed voting for the northeast. According to the data summary of the survey, 39% of people surveyed assumed someone was more intelligent because of their accent.
It really depends on where you're starting from. A very broad Australian accent can be exceptionally hard to understand (a common joke is that we slur all our words together because it's too hot to put spaces in), but if you spend time in Australia you'll likely pick it up.
Geordie. People from Newcastle speak a dialect called Geordie, which is one of the strongest and most distinctive accents in England.
The British Accent
The Great British accent proved to be the most difficult of all the accents to imitate – along with the regional Yorkshire and Cockney pronunciations, in particular.
The French accent, previously considered the sexiest in the world, has been dethroned by the British accent, aka the Queen's English, in a global study carried out by Time Out in over 30 countries.
General American: The 'Unmarked' Accent
Almost a century later, there's still no “normal” accent, but the term has survived to describe what is considered the most correct, or the unmarked, American accent. The word “unmarked” is pretty loaded when referring to accents, though.
Others may consider the formality of British English, the 'Queen's English', the best English accent to learn. The reality is, English is spoken in innumerable accents around the globe—not only in regional variations by native speakers, but also by international speakers.
Although not all our English teachers are American, we agree it is usually a more natural and useful accent to learn. Here's why: American English is more widely used as a second language around the world, especially in South America and Europe.
The Australian accent emerged after the arrival of the European Settlers in 1788, who came from different parts of Britain. Unlike British English which is made up of nearly 40 different dialects, Australian English isn't as varied despite the east and west coast being approximately 4000 kilometers apart.
Three main varieties of Australian English are spoken according to linguists: broad, general and cultivated. They are part of a continuum, reflecting variations in accent.
Received Pronunciation (RP) is the accent traditionally regarded as the standard and most prestigious form of spoken British English.
The English accent is the one that is victorious, with the latest survey showing that 17 per cent of people have it at the top of their list. French came in next at 13 per cent, which is unsurprising considering that this is the language spoken in the city of love.
The Australian accent is famous for its vowel sounds, absence of a strong “r” pronunciation and the use of an inflection – or intonation – at the end of sentences, which can make statements sound like questions. According to Felicity, the way vowels are pronounced is the most peculiar feature of Australian English.
The results revealed that women and men find different accents attractive, and the only common accents on both lists were Australian and Southern. While men desired Israeli and Colombian accents the most, this was not mirrored amongst the women who were surveyed, who ultimately preferred British and Spanish accents.
According to a recent poll in the Independent, the British accent has been chosen as being the most attractive accent in the world, beating the French accent which was once know as the loveliest accent.
The year 2020 saw the British accent ranked No. 1 on the list. It was crowned the sexiest accent in the world with 25 percent of the total votes. The accent proved particularly popular in countries like China, Sweden, India and the USA.