English Accents Ranked from Easy to Hard to Understand (with TEST & Examples) (+ Free PDF & Quiz)

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- Hello everyone and welcome back to "English With Lucy".

Oh, I've missed you.

A lot has changed.

Firstly, new background.

We have moved house,

we have moved to another part of the country.

I've got lots to tell you about that,

but I'll speak about it on my personal channel, Lucy Bella.

Other big news is that, can't quite believe it,

I'm married.

I got married to my husband, William,

and my name is now Lucy Bella Simkins,

instead of Lucy Bella Earl.

I did choose to take my husband's surname.

So enough about me more about you.

Today we're looking at different accents

from across the world, different English accents,

and we're going to rank them from easiest

to most difficult to understand.

I recently made another similar video,

ranking accents from all across the UK.

Today, we're going to look further a field

and compare how easy different accents are.

I put out a survey to my audience

with lots of different clips

and over 10,000 of you participated.

It's not the most scientific survey on earth,

so take the results with a pinch of salt,

but I think it would be really,

really fun to compare these accents.

This is a great listening practise opportunity

for you as well.

I'm going to play each 15 to 20-second clip twice,

the first time without subtitles

and the second time with subtitles,

so you can check your understanding.

It's also excellent to familiarise yourself

with as many different accents as possible.

This will help you improve your listening skills

and your general understanding.

As always, there is a free PDF

that goes with today's lesson.

If you'd like to download that,

just click on the link in the description box,

enter your name and your email address,

and the PDF will go directly to your inbox.

And then every week after that,

you will automatically receive my free PDFs.

A huge thank you to the sponsor of today's video,

Woodpecker Learning and it's oh, so relevant

for today's lesson.

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all with accurate subtitles.

They are all organised by topics.

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It's especially perfect for videos

with hard-to-understand accents

as we'll be talking about today.

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All right,

let's get started with the ranking of the accents.

So number 10, the accent that you voted most difficult

to understand is a Melbourne accent from Australia

as spoken by Chris Hemsworth.

Let's have a look, firstly, without subtitles,

see how much you understand.

And then we'll repeat it again with subtitles.

- I really knew nothing about what the film was gonna be

and yet the rest of the town did.

I'd sort of just arrived,

and I had sent a tape early on

and it was sort of last minute phone call with J.J. Abrams,

the director called and said,

"Look, can you come in tonight,

like Friday afternoon?"

I was like, "Okay, yeah, yeah."

And I said, I don't know the script or whatever,

and read at the desk with him in his office.

And he goes, "Okay, great.

You got the part you start Monday."

- So he's talking in a very casual, informal way,

as if he's chatting with friends.

He's also speaking very quickly.

A couple of things I've picked up on is he says

new instead of new.

When I say instead of, I mean, I pronounce it new,

I speak with a modern RP accent.

Obviously part of his dialect is new,

in American English they do this as well.

Let's listen again with subtitles

and see how much you understand.

- I really knew nothing about what the film was gonna be

and yet the rest of the town did.

I'd sort of just arrived,

and I had sent a tape early on

and it was sort of last minute phone call with J.J. Abrams,

the director called and said,

"Look, can you come in tonight,

like Friday afternoon?"

I was like, "Okay, yeah, yeah."

And I said, I don't know the script or whatever,

and read at the desk with him in his office.

And he goes, "Okay, great.

You got the part you start Monday."

- Yeah. Very quick.

I'm not surprised some of you found that challenging.

Let's go to number nine.

This is a UK accent, this is Kimberly Walsh

speaking with her lovely Yorkshire accent.

Let's have a listen without subtitles.

- It was fun actually, I quite liked it,

I sort of settled back into it and the kids were lovely,

so they made me feel quite welcome.

And I had, I don't know if you know

but I've got a little baby in the film.

Vomiting Vera, she's called.

(all laugh)

so I was there, kept occupied with her for a lot of the time

just kind of making sure that she didn't start crying

in the middle of the scene.

- So, one thing I noticed about the way Kimberly speaks

is she uses the glottal stop a lot.

So what I said lot, she might say lot.

Can you hear her say quite welcome

instead of quite welcome?

One word I love from her is lovely,

with the Yorkshire accent my a-sound becomes u-sound.

I say lovely, she says, lovely.

Yeah, that's really warm and lovely.

(laughs)

Let's listen again with subtitles.

See how much you understood.

- It was fun actually, I quite liked it,

I sort of settled back into it and the kids were lovely,

so they made me feel quite welcome.

And I had, I don't know if you know

but I've got a little baby in the film.

Vomiting Vera, she's called.

(all laugh)

so I was there, kept occupied with her for a lot of the time

just kind of making sure that she didn't start crying

in the middle of the scene.

- Really nice.

That's definitely not the strongest Yorkshire accent

I've ever heard though,

I've heard some really, really strong ones.

Sometimes, especially with celebrities,

they alter their accents when they're in interviews.

So sometimes you get a more reduced version

of their natural accent.

Okay, at number eight, we have someone from the Caribbean.

It is the wonderful Rihanna from Barbados.

This is a very early video

because I kind of noticed as she's gone along,

she has started to alter her accent slightly.

That's probably 'cause she spent so much time in the US

and possibly because of media training as well.

So I've taken one of her really early interviews,

have a listen, see how much you understand

and see if you can notice any differences as well,

any characteristics of her accent.

- My influences are Beyonce, Mariah Carey,

Alicia Keys, Whitney Houston.

I always used to sing in the shower,

I used to sing at home.

Neighbours would complain because I was singing so loudly but

I've never met a celebrity and

to have to audition for one and meet him at the same time,

like Jay-Z someone like him, I was hysterical.

- Gorgeous accent, gorgeous.

Big characteristic for me is where I say e,

Beyonce, Jay-Z, made.

She says e, Beyonce, Jay-Z (chuckles).

I'm feeling really embarrassed

trying to imitate her accent there,

I'm not doing it any justice at all.

I'd say Jay-Z, she says sort of Jay-Z.

I say neighbours, she says more of a neighbours.

I find that vowel sound that she creates there

really hard to imitate and to replicate.

But I find her accent absolutely stunning.

Let's listen again, see how much you pick up on.

- My influences are Beyonce, Mariah Carey,

Alicia Keys, Whitney Houston.

I always used to sing in the shower,

I used to sing at home.

Neighbours would complain because I was singing so loudly but

I've never met a celebrity and

to have to audition for one and meet him at the same time,

like Jay-Z someone like him, I was hysterical.

- It's amazing to hear that,

and how she's never met a celebrity.

Yeah and to think how far she's come since that was shot.

Amazing.

Let's move on to number seven.

This lady is from New Zealand,

she's actually from Auckland and her name is Lorde.

You might know her.

Let's have a listen to Lorde and her accent.

- I don't know, I mean, I am always pretty gassed

to be at an award show and I find it like very entertaining,

so much going on,

but I'm sure if you like had more skin in the game,

maybe it would be, it's a stressful environment,

but I feel like I'm still kind of the outsider who

drinking the free champagne. - You are not, really.

- Right.

So I recently did a video with Rosie from Not Even French,

she's from New Zealand and we compared accents.

And one really clear characteristic is where I say

a, stressful, people from New Zealand in general

say, eh, stressful.

So stressful, stressful.

So the eh becomes an a sound.

Red pen, red pen.

Have a listen again with subtitles

and see how much you understand.

- I don't know, I mean, I am always pretty gassed

to be at an award show and I find it like very entertaining,

so much going on,

but I'm sure if you like had more skin in the game,

maybe it would be, it's a stressful environment,

but I feel like I'm still kind of the outsider who

drinking the free champagne. - You are not, really.

- That person interrupting her at the end.

Ah, right.

So at number six, we have Saoirse Ronan.

She's from Ireland,

she speaks with a Dublin accent.

Some people have said to me that you can definitely notice

that she's travelled around as well.

I find this accent to sound incredibly delicate

and beautiful, I hope you enjoy it too.

Let's have a listen.

- Pyjamas, we get into pyjamas.

(male laughing) - Oh fun.

- We get into our Christmas pyjamas,

I got a Christmas jumper a few years ago

from this Irish company, can't remember the name of them,

but it says "Happy Birthday Jesus" on it.

I just found it really funny. - That's very sweet.

- So I wear that and we just eat all day

and have a few tipples, and watch movies,

- That's so good. - 'Cause I think

that's what everyone does,

just watch movies. - Do you have a favourite?

- So one characteristic that I really noticed

with her accent is she almost whistles her Ts in a way.

And I would say eat, but she says eat,

almost as if she hasn't completely closed the gap

between the roof of her mouth and her tongue.

Eat, I find that very, very pleasant to hear

the way she says the, I sound,

Irish, Irish.

Beautiful, let's listen again.

- Pyjamas, we get into pyjamas.

(male laughing) - Oh fun.

- We get into our Christmas pyjamas,

I got a Christmas jumper a few years ago

from this Irish company, can't remember the name of them,

but it says "Happy Birthday Jesus" on it.

I just found it really funny. - That's very sweet.

- So I wear that and we just eat all day

and have a few tipples, and watch movies,

- That's so good. - 'Cause I think

that's what everyone does,

just watch movies. - Do you have a favourite?

- A tipple is an informal kind of slang word for a drink.

It don't always mean alcoholic, but the way she's saying it,

I think she's meaning we're naughty, we have a cheeky drink.

Tipple, do you fancy a tipple?

What's your tipple is what's your favourite drink.

Next at number five, at the midway point,

we have Shilpa Shetty and she's speaking English

with an Indian accent.

And I asked some of my Indian followers

where they would kind of place her accent

and I got various responses,

but in general people said,

well, she's from the south of India.

So it's kind of like Southern Indian English in a way.

Let's have a listen.

- Honestly, it wasn't that contrived.

It has to come from fun.

And then you realise with the encouragement

and the likes on these various social media handles

that they're liking what you're doing

and then you're like, "Okay, let me just do this again."

And then that again becomes a trend.

For example, the Sunday Binges, I mean it was just a,

it was just really one of those one off,

crazy things that I did on a Sunday

to prove my proof to my friend that I do eat.

- With Shilpa's accent,

what really sticks out to me is the vowel sounds.

I say social with an O sound.

She says it more with an o sound, social,

which sounds a bit like Northern English.

And also the R sound.

I really struggled to reproduce the R sound

that is common in Indian English accents.

But you can hear when she says trend,

I say r, trend, and hers is more of a trend

with the word realise she says, realise,

and it's that R sound again?

And I kid you not, I cannot do it.

I'll just sit at home, go r, r, r, trying to do it.

Let's listen again, but this time with subtitles.

- Honestly, it wasn't that contrived.

It has to come from fun.

And then you realise with the encouragement

and the likes on these various social media handles

that they're liking what you're doing

and then you're like, "Okay, let me just do this again."

And then that again becomes a trend.

For example, the Sunday Binges, I mean it was just a,

it was just really one of those one off,

crazy things that I did on a Sunday

to prove my proof to my friend that I do eat.

- Okay at number four, we've had quite a few females.

We've got another male.

This man is right, all right, all right.

I wonder if you've guessed who he is.

It is Matthew McConaughey,

speaking with his gorgeous Texan accent.

Have a listen.

- Yes, McConaughey here,

and I want to welcome you to my YouTube channel.

It's a destination where I'm gonna share who am,

who I'm not, what I believe in, what I don't.

What I'm doing, what I'm not doing.

Along with some approaches to life

that I've found useful and constructive along the way.

- Do you hear, he said YouTube as well.

That's like Chris Hemsworth.

He said new, YouTube, for me and RP, it would be new.

And for YouTube,

we actually say YouTube.

Kind of a ch sound, that T, U together

becomes a ch, YouTube.

YouTube for him, YouTube for us.

Another thing I picked up on as he said doing,

so he's saying an n sound instead of an ng sound,

as I would say at the end of an -ing word.

Doing, doing.

Let's have a listen again with the subtitles.

- Yes, McConaughey here,

and I want to welcome you to my YouTube channel.

It's a destination where I'm gonna share who am,

who I'm not, what I believe in, what I don't.

What I'm doing, what I'm not doing.

Along with some approaches to life

that I've found useful and constructive along the way.

- Okay at number three, we have Cyndi Lauper,

she speaks with a very strong New York accent.

- I put my mom in the video

and I tried to put as many different races of women

that represent New Yorkers, that's how we live.

Together and, (audience clapping)

I was always watching MTV honestly, Wendy,

and it was either,

it was very segregated to me and I just thought,

"Hells bells, let's just mix it up."

- She's very cool.

For me the biggest giveaway

that somebody is from New York is the way they say New York.

Did you hear her?

She says, New York, York like that,

New York, York, is hard to do.

See if you can pick it up

when we watch it the second time with subtitles.

- I put my mom in the video

and I tried to put as many different races of women

that represent New Yorkers, that's how we live.

Together and, (audience clapping)

I was always watching MTV honestly, Wendy,

and it was either,

it was very segregated to me and I just thought,

"Hells bells, let's just mix it up."

- With the word thought as well,

thought, that's very distinctive characteristic.

And number two,

we have the accent that you voted

second easiest to understand, it's a Victoria Secret model.

She is called Candice Swanepoel, I'm hoping that's right.

If anyone's from South Africa,

because she speaks with a south African accent,

please could you correct me

and give me some advice in the comment section.

Swanepoel, I did look it up,

but it was a journalist saying it and we all know that

journalists don't always get everything right.

Now, I will say in this clip,

Candice speaks very slowly and clearly,

so that could have influenced the result.

But I love the South African accent.

One of my closest friends is from South Africa.

In fact, two of them actually, great people.

- I had so much fun doing those looks,

I mean, I didn't feel like a fit model at all.

I just had so much fun trying everything on like

it's such a lovely experience.

And you asked me earlier if I thought about

the different outfits that I didn't get, not at all.

I was just, happy to be a part of the family.

- So for me what's very distinctive is her vowel sounds

and the way she pronounces them, for example,

I would say at all,

hers is very graceful way, at all.

I say at, she says more of a at,

it is hard to put my finger on it,

but I feel like her vowel sounds are almost a bit shortened,

so it sounds choppier when she speaks.

Have another listen with subtitles

and see how much you understand.

- I had so much fun doing those looks,

I mean, I didn't feel like a fit model at all.

I just had so much fun trying everything on like

it's such a lovely experience.

And you asked me earlier if I thought about

the different outfits that I didn't get, not at all.

I was just, happy to be a part of the family.

- Very graceful.

Finally, let's talk about the accent that you voted

as number one,

the easiest to understand, it is the Scottish,

sort of Edinburgh accent spoken by Karen Gillan.

Now, as with all accents,

there are various different strengths

and she is on an American talk show.

So she might have adapted her accent slightly

to the situation,

but you can definitely hear strong characteristics

of the Scottish and Edinburgh accent in there.

Let's have a listen.

- What do you eat there on Christmas?

- Well, I eat, this is not just Christmas,

but this is every single morning, black pudding.

Do you know what that is? - No.

- Does anyone know what that is here?

(audience cheering)

Okay, there are two fans who love black pudding.

So I don't think I can eat it anymore

'cause I just Googled what it's made of

like before I came on stage and it's,

the main ingredient is fresh pigs blood.

- She's talking about black pudding.

It's a typical sausage in the UK and it's made from blood,

basically, I know there are versions in Spain

which contained blood and rice, Morcilla,

and it is nice, but it's not to everyone's taste.

I personally think it's good to use waste parts

of the animal that might not be used elsewhere.

Other people can't get their head around that.

So a strong characteristic of her accent

is the way she says, as I say, A, hers is more of an e.

So for example, I made, and she would say made.

Also did you notice when she says morning, as I would say,

she said morning with an n instead of an -ing

as I would say with an -ing word,

we had another accent that did that as well, didn't we?

Matthew McConaughey, he said doing,

I think it's quite common to do that.

What you're doing?

In fact, I would say that actually quite frequently,

if I'm talking to someone casually.

What're you doing,

what're you doing?

Instead of what are you doing?

Let's listen again, once more with subtitles,

- What do you eat there on Christmas?

- Well, I eat, this is not just Christmas,

but this is every single morning, black pudding.

Do you know what that is? - No.

- Does anyone know what that is here?

(audience cheering)

Okay, there are two fans who love black pudding.

So I don't think I can eat it anymore

'cause I just Googled what it's made of

like before I came on stage and it's,

the main ingredient is fresh pigs blood.

- Yeah, so you voted that to be the easiest to understand,

but I will say it was very tight

between the South African accent and the Scottish accent.

That is it for today's accent analysis,

I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you learned something.

I'm really, really enjoying these videos.

If you have any recommendations for accents

that I should look at or different ways

I should do the survey, 'cause it's hard to make it fair.

I must say.

Or if there are any celebrities

that you'd like me to take a look at,

please put it down in the comment section below.

I will take a look at it.

Don't forget to download the free PDF

that goes with today's lesson.

Just click on the link in the description box,

you enter your name and your email address

and it will go directly to your inbox.

And then every week after that,

you will automatically receive my PDFs.

Also don't forget to check out Woodpecker Learning.

I've got the links for the App store

and the Google Play store in the description box.

Don't forget to check out my personal channel,

I've just moved house, I've just got married.

There's a lot going on

and I'm going to tell you all about it there,

all of the videos there are fully subtitled

and show our life here in the English countryside.

I can't wait to share a little bit more about

the big changes that have been going on in our life.

Don't forget to connect with me on all of my social media.

I've got my Instagram and I've got my Facebook.

I've also got my website englishwithlucy.co.uk,

where I've got a really cool pronunciation tool.

You can click on the phonemes and hear me pronounce

said phonemes and words that contain those phonemes.

E.

Add.

No.

It's a lot of fun.

I will see you soon for another lesson (smooches).

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