I was far more distracted by the adorableness of very enthusiastic people that aren't really skilled at reading off a teleprompter than their accents.

Being able to understand ESL speakers seems like an increasingly important skill if you work in tech, was it really that hard for you?

I judge the video not by the enthusiasm of the people involved, but by the actual contents of the video.

You know what is an important workplace skill (tech or not)? Speaking intelligibly.

Some people seem to think that all criticism of accents is bad, because racism. This is actually backwards. I myself am an ESL speaker, and therefore have some trouble understanding heavy accents. Using people with heavy accents in a video instead excludes people who speak English as a second language, since we, as a group, are not trained in it. Our experience of spoken English have mainly come from TV and movies, where people speak clearly. So when we see something like this video, we are effectively excluded from understanding it.

Saying things like “was it really that hard” is condescending. Yes, it’s hard if you don’t have a lifetime of training, which people in English-speaking countries do. We ESL speakers don’t. Producers of videos should be more considerate.

I'm not sure that's entirely accurate. I know I have an easier time understanding History on Fire[1]'s thick Italian accent than Americans do. When learning English, you learn the correct pronunciation and also the "incorrect" pronunciation used by your classmates.

[1]http://historyonfirepodcast.com/

None of the speakers in the video use my local version of what passes for English, and therefore I have no training in understanding the video. It is difficult for anyone who has not lived with people having all of those accents. Which is unlikely if you’re living in a non-English speaking culture.

I can't agree more. Outside of the US you're interaction with ESL speakers varies wildly but it's a pretty essential skill nowadays.

I'm the only native English speaker at my company. Some folks speak perfectly, others don't.

The people in this video spoke though, even if they did have a fairly heavy accent.

> Outside of the US you're interaction...

* your interaction

Sorry, couldn't resist correcting it on a comment about interactions with ESL speakers :)

They speak perfectly intelligible English, you just need to listen for a second to understand the accent. Subtitles would be great but come on, there's no reason to be a jerk about it.