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A comment on OSTA/ULTA: We overestimate short term and underestimate long-term ability. Parent comment

Re:OSTA/ULTA: We overestimate short term and underestimate l... by kurthr on Monday February 13, 2023 @11:00AM (#34775201)
I'm learning a language now. It's tough and embarrassing, and what it takes to keep getting better seems to change as I move along.

Something that was formative in my understanding of language was visiting Glasgow years past, and realizing that just an "accent" could easily knock me back to understanding only 20-30% of words. Still, based on context it was possible to get around and after a week I was up to 70-80% comprehension with locals.

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Re:OSTA/ULTA: We overestimate short term and underestimate l... by LemmyInThePub on Monday February 13, 2023 @11:22AM (#34775548)
In the UK, it isn't necessarily accent per-say.

In North England and Scotland, we pronounce words using short vowel sounds (bath, castle) whereas in the South, they use long vowel sounds (b-are-th, c-are-stle).

Not being able to easily pick out the vowel sounds makes it much harder for a non-native speaker to understand.

The so called "BBC English" that you probably learnt is based on a Southern England 'home counties' pronunciation.

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Re:OSTA/ULTA: We overestimate short term and underestimate l... by ehnto on Monday February 13, 2023 @01:00PM (#34777410)
You may also hear BBC English called "The Queens English"or just Queens English.
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Re:OSTA/ULTA: We overestimate short term and underestimate l... by LemmyInThePub on Tuesday February 14, 2023 @04:19AM (#34787170)
Kings English old chap :-)
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Re:OSTA/ULTA: We overestimate short term and underestimate l... by JasonFruit on Monday February 13, 2023 @02:59PM (#34779427)
It's not clear to me how regional differences in vowel pronunciation differ from accents.
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Re:OSTA/ULTA: We overestimate short term and underestimate l... by wallflower on Monday February 13, 2023 @09:14PM (#34784284)
> It's tough and embarrassing

You've got this. Try to remember to record yourself speaking periodically with others so that you can see how much you are improving.

> visiting Glasgow years past

I remember being in Gatwick airport and hearing my first heavily-accented English. Maybe it was a Scottish brogue. I could not really understand anything.

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