01010111 wrote:I landed in the UK! I’m very overwhelmed. I’ve figured out how to get around using public transportation, and I think I’ve figured out how to get the food and supplies I need. I’ve also lined up a place to move into, a bank account(ish), and a phone number(ish).
Some of my initial impressions: the accent’s a lot thicker and harder to understand than I expected, it’s impossible to get anything “official” done after 5pm, and the mix of new and old buildings is amazing and really cool to see.
Congrats!
West Midlands can be quite a distinct accent yeah but you'll get the hang of it!
I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it eventually. I asked my therapist how they dealt with it (they’re also an expat), and they said it might take two or three months before I’m able to fully understand everything. It is interesting, though, because it seems to go both ways. So, I do have to speak more clearly than I’m used to in order to be understood.
Yeah you're not going to have the luxury of an accent group that gets much love in mass media, so you're going in a bit colder than you might if you landed somewhere else. No worries though, you'll get it fast enough. And, it's definitely a two-way street: if you're not speaking NA English 'correctly' (i.e. having one of the three or four broad accents most people will have been accustomed to), you'll have to repeat yourself a bit more than you might expect.
Chankgeez wrote:Not quite the West Midlands, but close:
not really close at all. this accent seems to crop up in disparate southern rural areas like Gloucester and over east anglia. the west mids accent is either brummie or black country, depending on how rural you are (tho ther ay many brummies left in brum these days)
the current presenter on british bake off (baking show in US) is brummie. it's cool to see our historically derided accent on the world stage.
elden ring spoilers, but again cool to see the accent here. fromsoft games have great english/british voiceovers.
black country accents are dialed up a few notches from that.
I thought it'd be funnier to post that Hot Fuzz clip. 
