London Lantern
Putting the Spotlight on London
English Language Difficulties
28/09/1999, By Anon
Reader Rating: 3 from 2894 votes
Thinking I was merely deaf, or stupid, she repeated it louder. I still looked blank, and finally appealed to international goodwill.
"I'm an American," I explained. "I'm sorry. I only speak English."
This was not strictly true, but it was also true that whatever she was speaking, I didn't understand a word!
Her boss happened to be passing by, and heard our exchange. He smiled, just a bit smugly, and repeated in full, plummy Londonese. "She wants to know if you desire anything cooked."
SO much for my language skills. It seems the young lady had an accent not covered in my extensive British film library!
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Re: English Language Difficulties
By Sharonl 06/06/2005, (Rating: 2.9 from 2850 votes)Almost 6 years ago, I met a friend of mine , in a chat room . He is from Yorkshire England. When we first started talking on the phone, every other word from me would be ,what..what...what. I had a very hard time understanding him. Now close to 6 years later, I can pretty much understand everything he says. Guess it takes some pratice :-) . Another quick story...I have a friend who was living here (Florida) and went for a job and was told she didnt speak english well enough. She had a good laugh on that one!
Re: English Language Difficulties
By Dubhda 08/06/2007, (Rating: 2.9 from 2334 votes)As a Londoner born and bred I was still stumped when an urchin sitting opposite me on the bus asked the conductor for "Frape'nyarf" (this is giving my age away because he really wanted a "three-ha'penny half" fare ticket - the minimum rate for kids then.
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