A SCOTSMAN Explains The SCOTTISH Accent(s) to a LONDONER

Funny situation in pub in Spain. Two Scots from different parts of Scotland needed a Polish guy to translate between them. The Polish man was living for a long time in Scotland.

I went to Scotland for a couple weeks trip in 2016 or 2017. I'm from Finland and fairly fluent in a kind of generic "English". I fared fine around Edinburgh but had a hell of a time in Glasgow. One of my favourite travel memories is walking in to a Glasgow restaurant and asking for a coffee. The lady at the till, perhaps in their late 20s or early 30s, said "I'm srhglybgh drrgblyrggh th' cfeeshmschke brechgegyyche" (or something, I had absolutely no idea what she said). So I paused, and said "I'm... I'm sorry, you're going to have to speak to me like I'm a child," thinking to make a joke of it. What she did was one of the most brilliant pieces of customer service I've seen. So she was on board: didn't even blink, but instead leant in a bit, and calmly, clearly and slowly, and so, so warmly, smiling as if speaking to her own children, said "I'm soorry deeear, there's noo moore cooffee. The macheeens broooken!" Tapping* her R's, stretching her vowels, filling my request perfectly. So I had a tea, and a story that still makes me laugh. * Edited from "rolling" A kind commenter pointed that scots don't roll their R's, and they were absolutely right. I can still hear it in my head and rolling is certainly the wrong word for that. :)

Im Swedish and I used to live in Australia. A friend of mine there was born in Scotland and his parents had a strong scottish dialect. So strong that none of his friends in Australia could readlily understand them. But me, not having English as a first language had, to their big surprise, no problems understanding them. To me it sounded like a Swede from the north of sweden speaking with a very strong accent.

In 1985 I stayed at a B&B in Edinburgh. I was 18 and American. Everyone was awesome, and the accent was easy enough for me to understand. Then in the evening I was in the TV room watching a Wimbledon match with an older man. Boris Becker was playing, and the old man said something incomprehensible to me about Becker - something about the gurgle slovem. We sat there laughing with each other for 3-5 minutes before I understood he was saying the girls love him! It was so funny, and a precious moment on my trip. Neither of us wanted to give up until I understood his rather unimportant point. It was our challenge! And yes, alcohol was involved on both sides. He thought it was funny because I couldn't understand something so simple, and I knew he was saying something simple, but I was baffled. I cannot imagine a moment like that happening in the US. If you don't understand a regional accent, often you are seen as having your nose in the air, too good to hear plain speak. Maybe in Philly or Boston they might have fun like this I suppose, but there would be some good-natured mockery involved. This old guy in Edinburgh was so kind and genuine, and he thought it was as funny as I did.

I’m from Orkney, and I thought I spoke English until I moved to Edinburgh for university, and one could understand me. I was speaking Orcadian Scots. I also had a lab partner from Birmingham, and we had to write notes to each other, because we could understand each other’s written English, but not each other’s spoken English.

I traveled to Scotland several years ago. Conversed with a couple fellas in a pub, and understood nothing but "cheers".

As a yank married to a brilliant Scotsman from Ayrshire - we married 50 years ago this year. My first 2:years of marriage living in a small village; I was completely lost. My Hubbie had to translate for me constantly. It was hilarious! It took about 18 months for me to be able to understand the local lingo. Then we immigrated to America and it took my husband 5 years for everyone here to understand him!!! So I did the translation for him. Haaaaaa. This was interesting, but agree, a bit posh speaking for me. Use to the Glasgow dialect. JulieAnn from California 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

I used to teach English in Leningrad. We had several native-English speakers from the US, England, Wales, Ireland. And Scotland. This one fellow, from Glasgow, had a very strong accent. One time he called me at home late at night, rather inebriated. I could not understand anything he said. I asked him to speak Russian to me and then we were just fine - an American and a Scotsman using Russian as a vehicle of mutual communication.

The Gaelic language is taught still, here in Nova Scotia, on the Island of Cape Breton. A hundred years ago, there were 100,000 Gaelic speakers there. A proud Scottish heritage here. The surnames are often of Scots background….a boatload of MacDonalds, for example.

I’m Scottish and find non-Scots’ attempts at our accent both intriguing and funny. Your attempt is fantastic 👏

In Iraq, as a US contractor, the Scots were always the toughest English to understand. If we were out at the smoke pit and it was casual conversation, I'd get about every third word. Loved being around so many different languages.

I'm English. In the 1990's, I used to watch a great Scottish sitcom, set in Glasgow, called Rab C Nesbitt. I occasionally watched it with some Australian friends. They always had to have the subtitles on, otherwise they couldn't understand half of it.

I know this isn't the focus of this channel but it would be hilarious to get a American with a super deep southern accent to argue with a Scot with a thick Scot-English accent.

yes yes, calm down Comments. the young man is sophisticated & well-educated or "posh" as you all keep whining. Most people can discern that his accent is not as characteristically strong as most Scottish natives we all hear. Gideon addresses that Jack's "r" is much softer. MAYYYYBE just mayyybe Gideon chose him for this video because he IS easier for Non-Scots to understand.

Dornoch is so beautiful! Went with my family over lockdown and was so impressed with the wee town and the AMAZING beautiful beach! Rivaling, I thought St Andrews long beach 👍🏽👍🏽

These just make my world! I learned Welsh English first, then American English, followed by Cornish English, and finally the strand of American English (different accent) I now speak today. I have what has been referenced the Trans-Atlantic Accent that has me somewhere between good American and proper English, and I drive everyone nuts by using slang from all dialects in the same sentence. Thank you for making my pain so much less, learning that yes I'm different but I still speak well!

Hi, i´m a portuguese guy who lived for 21 years in London, to be more precily in farringdon today i teach english in Brazil, and I love to watch your videos, well done, cheers.

As s German, I love Scotts/Scottish English ♥️ Because I ken some words, of course 😄

This was a lot of fun. Jack did a great job working with you!

Another interesting difference in Scottish English/Hiberno English, is the use of the question word, “amnt’t I” instead of the standard English, “aren’t I” which is actually grammatically incorrect. In the west of Scotland it’s pronounced something like “amumt’ah”. Thanks for the video!