MovieChat Forums > Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) Discussion > Can Brits actually understand them prett...

Can Brits actually understand them pretty well?


'Cause many of us Yanks have to turn subtitles on for these kinds of films.

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Well yeah, but then Americans need subtitles for most films and TV shows that are made outside of the US.

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I am from New Zealand and there has never been a UK or Irish show where I haven't been able to understand everything so based on that I doubt the natives have any problems. The thing is we grew up watching British and American shows so when you are exposed to these accents as a child you will never have problems with them later in life.

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I've never use subtitles for British or Scottish films. I admit Trainspotting took me a couple viewings to get every line, but most people I know avoid subtitles as much we they can.

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Scottish films are British too.

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Tell William Wallace that :P

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Braveheart is not a documentary.

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It's funny but I only need to watch a movie with subtitles once. Then once I understand what they're saying, I can understand them perfectly.

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For the yanks this is how to speak proper East End, we all don't live in castles and talk lie airy faries you know.

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I thought I read every stupid question that could possibly have been asked by mankind on these boards. Apparently I was wrong. This guy is the Olympic gold medalist.

You ain't got a license to kill bookies and today I ain't sellin any. So take your flunky and dangle

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I understood 99% without subtitles.

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This particular movie never game trouble.

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Yank here. I had no trouble understanding the accent, but in Lock Stock or Layer Cake, for example, I had a bit of trouble understanding the British slang at first.

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Americans are notoriously stupid when it comes to understanding accents which aren't their own.

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Nevermind the myriad selection of American accents in the US alone? The US has a more diverse selection of English accents than any other nation. Am I wrong?

I'd say Americans are pretty good at deciphering different accents.

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The US has a more diverse selection of English accents than any other nation. Am I wrong?


Travel 10 miles in the UK and you can come across a completely different accent. Consider the size of the island of Great Britain in relation to the size of the US and it's surprising but true.

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I walk outside and travel 2 blocks and hear a different accent than my own almost every day.

In any case, my point is, Americans are good at deciphering English accents. There's a lot of them here. We deal with it on a daily basis.

The only thing I had trouble with when I first saw this movie was understanding all the British slang, not the accent.

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I walk outside and travel 2 blocks and hear a different accent than my own almost every day.


Is that a different regional accent or an area with a large immigrant population because also true of London and parts of Birmingham.


British accents are easy...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8T60D_JnL4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqgwO4zKKkw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4-eWjYevE8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqxUH8bpbh0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqlFgnXef2U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9er2-E34vs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVmw_fn_KFo

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