How do you tackle not being able to understand an accent?

[FindingMeno]

Particularly in settings such as medical ones where its important to understand what is being said?
I am always so worried about appearing rude, especially if I have already said I'm having trouble following what is being said and I then still don't understand.
How is the best way to deal with this? What do you do?

I struggle to understand strong accents, whether UK or foreign. If possible I try to avoid situations where I have to ask for clarity because even after asking three or four times I often still can’t make them out,

At one hospital appointment it couldn’t be avoided and I had to ask if anyone else was available to help. The doctor called in a hijabi nurse who spoke perfect, clear English despite it not being her first language. Unfortunately she couldn’t understand the doctor either.

When people of different colours and religions can’t understand what someone is saying, the issue is one of poor communication by the speaker, not racism by the listener.

I half agree, I think you can't assume racism at all, but it is also true that people are racist or prejudiced based on accent. So, the two things can be conflated, which is why it's such a sensitive subject.

I dont think there is anything wrong at all with asking for something to be repeated, clarified, said slower etc, especially in a medical setting.

It’s not rude in any way.

You need to understand what is
being said to you, especially if it’s
about your health. It’s not rude at all. Otherwise your appointment is pointless.

When I first moved to Glasgow I struggled with it a bit, worked in a spooks kitchen so the background noise plus fast talking made it harder. I just said I had auditory processing problems and asked them to slow down a bit. If needed asked them to repeat it, also confirmed what they were saying back if needed. Now I understand it fine, and the people I used to work with know I don’t actually have hearing problems. Maybe I shouldn’t have lied about that but I didn’t want them to think I was an idiot. Now I understand even the thickest Glaswegian accent, but it did take awhile.

If the OP is not racist then there is nothing to conflate. She just needs the information about her health.

I think that only people with racist tendencies are sensitive about this sort of thing.

If you are not racist - just say I am sorry I missed that, can you say that again please - etc

Wow. What an incredible lack of empathy, and why write a post on something you have no experience of?

I was in an NHS hospital yesterday where I was unable to understand a word that was said to me of the instructions how and when to use 12 eye drops a day and aftercare for an eye with a drainage channel newly cut into it.

Thankfully it was also all written in my discharge notes. Of the other two people I heard discharged by the two nurses on duty, one was completely zoned out and the other asked for clarification and then clearly just pretended to understand.

There was a purpose to received pronunciation of English, it wasn't just to show off what a snob you were.

The stretches people are making to find racism, all while having no empathy that other people might process the world differently to them is astounding on this thread!

My (not that old) Mum really struggles with accents. She was once asked for her postcode in a hotel by a native English speaker with an accent and merrily handed over her passport to everyone’s confusion.

I think I have (entirely not diagnosed) auditory processing issues - or selective deafness as it used to be called when I was a kid 😂. Sometimes DH can say something to me in his native English, similar to mine, extremely familiar accent and my brain can’t make out the words. This is exacerbated when the words aren’t being said how I expect, and sometimes I can really struggle with how hard I need to concentrate when someone is speaking with an accent that I get all of the words, but not any comprehension (like when kids are learning to read but don’t take in the meaning of what they’re reading). I’m an intelligent, educated, qualified senior professional who speaks other languages and has great empathy for how hard that is, and certainly not at all racist - but sometimes I still struggle to understand accents even if I ask the person to repeat themself twice. I’ve even been known to ask someone to switch back to their native language - even though their English is better than my Spanish - because I’ve got a better chance of understanding them that way, even if I reply in English.

I never known anyone in the UK who works in a professional setting where I couldn't understand their accent.

If you really don't, then just politely ask them to repeat themselves or talk a bit slower. You could just use deafness as a polite way of approaching it.

Though I suggest you try to attune your ears to the thousands of different accents people have in this country.

I'm worried about this too. I'm struggling with different accents more and more as I get older. Even after a couple of repeats I don't always click. I feel like a right idiot.

My DH has an unusual neurological problem that affects his thinking. He really struggles with accents - all UK accents as well as overseas - apart from his own, obviously. I am from the same place as him and I don’t struggle at all. Having said that, I am also good at understanding foreign languages (even ones I haven’t properly studied). Everyone is different.

I'm exactly the same and also take my DH with me to appointments.

I do wonder if there is an age related aspect to this, one because it seems to be getting worse as I get older and two because it's most often older people that I see who can't understand hospital staff

@LovelyCrocus did you say hijabi nurse?

Wow.

How many times should I ask? If you have never encountered anyone with a difficult accent then congratulations, your ear is perfecting attuned.

i don’t process things well when stressed. What should i do when i am lying in the corridor of hospital, I am being talked at fairly quietly by people with various accents, the background noise is hideous and the people I am speaking to don’t understand what I am saying?

Helpful. 🙄

I struggle too and to make things worse, I'm quite comfortable laughing and taking the pee out of myself when struggling with regional accents ( im very Northumbrian myself), asking people to repeat themselves, but when it comes to dealing with people for whom English is a second language, I struggle dreadfully.
I fully acknowledge it's a 'me' problem, and I admire anyone who can speak a foreign language fluently, but I try to avoid being perceived racist so strongly, i end up just nodding and agreeing half the time.
Pathetic, and all on me, I know, but at my last eye hospital appointment, I was almost in tears, because I kept asking the poor doctor to repeat himself and he ended up almost shouting at me as though I was deaf and talking very slowly as though I was an idiot.

He may have been correct. Because I did then understand what he was saying, but I felt incredibly stupid.

Im dreading seeing him again in a firtnights time😬

Is that not the correct term? It’s how my neighbour who wears a hijab describes herself.

@Greenwitchart
I lived in London for decades, used the NHS on many occasions & was cared for by people from all over the world and had zero issues understanding any of them.

Possibly the fact that you lived in London and were therefore exposed to loads of accents helped you with this?! It's much harder when you are from an area where accents are more homogeneous

In my work I often have to present at meetings involving people from 140+ different countries, and answer questions. Their English is almost always amazing but sometimes a person’s accent is so strong that all I can think is “when they finish I have to respond and I don’t have a clue what they’re saying”. I’ll know when it’s really bad because I’ll see sympathetic looks on the faces of other people in the meeting.

All I can do is take it onto myself as being the foolish one. I make a guess at what they asked but then say that I think I misunderstood their question but I really want to have another go if they could ask me again. Usually by the second time someone around me has understood enough for me to have a stab.

i usually get comments afterwards that I handled it well, but to me the most important thing is that nobody who is trying their best should feel embarrassed. The person in question usually knows exactly what the issue was and I think they appreciate any effort to help.

Seriously???

Of course some people have problems with accents.

You're lucky you don't have too much of a problem with accents.

OP I'm a bit in your shoes too. I speak 3 foreign languages but still have a real problem with strong accents in english

And if it’s a medical situation? Should we all pretend to understand?

Honestly op I think if you’re in a medial setting, or anything important then you’re just gonna have to keep asking for clarification and repetition. Your health is more important than someone you don’t know maybe thinking you’re “racist of thick”. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Completely understand where you're coming from OP. It's one of my bugbears. It's not fair on patients. It also has an affect on staff communicating with eachother. I usually paraphrase until I'm sure I've got the information correctly. The alternative is to ask for it to be written down and just hope that their handwriting is legible.
It's so important to have the correct information in such circumstances as the consequences can be dire.

I think there is either a lot of naivity on this thread or a willingness to try to pretend that racism/xenophobia do not sometimes play a part when people start complaining about health care professionals with accents...

You only have to look at the posters who happily claim that there are "many overseas consultants with poor English in the NHS" or that "African accents" are difficult to understand or that people who have English as a second language automatically will use poor grammar.

It is for everyone to see on this thread.

Hence why my first post called out the OP on why she was posting this. That post had no mention of hearing issues/disabilities that would make communications more difficult with everyone, regardless of accents.

So spare me the faux outrage at some of my comments.

The NHS in London saved my life. Many of the nurses, GPs and consultants who cared for me over the years were from abroad and all spoke perfectly good and understandable English and without them the NHS would have collapsed years ago.

So I will continue to object to anyone who makes blanket statements about NHS professionals who came from a different countries and their accents. If that upsets some people then that's too bad.

Years ago, I had a suspected ectopic pregnancy and had to go to hospital to have a blood test every two days.
When I went on a Sunday, the EPU was closed and I had to go to the gynaecology ward instead.
I was met by a nurse who handed me a piece of paper and told me to write " a little bit". So I started to write briefly about my case, how I had had a scan and they couldn't find an embryo etc. She saw what I was writing and said " No. Write a little bit". So I tried to summarise it more briefly.
When she told me to write " a little bit" for the third time, another nurse was passing by and said " She means she wants you to write your date of birth".
How was I supposed to know " a little bit" meant " date of birth" and why didn't the first nurse say that?
This isn't about accents of course but I am still amazed at my experience years later.