Vacation in Scotland

[OC Richard]

What does "hire a car" mean?

I suspect it means "rent a vehicle". As opposed to hire a person who has a vehicle...

Yes in like manner there are Kilt Hire shops all over Glasgow, the US equivalent being Tux Rental shops.

I live in USA. The last time I was in the UK I didn't understand 50% of the language used.

That surprises me.

I suppose it all comes down to what you're exposed to, who you've spent time in company with.

From my late teens to late twenties I spent three to five nights a week in company of Glaswegians. They ran the Pipe Band I played in, the Strathspey & Reel Society I played in, the RSCDS classes I attended. It got to the point where they didn't seem to have an accent, they were just people talking.

I've shared this interview with Martin Compston (Line Of Duty) to give an example. I can perfectly understand almost all of it, there are a couple words or names of players I don't understand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WibpmErbPhw&t=198s

Add to that I've worked at Disneyland (California) for over 30 years now, and there I talk to people from all over the world every day. That exposes me regularly to just about every accent.

I would recommend, for people in the US, getting a subscription to Acorn TV or BritBox and watching British, Irish, and Australian programs regularly. There's Closed Captioning when you need it. (The Welsh show Keeping Faith defeated my ear and sad to say I had to turn the CC on.)

[Lallans]

As a Canadian who grew up with Brits running around loose in the community and British programming on TV, I could handle every British accent with no difficulty... until my hearing went from noise damage. But even with acute ears there was one young gentleman, from an outer island I think; he was a birder who was describing the birds he'd seen on a visit to Point Pelee, Ontario and I honestly did not have a single clue what he was saying, hardly a single word, except that he inserted the phrase "dinn't I?" at the end of every sentence.

[Nemuragh]

I grew up in Banbury, Oxfordshire and when I joined the Royal Air Force there were two guys there from Aberdeen. I could not understand a word they said purely on their accent.
Apparently they were speaking English…

Probably, they were speaking Scots (the language), probably ‘Doric’ (not the Greek variety) dialect.

[Kiltedjohn]

Probably, they were speaking Scots (the language), probably ‘Doric’ (not the Greek variety) dialect.

There is a remarkable series of lessons about Doric Scots words and phrases in YouTube. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr0erVo3EP8 (Be warned, some of the words, and the accent, seem so improbable that some viewers have asked whether the whole series of lessons is a spoof! No, it is perfectly genuine!)

[neloon]

There is a remarkable series of lessons about Doric Scots words and phrases in YouTube. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr0erVo3EP8 (Be warned, some of the words, and the accent, seem so improbable that some viewers have asked whether the whole series of lessons is a spoof! No, it is perfectly genuine!)

Yes, as a native Doric speaker, I can assure you this is not a spoof. I do take issue with some of the spellings which are much more dodgy.

Alan

[Regimental]

There is a remarkable series of lessons about Doric Scots words and phrases in YouTube. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr0erVo3EP8 (Be warned, some of the words, and the accent, seem so improbable that some viewers have asked whether the whole series of lessons is a spoof! No, it is perfectly genuine!)

While Doric is definitely a thing – and very distinct from Scots, or indeed Scots English – I’ve yet to meet a Doric speaker that can’t code-switch into a much more standard North East Scottish accent if they choose to when speaking to outsiders, which is pretty readily understandable to most.

I really do think in most cases the difficulties of understanding Scottish people is greatly exaggerated, at least outside of some of the much stronger accents. No English speaker will really struggle to understand an Edinburgh or Perthshire dialect, for instance.

Some local terms for things can be confusing for sure, but if taking the context into account the meaning can usually be deciphered. And people really don’t mind folk asking about that kind of thing as long as someone has at least given it a wee bit of thought beforehand.

I think the more tricky difference to navigate are thing like humour and tone, which can be perplexing to people. Scots (and UK people in general) are, for instance, often much more robust and sharp in their humour with friends and call each other all sorts of things that can be quite shocking to foreign ears – but that is just a sign of their closeness and comfort around each other.

[Jock Scot]

I think that I may have mentioned this before somewhere, but “ British understatement” does also cause confusion for those outwith the UK and sometimes within parts of the UK too. I think it’s a turn of phrase that is not used as much these days here as it was in my youth, but nevertheless it can and does cause confusion and more than a little angst on occasion, if one does not understand it.

[Kitfoxdave]

One of the more comical episodes I have encountered, there was a gent that came to work at the American division of a German based company where I was employed. He asked the southern American secretary "Could I please have a rubber?" To which she replied loudly and insulted, "I don't think so!" He then replied "What did I say?"... I stepped in to explain that he needed an eraser... we all had a good laugh, and later I explained to him that a rubber is a condom in the states....

I learned European French in school, but my grandmother and her sisters would often get together and speak French... Canadian-French... could only understand about 2%...
I went to France and was able to hold good conversation with little difficulty.... the French-Canadian speaking chaperones wear asked to please speak English, as the European French were unable to understand them....

Having worked with several Ex-pats over the years, I can understand a lot of the Queen's English. A good friend is from Dunfirmline and I can " ken" about 20% of what she says... until she gets excited, then it drops to about 1/2%...
The struggle is real!

[ThistleDown]

Aye, it's hard to understand what you lot say, often-times, but we struggle through. And when we don't quite catch the words and their strange pronunciation, we usually pick up on the gist and go with that to keep the thing going. Or to conclude it.

Can we get back to the thread's originator, and if any of us have anything further to (tae) contribute to his original enquiry.

Richardthelarge asked:

I’m planning a vacation in Scotland this August for the first time in 16 years. I’ll be flying into Inverness and staying a week. I’d very much appreciate any thoughts on what the best things are to see in that amount of time—most of the articles on the subject seem to contradict one another (as, indeed, the rabble might). Castles, lochs, and other landscapes would be my first priority, with distilleries close behind, and I haven’t settled on where to stay.

[Jock Scot]

I agree Rex. I would particularly like to hear how the OP got on with his trip. Comments about the trip with its high points, not so high and low points are very useful for future reference for when someone else asks for local advice.