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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   923 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 31, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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What's the worst-sounding foreign accent in English? Right now I think it's Mandarin, but I am open to suggestions.

I don't mind listening to Indian women speak English with heavy accents, but I must admit I can't say the same of Indian men. (Apologies to @self_made_human.)

That being said, if I may be permitted to stretch the definition of "foreign" a bit, Multicultural London English (that mish-mash of Pakistani, Afro-Carribean, Arabic and Indian accents and slang spoken by urban youths throughout the Yookay) is verbal sewage. "Wha' you lookin' at bruv? I wiw fucking kiw you bruv! Watch yourself, innit." Give me a thousand "don'd dell me whad do do"s over that. Unlike the former case, there's no gendered element to it: I honestly don't think I could bring myself to have sex with an otherwise attractive woman who spoke with this accent.

Are there any studies from linguists what makes the Indian accent so hard on the ears? Btw - I expect this to change in generation or two - everyone is immersed in english media now from birth, so more kids learn english simultaneously with their maternal one.

Honestly, I do think that's basically cultural prejudice. Coupled with perhaps an unusual amount of time spent with other ESL speakers.

I've known Russian professors etc. who were basically incomprehensible, the Indians have no monopoly on that. Rather that than chavvy London accents.

The flat cyrilic intonations make russian speakers incredibly easy to listen to compared to tonally variant nordic sinic and indic languages. Slavic ASMR is practically digital melatonin for my sleep cycle, but maybe the lack of comprehension helps.

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