Hey, Brits, Aussies, please check in here! Do you have this problem with any American movies?

[raccoon]

I posted earlier today:

"I love to watch British DVDs, such as Inspector Lynley, Foyle's War, etc. Sometimes I have to turn up the volume to understand what they are saying when the AC comes on--and let me clarify, moreso than I would if the actors spoke with American accents. Sometimes even with the volume up, I can't understand some with a nonstandard or heavy accent, such as character Barbara Havers. I mean, AT TIMES I can't understand some characters such as Havers, even if I listen to the dialogue several times."


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=8203548&mesg_id=8203548

[Lydia Leftcoast]

1. That's where closed captioning is your friend

Some series inexplicably lack it (like Midsomer Murders) but if they have closed captioning, you can even understand all the characters on Hamish Macbeth!.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. No, not really

Very occasionally, when the sound track quality (maybe on an older film) is a bit dodgy too, I can find a Deep South, or extreme New York, accent a bit difficult. It's probably a matter of familiarity, though - we get plenty of US movies and TV here, so you know the accents fairly well.