Understanding accents?

[JisthenewK]

What do you do when you are speaking to someone (in person or on the phone) and you can't understand their accent? I hate to sound rude and ask for someone else, but what do you do? I hate guessing at what they're saying to me. It's embarrassing for both of us, especially if it is an important phone call/meeting. How do you deal with this?

[Dan1980]

Politely ask them to repeat themselves and maybe ask them to speak slower.

[Grey]

I have an extreme southern accent. People ask me to repeat things a lot, doesn't bother me as long as they are nice bout it.

[LONDONER]

Unfortunately my ISP's call centre in in Córdoba Argentina and I have real difficulty with their accent at times. I usually have to ask them to repeat what they have said several times. My bank used to have their call centre in India and that posed a whole set of other problems and I had on occasions have to ask to speak to a Supervisor.

[joseph]

I have a strong Geordie (Newcastle) accent. I love how I talk but it is hard for some people. I don't mind repeating though, I try to be helpful!

[pellaz]

... It's embarrassing for both of us, especially if it is an important phone call/meeting. How do you deal with this?

maybe start the conversation with a compliment on their country.
or
I dont know any languages so i usually compliment them they know the English language. Bad connection and if they could speak slower.

[princealbertofb]

This can be a tricky one, but other than just asking the person to repeat, because after all, on the phone, things sometimes get difficult to hear -- you can't see their face, nor the way they are forming the words -- there is a technique which consists in repeating what you think you've heard and understood (unless you realise it doesn't make any sense) and see if that's what they meant. They will acquiesce or refute, and maybe you can go on. There is also another technique which consists in you asking questions that are orientated already... what is called closed questions, the answers to which can only be 'Yes' or 'No', possibly 'maybe'. You'll probably understand a 'yes' or 'no' answer.
Examples: NOT 'What's your name?' but 'Is your name Mr Larch?' (Yes, no, maybe)
NOT 'When is the shipment coming?' but 'Will the shipment arrive next week?'
Don't give questions with a double answer. Ask two instead.
NOT 'Will the shipment arrive next week, or the following week?' but
1. 'Is the shipment arriving next week?' (if not) 2. Is the shipment arriving the following week? (or give dates).
That way you are controlling the conversation and what you need to know.

[princealbertofb]

You could also just admit candidly that you're not very good with accents and that you may encounter problems understanding someone with a different speech pattern from yours. You can be polite about it. As long as they see you are still interested in them...

One more thing, talk to people where you can actually hear them... not in a noisy crowded discotheque for instance.

One other technique could be telling them that you are a bit deaf / hard of hearing (sometimes when you have a cold this happens naturally) and that you may have to ask them to repeat. Once warned no one will bear a grudge. Depending on how well you know them, and how much you need or want to talk to them, if you manage to make them understand that you're interested, there shouldn't be a problem.

[Sylph]

Being from the Carribean, though not having a patois per se, people always and I mean always say "huh?" , which we've become used to from Americans and the like.

To me, American accents, almost all of them, are too slow and tend to make me feel like "hurry up" lol, cause y'all pronounce your words too much. And British tend to also over-pronounce their words, but just faster.

So, as long as they're speaking English, I can get what they're saying, because all other accents (mostly- except for like Irish lol) to me are slow or pronounced too much.

If I can understand a Jamaican talking to me, Everyone else is a breeze :p

But as long as you are honest and patient with the person, it should work out.

There have been times where I've been giving directions to tourists and some of them are like "HUH?", right in the middle of it, so I just thicken my accent to piss them off further, cause that's rude. Just ask for a more clear response and in the event of unfamilar words/phrases, A more common or universal equivalent.

Just ask Sweets

[HomeagainNYC]

Like princealbertofb I always repeat back what I heard or think I heard and ask if I understood it correctly. Even when it does not make sense. Many times that produces laughter and eases the situation.

I'm never embarrassed to fess up and keep at it until I understand.