A nice little interview.


Now then, what is it with, some Americans and their apparent inability to understand English spoken in accents other than their own?

I have often been in a group with friends from America, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, etc. all talking with each other, but, while I can understand everything that everyone is saying, perfectly well, the Americans in particular, though not exclusively, repeatedly say "what was that?" "Sorry?".

Perhaps I have good ears - having been born and raised in England, then spending 11 years in Australia, before finally moving to Japan - but I think it is just down to a lack of effort on the part of some listeners.

Often some friends from New Jersey infuriate me when they say "what was that? .... yeah", proving that they did, in fact, hear what was said.

Anyway, Mr. Blackford is a native speaker of English (not an Indian call-centre worker) and certainly does not have a particularly strong accent, by Australian standards, and to complain that his spoken English is hard to comprehend, particularly as he is a frequent visitor here, is not the politest thing to do.

Tha, that's what I think!

Rant over.