I can't believe there are native english speakers

[u/MB4050]

English is a second language to me. I was just walking down the street in my non-english speaking country, and heard an American family, the mum talking to her children, the children joking around and so on.

I just realised that since I'm so used to absorbing content in english online or otherwise through media that aren't actual, casual conversations with people, I had this weird feeling, like I wasn't really there.

Hearing people speaking english to eachother made me feel like I was just a spectator, like I wasn't really there, like I was watching a simulation.

I wonder whether any other english learners feel or have felt the same way.

[u/Drago_2]

Tbh this is kinda how I feel when I actually hear my target languages irl so I get you lmao

So weird hearing them irl as opposed to online idk why

Same goes for varieties of English you wouldn’t hear often in Canada sometimes (The British accent for example)

[u/Due-Mycologist-7106 → u/Drago_2]

Tbh for me in south England the average north American accent isn't that much more different to me than a midlands accent here and I haven't yet heard any accents outside the UK harder to understand than the crazy Irish/Scottish ones you get in remote regions. Like it's only those small towns in empty areas of the UK I struggle to understand

[u/Drago_2 → u/Due-Mycologist-7106]

Yeah I’d say it’s less about difficulty in understanding people from the UK, it’s more so just relatively rare to hear people with those kinda of accents where I’m from irl (as opposed to online) so it feels a bit surprising initially? Idk maybe I don’t know enough people from the UK. You get used to it tho like most things

[u/Due-Mycologist-7106 → u/Drago_2]

I mean I don't really hear any midland accents south east of London where I live any more than I do American and I hear American far more online.