Aye, the Scottish Accent

Seeing as to how I spent my past weekend in London, and got a refresher on the posh London English accent, now seems like the perfect time to reflect on the Scottish accent. Where to begin…

When I first arrived in Edinburgh, I didn’t know what to expect apart from watching a few YouTube videos of Scottish people talking. I was aware that the Scottish accent and English accent are quite different, so I immediately began to take note of how the Scots sound. I had always liked the English accent because they sound so refined compared to many Americans, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about the Scottish accent at first. A part of me wanted to think that the Scots sounded slightly uneducated, but then I realized this was probably because I couldn’t understand a lot of them in the beginning, so I assumed they were mumbling and ineloquent.

However, now that I only have a few weeks left in the UK, I can say hands down that one of the things I will miss the most is the sound of a Scot chatting away. The Scots slightly roll the letter R. Not to the same degree as someone speaking Spanish for example, but it’s definitely noticeable and enjoyable to the ears. Strangely enough, the word murder is a perfect example for how captivating a Scottish person can sound. If you’re ever visiting, ask someone to say murder with the thickest Scottish accent possible, and you’ll see what I mean. A lot of people will greet you with “Hiya!” instead of hello and good evening would be something like guid eenin. They use a glottal stop, which comes from the throat, and while I've tried again and again to imitate them, I end up making a fool of myself more than anything.

Scotland can be confusing in terms of its languages. English is obviously spoken by nearly everyone, but in certain regions, Scottish Gaelic is also spoken, and there is a BBC channel entirely in Gaelic. While Gaelic is fairly uncommon today, a language called Scots is often times used in junction with English. For example, instead of saying yes, it is very common for a Scot to say aye. Almost every Scot speaks a degree of Scots and will throw Scots words into their sentences. If they know they’re speaking to an American though, aye will immediately turn into yes.

 

What's interesting is that going just six miles outside of the city center to Musselburgh, where part of my internship is based, the accents already get thicker. There have been times on my daily bus ride where I try to understand what people are saying to absolutely no avail. I have been asked to repeat myself only a couple of times due to someone not understanding my American accent, but I've realized that I don't know how to "turn down" my accent. The Scottish people can definitely turn down their accents though, and I even had one person tell me that he would try to not roll his r's for my sake.

My flatmate and I joke (though I’m not sure how much we are actually joking) that we want to marry Scottish men just because their accents make them so attractive. Hey, maybe one of us will! A girl can dream right?