Do language varieties start sounding more similar to you if they become more familiar?

[Raphael]

Has anyone else made the experience that, if you become more familiar with a language variety, it starts to sound more similar to the other language varieties you're familiar with?

I've noticed that Standard British English and Standard North American English sound a lot more similar to each other to me now than they did 20 or 30 years ago. These days, I hardly ever think "Ah, a British accent", or "Ah, an American accent" when I listen to either of them. And I blame that on the fact that I watched so many movies and TV/streaming shows from both Britain and the US during that time. That might have had the effect that neither Standard British English nor Standard North American English make me think "Oh, that's something I'm not used to hearing" when I listen to them any more.

The same effect even seems to work with more far-flung varieties. Back when I watched the first episode of Derry Girls, the local accent sounded really jarring to me. By the time I watched the last episode, I hardly noticed it at all.

[Travis B.]

When I watch TV shows in SSBE I barely notice the fact that they are not in GA unless I specifically listen for the differences, and this is probably an effect of the fact that much of the TV I watch is British. This is despite the fact that if I saw in writing the details of the phonologies of GA and of SSBE I would immediately be able to pick out the differences.

[vorog]

The complete opposite is true for me. The more fluent I've become in English, the better I've gotten at distinguishing different accents. For example, there was a time when Canadian English was completely undistinguishable from GenAm to me, now I'm pretty good at identifying Canadians through Canadian raising.

[bradrn]

After living in Scotland for ~6 months, Scottish accents (and British accents more generally) definitely sound a lot more ‘normal’ to me than they did when I first arrived.

The complete opposite is true for me. The more fluent I've become in English, the better I've gotten at distinguishing different accents. For example, there was a time when Canadian English was completely undistinguishable from GenAm to me, now I'm pretty good at identifying Canadians through Canadian raising.

I think this is a slightly different thing. For me as a native speaker the accents remain completely distinguishable; it’s just that the accents of people here don’t intrude on my attention to the same extent. From Raphael’s original description it sounds like he’s saying the same thing.

[Travis B.]

I'm with bradrn -- when I listen for the differences between GA and SSBE I can definitely pick them out, but when normally watching British TV I don't automatically think "these guys have an accent".

[Civil War Bugle]

I'm with bradrn -- when I listen for the differences between GA and SSBE I can definitely pick them out, but when normally watching British TV I don't automatically think "these guys have an accent".

I find this sort of thing most noticeable when the setting involves several characters with the same accent from one of these two countries, and then someone from the other of the two countries shows up - I have been startled by an American accent in BBC shows and British films even though I am American and theoretically ought to be used to American accents. I just acclimate to the main accent used in a show as the default accent for the purpose of the show, I guess.

[Travis B.]

What I do notice, though, is Scottish English, which does sound strongly accented to me, and Scots, which while I can generally make sense of it in writing I find it nigh unintelligible in actual speech.

[bradrn]

What I do notice, though, is Scottish English, which does sound strongly accented to me, and Scots, which while I can generally make sense of it in writing I find it nigh unintelligible in actual speech.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but all the audio samples of ‘Scots’ I’ve found online have always sounded just like accented English to me; whereas Glaswegian English, although supposedly ‘English’ rather than ‘Scots’, is sometimes unintelligible.

[Travis B.]

What I do notice, though, is Scottish English, which does sound strongly accented to me, and Scots, which while I can generally make sense of it in writing I find it nigh unintelligible in actual speech.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but all the audio samples of ‘Scots’ I’ve found online have always sounded just like accented English to me; whereas Glaswegian English, although supposedly ‘English’ rather than ‘Scots’, is sometimes unintelligible.

I can normally understand Scottish English just fine even though it sounds very accented to me (the biggest thing that stands out to me is the lack of the fur-fir-fern merger, which is very marked to my ears).

As for Glaswegian English, apparently it has influence from Anglic varieties from all over the former British Empire, and it has its own sound changes unique to itself.

[bradrn]

What I do notice, though, is Scottish English, which does sound strongly accented to me, and Scots, which while I can generally make sense of it in writing I find it nigh unintelligible in actual speech.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but all the audio samples of ‘Scots’ I’ve found online have always sounded just like accented English to me; whereas Glaswegian English, although supposedly ‘English’ rather than ‘Scots’, is sometimes unintelligible.

I can normally understand Scottish English just fine even though it sounds very accented to me (the biggest thing that stands out to me is the lack of the fur-fir-fern merger, which is very marked to my ears).

For me I think it’s the tapped /r/ and the presence of /ʍ/; I hardly notice the lack of that merger.

As for Glaswegian English, apparently it has influence from Anglic varieties from all over the former British Empire, and it has its own sound changes unique to itself.

It definitely sounds very unique to me, and very different even from neighbouring Scottish varieties. To me the most confusing sound change is probably the realisation of KIT as a low vowel, but there’s plenty of others. For a sample you can have a listen to e.g. Limmy’s Show. (I’ve seen one person claiming that Limmy is actually speaking Scots, but it doesn’t sound significantly different to the English I hear around me from native Glaswegians.)

[Travis B.]

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but all the audio samples of ‘Scots’ I’ve found online have always sounded just like accented English to me; whereas Glaswegian English, although supposedly ‘English’ rather than ‘Scots’, is sometimes unintelligible.

I can normally understand Scottish English just fine even though it sounds very accented to me (the biggest thing that stands out to me is the lack of the fur-fir-fern merger, which is very marked to my ears).

For me I think it’s the tapped /r/ and the presence of /ʍ/; I hardly notice the lack of that merger.

I associate the presence of /ʍ/ with older English in general, including older NAE (of course, I once went through a phase in which I used /ʍ/ for some reason...).

As for Glaswegian English, apparently it has influence from Anglic varieties from all over the former British Empire, and it has its own sound changes unique to itself.

It definitely sounds very unique to me, and very different even from neighbouring Scottish varieties. To me the most confusing sound change is probably the realisation of KIT as a low vowel, but there’s plenty of others. For a sample you can have a listen to e.g. Limmy’s Show. (I’ve seen one person claiming that Limmy is actually speaking Scots, but it doesn’t sound significantly different to the English I hear around me from native Glaswegians.)

Apparently Glaswegian exists on a continuum from Scottish English to Scots, so whether it's "English" or "Scots" may be in the ears of the beholder.