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Daily Record
03-06-2025
- General
- Daily Record
Scottish accents may be 'hard to understand' but they could help you learn Dutch
Scottish accents are notoriously hard to follow but they could help you learn a new language faster The Scottish accent is known for being one of the hardest in the world to understand. Whether it's rolling your 'R's speaking in harsher, guttural sounds, or using too much slang, we can certainly leave a lot of people flummoxed. Half of Americans say the Scottish accent is the toughest to get their head round, with the Glaswegian accent always coming up as the one most likely to raise an eyebrow and leaving an out-of-towner particularly confused. However, new research from Preply is turning that perception on its head. The study suggests that the Glaswegian accent could actually offer an unexpected advantage - learning languages faster, thanks to its characteristics. The distinct rhythm and cadence of Glaswegian speech align with languages like German, and Dutch, where strong emphasis on syllables and guttural sounds can be important in conveying meaning. This makes it easier for Glaswegian speakers to adapt to languages with similar speech patterns. The Glaswegian accent has been showcased on the world stage many times by the likes of comics Billy Connolly and Kevin Bridges. But how might region accents improve language skills? "Generally, accents can help with language learning because they train your ear to recognise and reproduce sounds," Anna Pyshna, spokesperson at Preply, explained. "At the beginner level, language is mostly oral-oriented - you don't need perfect grammar, but it helps to know how to pronounce common words. "Ultimately, accents are not just about how we speak, they shape our ability to produce certain sounds." Three other British accents - Geordie, Scouse, and Brummie - were also highlighted in the study, each offering unique phonetic traits that support language learning in different ways. Folk from Newcastle have a glottal stop - a sound made by closing the vocal chords. This helps with languages including Danish, Czech, and even Hebrew, and Thai. Liverpool residents speak with a rolled 'r' sound, like in Spanish, Russian and Italian. Scouse speakers find it easier to master the trilled 'r' pronunciation. Its rising and falling tones are also well suited to Welsh, Irish, and Cantonese. Elsewhere, over in Birmingham, people speak in a monotone nature with long stretches on the same note. This will help if Brummies want to have a stab at Finnish or Russian. What's more, to expose more people to different accents, Preply has launched a unique Spotify series of accent-based sleep soundscapes, using Geordie, Scouse, Glaswegian, and Brummie voices. This is designed to boost language retention through passive auditory learning, as studies show that during deep sleep, the brain can keep forming new linguistic associations, especially when exposed to familiar phonetic rhythms. Not only will this help Glaswegians pick up new languages more intuitively, but it will help others tune their ear to the Glaswegian accent and appreciate its linguistic value - and make misunderstandings a thing of the past. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
Scottish Sun
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Legendary Scots venue set for MOVE to new location after launching careers major Brit stars
Bosses said they are "very excited" about the future LAST LAUGH Legendary Scots venue set for MOVE to new location after launching careers major Brit stars ONE of Scotland's most iconic comedy clubs is moving after 25 years in its current home. Bosses at The Stand Comedy Club announced the move which involves a new 25-year lease. Advertisement 2 The Stand is moving after 25 years 2 Performers have included Frankie Boyle, Kevin Bridges and Susie McCabe The club is moving 100 yards from its base at Woodlands Road in Glasgow to the nearby Lansdowne Church. The Stand's director, Mike Jones, said: "After 25 fantastic years in our current venue, it's the right time for The Stand to make a new move that will allow us to grow into the future. "We're very excited to be moving to The Lansdowne Church which is such an iconic building in the city. "It will enable us to meet our future ambition, expand our programme into new areas and become a greater community hub in the West End of Glasgow." Advertisement Venue manager Fraser Milroy added: "We will be taking all that history, love and expertise into the new venue with us. "The people of Glasgow have a strong connection with this club - we want them to have that same ownership and pride when we move." Household names who cut their teeth on the stage include Frankie Boyle, Kevin Bridges and Susie McCabe. The club will be revealing more about their move and expansion as work commences over the summer months in time for a grand opening later this year. Advertisement Katherine Ryan makes shock claim 'very rich' male comedian showed TV co-stars sex videos backstage at gig The new venue will offer higher audience capacity, full disabled access and a permanent bar separate from the club. It is based in the former Websters Theatre which briefly closed over safety fears.
STV News
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- STV News
The Stand comedy club announces new venue after 25 years
The Stand comedy club in Glasgow has announced it is moving to a new venue for the first time in 25 years. The celebrated stand up club, which is well known for its development of household Scottish stars such as Frankie Boyle and Kevin Bridges, has announced it will be making the move from Woodlands Road. In a statement on Thursday, the venue announced it will soon be based at The Lansdowne Church – formally known as Webster's bar – after signing a new 25-year lease. The new venue will be around 100 yards away from its former home, and can be found directly across from Kelvinbridge Subway station in the 'heart of the west end'. With the grand opening scheduled for after the summer, visitors can expect a higher audience capacity, full disabled access and a separate bar to the club itself. The Stand's director, Mike Jones, called it the 'right time' for the famous club to make the move. He said: 'After 25 fantastic years in our current venue, it's the right time for The Stand to make a new move that will allow us to grow into the future. 'We're very excited to be moving to The Lansdowne Church which is such an iconic building in the city and will enable us to meet our future ambition, expand our programme into new areas and become a greater community hub in the west end of Glasgow.' Venue manager Fraser Milroy said The Stand will bring 'all the emotional and nostalgic history' of Woodlands Road with it into the new venue. He said: 'There is undoubtedly a lot of love for this room – there's is a lot of history here and comics and our audiences alike will tell you it has a reputation of being one of the best rooms to perform comedy – not just in Scotland and the UK but around the world. 'What makes it great is not the bricks and mortar but the alchemy of the staff, the acts and the audiences. We will be taking all that history, love and expertise into the new venue with us. 'The people of Glasgow have a strong connection with this club – we want them to have that same ownership and pride when we move.' Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
The National
22-04-2025
- Politics
- The National
Steph Paton: Trans people won't retreat after Supreme Court ruling
I'd kept it because I had somehow ended up on the front page. The headline read 'Scotland to Recognise Third Gender' and was illustrated by a photograph from a recent Pride march that just happened to be of me. The world is a very different place now, eight years on. Rather than discussing the future of legal recognition of trans people in Scotland, we're instead fighting to keep what rights we have. In the last year alone, more than 1000 articles were published about transgender people in the UK, in just a handful of right-wing newspapers – from a carousel of supposedly 'cancelled' voices that have never struggled to gain a front-page story wherever the mood strikes. READ MORE: Kevin Bridges rips into UK response to Donald Trump tariffs in hilarious skit From a place of hope for legal recognition to the bonfire of equalities we see today, it has been a bitter road – and all the hallmarks of those past years are present in the Supreme Court's ruling on the definition of 'woman' in law. While anti-trans organisations and Tufton Street lobby groups were welcomed to give evidence, trans voices were explicitly excluded from doing so, a trend that we've witnessed over the years of being talked about but never to. Listening to Lord Hodge deliver the verdict last week, it was remarkable how clearly this influence was felt. Instantly recognisable transphobic talking points nestled in all the legalese made clear exactly who had been listened to in this case. The culmination of eight years of dehumanisation has brought us to this questionable ruling, cheered on by Britain's right-wing press, funded by the wealthiest as they share victory photos from a private yacht, and seemingly meekly accepted without challenge by most of Scotland's political parties. It took two hours for the First Minister to tweet that the Scottish Government would be accepting the Supreme Court's ruling. That could barely be thought of as enough time to read and consider it. No challenge. No agitation for an appeal at the European Court. Just … acceptance. And the reason, I suspect, is simple. The SNP, and Labour, have long played both sides on human rights issues. Every victory for LGBTQ+ rights that has come under Westminster and Holyrood governments has been accompanied by far more internal turmoil and intentional delays than either party would care to admit. But it didn't stop them from using those victories to market themselves as 'progressive champions' – a phrase that seems positively vintage at this point – when it was a boon to do so. Now here comes a Supreme Court ruling that lets both parties' leadership claim their hands are tied as they officially abandon the pretence of wanting to advance LGBTQ+ rights forward. The sigh of relief that must have come from various government departments that they can drop this pretence must have been something to behold. But unfortunately for them, this is not the end. Rather than retreat, the movement for trans liberation has had a fire lit beneath it. We know that this ruling will, like the Cass Review, be used to justify institutional change that it never ruled on nor supported. As much as the widely-maligned Cass Review is cited as the justification for withdrawing access to puberty blockers, this was never recommended in the publication. Likewise, it seems the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is preparing to take the inch given by the Supreme Court and make a grab for the mile. Already it seems to be preparing to release guidance that attempts to misapply the ruling. Baroness Falkner, Liz Truss's appointee to lead the EHRC, who Labour chose to keep, is already preparing to test how far she can push statutory guidance on the back of the ruling, whether justified or not. In response to the ruling, Falkner claimed trans people should just use their powers of advocacy to have third spaces provided for them. When we can't even be heard by the Supreme Court while it is ruling on our lives, I'm not sure what advocacy Falkner thinks we are capable of. But more than that, advocating for minority interests is the LITERAL POINT of the EHRC. Instead, Falkner openly says that trans people should effectively fend for themselves while she leads a campaign against us. We may have been abandoned by press and politicians alike, but it is a different story on the streets of Scotland's cities. While anti-trans demos can, at best, cobble together a few Scottish Family Party activists alongside their 'feminist' compatriots, the rallies in support of trans liberation bring thousands to the streets. And as much as this ruling was about supposedly bringing 'clarity', things seem less clear than ever. Like so much facing us today, the 'trans debate' is part of a fight for our independence and autonomy against the vested interests of the wealthy and their friends in politics. But they will not win. Not just because we have the numbers, but for the simple reason that you cannot legislate a people out of existence. The Supreme Court's poor ruling is limited to the definition of women in law only. It could no more legislate the Earth to spin in the opposite direction than they could make trans people cease to exist.
The National
22-04-2025
- Politics
- The National
Trans people won't retreat – a new fire has been lit
I'd kept it because I had somehow ended up on the front page. The headline read 'Scotland to Recognise Third Gender' and was illustrated by a photograph from a recent Pride march that just happened to be of me. The world is a very different place now, eight years on. Rather than discussing the future of legal recognition of trans people in Scotland, we're instead fighting to keep what rights we have. In the last year alone, more than 1000 articles were published about transgender people in the UK, in just a handful of right-wing newspapers – from a carousel of supposedly 'cancelled' voices that have never struggled to gain a front-page story wherever the mood strikes. READ MORE: Kevin Bridges rips into UK response to Donald Trump tariffs in hilarious skit From a place of hope for legal recognition to the bonfire of equalities we see today, it has been a bitter road – and all the hallmarks of those past years are present in the Supreme Court's ruling on the definition of 'woman' in law. While anti-trans organisations and Tufton Street lobby groups were welcomed to give evidence, trans voices were explicitly excluded from doing so, a trend that we've witnessed over the years of being talked about but never to. Listening to Lord Hodge deliver the verdict last week, it was remarkable how clearly this influence was felt. Instantly recognisable transphobic talking points nestled in all the legalese made clear exactly who had been listened to in this case. The culmination of eight years of dehumanisation has brought us to this questionable ruling, cheered on by Britain's right-wing press, funded by the wealthiest as they share victory photos from a private yacht, and seemingly meekly accepted without challenge by most of Scotland's political parties. It took two hours for the First Minister to tweet that the Scottish Government would be accepting the Supreme Court's ruling. That could barely be thought of as enough time to read and consider it. No challenge. No agitation for an appeal at the European Court. Just … acceptance. And the reason, I suspect, is simple. The SNP, and Labour, have long played both sides on human rights issues. Every victory for LGBTQ+ rights that has come under Westminster and Holyrood governments has been accompanied by far more internal turmoil and intentional delays than either party would care to admit. But it didn't stop them from using those victories to market themselves as 'progressive champions' – a phrase that seems positively vintage at this point – when it was a boon to do so. Now here comes a Supreme Court ruling that lets both parties' leadership claim their hands are tied as they officially abandon the pretence of wanting to advance LGBTQ+ rights forward. The sigh of relief that must have come from various government departments that they can drop this pretence must have been something to behold. But unfortunately for them, this is not the end. Rather than retreat, the movement for trans liberation has had a fire lit beneath it. We know that this ruling will, like the Cass Review, be used to justify institutional change that it never ruled on nor supported. As much as the widely-maligned Cass Review is cited as the justification for withdrawing access to puberty blockers, this was never recommended in the publication. Likewise, it seems the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is preparing to take the inch given by the Supreme Court and make a grab for the mile. Already it seems to be preparing to release guidance that attempts to misapply the ruling. Baroness Falkner, Liz Truss's appointee to lead the EHRC, who Labour chose to keep, is already preparing to test how far she can push statutory guidance on the back of the ruling, whether justified or not. In response to the ruling, Falkner claimed trans people should just use their powers of advocacy to have third spaces provided for them. When we can't even be heard by the Supreme Court while it is ruling on our lives, I'm not sure what advocacy Falkner thinks we are capable of. But more than that, advocating for minority interests is the LITERAL POINT of the EHRC. Instead, Falkner openly says that trans people should effectively fend for themselves while she leads a campaign against us. We may have been abandoned by press and politicians alike, but it is a different story on the streets of Scotland's cities. While anti-trans demos can, at best, cobble together a few Scottish Family Party activists alongside their 'feminist' compatriots, the rallies in support of trans liberation bring thousands to the streets. And as much as this ruling was about supposedly bringing 'clarity', things seem less clear than ever. Like so much facing us today, the 'trans debate' is part of a fight for our independence and autonomy against the vested interests of the wealthy and their friends in politics. But they will not win. Not just because we have the numbers, but for the simple reason that you cannot legislate a people out of existence. The Supreme Court's poor ruling is limited to the definition of women in law only. It could no more legislate the Earth to spin in the opposite direction than they could make trans people cease to exist.
