You can't study English in Scotland, 'cause you won't understand the accent!

[acroyear]

Story from The Scotsman:

A Russian student refused entry to Scotland to study English was told by Whitehall officials she would have found the Scots accent difficult to understand.

The extraordinary statement was made in documents sent to the un-named women by Foreign Office officials when they refused her entry to the UK last summer.

"You cannot satisfactorily explain why you have chosen to attend an English course in Scotland rather than your options of Oxford or Cambridge, where you should face less difficulty understanding a regional accent," officials stated.

The visa request was refused on other grounds as well (like she hadn't studied english in Russia either, and her financial means were suspect), but still, it shows quite a bit of gaff on the part of London which though they acknowledge was an error on their part, they won't apologize for.

Comments

[katrinb.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of reading about James Herriot, telling a Russian school teacher that she spoke better English than he did - "Considering my Glaswegian upbringing, it was quite true." (or something similar - I don't remember the exact quote).