You Think You Speak English Until You Hear Adele Speaking

You know how it goes. You’re scrolling through social media, feeling pretty good about yourself, when suddenly you stumble upon a video of Adele giving an interview. She’s laughing, she’s cracking jokes, and you’re… lost. Totally, utterly lost. It’s like the English language just evaporated from your brain, and you’re left staring at the screen wondering if maybe you’ve never actually understood English at all.

And then you see the caption: “You think you speak English until you hear Adele talking.”

Ouch. It's funny because it's true, right? But let's dive a little deeper, because there’s more going on here than just a bunch of Cockney-infused vowels and dropped consonants. This isn’t just about language; it’s about class, representation, and how media shapes the way we think we “should” speak English. Let’s get into it.

The Adele Effect

Okay, here’s the thing: Adele’s accent is a working-class London accent, often referred to as Cockney or Estuary English – accents that come with all sorts of quirks. Glottal stops, slang that feels like it doesn't belongs in an English textbook, and a rhythm that’s less “Queen’s English” and more “pub singalong.” It’s not just what she says – it’s how she says it. Adele’s voice is like music, but not the kind that’s been autotuned for international airplay.

For those of us who didn’t grow up with those sounds (and by “those of us,” I mean pretty much everyone who didn’t learn English by watching ‘EastEnders’ on loop), it can feel like she’s speaking an entirely different language. That’s the joke, right? You think you know English, but the minute Adele opens her mouth, you’re suddenly questioning everything. You’re playing a game of Mad Gab, except no one’s going to tell you what the answer is.

But why? Why do we find this so jarring? Let me introduce you to our old friend, Received Pronunciation.

RP, The Media Darling (And the Villain of This Story)

For years, RP has dominated British media. It’s that "crisp, clean," upper-middle-class accent that makes you think of BBC broadcasts, Shakespeare plays, and tea served in a cup so small you question if it’s really worth the trouble. This is the accent of prestige. The accent of authority. The accent that every ESL learner has had burned into their brain by YouTube tutorials and language apps. It’s the British accent that’s been exported globally as “the way English should sound.”

And guess what? Adele’s accent ain’t that. Not even close.

Adele’s accent, with all its ain’ts and gonnas and vowels that seem to slide into each other like a jazz riff, is a direct counterpoint to everything we’ve been taught to expect from British English in the media. And that’s why, for so many of us, it feels “hard to understand.” Because we’ve been trained to think RP is the default, and anything that doesn’t sound like it? Well, it must be an error.

But is it? Or have we just not been listening to the right voices?

The Real Punchline: Why Accents Like Adele’s Are the Exception

The reason jokes about Adele’s accent work so well is because her voice is still an outlier in the media. Working-class accents like Cockney have historically been underrepresented or outright marginalized in British media. For decades, if you wanted to sound like you “knew what you were talking about” on TV, radio, or in films, you put on an RP accent. This created a divide – one where working-class accents were either the punchline or completely absent from serious spaces.

But Adele? She’s unapologetically herself. She didn’t clean up her accent when she got famous. She didn’t “fix” it. Instead, she brought it with her to every interview, every award show, every press junket. And that’s where the joke takes root. Because we’ve all been conditioned by media to think that English sounds like RP, and when it doesn’t? We feel disoriented.

The problem isn’t Adele’s accent. The problem is that we haven’t been exposed to enough different Englishes.

But let’s be clear: it’s not on Adele to change the world’s perception of her accent. If she ever decided to code-switch on TV to be more accepted, that wouldn’t be wrong. In the same way, ESL speakers working on “accent reduction” (or as I prefer, “accent acquisition”) shouldn’t be blamed for doing so. We all navigate a world where certain language varieties hold more power than others, and nobody should be forced to put themselves on the front line of this fight.

So What Does This All Mean? (And How Do I Stop Feeling Dumb When Adele Talks?)

Well, for starters, maybe we should stop assuming that RP is the only “real” English. Adele’s accent, like countless others, represents a vibrant, dynamic form of English that’s just as valid – if not more interesting – than the upper-class version we’re so used to hearing. It’s not Adele’s fault that the media has conditioned us to expect all Brits to sound like they’ve just walked out of Buckingham Palace.

And maybe, just maybe, it’s time for more diversity in how English is represented on screen and in our social feeds. More accents, more dialects, more voices that reflect the rich, complex reality of how English is spoken across the world. After all, language isn’t just about words – it’s about identity, culture, and class. And there’s a lot of power in the way we speak.

So next time you hear Adele talking and feel that twinge of confusion, maybe don’t panic. Lean into it. Listen to the rhythm, the playfulness, the depth in her voice. Because that’s English, too. Even if it doesn’t sound like the textbooks.

"You Think You Speak English Until…"

Social media loves to make fun of Adele’s accent because it catches us off guard. But maybe that says more about us than it does about her. The dominance of RP in media has made accents like Cockney feel "difficult” to ESL speakers, and even to native English speakers who are more susceptible to mainstream English media’s judgment of what’s “proper.” When all you hear are “polished” accents that represent a narrow slice of society, it becomes easier to see accents like Adele’s as less refined, less educated – when really, they’re just less represented.

But we can change that. If you want to break free from those preconceived notions, try exposing yourself to a wider variety of accents in your daily life. Watch films, shows, or interviews featuring speakers with different English accents, including native and non-native accents like variations of the Australian accent, the Indian accent, the Spanish accent, and even your own. Each brings its own unique flavor to the language, reflecting the diversity of English speakers around the world. Follow creators, listen to podcasts, and embrace how these accents shape English in ways that textbooks and Hollywood just can’t capture. You’ll be surprised at how quickly they stop sounding difficult and start sounding like the English you know, only richer.

So, let’s take the joke, but also question why we’ve been taught to laugh at it in the first place. Because if there’s one thing Adele’s proven, it’s that her voice – accent and all – is worth listening to. Even if you don’t catch every word at first. Even if it makes you think you don't speak English, until… you do.