An Indian professional working in London shared a relatable Instagram reel about struggling to follow meetings with British colleagues due to different accents, slang and speaking styles. Her experience sparked reactions online.
An Indian professional working in London has sparked a relatable conversation online after sharing how challenging it can be to follow workplace meetings when most of her British colleagues speak with different accents. Despite being fluent in English, she said varying accents, slang and the pace of conversations can sometimes make it difficult to fully understand discussions, take notes and participate confidently. Her light-hearted Instagram reel has resonated with social media users who have faced similar cultural and language barriers while working abroad.
Where Is The Subtitle Button?
Annapoorna Virdi shared her experience in a video posted on her Instagram account, @annather.life. In the reel, she explained that she lives in London and works for a British company where most of her colleagues are British.
She said that when she works from home while everyone else is attending a meeting from the office, following the conversation can become particularly challenging.
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“Whenever I'm working from home and there is a scenario where everybody else in a meeting is in the office, taking it from a meeting room and I'm the one on the screen, it becomes so challenging for me to really be in the meeting,” she said.
Virdi explained that her first instinct when her colleagues begin speaking is to look for subtitles.
“Because the moment people start saying their first few sentences instinctively my first reaction is where is the subtitle button how do I put it on how do I switch it on,” she said.
She added that the difficulty is not necessarily with the English language itself, as she considers herself fluent in English. Instead, different British accents and the way people speak can make it difficult to comprehend conversations, take notes and participate in meetings.
“I mean, it's not just the language. I mean, I'm quite fluent in English, but you know, the accents are so different. Yeah, I just need my subtitle button. That's it,” she said.
My Colleagues Are A Lovely Bunch
Virdi also clarified in the caption that her video was intended as a light-hearted take on her experience and was not a criticism of her workplace or colleagues.
“Can I get my subtitles button please? Also, my colleagues are a lovely bunch - and the company is one of the most supportive workplaces that there could be. this reel is purely a light-hearted take on the situation. thank you for all your lovely suggestions… interesting how everyone’s navigated the cultural / language / accent barriers in their own creative ways!”
Her post highlights a common experience among professionals working in a different country, where accents, slang and regional expressions can sometimes take time to understand, even for people who are fluent in English.
How Did Social Media React?
The relatable experience prompted users to share their own suggestions and experiences with accents and accessibility features.
One user commented: "You can turn on Live captions on Teams. It helps. I have partial Hearing loss so i have to read their lips in real life or turn on live captions."
Second user commented: "I get you, I highly recommend going into office or have a bit circle around and you start picking up slangs and accents, even a normal chat with your neighbours teaches so much. All the best girl"
Third user commented: "I understand you very well , especially if you have scottish individual it becomes quite hard to understand them due to a different accent."
The comments reflected how people working in multicultural environments often develop their own ways of navigating language barriers, regional accents and unfamiliar slang.
