Do American English speakers understand British English speakers?

I work and have worked with a lot of British people over the years. There is no problem with the most standard accents and the differences in vocabulary are really minor: sometimes native speakers make a big deal out of them, but they are relatively few.

But you can’t answer with a simple yes or no.

It really depends on many things:

• the particular accent of the Brit speaking: some are more mumbly than others.
• How good a communicator the British English speaker is: how fast they speak, how well they enunciate…this is almost something that goes on an individual basis.
  
  In the past, I remember working from a woman from Lacastershire who I (and everybody else) had a very difficult time understanding. Partially it was her accent, sure: it wasn’t the typical accent you hear in movies or on CDs. But mostly it was just the fact that she spoke incredibly fast. She was very quick witted and funny. Her mind moved at lightning speed. The touble was, so did her mouth. But I’ve spoken to other Lancastrians(if that’s the word) and understood them well enough.
• Finally it also depends on the receptiveness of the American.
  
  Some native speakers, like myself, have little difficulty understanding British people. Others get hung up on the little things: the accent, a different word here or there, the turn of an unfamiliar idiom.
  It’s amazing how people will get hung up on these things and lose sight of what’s being communicated. People I can understand perfectly well can be completely unintelligible to the next American.
  
  I believe this is mostly psychological. It also happens to other non-native speakers when they encounter a foreigner speaking their language: some can understand well, others not.

Written May 16th 2016