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Little Mix experience language difficulties in the U.S.

Written by . Published: June 10 2013

British girl band Little Mix have come up against translation troubles during their promotional trip to the U.S. as American audiences fail to understand their strong regional accents.


The female foursome was crowned champions of the British version of The X Factor in 2011 and recently broke into the U.S. market with its debut album DNA.


The offering hit the number four spot on the US Billboard 200 chart after its release last month (28May13), the first top five entry by a British girl group.


However, despite their chart success, the girls - Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, and Jade Thirlwall - admit that, in addition to not understanding them, American fans frequently struggle with the pronunciation of the band name, often mis-labelling them Little Mic.


Thirlwall tells Britain's The Sun, "I have to slow right down and speak better or they can't understand me."


Edwards adds, "Although everyone understands us on the whole, there is some confusion about our actual name for anyone who's not already a fan. People approach us and ask... what our name is. When we tell them Little Mix, they're like, 'Huh? Little what? Little Mic? Spelt Mic?' And we're like 'no, no - m-i-x.'


"It's really hard because they just don't get it. It's a bit of a barrier, I guess, but otherwise we're doing fine."

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