Morning Azzy.
When I was over there a few years ago I got the impression I needed subtitles.
Not very many people could understand what I was saying most of the time. I was often asked to slow down and it took a few days to get it sorted. I'm guessing it was more to do with how we string our words together to make one word out of many.
At one point I was in a store in a mall, trying to buy a LA Lakers singlet for my son. It was going all pear shaped until I tried my best effort american accent. All of a sudden I was understandable?