<p>This is not an issue that is limited to TAs from other countries. I had problems with understanding teachers 30 years ago, and not at a huge research university, either. I had a calculus professor from England. His command of the English language was excellent, but I still couldn’t understand him with his accent. I had business professors (full professors, not TAs) from India and while I’m sure they were brilliant, I didn’t understand a word they said. And I had a law school professor born and raised in south Georgia who was the hardest to understand of all of them. I used different approaches. I sought out students in the class who DID understand the teacher and got into study groups with them. In one case I went to the professor during office hours and one-on-one, I had better luck understanding him. He was also very aware that he was difficult to understand and willing to work with me. For the law school professor, I taught myself from the book (that often works better than the Socratic method anyway). At some point you have to stop wasting energy trying to transfer out and just work with what you’re stuck with.</p>