Before I left for Ireland, I would joke to my friends about the language barrier. But I have noticed that there are more differences than I previously thought. Don’t get me wrong, Ireland is an English-speaking country, and only a few signs are only in Irish (most are bilingual), but I didn’t anticipate all of the different languages here! For example: I was at a pub last night and this German guy comes over to me and says “Amerikaner?” I reply (with my limited German) “Ja.” He starts the conversation with “Wie mögen Sie Irland?” to which I reply, “Ich spreche Deutsch nicht.” Unphased, this guy just keeps going, carrying on as if I understood. Luckily, his friend came back from the seomra (Irish for bathroom) and was able to translate the whole thing.
Another problem is the thick accents here. Sometimes the people are a bit difficult to understand, and they talk really fast! They’d put a 16-year-old valley girl to shame. The other day, my friend mistook a Scotsman for an Irishman and he got a bit of a lecture on the difference between the accents. I hope he never makes that mistake again.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comments:
First:
Alale are a very good band. Thank you for recommending them.
Second:
Yes, the accents vary a lot all over Ireland let alone the difference between a basic Irish accent and a basic Scots accent.
After a while you can tell not only whether someone is Irish or Scottish, but also where in their country they come from.
I'm really glad you're having such a good time there.
Post a Comment