Lughaidh wrote:
It depends if they are used to hearing other dialects. Now many speakers are, thanks to TG4 and Raidió na Gaeltachta. Before they existed it was harder, I think.
I think the difference between the Irish dialects is bigger than between the English ones, because in Irish, there are differences in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. In English it's mostly the pronunciation and parts of the vocabulary that are different, not much the grammar.
I agree with Lughaidh.
Before Irish radio and tv we wouldn't have had much opportunity to hear other dialects, we are well used to it now. We'd still have understood each other but some words wouldn't have been as familiar (like what the hell is a "fadooda"
). With English it's the accents mostly that are different. And some accents are hard to understand. I suppose if I wasn't raised with lots of Aussie tv shows in Ireland I'd find that accent hard too. I love the sound of it though
.