Ireland is the only place I've ever been that had so many accents in such a tiny amount of room. Even if you could understand Galway dialect, that's no garuntee you'll understand Cork. And to be honest, you probably won't understand either anyway. I've got grandparents in Cork and i still don't understand them, even after so many years. It's like you have to learn a whole other language to live in Ireland between the "Gowanyabuya!" at the GAA matches, to learning the volcbulary "savage," and "legend". I could not believe my ears.
Not saying that i haven't adjusted, I think I've done quite well, picked up a few phrases or two of my own, but I can't imagine the transfer students coming to learn english here. They've learned every correct use of the grammer, every proper punctuation, every adjective in its own context, and they're suddenly thrown into a shower of, "That's so legd," and "Feckin Hell,". I can't even start to imagine how complicated it must seem to them. It's like Ireland has taken english and made it have a whole new meaning, and it's not even like it's the language Irish (cause no one seems to speak it as far as i can see accpeting when my friends are forced to learn verbs and the appliances in the kitchen).
"What are ya on about?" that's another one that I've taken to. "What's the Craiq?" often used as well. Someone should write a guide to the Irish English language.
I know...talk about hard! I always felt bad for people who learned English as a second language, because they are actually able to speak it properly (unlike the rest of us), but they get teased for being so "correct."
ReplyDeleteIt was so funny, when I first moved here, my dad and I took a walk and we met this old Conamara man, and he and my dad tried to have a conversation. Neither of them could understand the other, but I could understand them both. Ha! It was hilarious to listen to.
Oh, I have another story too. My friend was learning Irish and went on a trip to a really Irish community. They heard the guys in the local pub, and they couldn't understand a bit of what they said...turns out they were speaking English, but their accents were really strong.
A guide like that would take a lifetime, don't you think? I mean, you'd have to literally go everywhere in Ireland and listen to the locals, just in case they had slang you hadn't heard beofre, even if you were born here. Plus, there's that other class of Northern Irish folk...
All my life I have tried to fix my vocabulary so that my American friends could understand me, because why would you put the shopping in a boot, and what is cutlery, oh do you mean silverware? And when we were doing each other's nails and I couldn't think of the word for Q-tip, so I had to say 'you know the stick with the fluffy cotton stuff on each end,' and they looked at me like I was stupid... There's a certain freedom in calling things what I learned to call them from my Irish mum without appearing ignorant.
At least seeing people in person, you can attempt to read their lips, but on the phone? Not so easy.
i totally know the feeling. everybody laughs cause i say i want to go in the lift in america, everybody laughs cause i can't say the word "can't" properly in Ireland. i'm an outsider to all.Forever an American Irish girl.
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