American English

I've been having loads of stupid little disagreements with a Canadian friend lately. Obviously, she speaks American English and I speak British/Irish English. It annoys me because when I talk to her I either have to use American words, or explain every sentence what the word I used means in American English (there is a surprising number of differences). It's like she expects me to understand every single word she says but when I use I word she hasn't heard before she looks totally confused and acts like I made it up or something. It's not THAT hard to guess at the words, used in context. She just doesn't make any effort and I think it's ignorant. Last night I was telling her something and I said '0.5' pronounced 'naught point five'. I repeated it about six times and eventually told her it meant zero. She said that it was a nautical word or something and I got pissed off and said 'no, that's the word' meaning the word we always use in this context. She took it as me implying my English was more correct and better than hers, which obviously I wasn't. I'm just sick and tired of having to change the whole way I talk so she can understand. British English isn't that hard, if you make an effort you can guess the meaning of nearly everything. Last night I also introduced a friend to her, Tara, pronounced the Irish way, and she didn't get it until I said 'Taira'. Should I just ignore it the next time she implies I think my 'version' is more correct, start speaking my normal way and not explaining anything, or carry on using American words?

county

speak the way you normally do,and always remember we are right and they are wrong:)

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Yea, in my experience, the Irish are the best speakers of English full stop, and thats not just my own bias, we in general have the bast grammatical ability and syntax usage.
American English is an abomination

casanova_kid

My English friends don't understand a thing I say.

tman

cut all ties with the dumb broad
it's not like she's even a proper american!

mike65

Get with the program!

Mike.

metrovelvet

You speak HIBERNO english and she speaks Canadian English. [I speak American English.]

It could be something in your tone that is being picked up as patronisizing. ???

I make an effort to use Hiberno English when talking to Irish people. It's not a big deal - in terms of vocabulary. Although there is one word which you have to be flexible on -ignorant - because no one but the irish uses it in that way so people can be forgiven for not getting it.

Frankly, your friend sounds a little dumb. Seriously who would not know what you mean?

seans keavey's superiority/inferiorty complex reflects a perceived attitude your friend is reacting to. I would say his post is ignorant - in a cross atlantic dual meaning way.

mickymg2003

It could be worse, You could have a scottish friend!!I Find it impossible to understand scottish people.

dundalk cailin

i get laughed at by frnech people who cant understand my English (never mind my french :rolleyes:) cos they learnt 'London' English,and i speak with a different accent! Kinda annoys me,after all Im the anglophone!!

YeatsCounty

I'm living in Montreal and I have had very little trouble with speaking to Canadians. I have to explain some Hiberno-Irish words that I am really used to saying, but that is to be expected.

You should continue speaking as you normally do. Screw her. She isn't trying and, sorry for saying, she doesn't seem the brightest. :-/

dundalk cailin wrote:

i get laughed at by frnech people who cant understand my English (never mind my french :rolleyes:) cos they learnt 'London' English,and i speak with a different accent! Kinda annoys me,after all Im the anglophone!!

I got laughed at by a bunch of Germans in Cork back in 2004 due to my accent. I still don't know why I didn't tell them to f*ck off.

dbnavan

My wife is american, there is no right ways they are two different dialects get over it, there is words used in Dublin, that make no sense to someone in say cork, or mean something different in cork,

Not such big deal. No right and wrong,

Binomate

Damari Angry Index wrote:

I've been having loads of stupid little disagreements with a Canadian friend lately. Obviously, she speaks American English and I speak British/Irish English. It annoys me because when I talk to her I either have to use American words, or explain every sentence what the word I used means in American English (there is a surprising number of differences). It's like she expects me to understand every single word she says but when I use I word she hasn't heard before she looks totally confused and acts like I made it up or something. It's not THAT hard to guess at the words, used in context. She just doesn't make any effort and I think it's ignorant. Last night I was telling her something and I said '0.5' pronounced 'naught point five'. I repeated it about six times and eventually told her it meant zero. She said that it was a nautical word or something and I got pissed off and said 'no, that's the word' meaning the word we always use in this context. She took it as me implying my English was more correct and better than hers, which obviously I wasn't. I'm just sick and tired of having to change the whole way I talk so she can understand. British English isn't that hard, if you make an effort you can guess the meaning of nearly everything. Last night I also introduced a friend to her, Tara, pronounced the Irish way, and she didn't get it until I said 'Taira'. Should I just ignore it the next time she implies I think my 'version' is more correct, start speaking my normal way and not explaining anything, or carry on using American words?

I think your friend is just slow. I've never ever had a problem with the North American deviation of European English and I've never ever spoken to an American who has ever had problems with The European Deviation of the European English.

Well when I first met her I thought she was intelligent, she studies Political Science in a fairly good university and knows loads about current affairs etc , but maybe she is a bit slow. She did rubbish in her exams here and couldn't understand why, I think she is maybe nowhere near the standard expected. She does often talk about 'secularization' meaning the separation of blacks and whites

Oh well instead of having the argument about English I'll just tell her she's thick and that's why she can't understand me! And BTW I don't even have a strong Irish accent because I lived in England for 10 years, so that's not even an issue.

MonkeyTennis

I taught english as a foreign langauge and no-one wanted the americans in my langauge school to teach them. They wanted to learn 'London' English. So i brought in a copy of eastenders on DVD for them to listen to. That 'learned them proper'

faceman

Damari Angry Index wrote:

Should I just ignore it the next time she implies I think my 'version' is more correct, start speaking my normal way and not explaining anything, or carry on using American words?

Maybe she/he fancies the pants off u and is trying to deal with it in the wrong way!

X-SL

OP: it's your fault. who says "naught". it's ZERO!!!!!!! lol

The Real B-man

Color - this annoys me its COLOUR!

Crucifix

I believe zero is the correct term. AFAIK naught/nought means nothing and zero is the digit 0. But it really is splitting hairs.

Malafus

Crucifix wrote:

I believe zero is the correct term. AFAIK naught/nought means nothing and zero is the digit 0. But it really is splitting hairs.

Either is acceptable, naught(or nought) refers to the digit 0 as well as meaning "nothingness". I would use naught over zero most of the time, however. And what of people referring to 0 as "oh"? I often do this with phone numbers, i.e. oh-eight-seven/six/five, but that's about all I'll use it for.

zuma

Political Science in a fairly good university

Which one???

naught also nought ( P ) Pronunciation Key (nôt)
n.
Nonexistence; nothingness.
The figure 0; a cipher; a zero.

From dictionary.com

They say naught on the BBC, all the teachers and pupils at my British school and my Irish school said naught. 'Zero point five' doesn't sound right to me at all, which I why I didn't think to use it in the first place.

Ruu_Old

bah, american english..have to deal with it every day, damn them and their "(h)erbs".

metrovelvet

Remember kids you say tomato...... Who gives a ****. Just try to understand each other instead of getting caught up in this petty crap.

My dad used to constantly complain about Americans who dont pronounce their Ts distinctly, completely oblivious to the irony that he had that awful Dub habit of not pronouncing THs.

So go on lads, say it THIRTY THREE AND A THIRD.

monkeyfudge

Surely both naught and zero are redundent in this case.

Can't you just say .5?

The_B_Man

well think about it like its a different language. would u speak engliosh to her if she spoke french?

The point is I DO speak the different 'language' 99% of the time, so she can understand me. The odd time I forget and use an British/Irish word she looks at me like I have two heads. Why should I make all the effort? I live with people from different countries (France, Germany, Spain) and I swear it's easier to communicate with all of them most of the time because they make an effort to guess what I've said, and vice versa. When I lived in France I just assimilated words by assuming they meant this or that, I didn't expect them to explain every word they used in case I didn't understand.

Manic Moran

There are two or three differences between American and English. One is the slang/argot, which is going to be different just by way of being. Then, you have the semi-official differences, such as Zed/Zee, Tap/Faucet, Torch/Flashlight, Hood/Bonnet, Trunk/Boot etc. And finally, you have the official differences, such as Color/Colour, colonisation/colonization, and so on. Basically, this last came about by a government created entity: The simplified spelling commission.

I'm in two minds on the matter. On the one hand, the thought occurs that the Americans couldn't be arsed to teach themselves the proper spelling of 'Alumininium' or 'Sulphur' and just got lazy. On the other hand, you also have recognition of the fact that language evolves. After all, we don't complain that I pratest with thee no longer in ye olde Englishe tongue. The difference between Shakespearean times and now though is that we have a better regimented education system and the ability to transfer information better: It -should- standardise the language more, and reduce the rate of change. However, America was colonised (Sorry, colonized) before this happened, so any changes are going to be well rooted over there.

NTM

dundalk cailin

I've found here that if i am stuck with translating an English word in to French,and I use the English word in a "french sounding" way,the French generally cop on to what im trying to say. i did that especially at the beginning,where i wwas basically lost most of the time..Its just recently if my classmates are talkin to me in English,and I respond and they dont understand, I use the french word..it turns out that they knew the English word but not in my accent, if you follow? and sometimes i think,well Im the person whose mother tongue is the English language! But i know its not meant in a mean way or anything,its simply because they've never met somone from dundalk!

PS that does not mean i have a real 'Dundalk' accent

cordelia

Its not that hard to pick up the Hibernian English, the argot, the slang, whatever we choose to call it. You live in a place long enough, make friends, and start picking it up. I've done it and so has anyone else who's lived here for a good period of time. Some people are intelligent but utterly clueless. She sounds like one of them.
I picked it up as a matter of self survival: when someone said they were after going to get their messages I thought they were going to check their emails. Oh...you mean you went grocery shopping! :rolleyes:

kiffer

Manic Moran wrote:

Tap/Faucet,

The tap vs faucet problem angers me some times.

so now I say spigot.

carrotcake

if your friend can't even accept that someone is called tara then she should just pack her bags and go home. she's living in a bubble

metrovelvet

Manic Moran wrote:

I'm in two minds on the matter. On the one hand, the thought occurs that the Americans couldn't be arsed to teach themselves the proper spelling of 'Alumininium' or 'Sulphur' and just got lazy. NTM

Ok MM this annoys me. First of all, America is a huge conglomerate of different nationalities trying to learn a new langauge. To refer to a "proper" English just seems to me, snobby and elitist, which is of course something inherited from you know who.

I suppose for you there is a "proper prononciation" like the Queens English.

So, like Latin which evolved into French, Italian, and Spanish, English too will do this, because of, guess what, not the empire in which the sun never sets, but the internet, which is dominated by American English.

Hydroquinone

You say your Canadian friend looks at you like you've two heads when you use Hiberno-English. This suggests to me that you are in her physical company when you talk, rather than it being by e-mail or on some sort of computer voicey thing (dead technical, aren't I? ) or whatever.

Are you and she in Ireland or in Canada? Because if you're both in Canada, you'll have to suck it up and keep explaining it to her, or better yet, try and pick up some of the local phrases and vernacular. But that cuts both ways; if you're both in Ireland then she needs to cop on and get out more and meet other people, because I doubt very much that everyone else would pay the smallest bit of attention to her looking squiggle eyed when she doesn't understand. Especially if she's always at it. They'll just think she's a bit of a dim foreigner. Unless she's gorgeous, of ocurse, in which case there'll be lads queueing up to explain things to her.:p

Manic Moran

metrovelvet wrote:

Ok MM this annoys me. First of all, America is a huge conglomerate of different nationalities trying to learn a new langauge.

No excuse. I've found that the 'best' English is almost invariably spoken by foreigners. My mother's first language is Greek, and she speaks better English than most people. My old platoon sergeant is from El Salvador, he's an English teacher and again, speaks better American than most locals. Even though he uses American spellings and terminology, he is aware the idiosynchrasies of European English. It is a factor of education. The 'multiple nationalities' thing won't wash either, as American English is the de-facto language of the US: They will learn whatever is the language being taught in schools. I learned a more Belgian dialect of French, not because I was a foreigner in Belgium, but because that was what the school was teaching. 'Neunant' instead of 'quatre-vignt-dix' for example. The very existance of a comprehensive, universally accessible education system should in itself radically slow down the rate of change between American and English, except when the standards are changed, which is what happened with the Simple Spelling Commission. Grammar rules particularly should not be changed. Having different words for the same thing is unavoidable at this point. Different spellings has been mandated by government. But it is now common practise in the US, say, to put an apostrophe in pluarls. "Lots of car's." This is simply a fault in education, not an issue of making things simpler.

So, like Latin which evolved into French, Italian, and Spanish, English too will do this, because of, guess what, not the empire in which the sun never sets, but the internet, which is dominated by American English.

I have already acknowledged the tendancy of language to evolve over time. The difference is that back when the romantic languages were evolving, there was little standard education, little exposure to standards. Ah, if only more Roman Legionnaires had spent the time to correct people's spellings of "Romans Go Home" on the walls. As it stands now, the British have their education system, the Americans have their own, and never the twain will meet. American 'contamination' through popular culture is inevitable, but I strongly doubt it will ever completely override the Queen's English. Words in common usage with different pronounciations I doubt will ever meet up. Take 'Garage'. It's used so frequently and heard by kids at young enough an age that I cannot envision the European pronounciation of it ever being replaced by the American one. Worse, it's not one of those American changes that makes any sense. It's not as if they say "I'm going to take out the garbaaahje"

NTM

metrovelvet

Yes MM that putting apostrophes in with plurals is just wrong but the other side are as guilty and it's not part of official American English. I think they should scrap the apostrophes with contractions. They seem superflous. But in NYC that is not common. Maybe out in stonerville California!

So I would see that more as a grammatical error than spelling because the apostrophe changes the meaning of the sentence As for different words for the same thing, well they are known as synonyms and I think it's great to have options in language.

My particular pet peeve, and I find that this mistake happens with people who are not so great with grammar but like to appear to be, is this one:

Susan will come back from the store and give her purchases to you and I.

I is a subjective pronoun and is misused here as the indirect object. That annoys me far more than Me and Susan went to the store. One is wrong. The other is wrong and pretentious.

Argh.

Who uses the Queen's English? It may have authority but in practical usage is it widely used?

The only main grammar difference I know of between American English and British English is which verb to use when it comes to collective nouns.

Eg. The family was in bed. The family were in bed.

The first one is very American. In British English the first one would mean the family are all in the same bed, which is why they would use the plural past of to be so as to indicate that each member of the family went to a different bed.

I really don't like the term contamination when it comes to language. It seems to be a word thrown around by purists and originists. I like that language evolves, it means we are evolving and it's moving along with our realities.

There's a lot of foreigners here in nyc who dont speak any english at all so I don't know where your getting the people who speak the best English are foreigners. You mean the ones who were educated in Swiss boarding schools. Oh yeah and there't lots of them around!!

lodgepole

I lived in Toronto for 12 months and travelled the entire east coast of the country.

Canadians speak, in terms of both pronunciation and spelling, a very close form of English to the English. They use some "American" terms such as sidewalk, but for the most part do not.

In fact I found myself to be far less forgiving of them when they didn't understand some ridiculous Irish slang i'd use than they were of me when I had trouble with pronunciation or definition.

bonkey

Damari Angry Index wrote:

She said that it was a nautical word or something

Which would be knot, not naught/nought. Its pronounced differently to boot.

What amazes me is that no-one has pointed out yet that 'ought should be familiar to speakers of American. I've heard a lot of references to years of the first decade of the 20th century in the form of - for example - "ought six". Only ever heard it from residents on the western side of the water though.

I'm just sick and tired of having to change the whole way I talk so she can understand.

I might be asking a dumb question, but if you're sick and tired, then why continue?

British English isn't that hard, if you make an effort you can guess the meaning of nearly everything.

Effort, eh? I think I might spot where the problem comes in. People, in my experience, are all-too-often not willing to put effort into what they consider a language they are fluent in.

Only the other day, I heard someone complaining about phone-support. It wasn't even a language difficulty - the person on the other end of the phone had (by the complainer's own admission) perfect english. It was just the "damned sing-song accent" that got to them - they had to (gasp) concentrate to understand a language they consider themselves fluent in, and considered this simply intolerable.

jc

bonkey

metrovelvet wrote:

My particular pet peeve, and I find that this mistake happens with people who are not so great with grammar but like to appear to be, is this one:

Susan will come back from the store and give her purchases to you and I.

I is a subjective pronoun and is misused here as the indirect object. That annoys me far more than Me and Susan went to the store. One is wrong. The other is wrong and pretentious.

And how hard is it to drop the second person from the sentence to see if it scans? Who would say "me went to the store" or "...and give her purchases to I" ???

There's a lot of foreigners here in nyc who dont speak any english at all so I don't know where your getting the people who speak the best English are foreigners.

Woof.

After you complaining about others' use of grammer, I feel obliged to point out the horrendous misapplication of logic you're guilty of here.

Saying that one group (best english speakers) is contained within another group (non-native speakers) has no implication in the other direction other than that some of the larger group (non-native speakers) make up the smaller group (best english speakers).

Logic is no more difficult than grammar. Indeed, the absence of exceptions should make it easier

jc

PlasseyMinstrel

My two cents, or two cent here in Europe:

I have a lot of American friends so I have all too much experience of this issue. Most Americans, particularly one annoying one I'm currently living with, make no effort to try to translate what we say in our Hiberno-English way to their way of thinking. I'm aware that they use synonyms of these words more commonly but that's no excuse for not even trying. I've often been on the receiving end of a stare as if I've two heads and it smacks of ignorance. Most Americans have a serious superiority complex and it is because of this that they see the language as their own and won't accept our words as being correct, and demand we conform to their manner of speaking. I'm not saying we are correct, just different. When I talk to them, I second guess anything I don't understand and appreciate that variety is the spice of life. In my experience, they do not.

The discussion on the evolution of language is an interesting one and I appreciate that a more wordy vocabulary enriches our conversation. However I am of the opinion that many differences, misunderstandings, etc., are as a result of laziness on the part of the Americans.

One thing that really gets me is when Americans incorrectly simplify English for the benefit of non-native English speakers. I live in a house with Irish, American and Dutch people, as well as a Frenchman and a Swedish man. A number of times, I've come across one of the Americans explaining the differences between certain similar words to the Dutch girls incorrectly. This annoys me as they are passing on their own mistakes to these people.

As for the Tara/Taira thing, my girlfriend's name happens to be Sara. I've tried a number of times to explain how to pronounce it because pronunciation of names is important to me. My name is Neil and 21 years into my life I'm sick to the teeth of being called Niall or Noel no matter how many times I correct people. Sara (Sah-rah, she's of Italian descent, its not Sarah) aslo has a pet hate of being called Say-rah. The only other option with the Americans was Saw-rah. This may sound trivial to some people, but it can be a very personal thing... its one of my buttons!

Overall I think most of this comes down to laziness.

metrovelvet

I just wrote a lengthy response which got eaten up by something.

Bonkey-I was reporting that the PRETENTION behind a certain grammatical misshap annoys me. Poor grammar only annoys me when it contorts the meaning and the author gets mad at you for misunderstanding when it was his or her mistake that led to to the bad delivery of information. That pisses me off. So don't get too excited about pointing things out to me.

As for your first comment, it's not hard at all. I don't know why people don't do it.

As for your spelling, well I could go off on you, but I am a crap speller myself so I won't.

As for the Sahra vs Sayra - isn't that more about accent? Even within the US that's regionally determined. But im glad to see you have the sense to judge an entire nation of people with a population of over 100 million based upon your experiences with a few housemates.

A playful note on spelling in English based on Shaws comments about English.
http://www.alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxwhat04.html

Manic Moran

After you complaining about others' use of grammer, I feel obliged to point out the horrendous misapplication of logic you're guilty of here.

Saying that one group (best english speakers) is contained within another group (non-native speakers) has no implication in the other direction other than that some of the larger group (non-native speakers) make up the smaller group (best english speakers).

DINGDINGDINGDING!!! We have a winner.

I said the best English tends to be spoken by foreigners, not that all foreigners speak the best English.

My guess is that it comes from them having to sit down with the books and actively learn the different language, as opposed to us native anglophones who pick up the majority of our language skills by common exposure regardless of if that exposure is 'correct' or not.

NTM

PlasseyMinstrel

metrovelvet wrote:

As for the Sahra vs Sayra - isn't that more about accent? Even within the US that's regionally determined. But im glad to see you have the sense to judge an entire nation of people with a population of over 100 million based upon your experiences with a few housemates.

I'm not saying they're all the same, I'm just saying what my experience of them is. I've friends/acqaintances in Massachussetts, New York, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Missouri, Virginia, Michigan, California and Wisconsin and I've met the family or friends of many of them. I think thats a pretty reasonable sample to look at.

As for the accent thing, yes, that does determine how they're used to pronouncing a name, but the same could be said for people calling me Niall, it doesn't make it correct. Her name isn't Sarah, but they won't make the "ah" sound that is actually used in her name. I can say Sayra, Sawra, Sahra, whatever and I take a good stab at my European friends' names if they're not the most obvious or don't fit into our style of linguistics. What I'm saying is they won't even try to call people by their correct name, just draw it into one they recognise. Sorry to make a big deal of it, but it really pisses me off.

phantom_lord

sean_keevey wrote:

Yea, in my experience, the Irish are the best speakers of English full stop, and thats not just my own bias, we in general have the bast grammatical ability and syntax usage.
American English is an abomination

From experience I'd agree with that.

metrovelvet

Ok let me give you some examples of who I feel speaks [or spoke] some of the best English in the US.

Maya Angelou, Tom Wolf, Cormac McCarthy, Thomas Pynchon, Arthur Miller, ok ok David Mamet, JFK, Martin Luther King Jr. John Updike, and the list continues. So, from what I can see the best speakers of American English have been Americans.

I can't think of a single person whose speaks English as a second language is on par with any of the above listed. [Joseph Conrad maybe.]

Ding ding ding? Is that your standard?

Well, then I don't know what to say.

county

Manic Moran wrote:

DINGDINGDINGDING!!! We have a winner.

I said the best English tends to be spoken by foreigners, not that all foreigners speak the best English.

no,totally flawed point imo,people who speak english as their first lauguage speak it better than a non english speaker

Forgot who asked, but we're in neither Ireland nor Canada. We are in Spain

Which would be knot, not naught/nought. Its pronounced differently to boot.

Not in her accent. She fails to realise that my accent is not the same, and that I distinguish between knot and naught.

I might be asking a dumb question, but if you're sick and tired, then why continue?

Why continue what? If you mean changing the way I speak, she doesn't understand any other way so communication is difficult. If you mean continue talking to her at all, I'm not going to dump her as a friend because of this.

I agree with most of what PlasseyMinstrel said. Don't mean to generalise but I know a lot of Americans as well and often they think their way of speaking is the only way and don't even try to understand anyone from another country. This isn't always true, as I have relatives in New York who understand everything Irish or British, which just underlines how little effort most people put in. I know that with my friend, she seems incapable of 'assuming' or second guessing, the usual way of learning a first or second language. Any word I use is obvious by the context, I think, but if it's one she doesn't know, she has to ask what it means. I grew up watching Sesame Street and reading American books and just absorbed the vocabulary by guessing the word from the context, just like most of us do. Nobody seems to have a problem watching Neighbours, even though it's Australian English. It just isn't that difficult. BTW I grew up in England and Ireland, my accent and vocabulary are neutral and fairly standard - many foreign students have told me I am easy to understand. If someone had a really heavy Belfast accent, for example, like my dad, and used loads of local words, I could see where the problems arise because it takes some getting used to but if not, why is it so hard?

Blisterman

I find there's some Hiberno english words that I say that confuse English people, like press for cupbord.

Manic Moran

county wrote:

no,totally flawed point imo,people who speak english as their first lauguage speak it better than a non english speaker

That depends to a great extent on how they applied themselves to their studies. You and I speak whatever sub-dialiect we were exposed to as we were going up, modified by anything we happened to have learned in school. I have a few more Americanisms than most Irish people, but a lot more Irishisms than most Americans. Those who take the effort to study the English language learn the language as codeified in the education system, free of any region-specific derivations. The very fact that they were not exposed to the language before studying it in the more sterile environs of the classroom means that they have no bad habits or colloquialisms to unlearn.

Thus, though we may conversationally be far better at speaking English than the vast majority of foreigners, with a larger vocabulary than almost all, those relatively few foreigners who have applied themselves to actively and thoroughly learn the language by studying the language instead of relying on common exposure to it will speak a more pure and better form of English than we do, particularly when it comes to grammar. English is a very complex language, with, for example, a stupid amount of irregular verbs. Far more than French or German, if the repsective thickness of photocopies in class are anything to go by. Yet I would be hard pressed to know which English verbs are irregular. I just know how I think I'm supposed to use them. I was certainly never presented such a list in English class, I was astonished when I saw it in the hands of a French student taking ESL.

NTM

Head The Wall

The name of the language (english) itself implies that it came from our neck of the woods and they should be aware of that.

Living in the US at the moment and I make the effort not to use the Irish slang etc that I know they will not be used to and won't understand. I think it's just a common courtesy when you are in another country. Sounds to me like your friend should be doing the same.

Most Americans as has been said already will pronounce any word the way they have been taught doesn't matter if you tell them fifty times how to pronounce it. For a field test show them your name in Irish and ask them to read it out. I guarantee they won't get it right and even if you tell them how to pronounce it they still won't be able to do it!!!

MorningStar

The strange thing is the Americans actually spell words correctly and we spell with retence. Many words spelt with silent letters or not as they sound was done later. The purists claimed historic meanings to words that didn't exist and then forced in route words and spelling. The Americans being poorly educated starting writing the words to back as they sounded which is actually correct.

I still no very very few words that have two means in the different dialect that would be in anyway be in regular conversation.

I agree the irish use or "ignorant" in Ireland is really odd.

Althought the american inability to say numbers is really annoying. "road one eighty" "you mean one hundread and eighty" "no, one eighty" The other one is solder pronounced "sodder" in the US where did the L go?

Siogfinsceal

The Irish do speak english the best. I know an estonian family who were moving to Oz they moved here for a year first so their children could learn proper english. The way I see it Ive had the same problem with colleagues - my take on it is that when I go to Canada or America I will accept their language and customs as they are and not critiscize them - I expect them to do the same when they are here. I cant tolerate an america colleague telling me I dont speak correctly 'ahm like for sure really well when you come to live in this country have some respect for how we speak'