Difficulty with Irish accents abroad!

Kev_2012 · 02-05-2012 12:43PM #1

Just wanted to see what other peoples experiences are as regards people from other countries having difficulty with your Irish accents/slang (assuming you have one!)

I'll go first, in Liverpool, we went to McDonalds for some grub the second we got to the city. We paid for our food (albeit after the staff nearly had a heart attack when we handed £50 notes to pay!), and a friend of mine asked for salt.

The girl behind the counter literally hadn't a clue what he was saying! And others working there couldn't understand either, so myself and another lad tried to explain but they still didn't understand us. It was hilarious! But then we just said "what do you generally put on chips with vinegar" and they copped it. Think it was because of how much emphasis we put on the 'lt' at the end whereas they pronounce it like "sauw" or something.

Anyone else have problems with this?

mikemac1 · 02-05-2012 12:49PM

Ask an English barman for a Rock Shandy and prepare to be met with a blank look

Ask the barman for a bag a taytos and you'll get the same look

Poor Brits, they don't even had red lemonade

ejmaztec · 02-05-2012 12:49PM

Kev_2012 wrote: »

Just wanted to see what other peoples experiences are as regards people from other countries having difficulty with your Irish accents/slang (assuming you have one!)

I'll go first, in Liverpool, we went to McDonalds for some grub the second we got to the city. We paid for our food (albeit after the staff nearly had a heart attack when we handed £50 notes to pay!), and a friend of mine asked for salt.

The girl behind the counter literally hadn't a clue what he was saying! And others working there couldn't understand either, so myself and another lad tried to explain but they still didn't understand us. It was hilarious! But then we just said "what do you generally put on chips with vinegar" and they copped it. Think it was because of how much emphasis we put on the 'lt' at the end whereas they pronounce it like "sauw" or something.

Anyone else have problems with this?

Can you repeat that, I don't know what you're on about?

Kev_2012 · 02-05-2012 12:52PM

ejmaztec wrote: »

Can you repeat that, I don't know what you're on about?

Sure!

Just wanted to see what other peoples experiences are as regards people from other countries having difficulty with your Irish accents/slang (assuming you have one!)

I'll go first, in Liverpool, we went to McDonalds for some grub the second we got to the city. We paid for our food (albeit after the staff nearly had a heart attack when we handed £50 notes to pay!), and a friend of mine asked for salt.

The girl behind the counter literally hadn't a clue what he was saying! And others working there couldn't understand either, so myself and another lad tried to explain but they still didn't understand us. It was hilarious! But then we just said "what do you generally put on chips with vinegar" and they copped it. Think it was because of how much emphasis we put on the 'lt' at the end whereas they pronounce it like "sauw" or something.

Anyone else have problems with this?

mikemac1 · 02-05-2012 12:54PM

Kev_2012 wrote: »

and a friend of mine asked for salt.

The girl behind the counter literally hadn't a clue what he was saying! And others working there couldn't understand either, so myself and another lad tried to explain

I can't believe this, it's a ridiculously simple word

Were the two of ye drunk and slurring your words?

Kev_2012 · 02-05-2012 12:54PM

mikemac1 wrote: »

Ask an English barman for a Rock Shandy and prepare to be met with a blank look

Ask the barman for a bag a taytos and you'll get the same look

Poor Brits, they don't even had red lemonade

Really? They dont know what rock shandy is? Thats weird!

In Canada actually, in pizza places they have meals where you get a pizza slice, drink and chips.

Must have caught me out about 4/5 times!:(

ejmaztec · 02-05-2012 12:55PM

Kev_2012 wrote: »

Sure!

Just wanted to see what other peoples experiences are as regards people from other countries having difficulty with your Irish accents/slang (assuming you have one!)

I'll go first, in Liverpool, we went to McDonalds for some grub the second we got to the city. We paid for our food (albeit after the staff nearly had a heart attack when we handed £50 notes to pay!), and a friend of mine asked for salt.

The girl behind the counter literally hadn't a clue what he was saying! And others working there couldn't understand either, so myself and another lad tried to explain but they still didn't understand us. It was hilarious! But then we just said "what do you generally put on chips with vinegar" and they copped it. Think it was because of how much emphasis we put on the 'lt' at the end whereas they pronounce it like "sauw" or something.

Anyone else have problems with this?

That's much better.:D

Kev_2012 · 02-05-2012 12:55PM

mikemac1 wrote: »

I can't believe this, it's a ridiculously simple word

Were the two of ye drunk and slurring your words?

Nope! We literally were only off the plane, we hadn't been drinking yet! Was at about midday or something! She genuinely had no clue what we were on about. A friend of mine from yorkshire also didnt understand us either!

mikemac1 · 02-05-2012 12:57PM

Maybe the girl wasn't English herself

Helix · 02-05-2012 12:58PM

the opposite of the thread, but i no longer have the ability to tell the difference between a canadian accent and an irish accent unless i REALLY pay attention

Kev_2012 · 02-05-2012 12:59PM

mikemac1 wrote: »

Maybe the girl wasn't English herself

She had a thick scouse accent and so did the others that were there! I know most people can't believe this but it's probably because of how flat our accents are. I'd say Dubs would have no problems but try our accent on and see how you get on haha. :cool:

coddlesangers · 02-05-2012 01:01PM

Engerlish people don't say salt, they say sawwwt. Try it using the same accent as bianca from eastenders, great success is assured.

bwatson · 02-05-2012 01:01PM

Why would you use slang when talking to someone from a different country? Isn't that being needlessly difficult when you know there might already be issues when it comes to understanding accents and dialects?

FloatingVoter · 02-05-2012 01:02PM

Kev_2012 wrote: »

She had a thick scouse accent and so did the others that were there! I know most people can't believe this but it's probably because of how flat our accents are. I'd say Dubs would have no problems but try our accent on and see how you get on haha. :cool:

Without turning this into a city v country thread - some rural accents can be hard to understand even within Ireland...especially in a crowded chipper at lunchtime. That said, "salt" is pretty universal. Unlike the "taytos" thing which is a trap anyone could fall into.

Kev_2012 · 02-05-2012 01:02PM

Helix wrote: »

the opposite of the thread, but i no longer have the ability to tell the difference between a canadian accent and an irish accent unless i REALLY pay attention

Actually, when I was in Toronto, the thing I noticed was that the Irish tend to slow down and speak in a strange tone! But when Irish spoke amongst each other, they sped up the conversation and spoke normally! I ended up having to really slow my speech and change the tone I spoke in otherwise they could understand me!:)

Wall E · 02-05-2012 01:02PM

OP I can't see how Scouse/English could not understand salt, were you really drunk

or have you a really thick Limerick accent

. When I was on holidays when I was about 15 English lads had difficulty in grasping me using the word grand, "a shure its grand". The employee could have been foreign as stated above

SteoL · 02-05-2012 01:02PM

Kev_2012 wrote: »

mikemac1 wrote: »

Ask an English barman for a Rock Shandy and prepare to be met with a blank look

Ask the barman for a bag a taytos and you'll get the same look

Poor Brits, they don't even had red lemonade

Really? They dont know what rock shandy is? Thats weird!

In Canada actually, in pizza places they have meals where you get a pizza slice, drink and chips.

Must have caught me out about 4/5 times!:(

So what were chips? Crisps?

jester77 · 02-05-2012 01:03PM

Just goes to show how crap the Irish education system is. We should be learning languages like Liverpudlian and Glaswegian instead of Irish!

Conbhar · 02-05-2012 01:03PM

I remember when i was younger my relations came over from America and they hadnt got a clue what i was saying but it was more to do with me speaking so fast or so they told me. Rite enough when i slowed my speech down they they had no problem understanding me at all

Kev_2012 · 02-05-2012 01:08PM

bwatson wrote: »

Why would you use slang when talking to someone from a different country? Isn't that being needlessly difficult when you know there might already be issues when it comes to understanding accents and dialects?

Not necessarily slang that you would only expect Irish people to use. There is a few words used in everyday conversation that you take as proper english and others may not understand. Fizzy drinks are called "pop" in canada. I had trouble asking for the bathroom over there as well because they call it a "wash room" just simple things like that, even "hoover" instead of vacuum cleaner!

FloatingVoter wrote: »

Without turning this into a city v country thread - some rural accents can be hard to understand even within Ireland...especially in a crowded chipper at lunchtime. That said, "salt" is pretty universal. Unlike the "taytos" thing which is a trap anyone could fall into.

Yeah that's true, but I tend to slow my accent down whenever I leave Limerick ( I'm from the city BTW

) because I know it might be difficult to understand sometimes, but sometimes you get caught out! Yeah I found the salt one very unexpected! The Taytos one catches everyone out at some stage! I get caught out a bit for saying tackies instead of runners

kylith · 02-05-2012 01:10PM

I think that we do tend to speak quite fast, and this, coupled with an accent, can make it quite hard for foreigners to understand. Thinking about it I think I do tend to speak slower around foreigners.

ball · 02-05-2012 01:12PM

I always forget that foreigners don't understand what "your man" and "your wan" mean.
An English girl had to stop me telling a story to tell me that your man wasn't her boyfriend

onlyrocknroll · 02-05-2012 01:12PM

In my experience Irish people are amazingly bad at softening their accents and avoiding Irish slang when speaking to foreigners.

A boss in a place I used to work in once gave the staff a big speech about making the effort to speak clearly to a new Polish employee who had very little English. Then he turned to the guy, trying to be friendly and said...

"I'm in the doghouse with my old doll"

in his fairly strong Cork accent.

I've never seen such a look of abject confusion on a person's face.

Elba101 · 02-05-2012 01:15PM

When I was working in England I was telling some poeple a story and said that my dad gave out to me. They hadn't a clue and all asked did "to give out" mean the same as "to put out". Said my dad ain't no peado!

They couldn't understand how that could mean "to tell off". Crazy Brits.

BraziliaNZ · 02-05-2012 01:16PM

Surely when people are abroad they adopt their manner of speech to better suit non-Irish people? Haven't you watched enough British or American TV to not get a shock when you say "grand" or whatever and they don't get it? OMG they couldn't understand my very local colloquialisms when I was in England! Stop the lights!

WoollyRedHat · 02-05-2012 01:21PM

mikemac1 wrote: »

Ask an English barman for a Rock Shandy and prepare to be met with a blank look

Ask the barman for a bag a taytos and you'll get the same look

Poor Brits, they don't even had red lemonade

I've asked for a rock shandy in pubs before, never mind my accent, they just don't know what one is, which is a criminal offence tbh. As are the prices they used to charge for one

Jimoslimos · 02-05-2012 01:24PM

I was in a class/lab recently (in England) and made a mistake on a graph I was drawing, asked the girl beside me for a 'rubber':eek:

Moment silence and look of bewilderment from her.....

Realised and quickly corrected myself and asked for an eraser. Eye-contact avoided for remaining few hours:o

mikemac1 · 02-05-2012 01:24PM

Kev_2012 wrote: »

Yeah that's true, but I tend to slow my accent down whenever I leave Limerick ( I'm from the city BTW )

In Limerick, all skangers are scobes and all gardaí are shades

kevohmsford · 02-05-2012 01:29PM

I went up to a bar in London last year and asked for a pint of Carling. The barman thought I said curry. Ended up with a curry and a pint. Worked out ok in the end.

St.Spodo · 02-05-2012 01:29PM

Most of us in Ireland, including me, pronounce ''three'' incorrectly as ''tree'', but then the English pronounce it as ''free'', so they're fúcking wrong as well.

kfallon · 02-05-2012 01:30PM

When abroad just keep saying 'Turty-tree and a turd' and you will forever be loved by those who inhabit the country you are visiting!

Also good for a laugh are the following:

Thursday
Thought
Thief
Throw
Through

etc etc

Difficulty with Irish accents abroad!

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