Do you understand your language's dialects/accents or do you struggle with them?

[KostasKouvalis]

I still get shocked when I hear French people say they can't understand Quebecois or Cajun French, or that Levant Arabs can't understand North African Arabic or Mexicans can't understand Cuban, Argentinian or Chilean Spanish. Or Germans struggling with Swiss-German.

Though I guess I shouldn't, as I myself struggle with some British and Southern dialects. And once in Poland, some guy at the airport started talking to me in Silesian dialect and I couldn't understand a word and he thought I don't know Polish and started talking to me in English😂

But even some small countries have many dialects.

If you can't understand it, I don't know if it should be classed as a "dialect" at that point. But it's inconsistent, because Jamaican Patois is classed as its own language, when it's basically English with some slang, but Glaswegian isn't.

So why aren't Quebecois and Moroccan Arabic considered languages if they're THAT different and incomprehensible.

Though I've seen videos comparing Metropolitan French and Quebecois, and listened to music in both, and I don't understand why French people would struggle with it. Same with Louisiana French. There are some local slangs, but mostly they seem the same just different accent. I saw a French girl do an interview with a Louisiana guy, but then said she couldn't understand a word of Quebec French. My knowledge of French is very limited, and even I was able to communicate in Quebec, but the FRENCH girl couldn't?😂

Moroccan Arabic is still the craziest to me though, that no other Arabic speakers can understand it.

[purplepoppy]

Generally, yes, but old people tend to be the hardest. Their accents are strongest, and they'll often use terms that aren't common anymore or very localised. Sometimes it just takes a while for your brain to click over.

Welsh is a bit weird in that unlike English there's more respect and acceptance of dialects. You could never write something in a Yorkshire, Scouse, George, etc dialect in English. But it's perfectly acceptable to write in any Welsh dialect. It can cause headaches for officials when they don't know what word to choose and don't want to upset people. There were headlines a while back of some government think tank who had spent thousands of pounds and many hours debating 6 words only to get nowhere.

Historically if you wanted to learn Welsh you got streamlined into North or South dialect but these days the fashion is to teach about two to four dialects at once and that's before you even start with words we just make up as we go along.

[KostasKouvalis]

Damn😂

[purplepoppy]

Just spotted a welsh candy shop in Brooklyn USA called Fferins. Perfectly good north Wales dialect word but it's losin or melysion elsewhere. Some even borrow the french word bonbon and translate it to da da. I wonder how many welsh tourists storm in and tell him he's wrong.

[KostasKouvalis]

You're in Brooklyn?

[purplepoppy]

No I just saw the shop online Fferins of brooklyn

[KostasKouvalis]

Cambria (/ˈkæmbriə/) is a coastal town in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles along California State Route 1 (Highway 1). The name Cambria, chosen in 1869, is the Latin name for Wales (Welsh, Cymru).

[KostasKouvalis]

A prominent Welsh town in Argentina is Gaiman, located in the Chubut province of Patagonia. Settled by Welsh immigrants in 1865 to preserve their culture and language, the town is famous for its traditional Welsh tea houses serving te gales (Welsh tea), bilingual street signs, and historic chapels. Other towns in the Chubut Valley with strong Welsh roots include Trelew, Dolavon, and Trevelin, all of which form part of the historic Y Wladfa (The Colony) settlement.

[purplepoppy]

Fun fact. In welsh we've two number systems, the old way is only used for time and dates these days. But the main system we use comes from Argentina. Eg 31 old way "un ar ddeg ar hugain" (one on ten on twenty) while the Modern way is simply tri deg un (three tens one)

[purplepoppy]

Cambria is still used here, mostly as part of business names. It's a made-up medieval word and not proper Latin. The Romans simply used Cymru

[KostasKouvalis]

Still not as confusing as the French one.
Oh nice. Ugh. Figures😂

[Julie07]

No one can understand Quebecers 😂

[KostasKouvalis]

TRY IT.
No subtitles or googling the lyics

https://youtu.be/JvcEP0EjqIc?si=ljn-Oprwm5FRNdfL

[KostasKouvalis]

And try Cajun French

https://youtu.be/jm-_5vF7Zj4?si=AZeumR50o_tCOZE1

[Julie07]

I understood the first song. I didn't understand the second one at all

[KostasKouvalis]

Well, at least your Quebec argument is nullified😂

Ah written?

open.spotify.com/track/1aI05f5IBsLRocQIjV8C9E

Are you watching the Arsenal- St. Germaine game?

[andreasderjuengere]

In my German background I can handle all dialects.
In English it's very similar.
The only 'English' I struggled with until now was spoken by Capverdian... 'natives'.

[andreasderjuengere]

Oh well: Texan 'English' is a pain in the arse as well.

[Marissa4]

Sometimes I struggle to understand what they are saying.

[KostasKouvalis]

What language is it?

[Marissa4]

English which is my native younger and Italian. I’m not fluent in Italian.

[_Jenny_]

@KostasKouvalis I struggle with other languages

[beefcakebradybatson]

AAVE, supposedly our "language," is foreign to most black Canadians.

[KostasKouvalis]

I don't know what that is