You couldn’t make it up!

[Dextrous63]

I'm sure Google translate, or some other language app would be able to identify a language and, usefully, translate it.

[klondike]

Lots of countries speak the same language. It takes a local to know if the person he is talking to is a local too. 

Even close neighbours spot non locals. I'd been talking to somebody at the clay ground who had borrowed my shotgun to try it out (sod was a better shot than me ever with a borrowed gun)  as he was considering getting the same gun when he got home. 

I said "I assume you're German" Oh no he replied Austrian. I mentioned I had been taught German by an Austrian at school. We chatted a bit (in English obviously) and he reckoned he had trouble understanding some Germans. 

Now I knew that some words such as ich (I or me) can be pronounced a bit differently depending on which part of Germany the speaker is from and obviously I'm well aware of Geordie, Scouse, Glaswegian and umpteen other accents here but never realised that there would be huge variations in accent depending on locale to the point they may be hard to understand in other languages too but on reflection its obvious that there must be.

[Alex]

I always found the further south you went in Germany, the harder it was to understand the accent - the opposite to here   

[Dextrous63]

I always found the further south you went in Germany, the harder it was to understand the accent - the opposite to here   

😬😬😬😬

[muddy]

I live on the Wilts  / Glos border .
When I first came to the area 50 + years back
I could barely understand the locals
They all sounded like the Worsels
Now it's very rare to hear such an accent .
The pace has been gentrified
It a shame really like so many things they are sinking into history .

[GrannyMac]

In my hometown of Dundee, the local accent is almost undecipherable to anyone from outside.  I struggle to understand the broadest speakers when I'm there now. Cannae stop the noo, Eh'm awa' oot fir meh messages. Eh'll get pehs.

I remember at school the children who spoke in the vernacular were corrected, but that hasn't happened for generations.  I thought it must have been helpful for some for future employment.   I guess it's not PC.  

[Scrumpy]

I struggle with anything pass the Watford Gap...

There are many TV series/programs that I have to miss simply because I have no idea what they are saying..

[Dextrous63]

I struggle with anything pass the Watford Gap...

There are many TV series/programs that I have to miss simply because I have no idea what they are saying..

One really should try to assimilate with the local languages and dialect.  That's why I've signed up to learn Arabic and Urdu.  It's the least I can do to make the natives comfortable with my presence among them.

[JBR]

One really should try to assimilate with the local languages and dialect.  That's why I've signed up to learn Arabic and Urdu.  It's the least I can do to make the natives comfortable with my presence among them.

Of necessity, Marge and I learnt a few words in Saudi Arabia, but I have no idea about, nor any intention to try to learn, any words in Urdu.  I hope to have gone to a better place before the UK becomes New Pakistan.

[klondike]

One really should try to assimilate with the local languages and dialect.  That's why I've signed up to learn Arabic and Urdu.  It's the least I can do to make the natives comfortable with my presence among them.

So commendable. I'm considering the same with Polish and Romanian but there are so many languages needed around here I can't stop at those. I think people like us should be applauded 

[GrannyMac]

One really should try to assimilate with the local languages and dialect.  That's why I've signed up to learn Arabic and Urdu.  It's the least I can do to make the natives comfortable with my presence among them.

Salam Alaikum 🙏🏼 

[Ashy]

Makes learning French and German at school a bit redundant.

[Dextrous63]

hal targhab fi alhusul ealaa baed manadil altanzif alati tastakhdimuha mae alsikiyn alkhasi bika?

[klondike]

Looks like my sausage finger typing before I've corrected some of it

[Dextrous63]

I'll translate it for you then...

would you like some cleaning wipes to go with your knife