pebe said:
I usually have no problems with the spoken word. I can understand American, 'Oxford' English, Cockney, Birmingham, Scottish, Welsh, Irish......... et al and even strong foreign accents. Generally, pauses between phrases and the accent put on words help to reinforce the meaning of a sentence.
My local pub used to be run by Scots, with some Irish as well - their Scottish accent was very pronounced, but after a few weeks you soon got used to it :lol:
The Irish accents seemed less of a problem - but both the Irish and the Scots were always 'well lubricated', with the Irish perhaps having a slight lead :lol:
All the funny stories about the Irish are TRUE! - it's simply because they are NEVER sober - but a nicer group of people you couldn't hope to meet!.