Irish language

The first question people ask me about my stay in Belfast is: Do you understand to people there? The answer still remains: Not yet. But it's getting better :).
The thing here is that Irish accent is really weird and hard to listen, especially when you've never heard it. There is very heartbreaking moment when you start to feel confident about your English because you read a lot or because you can watch movies and then you encounter Irish people. And you know all your effort for many years is for nothing :D. One of the first sentences you can hear here is in the shop and among international students it's really legendary. It is: Do you need a wee bag? The staff in shops always asks this. And it is so sad when you realize the meaning only after 3 weeks of listening to it. One would say it is quite simple sentence. But trust me. It is not! :D
Some of you probably don't know how the Irish accent sounds. My friend received beautiful message describing it perfectly. The message said:

Did you know that when you say "Whale Oil Beef Hooked" fast, it sounds like "We'll all be fucked" in an Irish accent?

Did you? I know now. Talking in University is quite fine. The university accent as I call it is understandable just after few days without bigger problems. But when you go outside of the university, there is enormous diversity of different accents. I found nice video where some of the basic Irish accents are nicely said. Still with not so strong accent. I also add a video with girl, which is speaking normal Belfastish. Especially the "This is ridiculous" sounds sooo familiar :D. When you talk to bus drivers or shop assistants, believe it or not, the accent is getting even much worse.

Another thing is local slang. I don't hear it much actually, but it is always handy to know what it means. Only the simple words as yes and no are not the way you would expect them to be. Or when you hear something like norn iron, it means Northern Ireland. And these words are kind of important to agree on something. So here I add a short vocabulary to survive in Belfast.

Aye - Yes

Nay, Naw - No

Wee - a little, something small (e.g. a wee bit)

It was great craic - It was fun

What's the craic? How's she cutting? - How are you?

It was a cracker - It was good

Deadly/Class - Awesome.

I'm wasted, steaming. - I'm drunk.

Banjaxed - Broken

Da - Father

Ma - Mother

Me - My (One of the most famous songs in Belfast is called Tell me ma)

Eejit - Idiot

Fiddle - Violin

Poke - Ice cream

Tae (pronunciation) - Tea

Tea - Dinner

Just to make this complete, everything is lovely and fockn' brilliant. People call you love even though they see you for the first time and everybody is their mate or fella. I really love the way they speak here. Everything is like singing and it is also not uncommon to hear here the scottish "r" so I don't feel so bad when I use the Czech one which is really similar.

Motto of the day: It's a great craic in Belfast!