How intelligible are Turkish and Azeri? I know they are close enough, but I wonder if it similar to Scottish English vs. American English or farther, more like Spanish vs. Portuguese?

cc @nostupidquestions@lemmy.world

  • syd@lemy.lol
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    10 months ago

    I learned English from mostly American sources and I can barely understand Brit English :) It’s not just words, the accent makes it harder too. I guess I would never understand Scottish one then.

    The Turkish/Azeri situation is close to this, at least for me.

    • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      10 months ago

      For a native speaker British and American English are probably at least 99% intelligible for the main dialects, though there are some regional accents that are less. Scottish is usually mostly intelligible but I’ve heard some Irish ones where I can only catch a few words here and there.

      • Jojo@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        10 months ago

        There’s I think a Tom Scott video where he interviewed someone with just the absolute thickest accent in a little Irish village, and he needed a translator from the village to mediate.