He's one of the few people I heard speaking Irish that hasn't a distinct English accent, mainly noticeable in the pronounciation of R. At least this is my impression, not being a native English speaker.
Yeah most Irish people speak Irish as if it was English (even the teachers). They aren't taught about the languages native sounds and phonetics properly. And the r's are always English r's instead of the Irish broad (tapped) and slender r's. Listen to older native speakers for examples of how the language should sound. Sadly it is currently a minority of Irish speakers who actually sound like they are speaking Irish and not English when they speak. And most of them are in the now tiny Gaeltacht communities who are still being forced to emigrate and move to the cities (where the language ends up lost within a generation or two) due to problems with housing availability for local Irish speakers and lack of suitable employment close to home.
He's one of the few people I heard speaking Irish that hasn't a distinct English accent, mainly noticeable in the pronounciation of R. At least this is my impression, not being a native English speaker.
Yeah most Irish people speak Irish as if it was English (even the teachers). They aren't taught about the languages native sounds and phonetics properly. And the r's are always English r's instead of the Irish broad (tapped) and slender r's.
Listen to older native speakers for examples of how the language should sound.
Sadly it is currently a minority of Irish speakers who actually sound like they are speaking Irish and not English when they speak. And most of them are in the now tiny Gaeltacht communities who are still being forced to emigrate and move to the cities (where the language ends up lost within a generation or two) due to problems with housing availability for local Irish speakers and lack of suitable employment close to home.
dísréad le Séamas Barra Ó Suilleabháin
One cannot help but draw comparisons between this erudite President and another less gifted.