Movies or TV shows with Irish accent?

Question

Hi!

I'm moving to Galway, Ireland next year and I speak English (American English) very well, but I have quite a few problems with understanding the Irish accent. I was hoping you could recommend some shows or movies to watch so I could practice hearing it before I get there.

Thank you so much!

Answer 1

Father Ted, very funny. Any films set in the west of Ireland, like The Field, but NOT Far and Away, Tom Cruise's accent was terrible.

You could also try the radio - google radio stations in Ireland, or radio stations in Galway, see what you find online.

And the accent in Galway city is not that strong.

Answer 2

"In Bruges" is availible in the US it has to irish accents, bare in mind neither are from galway.

Try www.rte.ie i don't know if it'll work for you but you could be able to watch irish tv shows, the news even

Answer 3

Father Ted or Killinaskully.

(also VERY funny!!!)

heres some links:

father ted --->

http://www.fathertedonline.ukf.net/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foFXj7pEj...

killinaskully --->

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrlbjIhX1... (in this clip he is a traveller so dont be alarmed at his accent, we dont all talk like this!!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killinaskul...

***remember these are comedies!!! life isnt always like this in ireland!!! ***

Dont worry, these are country accents ... the people from the town are a lot easier to understand! trust me!! i would also recommend learning a few or the phrases too if i were you!! :)

(ps. 'howya' - means 'how are you')

Fair City is a soap opera set in Dublin City and is also worth a watch!

http://www.rte.ie/tv/faircity/

Check out the RTE website, it has all the irish programmes!!

http://www.rte.ie/tv/index.html

Answer 4

fr ted

or listen to galway radio stations

http://www.galwaybayfm.ie/

just remember that most of the people on the station have elocution lessons, and most of the people you meet will have thicker accents, but this is a starter.

Answer 5

Waking Ned Devine

The Boys from County Clare

The Quiet Man (not John Wayne or Maureen O'Hara's accents)

The Wind That Shakes the Barley

Answer 6

Basically just use your own accent , most irish find that a fake accent is patronising, just be yourself

Answer 7

Well, to start off easy and for a few  laughs try to get your hands on the "Father Ted" series. Genuine Irish accents there but not too strong. The national broadcaster is at www.rte.ie and you can get podcasts of radio shows there which might also help. The documentaries might be good to start as they'll usually have a newsreader type who will be easy to understand and interviewees who might not be.

All in all though, I doubt you'll have many issues. Most Irish people are pretty weasy to understand though we do tend to speak softly and quickly. you'll adjust quickly. Every now and then you'll meet some auld fella you can't understand at all - don't worry most Irish people can't either :) Have fun - Galway's a cool town!

Answer 8

What most people , that are not  from Ireland  don't realize is that there is 32 county's in Ireland and basically 32 accents .

                - Note there are sub-sections in there county's

since you are going to Galway , in my opinion you have it very easy compared to you moving to Cork or Kerry .  I am from Dublin even i sometimes have trouble making out what they are saying .But just please ! keep it in the back of your mind if you still do not understand what the person is saying to you just ask them to repeat it slower ; simple as . But anyway ill just tell you what you can do to have a better understanding

of the accent , like everybody is say listen to radio stations .

But only from Galway as it is relevant to you . A movie you can watch is The quiet man , p.s this is just alright for learning the accents , it is a really great movie :] .

         Once you listen to the radio station for about a week you will see a  improvement . So once you do that you should be set . I will just say it again " keep it in the back of your mind if you still do not understand what the person is saying to you " , oh ! and one more thing , if you move into any country research their history , their culture see what makes them tick you know ? ill start you off with are culture by giving you links to wiki pages on are national sports hurling and gaa . like baseball and football for you .

Good luck on the new move hope it works out for you !

Answer 9

When I was trying to practice a fake Irish accent I would just google "Live Irish Radio Stations" and just listen to them, imitate them as best as I could!

You could just try to figure out what they're saying.

Good luck.

Answer 10

when you get there ask someone to say  33and a1/3.  You will crack up laughing.

Answer 11

Ballykissangel  the show that made Colin Farrel famous (I am not sure it is spelt like that ....have a look on IMDB)  was very popular in the UK

Answer 12

Father Ted :D

Answer 13

I wouldn't recommend Foyle's War to brush up on your Irish accents, seeing as it's a British produced programme, starring British actors set in Britain during War World 2 - the only thing Irish about it is the lead characters surname  

This is a link to our favourite Irish radio station:

http://www.rte.ie/2fm/

Answer 14

Heya,a lot of films will have fake irish accents e.g.:p.s. I love you...I cant actually understand the accents in that and i'm irish!!

I reccommend The Panel,it's irish comedy at it's best and you'll get to hear real accents :)

You'll find loads on youtube,here's one:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WGJfOD0mPbM&f...

Good luck!

Answer 15

None come to mind aired in the USA, although PBS may still be airing Foyle's war.  In any case, your issue is a temporary one.   I have found that their speech is something you can readily get used to.  Like the USA it too has an element of regionality.  Dundalk, sounds a bit different from Galway, and folks from the north sound different too.  You will pick it up quickly.  Don't forget also, that we sound a bit strange to them, so limit your use of slang.  Enjoy...it's a great and beautiful country!

Edit 1) You said tv...how about radio?  You can pick up RTE and others (2fm is good) using radiolocator.com.  Using the "country" pulldown menu, select Ireland.  If you want to hear the speech and catch up with the news, try a podcast of "Morning Ireland" on RTE.

Link to site:

http://www.radio-locator.com/

Answer 16

Look up RTE on the web and look at a few programmes, i reccomend Fair City which is an Irish soap opera or you could just listen to irish radio channels