You have better Irish than most Irish people

[smmg]

When I worry that my Irish is bad someone usually says "don't worry, you can speak it better than most people in Ireland can!!" like that's supposed to make me feel better or something? You've just made me feel miserable about colonialism now. Is this supposed to make me feel good? Do other people feel good when someone says this to them?

Comments

[heleninwales]

It was a while before I realised that when people said, "You speak such good Welsh," to me it wasn't really a compliment. It meant that I sounded like a book. That was a long time ago now and though I'll probably never pass as a first language speaker, at least I sound properly colloquial.

Is that what might be happening with you and Irish?