Are there different dialects of the Irish language?
There are 3 main dialects – Ulster, Munster and Connacht. Speakers of each dialect often find others difficult to understand, but this may have as much to do with regional snobbery than dialectal difficulties. At the beginning of the 20th century, Munster Irish was favoured by many revivalists, with a shift to Connacht. Irish in the 1960s, which is now the preferred dialect by many in the Republic. Many younger speakers of Irish experience less confusion with dialects due to the expansion of Irish-language broadcasting and the exposure to a variety of dialects. There are fewer problems regarding written Irish as there is a standardised spelling and grammar which reflects a compromise between various dialect forms. However, some Ulster Irish speakers find that Ulster forms are generally not favoured by the standard. Ulster Irish is spoken as a community language in the Gaeltacht of west Donegal. The dialect is often stigmatised in the Republic of Ireland, although all learners of Irish
