Most people speak English as their first language, however, it may surprise some visitors that in some geographical pockets English is not the first language used for local communication, and the indigenous languages survive. These indigenous languages are generally of Celtic origin. Welsh is the most widely spoken of these and in some north-western parts of Wales it remains the majority language. Irish, Manx, and Scottish Gaelic are closely related Gaelic languages sharing much of the same base vocabulary. In the Channel Islands there are small numbers of Norman French speakers. Even in those areas, however, nearly everyone speaks some English and most speak it fluently.
There are considerable variations in accent and dialect, although this should provide no major obstacle to visitors with reasonable fluency in English however, it is incredibly common for an English native to not understand another from a seperate region - for example a Westcountry native in Yorkshire - do not be afraid to ask someone to repeat themselves. There are, however, dialects of English in certain parts that could be said to form distinct languages such as "Scots" and "Ulster Scots".
All official signs are in English (except entering from a ferry terminal where French is mandatory on certain signs), and where it is multi-lingual, they will have an additional language as well.
In recent decades, immigration has seen other linguistic communities establish themselves throughout the region, mainly in urban England.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Britain and Ireland
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Britain and Ireland - updated May 2024
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Britain and Ireland Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
