I'm surprised to read this whole thread and not see any mention of Irving Welsh. When I studied abroad in Wales, I read Trainspotting, which is written in the E

I'm surprised to read this whole thread and not see any mention of Irving Welsh. When I studied abroad in Wales, I read Trainspotting, which is written in the Edinburgh flavor of Scots. To an American, it was almost as much effort as reading Spanish. Speaking of Wales, if my Welsh roommates were talking amongst themselves, their own flavor of English (distinct from Welsh, which they also spoke) was almost completely unintelligible to me. Perhaps less from grammar and vocab as much as an entirely different cadence and very different vowels.