Learning a language is excellent for you ... go for it!

Lavandula

Thank you!
For fun I took the DuoLingo test for the next step above beginner and did very well....I think they make is easy on purpose!!

Will keep on with it, slowly!!

dialects are a problem the world over, most of the people you will meet are basically into customer service and will try to stick to the core language. Plus, once you are happy with the core language you have the benefit of discovering the dialect because you can finally hear it.

Most people will only speak dialect with people they know fairly well. In my town, people who speak dialect with family and friends will try to speak their best Italian with people they only have a nodding acquaintance with. Dialect is a kind of comradely way of talking to your home buddies.

When I lived in the Netherlands, there were some people from my office who were all from the same town. At the cafeteria lunch table they sat together and spoke dialect with each other. The rest of the time they spoke standard Dutch to Dutch people and English to everyone else.