01-29-2014, 07:42 PM
The people of various countries clearly understood Jesus fine, showing that there was not great difference among the various Aramaic dialects (especially not to the degree that one should be called "Syriac" instead of "Assyrian Aramaic", much like Jesus's dialect is "Galilean Aramaic" and not "Galiliac"). Jesus clearly was able to converse in Assyrian Aramaic, Samaritan Aramaic, and Judean Aramaic with no problem. I'm sure that the biggest difference between Galilean and other Aramaic dialects was the accent. Sure, there would be some vocabulary and grammar differences, but it couldn't be that much. Mandaic is an example of one of the few dialects that would probably be harder for Aramaic speakers to figure out, but I'm sure a native Aramaic speaker would figure it out eventually.