I don't know if is already posted anywhere, but is an idea that I'm always wondering about...
Do you think that our native language make easier or more difficult for us to understand an specific foreign accent? E. g., I'm Spanish, and I'd like to know if Spanish people find "naturally" easier to understand and use let's say Irish accent than Australian accent; or if for Russian peopl in general Canadian accent is easier than Scottish accent.
If so, I suppose it has something to do with phonetics, right? Do you have experienced any of these equivalences?
Also, any signivicative differences between varieties (e.g., French people prefere Brittish, but Quebequois prefere Australian)?