Irish Language - Gaeilge

Lovely....there should be a few here interested in this.

Cool! Thanks asarlaí! And how is your nom du net pronounced?

A-sarlee and it's the Irish for wizard

Hey, cool... can you explain the pronunciation system for me? It's always been a bit of a mystery.

Excellent post, I would love to learn more.
Ceili

ire/english dictionary

www.crannog.ie


i have a link to a better one somewhere amongst this pile of clutter, i'm looking,,,,,

wow, good response - thanks

Nice one for putting up the dictionary Mikey -

Here's a few web sites with various info on the Irish language
These sites can explain grammer and pronunciation far better than I can.
Ceili, Rufio, little k, cavfancier ..enjoy !


Pronunciation guide and beginners course
http://www.contemporarypoetry.com/brain/lang/ -

Beginners course with sound files
http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/blas/learners/index.shtml

To listen to the Irish language on RTE internet streaming
half way down the page, drop down menu - select RnaG
http://www.rte.ie/


Feicfidh mé níos déanaí sibh (I'll see ya all later)
Ádh mór oraibh go léir (good luck to you all)
Slán
Asarlaí

Wow, thanks! I know what the next language I'm learning for fun is going to be!

Irish is a very precise language, leaving little to be assumed. In Béarla (English) for example, we can say "go for it" and the implied meaning is understood, but that phrase won't translate as Gaeilge (in Irish). In Irish, we need to know, "go where for what?"

But it is a magical and poetic language and well worth the effort spent to learn to speak!

Haha, I doubt that it's completely free of idiomatic phrases, or indefinite pronouns - there are some things that can only be expressed indfinitely. But what do I know. I am never going to understand this pronunciation, I swear - that course keeps spelling the "d" as being pronounced "t" when it very clearly said on the other page that it was pronounced "d". And it said that "bh" was pronounced "w" when in fact they pronounce it "v".

fordham university in nyc has a great irish studies course and a weekly saturday morning program on their radio station on gaelic/english translation. you can listen live for free....good music follows also.

www.wfuv.org

bh as "v" or "w" can deal with aspiration and eclipses. Aspiration is due to vowels preceding the letter b. Such as brog is "shoe" and is pronounced about as it looks. But, "mo bhrog" is "my shoe" and is pronounced "muh vrog".

You'd hear a "w" sound in the case of an eclipsed letter "f", where the letters bh are inserted in front of the letter "f" and the sound of the "f" is lost and replaced by a "w" sound. Can't think of an example off the top of my head just now.

The d also depends on where it's used, if it is long or short and if it's got a long or short vowel adjacent to it. Forever is "go deo" pronounced "guh joe". In other cases the letter d will carry a d sound.

It sounds awful, I know, but after a while it just sort of settles in and makes sense...kind of :wink:

tóraí what does your name mean?
Ceili

Well, that thing says that when it's aspirated, it's pronounced w too. And that's not aspiration, it's voicing, well, except for the w. And why does it say that d is pronounced t if it isn't?

Ceili - tóraí is the Irish word for seeker - the pronunciatin is toe-ree

rufio - which other site are you looking at on the differences in pronunciation?

One other thing that you can get into that makes a difference is regional dialects.

You have to pretty much pick one to learn and forget about the rest -- although you learn to recognize their differences -- until you become adept (which I am not, btw!) and what I am told is that once you can speak and understand one dialect well enough, you will get along fine in the others.

As an example, the phrase "go maith" meaning "fine" as a reply to the question "how are you", would be pronounced "guh my" in one dialect and in another dialect pronounced as "guh moy". That may be immaterial to you question, but I don't know what other site you're looking at.

It's the site that asarlaí posted. I listen to Altan, and I'm just trying to figure out how to follow along with their lyrics at the moment, lol.

Well, asarlaí posted a few, but do you bean the BBC site blas that has the Giota Beag lessons on it? If so, you are definitely dealing with the Munster dialect there .... as an example, you'll hear the "moy" for maith as opposed to the Ulster dialect where you'll heare "my" for maith.

It's been a long while since I listened to Giota Beag, maybe if you tell me which lesson you are hearing the discrepancy with the bh as w versus v sound I could go listen and try to help out.

I should probably post a disclaimer on my posts that I am also a learner: Tá mé ag foghlaim Gaeilge ( I am learning Irish) and that just because I post something surely does not make it correct and that other opinions ought to be sought. I'll always tell you when I am pretty much sure of something, though.

There are many different dialects and pronounciations. I wouldn't worry too much about the correct way for everything. Enjoy the sounds and wrapping your tongue around what you want to learn - it's enjoyable. Although I grew up learning Irish at school I was never a very good student. The one time it came in useful was when I was on a train here in Boston and two Irish girls were talking in Irish to each other. I was surprised to find I could understand some of what they were saying (I thought I'd lost it all) and it was a pretty funny conversation. At one time, I burst out laughing (they were discussing a particular male nearby) and they turned to look at me. Pretty obvious I had been listening to them and they thought they were safe!

My fondest Irish-speaking memory was a month spent at a Gaeltacht on the Aran Islands. We were not allowed to speak anything other than Irish - the locals spoke only Irish and it was fantastic. Made me appreciate the language for once.

a chairde (friends),

Sin dea-scéala (that's great news/good story) heeven, I won't even ask what the girls were saying about the guy on the train ...
Go raibh míle maith agaibh (thanks alot) Tóraí for the info agus (and) Mikey, I enjoyed listening to the Fordham University net radio.. In the archives I typed in 'Gaeilge' agus it came back with a good introduction to Irish program..Cool.

So yeah, picking up on what Tóraí agus Heeven said about pronunciation.
Don't worry too much about dialectual differences and odd spelling just enjoy the sounds and it'll start to make sense..

Irish in fact is quite regular once you have grasped the concept of ' broad and slender vowels and consonants' .... It's not anymore difficult than the much talked about English variations of the 'ough' sound - rough, though.

Go n-éirí libh (all the best to you(s)
Asarlaí