Inaugurating the new, lovely subforum!

[Donegal]

Oiche mhaith!

   Cad 'é mar ata sibh? Is mise Dun na nGall, ta mé fiche a tri' bliain d'aois, ta mé Francach agus ta me i mo chonai i bParas.  Ta dalta ceol clasaiceach mé.  Is bréa liom ceol claisiceach ach ta sé obair deacair! Ta mé tuirseach anocht.  Nil mé go maith chun Gaeilge ach is bréa liom ag caint teanga seo agus ta athas orm le "Bulletin Board" nua seo.  Gabh mé leis scéal, nil mé go maith chun gaeilge.  Slan go foil.  Dun na nGall (changing my name to its Irish version for the occasion!).  

[ecne]

Oíche mhaith!

   Cad é mar atá sibh? Is mise Dún na nGall, tá mé fiche is a trí bliain d'aois, is Francach mé agus tá me i mo chónaí i bParas. Is dalta cheoil clasaiceach mé.  Is bréa liom ceol claisiceach ach is obair deacair é! Tá mé tuirseach anocht.  Níl mé go maith ag an Ghaeilge ach is bréa liom ag caint sa theanga seo agus tá athas orm le "Bulletin Board" nua seo.  Gabh mé leithscéil, nil mé go maith ag an Ghaeilge.  Slán go fóil.  Dún na nGall (changing my name to its Irish version for the occasion!).  

Tá mé go maith, a chara! Agus tú féin? Ní raibh mé ró-chinnte má a bhí tú ag iarriadh mé sin a dhéanamh, ach shíl mé go gcabhródh sé led' Ghaeilge. Dála an scéil, sílim go bhfuil do chuid Gaeilge go maith! Cá fhad atá tú ag foghlaim é?

Cuimhnigh, nuair atá tú ag iarraidh caint faoi na rudaí seo, baineann úsáid tú an chopáill:

1 - when introducing yourself
2- when talking about nationality
3- when talking about occupations
4 - when describing likes and dislikes
5 - when saying who does a particular thing
6 - when saying something or someone is the 'best' etc.
7 - when talking about someone's qualities, abilities or personality
8 - when talking about ownership

Ar ndóigh, tá tosca eile ann, ach...meh...déanfaidh sé láithreach bonn sin.

Sílim go bhfuil sé go híontach go bhfuil an chlár plé seo anseo. Tá súil agam go mbeidh pobal ag caint lé chéile an t-am ar fad.

Ar aon nós, tchífidh mé ar ball tú,

Le meas,
Biniaimín.

PS: Níl mo chuid Gaeilge iomlán go mór fada, mar sin, fáilte roimh cheartúcháin!  :wink:

[Donegal]

[quote="ecne"][quote="Donegal"]Oíche mhaith!

   Dála an scéil, sílim go bhfuil do chuid Gaeilge go maith! Cá fhad atá tú ag foghlaim é?

    Hum.  Nil sé go maith! I only understood about half of what you said mate, I'm that bad.  DON'T TRANSLATE though, I'll come back tomorrow and try and make sense of most of it.  "Ca fhad ata tu ag foghlaim é?" will mean "HOw long have you been learning it for" wouldn't it? Thosaigh mé ag foghlaim gaeilge le bliain no mar sin." Beidh mé ar ais amarach! I'll then try and understand more of your post! Slan go foilin.  Dun na nGall.    :)

[Beith]

Dia dhaoibh!

Wow! Forum nua dúinn! Maith an chailín! (Selene)
Tá súil agam go mbéidh an spórt againn bheith "ag súgradh" anseo le chéile!

Beannachataí ón Éirinn daoibh!

Beith

[caoimhin]

Dia dhaoibh all!

Hopefully, this will be a Gaelige/English thread.  I'm still working on chapter one...

Slan!

Caoimhin

[Donegal]

Maith an chailín! (Selene)

     I may sound daft, but I keep on thinking Selene is MALE and being surprised when people mention her feminity.  Sorry Selene but it's a fun thing of this board, that not many people have a very gender definite name!


     Dear, dear Caoimhin.  Don't worry, the great thing about Irih and Ireland lovers is that they tend to be either native English speakers or very good at speaking English! We could therefore use some English in here too, of course.  I was just trying to practice some Gaeilge with my thread.  What are you working on right now? The basics I suppose? Which books do you use? Please get back to me soon, I'd be interested to know.

    Ecne beidh mé ar ais nios moille.  I'll have a lot of work to do today, but I'll check your thread tonight and try and understand more of it.  Please, don't TRANSLATE it for me anyone, I need to fend for myself in this hard, Gaeilge venture!    :-) Slan go foil.  Dun na nGall.

[caoimhin]

Hi Donegal,

I'm reading "Learning Irish" by Micheal o' Siadhail.

SLOWLY...

Caoimhin

[ecne]

Ecne beidh mé ar ais nios moille

Hi Donegal.
You were probably thinking of gan mhoill. Níos moille = slower.

I think it's great that you're going to try and get through my post without a translation. I think it's a really good way to learn - in the Irish-only forum on Daltaí I've learnt a lot, because not having the option to just ask for a translation there forces you to look everything up in the dictionary and learn as a result. If you get stuck or are confused about something in particular though, I'd be more than happy to give you a hint or something. I find the easiest way to understand a sentence that I don't initially understand is to break it down into clauses, and then piece them together


Regards,
Biniaimín

[Donegal]

Ecne beidh mé ar ais nios moille

Hi Donegal.
You were probably thinking of gan mhoill. Níos moille = slower.

Hi, thanks for correcting! I'll go and have a look at your post now.  Caoimhin "Learning Irish" in meant to be an EXCELLENT, yet very hard book, like not too suitable for beginners.  I don't want to say anything stupid as I don't work with it myself.  I guess if you work slowly enough on it, it will prove an excellent resource though.   Cheerio.  Dun na nGall  :-)

[Donegal]

So.  Having re-read you post, I must say the part I found easier to understand was... well... the bit in English... Appart from that, is fuath liom focloir! They're so crap! Whenever you look a word up they go: "see..." some other word... it's that whole declension/grammatical thing.  Took me ages to look all I didn't know up... but it's good for my Irish, I guess.  So I think you're saying that you're fine, and asking me how I was (Bhi sé easca...) Then, you say you weren't too sure about something.  You weren't sure whether I needed help with my Irish, or something like that? Stupid dictionary confused me there.   But you think my Irish is good and ask me how long I have been learning it for.  

   Then you talk about the use of the copula, but I wasn't sure whether you were saying I used it properly, or whether I might need to learn it.  Then you say something about a way of doing something, which I think is still linked to Grammar, I seemed to recognise "Laithreach" meaning the present tense of verbs.  I wasn't sure what "bonn" meant, it had too many possible translations in the silly focloir!  :)

    Then you re-iterate how great it is to have this new board, and you hope you'll be able to talk to friends, companions of the community, or something along those lines? Then you say we'll meet again and in the PS you say you're Irish isn't very good yet, and you are "bidding welcome" to corrections of the way you speak.  I won't correct you anyway, this is about as much as I made out of this, and half of my "translation" is probably WRONG too. How right (or wrong  :oops:) am I?Anyway, oiche mhaith, tchifidh mé thu amarach.  Dun na nGall.  

[ecne]

So.  Having re-read you post, I must say the part I found easier to understand was... well... the bit in English... Appart from that, is fuath liom focloir! They're so crap! Whenever you look a word up they go: "see..." some other word... it's that whole declension/grammatical thing.  Took me ages to look all I didn't know up... but it's good for my Irish, I guess.  So I think you're saying that you're fine, and asking me how I was (Bhi sé easca...) Then, you say you weren't too sure about something.  You weren't sure whether I needed help with my Irish, or something like that? Stupid dictionary confused me there.   But you think my Irish is good and ask me how long I have been learning it for.  

   Then you talk about the use of the copula, but I wasn't sure whether you were saying I used it properly, or whether I might need to learn it.  Then you say something about a way of doing something, which I think is still linked to Grammar, I seemed to recognise "Laithreach" meaning the present tense of verbs.  I wasn't sure what "bonn" meant, it had too many possible translations in the silly focloir!  :)

    Then you re-iterate how great it is to have this new board, and you hope you'll be able to talk to friends, companions of the community, or something along those lines? Then you say we'll meet again and in the PS you say you're Irish isn't very good yet, and you are "bidding welcome" to corrections of the way you speak.  I won't correct you anyway, this is about as much as I made out of this, and half of my "translation" is probably WRONG too. How right (or wrong  :oops:) am I?Anyway, oiche mhaith, tchifidh mé thu amarach.  Dun na nGall.  

Excellent! Yep, you've got the gist of pretty much everything. Just to clarify anything you're not quite sure of, I'll provide a translation below  :)

Tá mé go maith, a chara! Agus tú féin? Ní raibh mé ró-chinnte má a bhí tú ag iarriadh mé sin a dhéanamh, ach shíl mé go gcabhródh sé led' Ghaeilge. Dála an scéil, sílim go bhfuil do chuid Gaeilge go maith! Cá fhad atá tú ag foghlaim é?
I'm well, friend! And yourself? I wasn't too sure if you wanted me to do that (give corrections), but I thought it'd help with your Irish. By the way, I think your Irish is good! How long have you been learning it?

Cuimhnigh, nuair atá tú ag iarraidh caint faoi na rudaí seo, baineann úsáid tú an chopáill:
Remember, when you want to talk about these things, you use the copula:

1 - when introducing yourself
2- when talking about nationality
3- when talking about occupations
4 - when describing likes and dislikes
5 - when saying who does a particular thing
6 - when saying something or someone is the 'best' etc.
7 - when talking about someone's qualities, abilities or personality
8 - when talking about ownership

Ar ndóigh, tá tosca eile ann, ach...meh...déanfaidh sé láithreach bonn sin.
Of course, there are other circumstances, but...meh...that'll do for now

Sílim go bhfuil sé go híontach go bhfuil an chlár plé seo anseo. Tá súil agam go mbeidh pobal ag caint lé chéile an t-am ar fad.
I think it's wonderful that this discussion board is here. I hope a community will be talking with each other all the time.

Ar aon nós, tchífidh mé ar ball tú,
Anyway, I'll see you later

Le meas,
Biniaimín. Grin

PS: Níl mo chuid Gaeilge iomlán go mór fada, mar sin, fáilte roimh cheartúcháin!  Wink

Le meas,
Biniaimín.

[Donegal]

Excellent, I'm pleased then!!!!! Go rabh maith agat a fhocloir!!!!  :wink:

[thaddeus]

Could someone tell me what dialect of gaelic is spocken in Galway, Ireland?

[ecne]

Could someone tell me what dialect of gaelic is spocken in Galway, Ireland?

Connacht Irish- Conemara Irish mainly, but I believe that there does exist a sub-dialect spoken on the border between Galway and Mayo which is closer to original Connacht Irish. You'd have to ask a connacht speaker for more info - it isn't my strong point.  :wink:

Le meas,
Biniaimín

[wyeuro]

Dia dhaoibh, a chuile dhuine,

Is iontach é an chlár plé seo!  Bhí mé in ann tuiscint beagnach ‘chuile short a raibh Biniaimín ag scríobh, ach bhí me ag foghlaim cupla rud, freisin.  
(I could understand almost everything Biniaimín wrote, but I learnt a couple of things too.)

Caoimhin "Learning Irish" in meant to be an EXCELLENT, yet very hard book, like not too suitable for beginners.

A Chaoimhin,
The book, Learning Irish is magnificent, and not very hard really.  I’m up to chapter 20 – took me two years to get there and I’ve been stuck there while other things needed my time and I’m just getting back to it, and yeah, it is punctilious, thorough, authentically idiomatic, and that’s the only thing that’s hard about it.  Also it gives you very solid grounding in use of copula, verb to be and verb-nouns, and prepositions, so there are a lot of things that other courses teach you straight away that you don’t learn until the later chapters with this book.  It’s a university level course designed for Yale university students, so you’re given a rigorous but realistic and totally authentic workout.  I was told I’d taken the hard road not long after I started and was told that Teach Yourself Irish was better, so I bought it, but I found it facile by comparison – for tourists - and went back to the slow accumulation of not just Irish words and grammar, but Irishness itself, that I was getting from O Siadhail’s course.  I would praise it till the cows come home so I’d better stop now!!!!

Could someone tell me what dialect of gaelic is spoken in Galway, Ireland?

Thaddeus, Cois Fhairrge is a Galway dialect, and it's the one I'm learning, from the book Learning Irish by Micheal O Siadhail, which we've been discussing here.  I'd recommend it, myself, to anybody, as I've said - totally excellent course, full of magic and music!!!!  

Slán
wyverne /|\

[Donegal]

A Chaoimhin,
The book, Learning Irish is magnificent, and not very hard really.  I’m up to chapter 20 – took me two years to get there and I’ve been stuck there while other things needed my time and I’m just getting back to it, and yeah, it is punctilious, thorough, authentically idiomatic, and that’s the only thing that’s hard about it.  Also it gives you very solid grounding in use of copula, verb to be and verb-nouns, and prepositions, so there are a lot of things that other courses teach you straight away that you don’t learn until the later chapters with this book.  It’s a university level course designed for Yale university students, so you’re given a rigorous but realistic and totally authentic workout.  I was told I’d taken the hard road not long after I started and was told that Teach Yourself Irish was better, so I bought it, but I found it facile by comparison – for tourists - and went back to the slow accumulation of not just Irish words and grammar, but Irishness itself, that I was getting from O Siadhail’s course.  I would praise it till the cows come home so I’d better stop now!!!!
/|\

     Hi, glad to hear you're enjoying it.  As I said, I heard it was very hard and people told me not to start with it, but I am planning to buy it and work with it at a later date really.  I'm afraid I haven't been practicing Irish lately (appart from my "conversation" on here) but I'm in the middle of my music exams at college and need to concentrate my energies on making those! Is trua sin, but I'll get back to Irish soon!  :) Slan go foil.  Dun na nGall.

[Beith]

Dia dhaoibh go léir!

Biniaimín! - tá alán meas agam ar do scilleanna mar múinteoir! An bhfuil tú ag múnadh chun obair? Bhí do léacht thuas an mhaith ar fad!! Ba ceart duit leabhair a scríobhadh!

Ba mhaith liom féin mo chuid nua-gaeilge a cur ar fheabhas ach ar an nóiméad sin, táim ag foghlaim an sean gaeilge/nó "luath gaeilge" agus cheapaim go bhfuil diffríocht mór idir an dá ceann (i ngrammadach, rialacha, na bríathra agus go mór mór -an foghraíocht). Táim ag ullmhú don scrúdaithe anois-(bhuel...ba cheart dom bheith ag ullmhú in ionad alán am ag caitheamh ar an idirlín mar seo!) - so b'fhéidir tar éis na scrúdaithe, béidh níos mó t-am agam chun cuairt a thabhairt agus caint leat agus lena daoine eile anseo. Tatnaíonn sé sin go mór liom.

Do gach duine: tá súil agam go mbeidh sibh ag baint taitneamh as an ghaeilge agus cuirfidh mé mo dea-guí chugaibh-se ~ go n-éirigh an t-Ádh libh leis. Is teanga an-a dheacair í go cinnte, ach bainfimid trial as, bheith ag caint agus ag cleachtadh lena cheíle sa forum seo.

(brón orm i gcás na míolta botúin thuas anseo - is tamaill fada é a d'fhoghlaigh mé an Ghaeilge sa scoil!)

mise le meas,
Beith

[Donegal]

Dia daoibh, ta ceist agam.

     I've got a farily stupid and uninteresting question on the possessive, which should really not require that much attention from me, but it kind of preoccupies me, somehow, so I thought I'd ask here (my question is too stupid for me to open a new thread on the "Daltai na gaeilge" board).  In the Ulster Irish book "Now you're talking", there is a short lesson about the possessive in a family context (mo mhathair, m'athair, mo mhac, etc.).  I am understanding how the possessive works in all persons, even though it's hard, but have a question about the word "inion", daughter.  As I understand it "His daughter", in Irish would be "A inion","her daughter" would be "A hinion" and "their daughter" would be "A n-inion".  Now, my stupid question is: many Irish people would pronounce "inion" "ee nee un" but in Donegal, one does not pronounce the "i" and would only say "nion" or "nee un", without an ee sound.  So the question is: how would one know in speech that I am refering to his daughter, her daughter, or their daughter, considering that, without the ee sound at the beginning of the word, "A inion", "a hinion" and "a n-inion" would sound the same? only thanks to context? Sorry, I know this is a stupid question, but I am so preoccupied with this I don't seem to be able to move on...  Thanks for helping.  Dun na nGall.    

[Beith]

Hi there Donegal, I guess Ecne can answer better because I think he speak Ulster Irish as native dialect. But in brief - firstly it's not a stupid question and you in part answered it yourself when you describe the initial mutations on the word as depending on whether a male, female or plural possessive pronoun is used, which would give you a clue (if you can catch it in rapid speak) because the h-mutation or nasalization would still be there if pronounced clearly. eg. a h'níon sound would be more indicative of a the daughter of a woman than a man or plural parents "a 'níon" in both cases (perhaps though with a longer N pronunciation of the nasal in the plural possessive).As said, Biniaimín can give a better pronunciation of the ulster dialect than myself - being a "southerner"!

Secondly and very importantly, understanding is not solely reliant on the single words themselves, but from the context in which the word sits - for example:

If someone is referring to "their daughter" ("they" being hypothetical Bríd agus Seán), then the person talking will have referred to them by names or as "they" in a preceding sentence, so you know who "they" are, to make sense of "their daughter".
Likewise if someone is talking about "his daughter", that person will have made reference to "the man" or to a man's name previously, so you know who the man is to whom the daughter belongs.

That's a rather convolute way of saying that it is the contextual detail that helps translation to make a conversation clearly understood and not just the genders of words - nouns, pronouns, etc alone. Very often you have to rely solely on context in order to translate something correctly, because of ambiguity of forms in written or spoken speech.



best wishes
Beith

[Donegal]

Go rabh mile maith agat a Bheith!

    Yes, I thought of all you said ("nion" with a longer n sound, "hnion", etc. and also of the context thing.  I wondered whether the Ulster dialect might have decided to "alter" the pronouns for that particular word, so it would be clearer.  I wouldn't put it past Irish grammar, in terms of that grammar's difficulty!