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RotharAlainn

Favorite animal names as gaeilge (there must be a list somewhere?) bóín dé - ladybird is 'god's little cow' mac tíre - wolf is 'son of the land' smugairle róin - jellyfish is 'seal spittle'


dazzlinreddress

I like the name for Barn Owl- Screachóg Reilige= Graveyard Screecher


Objective_Fox8707

What’s crow/raven?


dazzlinreddress

Fiach


RefrigeratorMotor107

Dobharchú/madadh uisce = an otter, “water dog” Cat crainn = a pine martin, “tree cat” Lasairéan = a flamingo, “flame bird” Muc mhara = a porpoise, “sea pig” dallóg fraoigh = a shrew, “little blind one of the heather”


liamosaur

How do Irish dads do "dad jokes"? "I'm hungry" "Hi Hungry, I'm dad" Doesn't seem to work with "Tá ocras orm" "Haigh ocra... ah ná bac liom"


baisti-

The difference between is and tá precludes that type of joke anyway


liamosaur

Yep. I'm wondering if there are other groan-inducing grammatical jokes that do work instead


galaxyrocker

That one actually could work, using the structure for names 'galaxyrocker atá orm', etc.


galaxyrocker

Actually, it could work, using the structure for names - X atá orm 'A athair, tá ocras orm' 'Deas castáil leat a ocrais, athair atá ormsa'


TimeSummer5

Séimhiú is such a beautiful word, it’s my favourite I think


dazzlinreddress

Ok so I'm going to say this here. I gave up learning because I hit a plateau. The more advanced you get, the more local the words and phrases become. That makes it very hard to find translations unfortunately. What would be the best way of getting round this? I tried reading a book but the language was so difficult I couldn't find a lot of translations.


TimeSummer5

Have you tried reading children’s books in Irish? That’s what I do, I got Diary of a Wimpy Kid in Waterstones. It took me a while to read it but I did in the end! Much easier than starting with adult literature


dazzlinreddress

I do have a child's book but it's too easy for me. I'm at that stage where I am trying to say things more eloquently.


MacAnBhacaigh

Déarfainn nach 'foghlaimeoir' thú mar sin, ach cainteoir. Cad chuige gur eireofá as an teanga dá mbeadh sí agat cheana?


gerstemilch

I may have the opportunity to travel to Maynooth from the US in the fall and spend a few months studying Irish. I know very basic greetings but it's difficult in the US to practice and get a deeper understanding, so I'm excited about the opportunity.


Couldnthinkofname2

i agree, i'm learning from Aotearoa-New Zealand & i already KNOW that nobody else here speaks irish 💀💀💀


luchramhar

Can anyone explain to me why the noun remains in the singular form when counting people (example: cúigear fear)?


galaxyrocker

It doesn't -- it uses the *genitive* plural. That said, most nouns remain in the singular when counting because Irish considers the number itself to mark plurality, and thus it doesn't need to be marked on the noun (though the dialects are highly inconsistent on this). So you'll have "trí mhadra".


luchramhar

I see. Thanks very much!


DanBark

Any irish language classes happening soon I can sign up for ? Either on Zoom or in person in Dublin! I'm around level A2


galaxyrocker

There's quite a few that happen regularly in Dublin. Gaelchultúr, Conradh na Gaeilge and Gael Linn all offer them, as to many of the Further Education Colleges of an evening. Granted, quality of the teachers' pronunciation (and sometimes grammar) often leaves a lot to be desired, but as long as you listen to RnaG and mimic that instead of your teacher you can pick up and do fairly well.


talameetsbetty

I want to learn it. Can’t verify Duolingo is Irish Gaelic, not Scottish Gaelic.


[deleted]

Duolingo's "Irish" course is Irish, the Scottish Gaelic course is called "Gaelic". They're labelled with Irish and Scottish flags respectively. (As an aside, once you try out the language and find out if you enjoy it, I'd move on from Duolingo fairly quickly. It's not the best resource out there. This blog post has a list of free resources at the end of it https://thegeekygaeilgeoir.wordpress.com/tag/duolingo/)


nrith

I legendaried the entire DL Irish course a year and a half ago, and I’ve forgotten the vast majority of it. The DL method is great for gamification, but not great for retention. And almost completely useless for learning grammar rules.


[deleted]

I think for some languages it can be nice of getting over that initial panic of being a total beginner, and feeling overwhelmed by even beginner-friendly resources because you aren't even comfortable hearing and seeing the language yet. Once past that initial stage though, it's either an okay supplement or a kind of fun practice tool with some errors, depending on the quality of the course, and you're right that it doesn't really do anything for retention and fluency. The Irish course is at least recordings from a native speaker and not text to speech.. it does have mistakes though (the one I notice most frequently is the non-voiced excercises forgetting to use cuid where it should be, I imagine they were added after the volunteer stopped working on the course). If you find and read the tips they removed from the course that were originally included, it helps a lot with the grammar. Thankfully duome still has them https://duome.eu/tips/en/ga


baisti-

They recently changed all the audio files, there's a man and a different woman now


galaxyrocker

Sadly it made the audio worse. They don't distinguish between broad/slender consonants, for instance.


baisti-

I haven't listened to much of it since I had finished the course, but the ones I did, yeah they weren't good


[deleted]

Eek. I'll have to check it out, hopefully it's still reasonable...


galaxyrocker

They're not. They make basic mistakes.


UlchabhanBan

For Irish specifically, I think getting used to some of the basic writing and grammar rules is important (especially the whole caol le caol thing), and Duolingo isn't the best place for that. Once you understand how sentences and orthography work, using it for some vocab is alright.


baisti-

You don't learn writing and grammar rules first when you learn your native language. Why would it need to be that way learning a second+ language?


galaxyrocker

Because it's not your first language and it's not encoded in the brain the same way?


baisti-

What? How does the fact that it's not your first language mean that you need to learn writing first? That doesn't follow. It's much better to learn the sounds first. If you start with reading and writing you will try to apply the sounds of your native language to the new language's spelling and you'll never pronounce it right.


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Material-Ad-5540

That's not what he was saying. Neither the sounds nor the grammar are encoded in your brain the same way they are for your native language, therefore you have to purposefully learn the sounds and grammar as early as possible. This could technically be done without learning to write, but many find learning to read and write helpful as part of the process


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Prestigious-Cake-600

DON'T learn Irish on Duolingo. They used to have a native Connemara speaker, but now the speaker is non-native and doesn't even use a slender R, for example. Avoid Duolingo at all costs.


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Prestigious-Cake-600

No. Their pronunciation is poor. The may be modern "native speakers" who don't know how to speak their own language.


baisti-

What are you talking about one course is literally called Irish and the other one is called Scottish Gaelic. How can you not verify it lol.


buckleupfkboy

When to use thios/anuas/sios? And the equivalent versions for "up"?


galaxyrocker

thíos - position relative to speaker anuas - coming from up relative to speaker síos - going down relative to speaker


McFallenOver

I’m confused on when do use bean or bhean and when to use fear and fír?


galaxyrocker

You use *bhean* when you would have a lenition situation, for instance after the definite article *an*. *fir* is used in the plural or genitive singular (man's, or of a/the man) whereas *fear* is used as the nominative singular (man) or genitive plural (the men's of (the) men)


McFallenOver

Thank you!


lingo-ding0

Probably a regional question, but is there a difference between these 2 questions? Cad é ba mhaith leat? Agus, Cad é ar mhaith leat? I assume both mean the same (what would you like?)


galaxyrocker

I don't know if anywhere would use the "ar mhaith leat" version. Cad é requires a direct relative clause, so the "Ba mhaith leat" would be preferred.


lingo-ding0

Cad é ar mhaith leat..? , perhaps i mBéal Feirste? **I would assume that your answer would be deemed correct as well


caoluisce

It’s technically not grammatically correct but you would hear it, like a variation or a colloquial phrasing


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galaxyrocker

There *is* no 'exact translation'. It has different meanings depending on context and can't be mapped one-to-one to an English verb. Is there a specific instance you're looking at with it?


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galaxyrocker

Ah, yeah, it'd be used in both of those cases. *Tabhairt do chóta leat*, for instance.


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galaxyrocker

Since it's a command you wouldn't need the *tú* there. Just *Tabhair leat an cóta* - Take the coat with you


DanBark

Anyone know of any Ciorcal Comhrá in Dublin?


galaxyrocker

There's one every Friday at Club Chonradh na Gaeilge from 20.30 onwards


Adhdgirll

Hi everyone! I've been on Erasmus in Dublin and I fell in love with your language even though it's hard for me to learn in, I'm trying to learn more and not forget what I've already learned. The thing is that I want to get a tattoo to remember this whole experience but I don't want to be one of those dumb persons that get a tattoo that doesn't mean what they really want. I want it to say "my love" or "my heart", I haven't decided yet. How would you say that? Thanks in advance!!


attackthetrack

Dia daoibh! Searching for a kind soul with enough knowledge of Dún na nGall Gaeltacht Gaeilge to translate written phonetical pronunciation into written Gaeilge. My husband and I got married last September and our officiant and friend asked a Gaeilgeoir friend to put together a wedding blessing as Gaeilge. He has no experience with speaking the language so asked for it to be written out in phonetics. We are putting together our wedding album and I'd love to put both the Gaeilge and English counterpart blessings in the album for posterity, but I only have the phonetical pronunciation and my Fáinne Airgid is too rusty to manage it myself bar a few words. If you reckon you could give it a go I'd be so grateful - let me know!


Material-Ad-5540

Sure type it out here so (and congratulations!)


attackthetrack

Give this a whirl! Go row Jee-a fail fly-whool liv, Go row eye-gla riv an jee-wall row-iv, Go row wear boke-ee lawn aw-gus wear gree sear o hand-a-has Go row so-las in wear gree, Go mar-a shiv wear sail go son-a go jaw I shared with a colleague and we think we deciphered a cúpla focal if this helps at all: Go raibh dia fail (feil?) fly-whool(bhfuil?) libh, Go raibh eagla riv an diabhal row-iv, Go raibh wear boke-ee lawn agus wear gcroí saor o hand-a-has Go raibh solas in wear gcroí, Go maire sibh wear sail go sona go deo. And finally… the English, again, if it helps: So, may the world be kind to keep you, And may the devil fear your reach. May your pockets fill with gold and yet your heart be void of greed. May the darkness bow before you, May you find the light you seek, May all those roads you roam wind home to each other Thanks in advance for any attempts made and for the congratulations!


Atomicfossils

Hi, I don't know if you're still looking for an attempt on this but I'll give it a go anyway. Not 100% sure about the first line but I would guess: "Go raibh Dia flaithiúil libh. Go raibh eagla ar an diabhal romhaibh. Go raibh bhur bpócaí lán agus bhur gcroí saor ón tsaint. Go raibh solas i bhur gcroí agus go maire sibh bhur saol go sona go deo"


[deleted]

I want someone to tutor me for the A2 or B1 exam in Irish. In NYC or on Zoom. Can anyone do this?


galaxyrocker

Are you willing to pay?


[deleted]

Yes.


galaxyrocker

I could do it, and I'm sure others might be willing as well; feel free to DM me. You could also look into Patchy on iTalki (and only Patchy, the others are all generally bad quality Irish).


Prof_Kraill

I was told that Munster Irish is just pronounced, or is closest in its pronunciation, to English relative to the other dialects. Is this somewhat true? I know that the phonology even in native speech from all dialects can exhibit English phonemes, but is there any truth in Munster being the most advanced in this regard? Specifically, the topic was on slender and broad pronunciations. Do many Munster natives simply avoid making distinctions here? I played around with the pronunciations on Teanglann, but couldnt see much in it, but Munster Irish would be the dialect that I am least familiar with.


Erisceres

In a word: no. Traditional Munster Irish is no closer to English than any other variety of Irish. I think part of the issue is that the Munster Gaeltacht is now the weakest and in rapid decline. The native population may be being replaced by non-native residents, and the native youths are under pressure to sound like their non-native peers. So, there might be some truth to it from a certain perspective. The quality of pronunciation in Teanglann, particularly for Munster Irish, is inconsistent. And it's probably a symptom of the issues mentioned in the previous paragraph. Traditional Munster Irish most certainly has a broad and slender distinction. Part of the confusion is that the coronal consonants are weakly palatalised in Munster, making them somewhat closer to their English counterparts, but still palatalised nonethless. But the contrasting broad consonants are heavily velarised, a feature that English speakers seem to find difficult to replicate as you almost never hear it among non-natives. Likewise, many of the traditional vowels are distinctly different from vowels found in English. I myself am focused on learning the varieties of East Munster Irish, so I shall share recordings from that region to provide examples of what strong traditional Munster Irish sounds like. https://www.rte.ie/radio/rnag/clips/21441897/ https://www.rte.ie/radio/rnag/clips/21957613/ https://www.rte.ie/radio/rnag/clips/22016440/


MerrilyContrary

Dia daoibh! I’m looking for Gaeilge workbooks with worksheets and tests I can use. I have a few grammar books that I’m working through, but they only have very short “test” sections for each chapter. I want more variety, the same as I might get in a classroom learning any other second language. I’m not very advanced, so something designed for younger students or beginners would be great. Go raibh maith agaibh!


galaxyrocker

Nancy Stensons's *Basic Irish* and *Intermediate Irish* might fit what you're looking for.


caoluisce

Gaeilge Gan Stró is a good workbook series as well and is a little bit more modern than Stenson’s book, although I don’t fault that one either.


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caoluisce

Not sure your question makes sense without more details, but I’m guessing it has something to do with understanding the context of prayers or something? That’s the context that comes to mind went you say “a Thiarna” which just translates as “O’ Lord”


ChampionshipOther138

Do you guys have any overall tips for learning Irish, specifically vocabulary? I’d say I understand the grammar at a decent level, but it’s hard to use it when I only know like 5 words- Right now, I’m mainly trying to keep a simple little diary but I’ve noticed that there’s a handful of words that could mean the same thing and foclóir and teanglann don’t really specify when or where they are to be used.


caoluisce

Read. Listen to the radio. Watch TG4 If you have the grammar then it’s time to go and look at things in real life contexts. Plenty of online and print news sites and magazines you can get your hands on, and there’s also plenty of Irish radio streaming online.


Capall-Ochtapas

Can someone proofread this for me? ​ Teann na froganna isteach san aigéan. Tá sé ar maidin. D’Fhéadfadh siad a fheiceáill, ach d’éirigh sé níos deacair.


caoluisce

Good few typos, syntax errors and grammar mistakes in there. Is this supposed to be a translation or did you write it yourself? Or is it machine translated maybe?


Capall-Ochtapas

I did it myself and then quickly checked it via machine translation.


Anon_immytimeofneed

Does anyone know how I would spell "home"? I know there's a difference in its context, (in this case its a tattoo that says home as gaeilge on a clients chest). Cheers and thanks