Nice to meet you. To meet you.... Deas?

OK, here's another post about Irish but how it has made me think about the English language. Is this something that you have experienced while learning a new language?

Image credit: Jeltovski

I hadn't thought about how much emphasis is placed on the tone of voice while speaking English. If you're feeling quite formal, for example, and say It's nice to meet you quite often the response can be It's nice to meet you, with an emphasis on the last word.

Some would respond with It's nice to meet you too, you too or just grunt but this is simply to add an additional word to the end of the greeting.

In Irish the greeting can be tá sé go deas bualadh leat, and the response can be tá sé go deas bualadh leatsa 

 - with the bonus sé go deas bualadh leatsa chomh maith! if you want to show off ;-)

So the surprise to me was the addition of the sa sound for emphasis, rather than simply adding an additional word to the end. It's another example to me of how the Irish language is formed differently to English.

__________________________________________________________
Image sourced from Morguefile, a free photo archive

Féinphic - Selfie sunday

Féinphic is the (new) Irish word for "selfie"

Donegal by night
Dún na nGall ar an oíche

I took this selfie in Donegal last night       Thóg mé an Féinphic sa dún na nGall aréir

Yes - I went there.                                                Cinnte, Chuaigh mé go ansin
                                                                             (no Chuaigh mé ann. Níl mé cinnte!)

Goodbye Saint and Scholar

It looks likely that the St Patrick's day parade will continue after this year's success, and for that I am glad. We've managed to build up a lot of momentum and contacts, and on the day there was a great feeling of community for everyone who joined in. I would love for this to continue, and for more people to join in. This parade has great potential to become one of Medway's biggest festivals.

Would you like to join in? The AGM is this Tuesday, 01 July at the St Mary's social club in Gillingham. It starts at 7pm. The committee will be discussing the ways forward for the upcoming parade for 2015.

However I will be taking this opportunity to step down from the committee. As much as I loved being part of the project during its first year, it really has taken over my life and I have a lot of other things I'd like to do. Spending some time on my writing is one of them!

There is also the matter of exploring Irish culture and history. As I've often been told, it is the Oileán na Naomh agus na nOllamh (Island of saints and scholars) and there is a lot to learn...

Thank you - go raibh maith agaibh 17 March 2014

The Pentacle Drummers, Medway st Patrick Parade
Image credit: SM Jenkin

Go raibh maith agaibh

It means so much more than, thank you. It's more along the lines of "may the good be at you"


Thank you, everyone, thank you pleural. To all of the people who made the parade a success, who helped behind the scenes, filling in forms and directing traffic. Those standing in front of the cameras, waving flags would not have achieved what we did without you

The sun shone, and there was a real feel good factor.

Would you like to know how to say St Patrick's day in Irish? Try this link here

Seachtain na Gaeilge 2014 - An Ghaeilge Abú

Seachtain na Gaeilge, Irish language week, is an international celebration of the Irish language. Events to promote and celebrate the Irish language have been happening all over the world.

Banner designed by Candy Worf of Pinup Payback
Picture credit: SM Jenkin

The Seachtain na Gaeilge festival for this year runs from 1 – 17 March. We are celebrating this festival as part of the St Patrick's day parade celebrations in Medway, as recognition of how important the Irish language is. There will be Irish language banners,  and after the parade the cultural showcase at the St Mary's Social club includes Irish language classes for all levels.


Please note that entry to the post-parade event is by ticket only, to comply with fire safety regulations. To get your ticket, please contact the St Mary's social club.

An Ghaeilge Abú! - The Irish language forever!

Beatha teanga í ag labhairt - the life of a language is in it's use

The Bear - is sleeping?

The Bear is often associated in stories with King Arthur. The recent solstice is associated by modern pagans with King Arthur and his rebirth, along with the sun. I can understand why, the return of both is associated with hope and brighter evenings.

But for the moment, the nights are still long. And the bear, though s/he doesn't hibernate, very sensibly finds somewhere to rest...

Tá an béar ina chodladh.

Image: Getty Images

"The bear is in his sleeping" as opposed to "the bear is sleeping". The more I think about it, the stranger the English language seems to me. Is the bear the concept of sleep? I don't know. Then the feeling passes, and I have a little lie down. 

It seems more sensible to me that the Bear is in a sleep, the sleep that will pass and the Bear will still be there. But then, what do I know....? Is it all splitting hairs? But the idea of keeping your energy conserved until the light returns strikes me as a sensible one. You need your energy until the light returns, so lay off any ideas about changing your diet until then.....!

Do you want to know how to say it in Irish? Try here for one way... http://talkirish.com/blogs/wordaday/archive/2013/12/20/irish-word-a-day-b-233-ar-bear.aspx


For an alternative way of speaking try saying chodladh ("sleeping") with a western / Connacht twist try here http://www.forvo.com/word/ina_chodladh/#ga

Other worlds, other voices - ach dhá dhomhain difriúil?

Disaster!

I wanted to write something about the feel of the languages, the world that Irish evokes. How the feeling... feels. And compare it to English. Because of I have learned anything (and sometimes it feels like I haven't) at all it's that the words describe two different worlds....

.... and the feelings I have cannot be described in the Irish I have. Yes, the words can be found but it's the life behind them, the idioms, the feeling that I cannot understand, never mind convey.

I am beginning to wonder at what I have written. But it's too late, I'm bringing it in tomorrow. I don't know.

Baile an Fheirtéaraigh Iúil 2013

Welcome to the gaeltacht!
Image credit: SM Jenkin

So, I visited the Irish speaking area in Dingle last month. I attended the one week (post beginners) course run by Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne. It was a most interesting experience overall, as it dealt with more than the words, they were placed in context. Their audience is clearly international, so there was a series of cultural events. A céilí, a quiz, a baking class in Irish at the excellent museum, other visits too including one to the Blasket islands.

However, the teaching. The teacher was lovely, approachable, personable but ... there was more evidence of teaching than of learning. I appreciate that teaching a class of post beginners must be awkward, but the purpose of learning is to practise rather than to listen. It took several days before this was addressed and for me this tarnished the experience. Eventually we were able to practise some dialogue with the other students in the class, but it was a hard slog getting there and then it was time to leave.

This isn't the first time I have experienced this style of teaching either - do you think this may be contributing to the overall malaise about language learning? It's hard enough for adults to put aside the time (and money) to learn. What other barriers do you think contribute? After all, isn't it easier to listen to a CD and practice by yourself?

However, despite the problems I've mentioned I would recommended, as the course overall covered far more than the language, it was all about the context. And the sun shone on us all, so it wasn't all bad....

The sun... is doing what?

The sun is shining....? Bull!

 

Tá an ghrian ag taitneamh

The sun is.... pleasuring. Or do I mean enjoy? Enjoying? Taitneamh certainly doesn't mean shining

I love translations, they're always so... flexible. What a strange way of phrasing it. Do I mean strange, or very forward? This is why I choose to learn Irish, it has a constant capacity to surprise me. Especially when I think, I should know this. Frequently I should, frequently I don't.

But there's more to a language than the words. Are you keeping count of how often I say that? ;-)

For those trying to practice their Irish, there's a fun weather game to try, you match the Irish phrase with the picture. It's online here It's part of a website called http://www.jcspraoi.com/, put together by two students. It's fun!

Ar an Luan - On the Monday

Today is Monday, so a little about how to say Monday in Irish

Ar an Luan - on the Monday

Dé Luan - the day of Monday


Oíche dé Luain / Oíche Luain - the night of Monday

Dé Luain comes from the Latin "luna" for Moon. So Dé Luain means  Moon Day

oiche dé chéadaoin - Wednesday night

Wednesday night, where the fun starts - Oiche dé chéadaoin

dé chéadaoin, Wednesday

an chéadaoin, the Wednesday

Ar an gChéadaoin, on a Wednesday (gotta love those eclipses)

Céad-aoin is the first fast day of the week, in Irish tradition. Why the need for two fast days, was this entirely due to faith or more to do with the hard times people lived through?

So then we get onto pronunciation. Is it "Duh kay-dene" or "Jeh key-yahtheene"? or something else altogether...

OK......?

Tá sásta orm - Manchester Turf

Turf, fresh from the Manchester fields ;-)
Image credit: SM Jenkin

Tá sásta orm - I am happy (The happiness is on me if you want to be more literal about it)

I managed to get away to Manchester for their St Patrick's day parade last weekend. Their celebration was out of this world; a full two weeks of music, literature and culture culminating in a parade that stopped traffic in Manchester city central.

Many of the people up in Manchester originated in the wild west of Éire, county Maigh eo (Mayo to all you Sasanach out there!) are you enjoying the view of the lovely turf to the right there? Someone was selling it as incense at Albert square... there were many tractors on display that day

It got me thinking, how happy I was to be there. Proud about my Irish heritage yes, but also proud of my English heritage that could celebrate the Irish language and culture with us. I love how the happiness is "on" me, rather than me being the emotion. It's a recognition that the feeling won't be me, won't last forever. And on that thought..... slán!

Irish language - choosing words

Language is not a thing that comes easy to me. The specifics, I mean. I grasp for words sometimes, and the correct one to use. I can sense what the word feels like, maybe what it sounds like, but the exact word escapes me

This makes it difficult when trying to find the right Irish word for things. It's not just the words that have changed, but the order and meaning too.Take hunger, for example. If I want to eat some food, in English I'll say: I am hungry.

In Irish I would say, tá ocras orm. Is it the same thing? It means "the hunger is on me". So there are two different ways of experiencing the hunger, but two different ways of experiencing it.