Irish Translation Forum

Help! I recognize the initial vowel combination from, well, my name. Would this be fwee-lan or fwee-lin or ...?

Exposing ignorance in the interest of education...

up generally we don't put "w" sounds after the first letter of the word - so i would say

Fail-in

Ì would say FWEEL-awn.

Um, Conor, why are you juggling?

faoileán is pronounced as f'weelyan


The initial 'f' in 'faoileán'is broad or 'hard' and as with all hard or broad consonants the 'f' is always followed by a very fleeting 'w' sound. Soft or slender consonants are pronounced as if they were followed by a very fleeting 'y' sound. Think of the English words ' booty' and 'beauty'. In Irish terms the initial 'b' in ' booty' would be called a hard or broad consonant whereas the 'b' in 'beauty' in Irish terms would be called a soft or slender consonant.

Booty = b[w]ooty (hard/broad)
Beauty = b[y]ooty (soft/slender)



Consider the Irish words 'bó' (cow) and 'beo' (alive)

The 'b' in 'bó' is hard or broad thus pronounced: b[w]aw
The 'b' in 'beo' is soft or slender thus prounounced: b[y]aw

'Cad' (what) and 'cead' meaning 'permission'. The only thing that distinguishes these two words is that the 'c' in 'cad' is hard/broad whereas the 'c' in 'cead' is soft/slender.
Thus 'cad' = k[w]ad
and 'cead' = k[y]ad

The broad/hard and slender/ soft nature of Irish consonants is not an optional feature. Many similar looking words must be pronounced correctly
depending on whether the consonant(s) are broad/slender (hard/soft).

Contrary to the views of certain individuals offering 'help' in this forum consonants which are broad or soft must be pronounced accordingly.


Finally the 'aoi' sound in 'f[aoi]leán' is a very difficult sound to achieve. The sound 'aoi' in Irish has no equivalent In English. Russian speakers will have no difficulty as the same sound occurs in some very common Russian words e.g. MbI = we, TbI = you (sing) and BbI = you plural.
If you want to know what 'aoi' sounds like ask a Russian to pronounce the sound 'bI'. Alternatively ask a good native speaker of Irish.


I hope this has been of help to you.



frankiedapolo

kbmartin wrote:Um, Conor, why are you juggling?

I was juggling because words like that are words which it is noticable that I speak the Ulster dialect

Frankiedapolo is perfectly correct BUT

most people on here seeking help will not have access to a native speaker of either Russian or Irish. If they knew a native speaker of Irish surely to God they'd just ask them to pronounce the whole word

Fwee-lan is close enough for most purposes - including here in Donegal.

best,

Niall Mór

GRMA for being the voice of reason

Niall-

As it happens, I've studied (and forgotten) Russian, and have ready access to many native speakers. The advice was unexpectedly useful.

The advice I was given when learning Russian was that for us anglophones, if it doesn't hurt you don't have your tongue quite right.

-Kevin

Niall Mór wrote:If they knew a native speaker of Irish surely to God they'd just ask them to pronounce the whole word

Niall Mór

Heck, if I had access to a native speaker of Irish, I'd be begging for lessons! The only native speakers I ever get to hear are on RnaG, and no matter how loudly I yell at the computer, I can never get them to talk back to me

Redwolf