Irish Translation Forum

On a scale from 1 to 10 could you rate how difficult a language Gaelic is.

Kotex wrote:On a scale from 1 to 10 could you rate how difficult a language Gaelic is.

15!! But don't get discouraged!!

Kotex wrote:On a scale from 1 to 10 could you rate how difficult a language Gaelic is.

Compared to what? The only other languages I've studied were Latin and French. I'd say it's rather difficult compared to French, being considerably more complex, but more or less on a par with Latin.

Redwolf

Compared to nothing. Just how hard was it for you?

2 and a half - i thought it was easy [but maybe that was because i understand it]

Kotex wrote:Compared to nothing. Just how hard was it for you?

Well, I've only been learning since January, so I'm still very much a beginner. It goes in fits and starts...one day I'll think "you know, I'm really starting to get a handle on this language" and the next I can't make the simplest translations without making baby mistakes. The grammar rules are about the most complex I've come across. That said, it is, gradually, starting to make sense. In some ways, I'm learning Irish faster than I learned French, mainly because this forum gives me an opportunity to use it on a daily basis...important for learning, in my opinion (mistakes and all).

Redwolf

I was just trying to get a handle on things. Thanx.

I would say 10. I learned Latin in highschool and it was very straightforward, but boring as Hell. My French accent was atrocious but I did ok.
I tried Italian a few years ago and the instructor was wonderful, but moved at breakneck speed. I barely had time to do the homework, let alone do the extra that it really took. I think the fact that I am SO MUCH older is a big factor though. It does come easier when you're young. The difference between the pron. and appearance in Irish makes it harder, plus the grammar.
Some people just have a gift for languages, and others, like myself, really have to struggle.

At least a 10 - You can't really learn the pronunciation phonetically and the spelling is very different. I thought it would be much easier than it is. On the up side, when you do learn some words and grammar, you feel like you've accomplished alot!

Obviously, the only language that's easy to learn is the one you learned at your mother's knee. But, from my limited perspective, if I were to put the languages I've studied in easy to difficult order, I would say, Spanish, Latin, Greek, Irish. Spanish is made easier by there being so many, easily available speakers, by its visibility on signs almost everywhere, by its phonetic spelling, and the large number of cognates with English. Spanish is made easier for me personally by its similarity to Latin, especially in regards to vocabulary, verb forms, and gender. I studied Latin before Greek so the idea of a heavily inflected language was not as daunting as it could have been. The only two thing that make it harder than Latin are its inflected definite article and the middle voice in the verb -- rather than just an active and passive form. I think that motivation has a lot to do with whether one finds learning a language -- or anything else, for that matter -- easy or difficult.