Irish Translation Forum

I'm trying the post-it method right now, but my room-mate keeps throwing them away. Maybe if I label the trash bin "truflais araid" he'll decide he's fighting a losing battle.

You should try labeling with "mo chuid stuife" (means "my stuff")

David

If you're looking up a word, and you can't find it in the dictionary (i.e. it's not in root form and you can't figure out what the root form is), use the online version of An Foclóir Beag:

http://www.csis.ul.ie/focloir/

This comes in handy even if you're fairly advanced and know the changes that words undergo in Irish, because it's easy to overlook one of the possibilities.

Here's a tip for those who are a bit past the beginner stage. I was so accustomed to using An Foclóir Beag to conjugate verbs and decline nouns, that I barely noticed that it also has definitions. (Doh!) And the definitions are written in fairly simple Irish. You may be surprised to find that you understand the definitions without much difficulty. So next time you need to look up the meaning of an Irish word, give An Foclóir Beag a go!

Here's an idea I came up with the other day for getting comfortable with speaking Irish...use it on those darned telemarketers! For example:

TM: "Hello, may I speak with Mr. or Mrs. Nickel?"

Me: "Cé hé tusa? Níl bean Uí Nickel abhaile anois. Is mise an madra. Cedar is aimn dom."

TM: "Does anyone there speak English?"

Me: "Tá brón orm. Níl Béarla agam. An bhfuil Gaeilge agat?"

And so on and so forth until the telemarketer gets frustrated and hangs up. The nice thing is, you don't have to get too hung up on your pronunciation or grammar, because chances are good that the telemarketer has no idea what you're saying anyway (Note: this may not work in Ireland).

Redwolf

I do that in German here sometimes

Redwolf wrote:Me: "Cé hé tusa? Níl bean Uí Nickel abhaile anois. Is mise an madra. Cedar is aimn dom."

Go híontach, a Redwolf! I may have to give that a try. If by chance the telemarketer actually does have Irish, then we'll have a good laugh.

I've done it in French once or twice, but I'm always afraid they'll find someone who speaks French to come on and give their spiel. One language I DON'T recommend trying it in (at least here in the U.S.) is Spanish...you can just about guarantee that they'll have a Spanish speaker or two on staff!

My other line with telemarketers is pretending to be Mrs. Nickel's private secretary, but that doesn't pertain to the topic of the thread.

Redwolf

Redwolf wrote:Here's an idea I came up with the other day for getting comfortable with speaking Irish...use it on those darned telemarketers! For example:

TM: "Hello, may I speak with Mr. or Mrs. Nickel?"

Me: "Cé hé tusa? Níl bean Uí Nickel abhaile anois. Is mise an madra. Cedar is aimn dom."

TM: "Does anyone there speak English?"

Me: "Tá brón orm. Níl Béarla agam. An bhfuil Gaeilge agat?"

And so on and so forth until the telemarketer gets frustrated and hangs up. The nice thing is, you don't have to get too hung up on your pronunciation or grammar, because chances are good that the telemarketer has no idea what you're saying anyway (Note: this may not work in Ireland).

Redwolf

Very tempting . . .

Méabh wrote::rotfl: I do that in German here sometimes

maith an bhean

Redwolf wrote:One thing you'll see recommended here a lot is regular listening to Raidió na Gaeltachta http://www.rte.ie/rnag/ . It can be slow going at first (I'm still at the point where, most of the time, the only words I can recognize are "agus" and "Is ea"!), but it really helps to hear the language spoken with a natural cadence.
Redwolf

*sighs* I wish I could listen to RTE. I've been able to, exactly once. That was when I was visiting a friend. Real Player will not work on my machines at home, for some obscure reason, and I haven't seen any other format available from the site. Makes this gal a bit frustrated, it does.

I've, literally, just started learning Irish at the local Gaelic League here in Austin. It's been fun to have our Irish instructors talking back and forth in their different dialects - it certainly gives you a perspective on how differently things can be pronounced. And, then, I have my Great-Grandpap's way of pronouncing things as well. I haven't heard any of the instructors talk quite the way my Grandpap did with really long vowels and slow. He said he was from Limerick County, but those I've heard talk in the area talk absolutely nothing like he did. Then again, he was 98.

Anyway, I'm thrilled to have found this forum. If anyone has any suggestions on how to manage to listen to RTE nGA I would be thrilled to hear them!!

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Slán,
Kílí

Beagán a rá agus é a rá go maith.