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Abigeál wrote:Is maith liom the idea of posting more Irish, especially by mixing Irish words and phrases into our English posts. I find that it helps me learn (as well as maintaining the focus and the high lingual tone of Forum Noster.)
The following, though, is why I would not be supporting an all-Gaeilge forum anseo:
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Imagine yourself as a neamhGaeilgeoir (for tosaitheoirí like me, it's not too much of a stretch!)
You've decided you want to tattoo a special phrase in Irish, or Celtic, or something like that -- a language that's deep and meaningful, and maybe kind of ancestral. So you come to a website like this one, hoping to find a translation of your special words.
At first, people are helpful enough -- within an hour or two, somebody gives a translation, somebody else suggests another version. Soon a friendly grammar debate ensues. It's still going on when you check in again, several hours later.
Or, at least, you think it's a friendly debate. Hard to say, really. They're all jabbering in Gaelic, which you can't read a blessed word of.
Come to think of it, maybe that's the point. They all know you can't read a word of it. What are they saying about you? You catch a few words that might be related to the English words you know. "Bhfuil" -- that'd probably be "fool," right? And "agus." They keep tossing that around too, and it sure as heck doesn't look complimentary. And then there's a bunch of longer words you couldn't even begin to guess: "díochlaonadh," "ainmfhocal," and "éiginnte." Wait a minute... "ee-jinn-tuh"... Gaelic for "idiot"? You've heard they pronounce it funny there, like "eejit." That's probably what it is, then.
So. They're calling you a fool, an idiot, an "aggus," and who knows what else --- all just because you want a tattoo in Irish, and don't know enough Irish to translate it yourself.
You leave in disgust, remembering to copy down the last post that looked short enough to be a translation of your phrase. (The person who gave it had over 1000 posts, so they must be pretty fluent, right?)
Trying hard to think happy thoughts, you head out the door for an appointment, clutching your precious envelope with the Irish translation on the back of it.
Let them chatter to each other about you all day, if they want. As whoever-it-was kindly translated for you:
"Tréigfidh an phian; fulaingeoidh an tatú, rian ghrá go deo."
"The pain will fade; the tattoo will endure, a mark of love forever."
LOL! Maith thú, a Abigeál! Well said!
Redwolf
I know it's temping lol