Irish Translation Forum

osraitheain wrote:Scots speak GALIC / Irish GAELIC, the term Irish is quite modern
Irish Gaelic is correct no matter how much you dislike it

Isn't the word "Gàidhlig" and it's pronouced "Gallic" ?

I thought Gaelic was just an interchangeable term for all Gaelic Languages, and using the qualify Irish/manx/scottish is just for differentiating what language your refering to?

But not many people know Irish is a living language..i had a third generation irish guy named Darcy O'Connor try telling me Irish was a dead language.

interesting...
Gaelic
1774, earlier Gathelik (1596), from Gael (Scottish Gaidheal), from O.Ir. Goidhel, the original form of the word. The native name in both Ireland and Scotland, Gael was first used in Eng. exclusively of Scottish Highlanders (1596).

bbkcb, I hear you. I'm an Irish man myself and would never call it Irish Gaelic in Ireland. However, the others here have hit the nail on the head. This site is here to attract as many people as possible interested in Irish language translations, and a majority of those people would not look for "Irish translations". If we changed our name, we wouldn't have a chance to educate those people! I can tell you straight off that this site is never going to change its name from its established one.

So, I think the forum is a good place to educate people on this. The site's home page has a note on what we call the language in Ireland (although there is some tendency as you go more north in Ireland to call it "Gaelic" sometimes). Also, the forum is marked as "Irish Translation Forum" and the site's tag line refers to "Irish translations". A footer or whatever will never be effective, as nobody ever reads that.

People outside of Ireland are more likely to write ''Gaelic translations'' or ''Irish Gaelic translations'' or even ''Irish Celtic translations'' so thats why its importnant to keep ''Gaelic'' on the URL so the forum will be easy to find on the search engines from people outside of Ireland.

bbkcb wrote:This post is aimed at administrators

Please consider removing the word Gaelic from all English text. In Ireland when we speak about the Irish language in English we refer to it as Irish which is what the language is called in English. When we refer to the language as Gaeilge (when we speak Irish) we call it Gaeilge. We never use the term Gaelic in reference to the language.

Even the name Irish Gaelic translator is incorrect why not call it English Irish translation ( Aistrúcháin Béarla Gaeilge)

Dont want to be a prig but but have to say it bugs me

sure isn't just a wee bit of poetic licence.

Some native speakers refer to Irish as Gaelic when they switch to English.

In Ireland, Gaelic is a synonym for the Irish language, it is not widely used here but it is not incorrect. Of course it also has a wider meaning in reference to culture, society and sports but that does not mean it cannot be used for the language also. Most foreigners and even people of Irish descent know it as Gaelic and might not understand the reference to 'Irish' so I think it is perfectly valid to use it for the name of this forum.

The main Irish language organization in the country is "The Gaelic League" although nowadays it is usually known as "Conradh na Gaeilge"

Bodhránbob wrote:Some native speakers refer to Irish as Gaelic when they switch to English.

I agree with you here ive heard many Gaeltacht people calling it Gaelic when they speak English.

It's problematic. "Irish" is an English word and so is "Gaelic", however "Gaelic" generally doesn't refer to anything regarding the English language whilst "Irish" often does ...eg. the native language of most Irish people is English, then again the native language of Gaelic people is "Irish"...I must admit "Gaelic" is a word I associated with the Yanks when I was younger but in more recent years it's a term I find I use more often for various reasons but the meanings of these words are subjective and as such have no set meaning. They have become arbitrary to the personal usage of the speaker. I agree most "Irish" people do not use the word "Gaelic" but quite often that is because they do not know enough of their own history. How for example can one describe "the collapse of the Gaelic order" by using the word "Irish" in that instance.

I can see the point of the chap who says it is not often used but that is not to say that is never used, afterall "Gael" and "Éireannach" are separate but related concepts in "Irish" Gaoluinn" "Gaeilge" "Gaelic"

My Irish speaking Grandparents (Canúint Uladh) when speaking English referred to Gàidhlig as "Erse" eg. "those people speak Erse". This was sixty years ago. Is this word still used ?