Irish Translation Forum

In response to my Facebook status, "I'm not ready to return to work yet."

A friend posted, "Téigh go oibre, na milliúin ar leas ag brath ar tú".

My attempt to translate came up with:

"Go to work, millions on welfare are depending on you."

Do I have that right, or did I get some of it wrong?

Hmmm... I'm not sure the construction is correct (I've never heard téigh go oibre). However, if it is it should be "téigh go hoibre, tá na milliúin ar leas ag brath ort. this should be right, that is if leas means welfare, which I don't know.

However, your translation is correct, I believe, Wait for confirmation

Béarlachas Alert

Antóin wrote:Béarlachas Alert

Tis true. I was questioning the phrase téigh go oibre

My comment (not ready to return to work) was made in reference to the fact that it is Monday, and I had a busy weekend

I can say for certain that the comment came from someone who does not speak Irish, though they have a couple of friends that speak fluently. I assumed they got the translation from one of those friends, but they may just as likely have tried to translate it literally using an online dictionary.

It is quite possible that the attempt at Irish is béarlachas. I'd love to be able to correct them if there is a better (more Irish) way to say it.

Assuming they did use an online dictionary, is my guess at what they were saying reasonable?

I wasn't sure about the "leas". My original assumption was that they were saying that my mortgage (lease), or my wife (lass) was depending on me, but after some google searching (and some searching of this forum) I thought I saw something that indicated it could mean welfare.

I don't want to post a "correction" to their attempt and then find out that I misunderstood what they were trying to say.

it should be "téigh ar obair"

just like : ar Aifreann, ar scoil, ar an aonach etc.

leas, -a, m., benefit, profit, advantage, improvement, welfare, good luck, happiness

What you have, in part, is a cultural misunderstanding. The term "welfare" is a US term for people on government assistance, so the word leas is not the right one to use. Given the context, you'd presumably want to refer to people who are "on the dole", so:

Téigh ag obair, tá milliúin daoine ar an dól ag brath ort ["ar tú" = ort]
Téigh chun oifige, tá milliúin daoine ar an dól ag brath ort

kevin45sf wrote:What you have, in part, is a cultural misunderstanding. The term "welfare" is a US term for people on government assistance, so the word leas is not the right one to use. Given the context, you'd presumably want to refer to people who are "on the dole", so:

Téigh ag obair, tá milliúin daoine ar an dól ag brath ort ["ar tú" = ort]
Téigh chun oifig, tá milliúin daoine ar an dól ag brath ort

a couple of things, kevin45sf :

The Irish Government use "leas" for 'welfare' in this context : http://www.welfare.ie/ga/Pages/default.aspx / http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/default.aspx

Téigh ag obair = go working
Téigh chun oifig = go to an office (should also be oifige after chun)

That's interesting about the term "welfare". I 've never heard it in that context in Ireland or Britain.

I was taught by a native speaker (from Kerry) that dul ag obair means "going to work", so it may be a matter of dialect or personal choice which preposition gets used, but you're certainly right about chun oifige. I was just giving it as an alternative.

i'll just throw my couple of cents in here
it is a bit of a semantic point,
in kerry you would certainly say something like chuaigh sé amach ag obair go moch ar maidin
but i would see that as meaning "he went out working early in the morning"
if you substitute iascaireacht you'll see he went to fish doesn't sound right
ragham ag iascach - we'll go fishing
bhí m'athair ag dul ag fiach maidean - my father was going hunting one morning
chuas síos go dtí an siopa - i went down to the shop
teacht abhaile chun do dhinnéir - to come home to your dinner
so dul chun oibre might be the idea here

téir chun oibre maybe for a bit of mellifluosity in the phrase
any other ideas??
maybe a cuid?
chun do chuid oibre???