Is dóigh liom go bhfuil sé sin litrithe i gceart.. Ar aon n-Ós, táim ag cur an ceist oraibh mar táim ag iarraidh foghlaim cén saghas tuairimÍ atá ag daoine faoin gaeilge. An bhfuil sé agat, an labhraÍnn tú sa mbaile, an dteastaÍonn uait foghlaim, an maith leat é ar chor ar bith, ceisteanna mar sin. ScrÍobh ar ais chugam más féidir libh le bhur tuairimÍ. Slán agus beannacht
No, I can’t speak Irish, and nor can about 99% of the people on this site.
If that’s what you’re trying to ask.
Bhuel, Ceapaim gur teanga ag méadú coitianta. Rachaidh mé go dtí Colaiste na bhFiann an samhradh seo caite. Ta súil agam bí ag líofa go luath.
Well, at least I’ve tried!
Ba cheart go mbeadh náire oraibh go léir faoin easpa gaeilge atá ar an suíomh breá seo!
Naire? beagainin dian, nach gceapann tu? is cosuil gur meiriceanaigh agus sasanaigh iad formhor na mball anseo. ni bheidis in ann moran comhra a thuiscint, gan tracht ar Eireannaigh nach bhfuil an Ghaeilge ar a gcumas no ar a dtoil acu! is aoibhinn liomsa an teanga afach, so maith thu piper as an rud seo a thosnu.
Gabhaim mo leithsceal ma ta aon Mheiriceanach no Sasanach le Gaeilge acu.
Och come on now Joe, don’t be an old ‘stick in the mud’! Let’s face it, it would be fun, wouldn’t it, if everyone here wrote in their own natural language? 🙂
For a start, it could well lead to shorter threads!
Oh & I bet Harry B would just love to see more Ulster-Scots written here! Ha Ha 😀
But seriously, I don’t really see the harm, for after all, we all only respond to the threads which interest us anyway, & ignore the ones which don’t …….. or which we don’t understand!
The only problem I can see is if there might be bad language or obscenities written in amongst a foreign language posting, which might offend someone & which Jeremy wasn’t able to detect.
Is there anything in the rules which states that posts must be written in English?
I can’t speak it either but discussions in Irish don’t bother me at all. I encourage every Irish speaker on this site to post frequently discussions in Irish. I won’t understand anything but I can sacrifice myself for the good of the national language. (I’ll learn it someday btw)
(And I’ll also learn English someday btw)
Is cuma liom, tá Gaeilge agus Bearla a’am.
“(I’ll learn it someday btw)”
Why?
Because it was there. (mar, bhi se ansin)
Why what? Why will I learn it? Because it’s a cool language.
Níl a lán gaeilge agam… but I wish I had. I should make it one of my New Year’s resolutions to brush up on my Irish and finally learn it properly.
“Why what? Why will I learn it? Because it’s a cool language.”
Ok, that’s a reason. I’ve been studying ancient Greece almost a year now. Nobody speaks it any more but who cares.
Tá cuid mhór daoine ar an suíomh seo a bhfuil Gaeilge líofa acu agus cuid mhór daoine eile a bhfuil caighdeán éigin Gaeilge acu, ach ní dóigh liom gur cheart go mbeadh comhráití Gaeilge ar an suíomh seo. Baineann an suíomh seo le ceol, ní le teanga. Is minic go mbíonn nasc ann idir an dá rud, ach feictear dom gur cheart comhráití mar seo a choinneáil do shuíomhanna ar leith a chaitheann le cúrsaí Gaeilge.
I have nothing against people speaking Irish in general - I agree, it is a very cool language and I wish I could speak it too - but this is an English site, and everybody on it speaks English. As I said, probably 99% of the members on this site do not speak Irish, and posting a discussion completely in Irish is like forming an exclusive club only for those that speak it - “Hey, we’re the real deal, ’cos we can speak Irish, while everyone else just plays it!”
Being able to speak Irish does not make you any better as an Irish musician, just as speaking Italian doesn’t make you a better Classical musician, or speaking Yiddish make you a better Klezmer musician. The only difference it would make is being able to understand the songs. But this is a website for tunes, not songs.
So there. And if I’ve missed the point, or just said something that has no relevence to the dicussion whatsoever, well, that’s because IT’S ALL IN IRISH, INNIT?!
P.S. What DOES the original post actually say?
Paranoia…simply paranoia….I don’t speak “fiddle” or “bodran” either…and they can be somewhat exclusive clubs. Let people speak whatever language they want to speak, there are always going to be threads that not everyone will understand.
Very true. People begin threads about instruments that I don’t play and wouldn’t understand them. They may aswell be speaking another language. So there’s no point arguing about it. Big deal, you don’t understand it. You probably don’t care about it anyway. Get over it. 🙂
I learnt Irish in school - not well. Most of it is forgotten but every now and again reading simple Irish that is on a familiar subject, helps me fill in the gaps from the overall sense, I can understand enough to get by. Not enough to respond As Gaeilge though. I can do the same in French and I sometimes read through the posts on the French version of Irtrad.
If you go to the Piper’s list it might as well be another language to the un-initiated, when they are talking about reeds and suchlike.
I live on the Welsh border now, but have lived for most of my life in Wales proper. There were similar discussions (similar to the last couple of posts, that is) about speaking Welsh, and whether it was rude (!) to do so in public places like shops where the majority of people might only speak English.
Not so much an issue in Wales now, as the language is reasonably robust these days, not a threatend species any more.
Still, coming back to this site, if there were a general discussion topic that might interest everybody, it might be nice to share it more widely than would be possible if it were to be discussed solely in Gaelic.
n’ouzon ket iwerzhoneg met un tammig brezhoneg. Mat eo da gomz ar yezh-se a-raok e vint marv
JoeCSS, that’s an awful attitude you have there. It’s attitudes like yours that helped the Irish language on its way to decline in the first place. Seriously though, it makes me feel physically ill reading comments like that. Eeugh.
Maith thu Dow – ta an ceart agat ! (Good on you Dow – you’re right !)
And what makes JoeCSS think that 99% don’t speak Irish - I bet there a lot more than !% of the regular
contributors have some Irish.
First of all, this is a site run by an Irishman from Cork. Now I don’t know if he speaks Irish but he certainly doesn’t seem to have an objection to anyone speaking it, in the same way that he doesn’t have a problem with people asking about sessions, in Spain, in Spanish.
Secondly, speaking in the mother tongue of your country has nothing to with one’s ability to play music, Irish or otherwise. No-one is claiming any different.
Thirdly, no-one here takes issue with you speaking English; why should you care what language other people speak? Is there a rule that says that all discussion boards on the Internet must use English as their lingua franca?
The discussion is about the use of the Irish language itself, and the author has asked people to reply to him directly. If that doesn’t interest you then don’t bother posting. Try to think of it as a discussion about an instrument that you don’t play, and are not in the slightest bit interested in learning to play.
Lastly, this website, as far as I can see, is not limited to discussions about tunes. it’s about the whole culture surrounding sessions, whether they be in Ireland, England, France, the US, Japan or wherever. Sharing our different experiences, thoughts, ideas, loves and hates, cultures and so on makes this site what it is.
Someone might correct my Irish but roughly translated the original post is:
What do you think abut Irish.?
“I think that’s written correctly” Anyway, I’m putting the question to you because I am searcging for information on what type of interest people have about Irish. Dou you have any, do you speak at home, do you want to learn it, do you like it at al, questions like that. Write back to me if you lie with your interest. Bye and God bless.”
I’ll correct myself even !
“What do you think about Irish ?
I think that’s written correctly” Anyway, I’m putting the question to you because I am searching for information on what type of opinions people have about Irish. Do you have any (Irish), do you speak at home, do you want to learn it, do you like it at al, questions like that. Write back to me if you like, with your opinions. Bye and God bless.”
Is aoibheann liom an teanga agus déanaim gach iarracht í a labhairt, ach bíonn sé deacair go leor é sin a dhéanamh i mBaile Átha Cliath toisc go bhfuil an iomarca daoine cosúil le Joe anseo. Bhí mo chara féin mar sin ar dtús, ach tá sé i bhfad níos caoinfhulangach leis anois.
[I love the language and make every attempt to speak it, but it’s hard enough to do that in Dublin becase there are too many people like Joe here. My own boyfriend was like that too at first, but he’s getting more tolerant of it…]
I think it’s sad when people feel so insecure about a language that they rail against the people who speak and love it. Newsflash: we’re not doing it just to p*ss you off, we’re doing it because we want to communicate with each other in a beautiful language.
Learning it here in Sheffield - very , very slowly , with a view to being able to sing in Irish properly and with some really understanding. And then will start on Scots Gaelic
Hi Tumeltyni - Happy Christmas and New Year - Still working hard ?
Will send an e-mail soon
J
Nil me in am na fadai a chuir os na a’s agus na i’s!! ach ta suil agam go tuiginn sibh mo ghaeilge. Is gra liom na ghaeilge, ach is blean fada nuair a bheith me ag caint e!!! agus tá aiféaltas or cotadh orm na bhfuil me in am caint i gceart.
Mijn vrije vertaling op dit alles:
Ik ben zo vreselijk cool dat ik Iers spreek, maar ik wil niet dat iemand begrijpt waar ik het in hemelsnaam over heb.
Nou mensen! Er zijn vast wel personen op deze site die Nederlands spreken, maar uit goed fatsoen spreek ik altijd engels hier, zelfs in mijn discussie die ging over het vinden van Nederlanders die ierse muziek maakten.
My free translation to this all:
I’m soo cool to speak Irish, but I don’t want anyone to know what I’m talking about, for heaven’s sake.
Well people! There are plenty people on this site who speak Dutch, but to be polight (or something like that) I always speak English here, even on my own discussion that was about finding dutch people who play Irish music….:S
Beleefd zijn is OK; spreek Engels als je wil maar de discussie ging over de Ierse taal zelf! Er was geen nood om alles te vertaalen.
when I choose to learn Dutch music I will attempt to learn its native language.
Goed zo! Bulaidh fir!
Fair play to ya!
Listen folks, none of this is about being cool. Personally I’m proud to know a little bit of the language of my country - that’s just me. It also helps with learning other languages and perhaps understand why some English lyrics to old Irish songs have a strange syntax. I
love reading posts in languages that I don’t understand - it broadens my horizons, emphasises the truly universal appeal of Irish music and encourages me to learn and understand a little more about peope of other nationalities.
Sure, people who speak Irish also speak English (not necessarily as their first language - go to Donegal, Connemara or the Shaws Rd in Belfast for proof) but so do most people who speak Dutch or German or Swedish. Should we expect Dutch people to communicate in English just because we know they can? How arrogant!
Ni tute lernus Esperanton
Some chance 🙂
“Love reading posts in languages I don’t understand”
Conan, do I have to remind you your reaction to my last SMS in Polish? 😛
HAHA! Yeah I loved reading and replying to that one!
“zatem czekamy na kolege. Do zobaczyska”
Now tell me that doesn’t translate as “Your father is a hamster and your mother smells of elderberries”.
My post was to include and embrace, not to exclude. so I will translate as follows: hopefully this will also help you gaelgeoirs out there to understand what I meant!!!
‘I cant get fadas over my a’s and i’s, but I hope you’ll be able to understand my Irish anyway. I love the Irish language but Its been years since I have spoken it, and I’m embarressed that I cant do that properly.’
I might add, that if I am too embarressed becuase of lack of ability or worried that I might offend someone who cant understand our language, then I never will be able to improve.
A for speaking Polish Janek, with 200,000 polish nationals in Ireland, sure we’ll all be fluent in Polish in a few years….bring it on…..!!! best that we not understand each other because of the language barrier than for any other reason.
I agree with a few sensible postings here, like those of Cen F, Ptar and Dow.
I am a fluent Gaelic speaker; in fact the Irish language is my day to day and my only means of income. I like to think it keeps me alive and I do the same in return. I hope this gives me credible standing to make the following points.
Some of the opinions expressed here are crazy.
Fear of a language one does not understand is no excuse for an attack on it, in fact it is prob the worst excuse.
Over-zealous protection or defence of a language of which one has a partial understanding does not make up for ones own short comings. A fuller understanding of the language would soon bring satisfaction to those individuals which would calm down their ‘with us of against us’ stance.
If one must take a robust stance in defence of the language, please do so in Gaeilge which is legible. Honest to God, it is a disgrace that 50% of the postings here in Irish are illegible. As the famous MÓM would say, ‘Patriotism is no excuse for bad Irish’.
I constantly hear the ‘I don’t speak Irish but I wish I did’, or ‘I wish I paid more attention at school’, I rarely believe the speaker. Upon occasion sincerity comes through. I get this all the time and don’t need to hear it again, when I tell someone what I do for a living, I’m not embarrassed that they don’t understand the language, they don’t have to start making up tales to make me feel better.
I don’t feel that there is any need or any reason why postings should be made here completely in Irish. When I come to this forum it is to gain the advice of all of it’s membership. Discussions in Irish alone would be very short indeed ( and illegible by the looks of it).
Having a high level of fluency in two languages removes the hang-ups that ‘a little education’ can sometimes bring (remember how dangerous our friend there is). But better then that is the live and let live outlook. English, Irish, Ulster-Scott’s, I really don’t care, which ye wish to use, just don’t use them to bash each other or hide behind. They don’t belong to any of us.
Okee oke, I was just jealouss 🙂
And I can’t even write in properly english
I’ve been studying Irish for the past 5 years or so and I’ve been doing so largely with the help of www.daltai.com as there are no local Irish language teachers in my part of the US. From that study, I found sean-nos singing and that led me to taking up the fiddle at 40+ years of age.
It’s a great language that is in sore need of all the speaker’s it can get. However, even in that state you might be suprised at the number of non-Irish on this site who were able to muddle through the “cupla focal”.
Ceapim me go hiontach e! (sorry…no fadas on this machine).
Is mise,
James
Nah, aine, think hes having a go at me! Maybe I should give up trying to play the fiddle too as I’m not 100% fluent in playing that either!
Bhuel da mbéadh an diospóireacht i nGaeilge ar fad, ní thigadh an chuid mhór den daoine anseo an bharúil atá i gceist.
Athbhliain faoi mhaise duit féin Julie! Hope all’s going well with the Sheffield Irish Centre…
“If one must take a robust stance in defence of the language, please do so in Gaeilge which is legible. Honest to God, it is a disgrace that 50% of the postings here in Irish are illegible. As the famous MÓM would say, ‘Patriotism is no excuse for bad Irish’.”
Don’t you think that’s a bit harsh Proinsias? I say fair play for trying. I hate when people with fluent Irish put others down for their attempts, almost as much as when English-speakers try to ban the speaking of Irish.
I agree though, this is an English-language site, so it’s only polite to provide a translation of what you’re saying - or what you’re trying to say :/
I like the ‘answer in the language of the first post’ rule in general.
The point I think was missed jenben. I’m not having a go at anyone, not you or aine, sorry if that is what you read from that. Just like any other frequent discussions on this site, this is a subject which people like to claim as their own, nail their colo(u)rs to the mast, use to further own glory. I supose this is what happens with minority interest subjects.
Tumeltyni, yes perhaps that came out a bit harsh, let me expand.
As Cenn F (I know he was reading a paper on this subject recently) will remind us, survival of the fittest applies also to languages. We are all well aware of the figures frequently quoted about the number of minority languages which will die out in this century.
There is nothing wrong with a beginner making mistakes. I welcome beginners and all attempts to use the language. I have spent years teaching the language to all ages. What has disappointed me constantly over the years is the large numbers which never make the transition from beginner to some level of accomplished ability.
Why this happens? There are many answers and the truth lies somewhere between them all. But what it spells out is that without strength the language will die.
The Irish language will die soon. I wish it was not so, but all the good wishes in the world will not save it. The only possibility would be for increasing numbers of Irish people to become strong Irish speakers.
This will not happen.
Aontaím leat, ar an droch-uair.
What is needed are more primary and secondary Irish-speaking schools. Hard to believe they don’t receive more government funding, considering the academic results alone.
To finish up, I think we are getting away from the type of discussion that Jeremy wants to see here. I would also like to return to talking about music, think i’ll see if anyone will talk about playing in flutes!
Languages would appear to be the poor relation in schools here today, for instead of encouraging more students to learn a foreign language, there is a rapid decline in language tuition in schools & I assume that includes Irish.
“In Northern Ireland, schools have to teach languages to age 16. However, they can already ”opt out“ of this requirement, and around half have so far.”
“From 2008, GCSE languages will be non-compulsory across the board, as in the rest of the UK.”
“Students on the continent are becoming fluent in three or four languages. We cannot hope to be competitive in the world if we are allowing the next generation of Britons to miss out on these vital skills.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4531428.stm
It’s a pity piper jj seemed to be frightened away by these reactions to his thread.
Perhaps he should have taken a leaf out of the book of the late (as of yesterday) Magnus Magnusson & said - “I’ve started, so I’ll finish!”
As for learning Gaelic, I did try, when living in Aberdeen, but I found Scots Gaelic just far too difficult for my wee brain, but I do still find it a bonny language to listen to.
“The Irish language will die soon.” - I do hope you are wrong proinsiasrua!
Yeah Dick, I hope I’m wrong too.
As for piper jj, my guess is that he got exactly what he requested, our opinions about the language. Whether or not the opinions expressed were what he wished to hear is another thing. Suppose that’s the way these discussions go on this forum, we are a strange bunch! eg. 50 responses here about the language, yet my question about my flute posted nearly 2 hours ago has only received 1.!!!!!!
There are more and more people learning and speaking Irish everyday, but they all live in N.Ireland. I used to be able to speak it to a very high level, but was never any good at spelling. Some 35% of school leavers in England can’t read or write, but they can speak.
It won’t die soon. The numbers of people in the Republic who are now sending their kids to gaelscoileanna is increasing all the time too, even with people who have no confidence in speaking the language themselves. Those kids (mostly) grow up with a fluency and love of the language that’s really wonderful. As long as the narrow-minded among those who speak English and the pessimists among those who do speak Irish don’t get them.
Irish is a beautiful language and I take every chance I can to learn it and only wish I had known my Grandfather, an Irish speaker for whom English was a second language, better and could have learned from him. Please don’t stop posting in Irish. Even if I can’t read it or understand it, it’s still wonderful to know it isn’t lost.
Sorry Tumeltyni, I forgot they even have a successful school in Ballymun nowadays. So it is far from the end, in fact it is now recognised as an EEC language. That makes me multi-lingual.
aontaim leis an piobaire gur cheart go mbeimis ag usaid na gaeilge mas feidir linn cibe ce mheid ata againne.. ionnas go gcoimeadfai i beo i mbeal an phobail agus ar an idirlion ina measc. Mar is eol dom gurbh as Cobh e Jeremy o dhuchas agus ni bheadh aon dua aige suil gear a choimead ar maslachtai is drochtheanga cibe cen teanga ata i gceist.
Maith thu piper
athbhliain fe mhaise daoibh go leir
tom
corcaigh
Colaiste na bhFiann has also earned a good reputation as a good Gealtacht for learning the language. Many people came out of the Summer College which a hugh improvement in their standard of Irish. I’ll find out for myself in August. I don’t think the language is declining. If you try to take notice of the language, you find out that a lot of people around you speak it (well, at least I do). Lots of young people I play music with speak Irish (most of them do). I envy them nearly but it has pushed me on to learn the language myself and I feel much more motivated than I did say 12 months ago.
Mind you, the education system in this country treats Irish foolishly. It’s strange how many students have been doing Irish as a core subject for 12-14 years in school and then leave school and forget it all. I don’t mean to tar everyone with the same brush and it is mostly down to the lack of interest among students in English speaking schools without a cultural background, I believe. But I would like to think that if I wanted to get something out of Irish, I could. Analysing poetry and stories isn’t the way to go about it, in my opinion.
cad chuige nár lean an díospóireacht ar aghaidh i nGaeilge amháin? nuair a chuireann duine ceist ort i mBéarla, an fhreagraíonn tú i bhFraincis? sin a bhfuil le rá agam!!
(ach aontaím le ptarmigan ag tús an díospóireacht, ní suíomh Gaeilge é seo agus is cosúil go bhfuil Béarla ag achan duine a dtagann anseo, b’fhéidir gur bhfearr é a choinneáil mar sin le bheith cinnte go bhfuil achan duine ábalta a dtuairaimí féin a chur in iúil dúinn)
L
bhuel,ceapaim mé an teanga gaeilge an-a bocht sa eire.Is aoibheann liom an teanga agus muintir é
sorry jay dis is da rest of it!!
………“agus muintir mé” an teanga isteach sa todhcaí.Tá sé giorr ach mar thóg an Béarla ár gaeilge.Tá mé ag rith as an gaeilge anois(tá brón orm).SUAS AN GAEILGE!!
Slán go Fóill
Conzer….
Má tá suim ag éinne, bíonn seisiún dhá-theangach ar siúl sa Chobblestone (Smithfield, Baile Átha Cliath) oíche Dé Luain. “Ciorcal Ceoil agus Cainte” a ghlaoann muid air. Tá fáilte roimh tosaithóirí (ceoltóirí agus cainteóirí).
Bi lingual session in the Cobblestone (Smithfield, Dublin) every Monday night. Beginners (both musical and linguistic) welcome.