16
August

Common Words and Phrases

Hello= Jee-ah Gwitch
Response= Jee-as M00-rah Gwitch
Phrase: Thank you
Irish: Go raibh maith agat
Pronunciation: Guh row mah aguth (row as in cow)

Phrase: You’re welcome
Irish: Tá fáilte romhat
Pronunciation: Thaw foil-cheh roath

Phrase: Hello
Irish: Dia dhuit
Pronunciation: Djee-ah gwitch

Phrase: What is your name?
Irish: Cad is ainm duit?
Pronunciation: Codh is anam gwitch

Phrase: My name is Judith Flynn
Irish: Judith Flynn is ainm dom
Pronunciation: Judith Flynn is aman dhum

Phrase: How are you?
Irish: Conas tá tú?
Pronunciation: Kunas thaw thoo Phrase: I am fine
Irish: Tá me go maith
Prounciation: Thaw may guh mah

Phrase: How old are you?
Irish: Cad is aois duit?*
Pronunciation: Codh is eesh gwitch
*Not a colloquially correct expression. Much better to use Cén aois thú? Kayn eesh hoo

Phrase: What time is it?
Irish: Cén t-am é?
Pronunciation: Kayn thom ay

Phrase: It’s three o’clock
Irish: Tá sé a tri a chlog
Pronunciation: Thaw shay three a (c)hlug – not ‘ch’ as in ‘chew’, the ‘c’ is almost silent

Phrase: Today is Sunday
Irish: Inniu an* Dé Domhnaigh
Pronunciation: Djay dhough-knee * Omit ‘an’ – equivalent to saying Today is the Sunday

Word: Monday
Irish: Dé Luain
Pronunciation: Djay loo-in

Word: Tuesday
Irish: Dé Máirt
Pronunciation: Djay moyrch

Word: Wednesday
Irish: Dé Chéadaoin
Pronunciation: Djay Kay-dheen

Word: Thursday
Irish: Dé Déardaoin
Pronunciation: Djay Djayr-dheen

Word: Friday
Irish: Dé hAoine
Pronunciation: Djay-heenah

Word: Saturday
Irish: Dé Sathairn
Pronunciation: Djay Sah-harn
Posted by mike under Irish Language | Comment now » |
16
August

A Grafted Tongue

A Grafted Tongue
by John Montague

(Dumb,
bloodied, the severed
head now chokes to
speak another tongue -

As in
a long suppressed dream,
some stuttering garb -
led ordeal of my own)

An Irish
child weeps at school
repeating its English.
After each mistake

The master
gouges another mark
on the tally stick
hung about its neck

Like a bell
on a cow, a hobble
on a straying goat.
To slur and stumble

In shame
the altered syllables
of your own name:
to stray sadly home

And find
the turf-cured width
of your parents’ hearth
growing slowly alien:

In cabin
and field, they still
speak the old tongue.
You may greet no one.

To grow
a second tongue, as
harsh a humiliation
as twice to be born.

Decades later
that child’s grandchild’s
speech stumbles over lost
syllables of an old order.

Posted by mike under Irish Language | Comment now » |
16
August

A Country Without a Language…

Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam

(teer gon chong-ga, teer gon on-um)

A country without a language, a country without a soul

Posted by mike under Irish Language | Comment now » |