I love the language of Scots Gaelic. When I listen to Runrig and Capercaillie singing in the language, I wish I could sing along! It is so beautiful to me. I thought maybe those of us who wanted to try to learn a few words and phrases could meet here and share. A couple of my favorite learning Gaelic websites are the following as they give pronunciation as well.
I think before you start you should post a pronunciation guide if there is one on-line. I know some Japanese sounds are not the same as in English for instance the letter I is pronouced like the English letter E and the letter E is pronouced Eh so might be a good thing to post if there is one on-line so folks know how to properly pronounce the words.
Hi Scottish 2. Thanks for your recommendations. I don't know if you had a chance to look over the websites that I provided above, but the reason why I like these two sites is because they do provide pronunciation guides with each word, phrase and lesson. Are you saying that maybe we should provide the pronunciation as we exchange back and forth with one another here? Maybe I should have done that with my first post. Didn't think of it at the time.
No I haven't had chance as we've had guests over this evening but maybe copy and paste the guide here so it can be seen when the user first joins the discussion.
Hmm.... I haven't found a pronunciation guide on line....yet, except for what the sites above provide with each lesson. So what I did was cut and paste from one of them. And I will do a lesson a day. Hope this helps.
Lesson I
ciamar a tha sibh? (formal) how are you?
(kaymuhr uh ha shiv)
ciamar a tha thu? (informal) how are you?
(kaymuhr uh ha oo)
Tha gu math
Fine
(Ha gu mah)
Glè mhath
Very well
(Glay vah)
Tapadh leibh (formal) Thank you
(Tahpuh leeve)
Tapadh leat (informal) Thank you
(Tahpuh leht)
Ciamar a tha sibh fèin? (formal) How are you yourself?
Scottish Gaelic is spoken by about 60,000 people in Scotland (Alba), mainly in the Highlands (a' Ghaidhealtachd) and in the Western Isles (Na h-Eileanan an Iar), but also in Glasgow (Glaschu), Edinburgh (Dùn Eideann) and Inverness (Inbhir Nis). There are also small Gaelic communities in Canada, particularly in Nova Scotia (Alba Nuadh) and on Cape Breton Island (Eilean Cheap Breatainn). Other speakers are found especially in Australia (Astràilia), New Zealand and the USA (Na Stàitean Aonaichte).
Scottish Gaelic is closely related to Manx and Irish and was brought to Scotland around the 4th century AD by the Scots from Ireland. Scottish Gaelic was spoken throughout Scotland (apart from small areas in the extreme south-east and north-east) between the 9th and 11th centuries, but began to retreat north and westwards from the 11th century onwards. All Scottish Gaelic dialects are mutually intelligible, and written Irish can be understood to a large extent.
The earliest identifiably texts in Scottish Gaelic are notes in the Book of Deer written in north eastern Scotland in the 12th century, although the existence of a common written Classical Gaelic concealed the extent of the divergence between Scottish and Irish Gaelic.
The Scottish Gaelic alphabet
Scottish Gaelic is written with just 18 letters. The consonants all have more than one pronunciation depending on their position in a word and which vowels precede or follow them.
A a B b C c D d E e F f G g H h I i L l M m N n O o P p R r S s T t U u
A grave accent on a vowel (Àà, Èè, Ìì, Òò and Ùù) indicates a longer version of the vowel, but these are not considered separate letters
The older Gaelic (uncial) script or "corr litir" has not been used for several centuries in Scotland, and has never been used in printed Gaelic. The uncial script is still used in Ireland on road signs and public notices.
The orthography of Scottish Gaelic was regularised in the late 1970s, the main impact of which was the abolition of the acute accent on "a", "e" and "o".
Pronunciation - vowels and diphthongs
Pronunciation - connragan (consonants) The connragan leathann or broad consonants are those preceded or followed by a, o or u. Connragan caola or slender consonants are those preceded or followed by i or e. Most consonants have different pronunciations depending on whether they appear at the beginning of a word or elsewhere.
The initial consonants of Gaelic words can change in various contexts. This process is known as "lenition" and involves the addition of an after the initial letter. The resulting letters are suathaich or fricatives
Sample text
Tha gach uile dhuine air a bhreth saor agus co-ionnan ann an urram 's ann an còirichean. Tha iad air am breth le reusan is le cogais agus mar sin bu chòir dhaibh a bhith beò nam measg fhein ann an spiorad bràthaireil.
Translation
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Gaelic is the ancient, complex and subtle language of the Celts. This page gives a guide to the pronunciation and meaning of many of the place names that you will come across in your travels around Scotland and the rest of my site. The informathion was gathered from a couple of books (I do not speak Gaelic myself). It does not pretend to teach you how to speak Gaelic but may stop locals rolling about with laughter as you mangle names. As examples of the complexity of Gaelic, look at the definitive article ('the'). In the nominative case ('the hill'), it may be an, am or an t- (masculine); a', an or an t- (feminine); na or na h- (plural). In the genitive case ('of the hill'), it may be a', an, an t-; na, na h-; and nan, nam respectively. Nouns and adjectives also change spelling and pronunciation in the genitive: · buirich ('roaring' or 'bellowing') becomes Meall a'Bhuiridh - 'hill of roaring', · Coire Odhar Beag, 'the small dun-coloured hill' becomes Sron a'Choire Odhair-bhig, 'the spur of the small dun-coloured corrie'.
Add to this the confusion of the many attempts of the English to convert Gaelic into something they can pronounce and local usage of both spelling and pronunciation.
Yeah that second one took forever to post because the entire post is in HTML format and I had to remove all the spaces otherwise the post was a mile long. Too I guess like 20-30 minutes to remove them all but looks good now. Well am off to bed been a long week think I will sleep for a week now LOL
Celtic Rose and Scottish2 Fantastic job folks maybe this will help me from tripping over some pronunciations on some of these words probably not all, still everyonce in a while I think people should have some laughter in their lives, for instance when I try to say some of those words.
Thanks for all the hard work.
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"Cuimhnich air na daoine o'n d'thaining thu" Remember the men from whom you are descended.
I am Wolf. It is my cry you hear in the night, My eyes that gaze at you from the shadows. It is my heart that beats in your Soul, My strength that makes you whole. I am Wolf. I am in you. You are in Me. We Are Wolf.
Thanks Marcera! What would have done without Scottish 2? Hopefully we can all help each other and learn some of this beautiful language. Here is some Holiday phrases to use!
Gaelic Sayings To Use Every Day WINTER HOLIDAYS
English - Scots Gaelic - Pronunciation
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Christmas - Nollaig - nollik Merry Christmas - Nollaig chridheil - nollik chree-hel Hogmanay - Oidhche Challainn - oychæ clallin New Year's Day - latha na Bliadhn' Uire - laah næ vleen oohræ Happy New Year - Bliadhna Mhath Ur - bleenæ vah oohr
hey guys, rose and scottish 2, u gys did a great job i appreciate i was looking for some webpage that had that kind of imformation but i never found any, so i really appreciate u guys. i wguess ill be watching the site and practicing some gaelic in the next few days...thank u agian!
hello, i am new here, just signed up, but my name is elsbeth, and i have been trying to learn gaelic for about a year now, my father and his father, and my grandmother, so on and so fourth are all from scotland, but for some reason, i must have not gotten much of the scottish-ness, because for the life of me, i can not under stand any- thing at all. I was wondering if anyone could help me understand what it is that i am doing wrong? elsbeth[FONT=Courier][SIZE=1]
hello, i am new here, just signed up, but my name is elsbeth, and i have been trying to learn gaelic for about a year now, my father and his father, and my grandmother, so on and so fourth are all from scotland, but for some reason, i must have not gotten much of the scottish-ness, because for the life of me, i can not under stand any- thing at all. I was wondering if anyone could help me understand what it is that i am doing wrong? elsbeth
best thing to do is practice practice practice and when you have done that guess what is next to do? Practice some more LOL
If your parents speak the language ask them to help maybe when you get better and visit them have Gaelic only days when you only speak Gaelic unless you need help with a word or phrase.
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