Dialects of Irish

Moderator:kevin

What are your favorite Irish dialects?

An Caighdeán (Official Irish)
5
17%
Gaeilge na Mumhan (Munster Irish)
4
14%
Gaeilge Chonnacht (Connacht Irish)
6
21%
Gaeilge Uladh (Ulster Irish)
5
17%
Gaeilge Chlasaiceach (Classical Irish)
4
14%
Goídelc (Old Irish)
5
17%
 
Total votes: 29

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Michael
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Dialects of Irish

Postby Michael » 2014-12-03, 19:38

Please take a minute to explain your votes. If you write in Irish, please include an English (or other common language) translation for those of us who are not yet so proficient. I'll go first!

An Caighdeán
I started out with Standard Irish, and I'm restarting it now. It's my main dialect, and, I suppose, will always be.

Gaeilge Uladh
I plan on adapting to Ulster Irish, once I finish the Irish course I'm using now (Living Language: Spoken World Irish), using Harvard's Buntús na Gaeilge courses. I prefer its phonology to Munster or Connacht.
Last edited by Michael on 2014-12-04, 13:09, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Dialects of Irish

Postby linguoboy » 2014-12-03, 19:50

I don't know if you can edit the poll, but:

Gaeilge na Chonnacht
Gaeilge na Uladh

(Connachta and Ulaidh are grammatically plural nouns. I don't know that they ever take the definite article.)
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Re: Dialects of Irish

Postby Michael » 2014-12-03, 19:55

linguoboy wrote:I don't know if you can edit the poll, but:

Gaeilge na Chonnacht
Gaeilge na Uladh

(Connachta and Ulaidh are grammatically plural nouns. I don't know that they ever take the definite article.)

Go raibh míle maith agat!
American English (en-us) Neapolitan from Molise (nap) N Italian (it) B2 Spanish (es) Portuguese (pt) French (fr) Greek (el) Albanian (sq) B1 Polish (pl) Romanian (ro) A2 Azerbaijani (az) Turkish (tr) Old English (en_old) A1
„Çdo njeri është peng i veprave të veta.‟
Every human being is hostage to their own deeds.

Ciarán12

Re: Dialects of Irish

Postby Ciarán12 » 2014-12-03, 20:25

Roghnaigh mé an CO, G na M agus an tSeanghaeilge. Is í Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin an cineál atáim ag déanamh staidéir uirthi, so is léir nach bhfuil aon drochmheas agam uirthi. Is maith go mór liom Gaeilge na Mhumhan, an-chuid binnis atá inti. Ach i ndáiriíre, tá grá mór agam ar gach ceann acu agus an méid difir eatarthu.

EDIT: Sorry Michael, I didn't see your line about writing in English, translation below:

I chose CO, Munster Irish and Old Irish. Standard Irish is the kind I'm studying, so I obviously don't harbour any contempt for it. I really love Munster Irish, there is a great deal of beauty in it. But tbh, I love each of them and the amount of difference between them.

księżycowy

Re: Dialects of Irish

Postby księżycowy » 2014-12-03, 23:20

Aóristos wrote:Gaeilge na Uladh
I plan on adapting to Ulster Irish, once I finish the Irish course I'm using now (Living Language: Spoken World Irish), using Harvard's Buntús na Gaeilge courses. I prefer its phonology to Munster or Connacht.

I'm curious, why Ulster Irish? I've been thinking of learning Ulster (and undoubtedly Connacht) Irish myself when I do pick up Irish again.

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Re: Dialects of Irish

Postby kevin » 2014-12-03, 23:55

You make me feel bad for not having decided on a dialect... I just pick up things here and there and am happy if my sentences are correct anywhere. Makes for a weird mix, I guess. :?

Ciarán12

Re: Dialects of Irish

Postby Ciarán12 » 2014-12-04, 0:08

kevin wrote:You make me feel bad for not having decided on a dialect... I just pick up things here and there and am happy if my sentences are correct anywhere. Makes for a weird mix, I guess. :?


Join the club. I use CO as a standard reference of "right" and "wrong" to avoid learner errors that are just outright mistakes, but I don't make much attempt to keep it to one dialect. That said, I think my Irish leans more towards Munster than either of the others, but that's just because I think the majority of people I've learned Irish from favour Munster Irish.

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Re: Dialects of Irish

Postby kevin » 2014-12-04, 0:20

When I make a conscious decision, I generally follow the CO, too. Otherwise, it's just something. Unfortunately, the whole pronunciation falls into the latter category...

Ciarán12

Re: Dialects of Irish

Postby Ciarán12 » 2014-12-04, 0:30

kevin wrote:When I make a conscious decision, I generally follow the CO, too. Otherwise, it's just something. Unfortunately, the whole pronunciation falls into the latter category...


I definitely think learning Irish pronunciation is one of the hardest things about it - it's not something you can ignore, even from the very start you have to pronounce it some way, and it's variable by dialect and the spelling isn't particularly straightforward (specifically because of the dialectal variety). And then there's the fact that if you to get exposure to spoken Irish you probably won't know a) which dialect the person is speaking or b) how that word would be pronounced in the dialect you're learning. It's tough... My suggestion - Pick a dialect for pronunciation at least, then find a speaker of it to use as a model (the dialects are fairly well represented on TG4, so maybe pick someone who appears regularly on it an model your speech after them). Also when in doubt, there's Abair.ie and breis.focloir.ie as audio reference guides.

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Re: Dialects of Irish

Postby Itikar » 2014-12-04, 13:05

I have never studied Irish and probably I shall not for a good long time. However, since I really like the history of Ireland, if I ever study it my pick would be Ulster. As a bonus it is also the closest to Scottish Gaelic, another language I like.
I have voted also for Old Irish, because, come on, it is cool for reading the ancient literature.
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Re: Dialects of Irish

Postby linguoboy » 2014-12-05, 18:11

Aon ghrá do Chonnachta?

Ní thógfadh éinne ina iontas go ndéarfainn "Gaeilge na Mumhan". Sin é an chéad saghas a casadh orm agus níl an binneas céanna in aon chanúint eile.
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons

Ciarán12

Re: Dialects of Irish

Postby Ciarán12 » 2014-12-05, 19:42

linguoboy wrote:Aon ghrá do Chonnachta?


Aisteach go leor nach bhfuil, ach caithfidh mé a rá, níl aithne agam ar éinne a bhfuil suim áirithe sa chanúint sin aige. Anois agus a mbím ag cloisteáil leis an teanga go níos mínice, is reasúnta deacair dom Gaeilge Chonnacht a thuiscint. Bhí mé ag braithnú ar an gclár teilifíse "An Bronntanas" gan a bheith in ann mórchuid na teanga a thuiscint.

Strange enough that there isn't, but I have to say, I don't know anyone who has a particular interest in that dialect. Now that I'm listening to the language more, it's quite hard for me to understand Connacht Irish. I was watching a TV show called "An Bronntanas [The Present]" without being able to understand a good deal of the language.

linguoboy wrote:Ní thógfadh éinne ina iontas go ndéarfainn "Gaeilge na Mumhan". Sin é an chéad saghas a casadh orm agus níl an binneas céanna in aon chanúint eile.


Ceapaim go bhfuil rud speisialta i nGaeilge Uladh leis. Nuair a chuirfidh mé ardleibhéil ar mo chuid Gaeilge Chaighdeánach b'fhéidir go gcuirfidh mé tús ar staidéar Ghaeilge Uladh.

I think there's something special in Ulster Irish too. When I reach a high level with my Standard Irish maybe I'll start studying Ulster Irish.

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Re: Dialects of Irish

Postby Fear_a_Phléasc » 2014-12-20, 8:23

Is í an Ghaeilge Chonnacht an ceann is fearr liom, gan dabht.

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Re: Dialects of Irish

Postby Fear_a_Phléasc » 2014-12-20, 8:35

Ciarán12 wrote:Aisteach go leor nach bhfuil, ach caithfidh mé a rá, níl aithne agam ar éinne a bhfuil suim áirithe sa chanúint sin aige. Anois agus a mbím ag cloisteáil leis an teanga go níos mínice, is reasúnta deacair dom Gaeilge Chonnacht a thuiscint. Bhí mé ag braithnú ar an gclár teilifíse "An Bronntanas" gan a bheith in ann mórchuid na teanga a thuiscint.


Is dóigh liom gur fíor duit an méad sin. Cé gurb í an chanúint is ansa liom, tá sé réasúnta ... doiléir, déarfainn (i gcompráid leis na canúintí eile). Go háirithe Gaeilge na n-oileán (Árann, agus araile). Is gnáth gur saghas "cogaint" na bhfocal atá á chleachtadh thall nach gcloistear ar an mórthír. Ach tá sé thar a bheith binn agus fileata ag an am céanna. Go raibh mo ghuth féin chomh ceolmhar le Máirtín ó Díreáin!

I suppose you're right about that. Even though it's my favorite dialect, it's somewhat... indistinct, I would say (in comparison to the other dialects). Especially the island dialects (like Árann, etc). It's common for people to "mumble" in a way you don't usually hear on the mainland. But it's incredibly musical and poetic at the same time. Would that my voice were as musical as Máirtin ó Díreáin.

Ciarán12

Re: Dialects of Irish

Postby Ciarán12 » 2014-12-20, 12:18

Fear_a_Phléasc wrote:Is í an Ghaeilge Chonnacht an ceann is fearr liom, gan dabht.


Is maith liom é sin a chloisteáil, tá ionadaíocht ar gach ceann anseo anois.

I'm glad to hear that, each one is represented here now.

Fear_a_Phléasc wrote:Is dóigh liom gur fíor duit an méad sin. Cé gurb í an chanúint is ansa liom, tá sé réasúnta ... doiléir, déarfainn (i gcompráid leis na canúintí eile). Go háirithe Gaeilge na n-oileán (Árann, agus araile). Is gnáth gur saghas "cogaint" na bhfocal atá á chleachtadh thall nach gcloistear ar an mórthír. Ach tá sé thar a bheith binn agus fileata ag an am céanna. Go raibh mo ghuth féin chomh ceolmhar le Máirtín ó Díreáin!


Is iad deiridh na bhfocal go háirithe a chuireann meabhall orm.-ithe mar , 'sé sin ait dom.

The word endings in particular confuse me. -ithe as , that's odd to me.

iodalach93

Re: Dialects of Irish

Postby iodalach93 » 2017-02-07, 21:20

[flag=]ga[/flag] Táim ag foghlaim an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil i m’aonar le seacht mbliana agus táim ag baint feidhme as fuaimniú na Lárchanúna. Bhíodh beaguchtach riamh orm, mar nárbh fhéidir liom na cainteoirí dhúchais a thuiscint. Ar an ábhar seo, thosaigh mé ag foghlaim chanúint Chonnacht (gan fáth ar leith ach gur í an chanúint is cosúla leis an gCaighdeán Oifigiúil í) go déanach leis an deacracht seo a shárú - cuid di, ar a laghad - ach nílim cinnte cén fhuaimniú ba chóir dom úsáid. Tuigim gur saorga í an Lárchanúint agus gur dócha nach í an chanúint d'aon chainteoir dhúchais í, ach ní Éireannach mé agus níl aon chúis agam chun canúint áitiúil a bheith agam (ach amháin go dtiocfaidh mé a chónaí in Éirinn agus gur mian liom meas duine áitiúil a thabhairt dom). Níl aon fhonn eile orm ach labhairt as Gaeilge go ceart agus ar dóigh intuigthe. Lena chois sin, ní fheadar - mar shampla - an bhféachann na hUltaigh agus na Muimhnigh go dearfach orm má labhraím i gcanúint Chonnacht leo: nuair a labhraím leis na hIodálaigh, seachnaím tréithe mo chanúna a oiread agus is féidir mar nach mian liom go dtugtar breith as mo bhunús orm.

Cad é bhur mbarúil air, a Éireannacha nach bhfuil in bhur gcónaí sna Gaeltachtaí (má tá sibh anseo)? Ar fhoghlaim sibh canúint nó an Lárchanúint le labhairt as Gaeilge? Cén fhuaimniú ba mhian libh go mbeadh ag na heachtrannaigh atá ag foghlaim na Gaeilge?

Go raibh maith agaibh.

[flag=]en[/flag] I have been learning the Caighdeán for seven years on my own, with a Lárchanúint pronunciation. Since I've always found frustrating not being able to understand native speaks, I have recently started learning Connacht Irish (just because it's the most similar to the Caighdeán) in order to overcome this difficulty, at least partly, but I'm not sure what pronunciation I should use. I understand that the Lárchanúint is artificial and it's probably the mother tongue of nobody, but I'm not Irish so there is no reason I should have a local accent (unless I want to move to Ireland and to be perceived as a local, which is not in my mind at the time being), I'm just fine with speaking correctly and in un understandable way. Moreover, I'm not sure I'd be perceived in a positive way by Ulster Irish and Munster Irish native speakers if I spoke to them in Connacht Irish. When I’m speaking with Italians, I try to hide my regional accent as much as possible because I do not want to be judged on the basis of my origin.

What is your opinion, Irish people who do not live in the Gaeltacht (if there are any here)? Were you taught a dialect or the Lárchanúint in order to speak Irish? Which pronunciation would you prefer foreigners who are studying Irish to have?

Thank you.
Last edited by iodalach93 on 2017-02-10, 17:12, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: Dialects of Irish

Postby PfifltriggPi » 2017-02-08, 18:50

I have studied Irish, although I gave it up due to lack of time. I did the Duolingo course, teaching the standard, but I prefer the sound of Ulster Irish, and how it is more centrally located in regards to the other Gaelic languages. I also voted for Old and Classical Irish as I love dead and ancient languages in general.
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