#gaeilge class

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Online Irish Series 1: Intro

Hello! So since I’ve heard back and you are interested indeed, here’s the first class! I will try to make these short and daily at 3pm! I have somewhat of a rough plan, staring from the bare basics of the Irish language and I want to be going over topics and grammar points as well. I am going to try and make it somewhat interactive, too. Bí linn!  Today I’m doing just an introduction to the language. I’d be very happy to get some feedback or questions, if you have any. Please send me an ask with your reasons why you’re learning Irish!  It’s a new format, so let’s see how it works.  Irish, or Gaeilge comes from the Celtic branch of Indo-European languages. It is very closely related to Scottish Gaelic and Manx and more distantly related with Welsh, Cornish and Breton. As for Indo-European languages, it does not classify within the so-called SAE (Standard Average European) languages and is quite different, which is to be kept in mind while studying it. There are certain grammatical and morphological features, which make it stand out, especially compared to languages like French or German. Irish is the first language of the Republic of Ireland and a recognised minority language in Northern Ireland, where Irish is protected under the European Charter for Minority Languages (for now). In Ireland, Irish is taught throughout the entire school education, however, only 73,803 speak it daily; 111,473 speak it weekly and 586,535 speak less frequently (out of population of ca. 5 million). Most Irish people do have some knowledge of Irish, but usage depends on different factors. There are three main dialects of Irish - Munster, Connacht and Ulster. They are mutually comprehensible with most differences being small in pronunciation and some minor grammatical differences. Due to media spread, they all are well-represented and most Irish speakers understand all of them to some degree. The oldest Ogam inscriptions (ancient writing system) of so-called Archaic Irish come all the way from the 3rd century AD. Irish as a language has faced countless attempts to be silenced and is currently going through revival efforts. I hope you enjoy and I’ll see you tomorrow. We’re going to look at how to read Irish!

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Online Irish Series 2: The Alphabet

Welcome back! Today we’re going to embark on a journey to read Irish! We’re going to start with looking over the letters and their qualities and then tomorrow, we’re going to get down a bit deeper on those rules. Reading Irish is what many people can get quite overwhelmed with and there are quite a few rules, but approaching it right from the start will hopefully make it seem a little less daunting! I hope you like today’s lesson. In Irish, we have the same letters as in English (minus the old font) - except for j, k, q, v, x, y, z (unless they’re borrowings)

One of the most important things to remember is that every consonant has two qualities, slender (caol) and broad (leathan).

These are determined by the vowel - a, o, u -> broad, e, i -> slender. Which is easy to remember as you have to ‘smile’ to pronounce the slender vowels. Which will then influence the consonant you’re saying with it. Compare - saying ‘cat’ ‘key’, notice how your mouth shape changes when you say these.

This comes in later in pronunciation rules.

Vowels, besides being markers of broad and slender, also have a little diacritics mark, an acute accent, if you will, called a fada. In general, it makes the vowel longer. Sometimes even to the point of creating a diphthong (a two-vowel sliding sound), especially in case of ó - which becomes an /oh/ sound and é - which ends up sounding like /ay/. There are also dipthongs and something you could call vowel clusters which create one sound, you will learn them as you go.

Have you noticed how Irish names are often going to be pronounced way differently than what they’re spelled?

Saoirse Sean Aisling 

-> click on the name to be taken to teanglann.ie, a super handy website where you can listen to the pronunciation - see the dialects we talked about yesterday?

Irish has quite different spelling rules from English. When you have learned these rules, you can read virtually anything. Remember the broad and slender rule? Some consonants change quite a bit when slender. For example s - look at Saoirse again and notice the different sounds with the letter S. We’re going to look at more of that tomorrow.

I would recommend you watch this video  as your ‘homework’ to get familiar with the Irish sounds, it basically gives you a good overview of how to read! I hope you liked today’s lesson! My ask is always open for questions and suggestions. Tomorrow’s lesson at 3pm Irish time (GMT) again.

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Online Irish Series 3: How to Read Irish!

More info-dump! I also would like you to know that obviously, there’s no exam, there’s no pressure, you don’t need to know all the rules all at once, all by heart. You can refer to this post later on when you follow up with the lessons as well. In general, getting comfortable with reading Irish does take time. I am, however, a strong believer in learning with context and teaching the whole thing at once. I don’t want to look over every single letter, I want you to see how the letters come together to create words and maybe even go on a little journey to discover those combinations for yourself! Okay, here we go, How to read in Irish!!

First of all, pronunciation can be quite dialect-dependent. For dialects - I am trying to teach in the most dialect-neutral way I know. If you’re starting out fresh, you’re free to choose whichever dialect suits you the best or whichever you like the most! Of course, if you’ve already spent time learning a certain dialect, I would suggest you stick with it, but maybe it would also be interesting to learn some of the differences.  I would like you to look at this list of words and put them into teanglann.ie or focloir.ie and listen to their pronunciations. You should be able to hear some difference (some are bigger, some are quite small) between the two pronunciations of the same letter! (Just a note - I personally find that Ulster dialect makes a more prominent distinction there, so if you cannot hear it, try Ulster! Especially for t and d!) Bó (cow) - Bia (food) Cú (hound) - Ciúin (calm) Doras (door) - Deoch (drink) Fuar (cold) - Féach (look) Guta (vowel) - Giota (piece)  Halla (hall) - Hiopnóis (hypnosis) Lón (lunch) - Leithscéal (excuse) Mór (big) - Milseog (dessert) Nua (new) - Neart (strength) Post (post, job) - Pian (pain) Rollóg (small roll) - Riamh (before) Sean (old) - Sú (juice) Tóg (take) - Tirim (dry)

Next step: (only read once you’re comfortable with the sounds and the differences!) A handy rule to help you remember the spelling, especially when it comes to many vowels being next to each other and ‘which one you should read’ is caol le caol, leathan le leathan, meaning slender with slender, broad with broad. Which means that means that the vowels on either side of a consonant (or group of consonants) should agree; they should both be broad or both be slender. This rule should help you with more complicated words like Bealach (way) - you pronounce a slender B, influenced by the E and then follow with the As. Conspóideach (controversial) - Ó will have its way because of the fada. The I is only there because there is an E. After a slender -D-, you follow along with the now seemingly broad ending -ACH. 

In general, knowing these rules should help you ease your way into starting to read Irish. A good way to listen to the pronunciation is with music. Siúil a Rún or Báidín Fheilimí are very good songs to look into. Read the lyrics (only the chorus is in English for Siúil a Rún) out loud for yourself. Look up the words on teanglann if you need help. Then you can listen to the song to see if you were right/where you made mistakes. I really hope this helps you in some way to gain a bit of understanding of Irish orthography and pronunciation. Remember, it’s always best to listen to the language and then read over the rules, gradually, it will start making sense. Reading Irish then becomes quite straightforward. However, don’t worry if it takes some time. You might spend a couple weeks on it. Next lesson tomorrow at 3pm Irish time again!  My ask is always open if you have any questions or suggestions!

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Online Irish Series 4: Greetings

So after looking at some big starting points - I hope you feel a bit less intimidated by the language! Remember you can always look up the correct pronunciation or ask! I am not sure about your knowledge of the IPA, but I could add a somewhat modified IPA version in the beginning chapters! Today we’re going to be greeting each other! A very formal greeting in Irish is Dia duit (when you’re greeting one person) Dia daoibh (when you’re greeting more than one person!) Note: Duit/daoibh - This is dependent on something called the prepositional pronouns. It basically means - ‘for you’ in singular and in plural. The preposition for is do and you can inflect prepositions in Irish! Dia duit/daoibh, however, is very formal. At least that’s what I was taught. Loosely translated, it’s like God be with you. And the answer back is also very formal. Dia is Muire duit. God and Mary be with you. Usually, in a conversational setting, people will usually just say Hi! But it’s stylised as Haigh! After haigh, you usually ask or get asked how you are. Each dialect has got their specific one. Cad é mar atá tú? (Ulster. Honestly, once you say this, everyone will know you’re from the north!) Cén chaoi a bhfuil tú? (Specific to Connacht) Conas atá tú? (Munster, and also the most widespread one in general, especially in Leinster) The reply usually goes Tá mé go maith! (I am well), maith pronounced either as mah (with a quite open a) in Munster and Connacht or you even add a little -ih sound in the end for Ulster -> Compare with teanglann Tá mé - means I am. Tá is the verb and mé is the pronoun. We will talk about Irish sentence structure in one of the following lessons! You can substitute go maith - well - with other words, too! Go breá - great Go dona - poorly Maith go leor - okay Go hiontach - amazing If you want to say thank you and ask the same question - Go raibh maith agat, agus tú féin/tusa?  - Thank you, and you/yourself? As an exercise, if you like, do send me an ask, asking how I am! We didn’t cover that much today, because I still feel like some of these explanations are necessary! Let me know if you enjoy this info dump approach!