* Id: Irish * Revision: 3 * State: reviewed * * Log: * Revision 1 1997/12/29 Nicholas Gurley * Initial submitted version. * * Checked-out 1998/01/05 Aaron Rice * * Checked-in with * Revision 2 1998/12/29 Aaron Rice * Ready for review. This article has been through the review process * before, but it received no comments. * * Checked-out 1999/06/28 Mark Seaborn * * Checked-in with * Revision 3 1999/08/02 Mark Seaborn * Reviewed. Changed `metropolitan' to `cosmopolitan'. Changed the accent * style from `a/' for an acute `a' to `\'a', the TeX style, and made a note * about this usage. Changed the formatting of the script parts. * Italicised the phonetic translations. %t Languages: Irish, A Primer %n 9R36 %s A Quick Introduction To The Language Of The Irish %a Nicholas Gurley (neg@bigfoot.com) %d 19971230 %x Ireland, Earth %i Irish, A Lauguage Primer %i Primers: Irish Language %i Speaking Irish %k Irish %k language %k speaking %k writing %k learning %e A Hitchhiker of a certain region probably has all of the tools he would need: his towel, a satchel, a notebook, pens, camera, and so on... Yet, a cosmopolitan [1] hitchhiker would need one other tool: the language of the region he is visiting! Here is a quick introduction to the Irish [2] language, in case you are ever in Ireland. Note: yes, I know a little bit about it. I spent two summers learning as much as I could, so this is from experience. Still, I may have made mistakes. If I did, email me and make me correct it! This is presented in some dialogues, English first, Irish second. The sequence \' followed by a letter means read the letter as if it had an acute accent over it. English ------- Dick: Hello! Jane: God and Mary with you! How are you today? Dick: Very good, thank you. And you? Jane: Good, thank you. Irish ----- Dick: Dia dhuit! _(Jee-ah ghwich!)_ Jane: Dia's Muire duit! Conas t\'a t\'u? _(Jee-ahs mwir-rah ghwich! kun-us taw too?)_ Dick: T\'a m\'e go maith, go raibh maith agat. Agus t\'u? _(Taw me guh muh, guh row moyh ah-gut. Aw-gus too?)_ Jane: Go bre\'a, go raibh maith agat. _(Guh bree-ah, guh row moyh ah-gut.)_ English ------- Dick: Hello! What is your name? Mary: My name is Mary. Dick: I'm pleased to meet you! Irish ----- Dick: Dia dhuit! Cad is ainm duit? _(Jee-ah ghwich! kad iss an-im ghwich?)_ Mark: Muire is ainm dom. _(Mwir-rah iss an-im dum.)_ Dick: T\'a \'athas orm bualadh leat! _(Taw ah-has orm buh-lah lyat!)_ English ------- Dick: I'm hungry! Dick: I'm thirsty! Dick: I'm tired! Dick: I'm... Mary smacks Dick. Dick: Owww... I'm sorry, Mary. Irish ----- Dick: T\'a ocras orm! _(Taw o-kras urm!)_ Dick: T\'a tart orm! _(Taw tart urm!)_ Dick: T\'a tuirse orm! _(Taw toor-sah urm!)_ Dick: T\'a... _(Taw...)_ Boiseogann s\'e Dick. Dick: Ouwww... T\'a br\'on orm, Muire. _(Ouwww... Taw brun urm!)_ Now, you should have a few basic phrases and should be able to survive in most cases in Ireland among the Irish. Oh, another note: most of the Irish nowadays only speak English but, thankfully, there are at least a half-million people out there either speaking it or learning it right now. Support the Irish language! [1] Cosmopolitan: used in the sense of worldly, travelling a lot. Not the women's magazine. [2] Irish Language: called Gaeilge, a direct descendant of Gaelic. %e *EOA*