Difference between Irish and Scot Gaelic

[BoldHighlander]

Hi Terry,

You might check out Beag air Bheag (if you google this it should come up.). It is a BBC sponsored website that teaches you Scots Gaelic. I am using it often. Check it out....

Slainte,

Eric Schutte

Thanks Eric, I will!

[OC Richard]

I've been told that the number of native speakers of Scots Gaelic has been growing simply because the population of the islands where it is still spoken in growing.

Happily there are still people who don't learn English till they start going to school, or so I'm told.

In Celtic: A Comparitve Study the author paints a dim picture of most Celtic languages today.

In the section Causes of Decline, of Irish, he says:

"The worst threat to the Irish Gaeltacht proceeds, oddly enough, from the very measures taken to protect it. As we shall see, a language can flourish only if its speakers need no other language in order themselves to flourish; in other words, there must be local industries. But industry involves a technical vocabulary, and Irish emerged from suppression into the scientific age without having produced venacular names for scientific, political, banking, engineering, or mathematical terms. So one Minister for the Gaeltacht after another expresses his anxiety over the fact that English is spreading throughout the shop-floor in the factories set up by the authorities.
Even greater is the danger from another type of visitor: the very pupils who go to Summer Schools in the Gaeltacht to learn the authentic language... are responsible for the spread of English, for the local people have to step down to their level, to speak simple or bad Irish or a mixture of Irish and English so as to be understood, and the pupils teach English to [the locals'] children."

He also cites the cinema for eroding Irish and Scots Gaelic in the areas where people otherwise use these languages for daily converstation.

[Laird O'the Cowcaddens]

I have found ALL remarks expressed here, both interesting and logical. As a native born speaker of "the tongue", I believe that colloquial, rather than colloquy, is at the root of non-speakers who wish to learn to speak "the tongue'. Gael, like Latin, is a DEAD language in comparison to English. The only way to grasp the essence, is by listening to it like a baby, and speaking it like one too. I should add, that one of my Grandfathers' was a Irish speaker, and till the day he died, I never had a problen understanding him. When I first came to this country, I engaged in limited conversation with people here who were learning, or had a touch of the gab; I soon realized that I was spending more time trying to break long formed habits of speach, than in actual conversation. My friend George (old hiker) has been attending classes to learn the language, and is coming along nicely, but he still thinks in ENGLISH GRAMMAR CONSTRUCTION. I suggest that by relaxing and making a multitude of mistakes, you will ENJOY the journey, rather than looking to your destination. No one is going to take your birthday away if you speak with an accent or mix up the SUBJECT AND PREDICATE. Here endeth the lesson.LOL

[cajuncelt]

I have a wee bit o' the Gàidhlig. I agree with most all posts here. There was a great previous post about Irish vs. Gàidhlig (Scots Gaelic). being like Spanish to Italian. That is exactly right. I cannot understand all or have a conversation with an Irish speaker, but I know what the subject is. I can read Irish and muddle through enough to understand it. It is very different compared to Gàidhlig (Scots Gaelic). Many of the words are the same, but when used in a phrase it is different.
To comment on another post, the Irish Gaelic speakers say they have the "Irish", not Gaelic. A Scots Gaelic speaker says he has the Gàidhlig which is pronounced kinda like garlic without the 'r'. Another member said it was the other way around...it is not. If you disagree, give me your email address and I will have dozens of both language speakers dispute this with ya as it is a very passionate subject to some. Lol.

[castledangerous]

Well, if you are saying it in Irish, you say, "Tá Gaeilge agam" not "Tá Irish agam."

[Arlen]

Think of it this way, it's like the difference between Spanish speakers in Spain and things like Spanish in South America and Portuguese.
They come from the same linguistic route and they can just about understand each other, but to people in the know they don't actually sound anything alike.

[ciltmore]

It is my understanding that Scots Gaelic and Irish Gaelic were pretty well seperated and distinguishable by about 1700. I read that somewhere, don't ask me where...
I also read that Gaidhlig has more Norse words, (of course) and that these words involve commerce and sea travel.
I found "Happy Birthday Song" in Gáidhlig on the internet but can't find it now...
Meal do neaithuich(sp?) an diugh
Sing this over and over, like "Happy Birthday to you" It translates as (I believe): Sweet (is) your birth(sp) today...

It was really cute as they had an MP3 of children singing it!

I have Teach Yourself Gaelic, MacLaren's Gaelic and a big ol G-E, E-G Dictionary (MacLennan) as well as Renton & MacDonald's Pocket(?) Dictionary as well as Grámar Na Gáidhlig (Michel Byrne) and...the coolest f*****g thing, an Etymological Dictionary of Scottish Gaelic (Alexander MacBain) which I originally found at the local library :-)

Problem?- No one to talk to locally....
I'm not too bad at reading real simple stuff but my ear for the language is terrible

Here are some internet learning programs:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/alba/f...an/index.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/alba/f...id/index.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/alba/foghlam/beag_air_bheag/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/colinandcumberland/

Dictionaries, etc...

http://www.yourdictionary.com/langua....html#goidelic

http://www.rampantscotland.com/gaelic.htm

http://www.websters-online-dictionar...lation/Gaelic/

http://www2.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaidhlig/faclair/bb/lorg.php

http://www.ceantar.org/Dicts/MB2/index.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/alba/n...cail/?letter=a

(BBC Alba learning and Gaidhlig only news, etc. is pretty cool because some words are actually highlighted and will give an English definition when you put the cursor over it.)










And now I leave you with a poem I wrote, warning about the absence of the tongue...please excuse my bad Gáidhlig, and no, I like the English, being part myself...
This poem is about the loss of the Celtic languages ...How thoughts and ideas are stolen from a people when they lose their own language. The kiss is the acqusition of a foreign language and its ideas of decorum.





A' Phog as an Allmharach


A' Phog as an Allmharach

Oir chi Seanair agus Seanmhair:

Cha bhi aithne aca na leanai
An teanga de
***********Gaisgeach
***********Filidh
***********Fir Naomh
***********Mna Glicas
as am bliadhnaichean sin chaidh

Bith an Og seo a fuirich sna Tir
agus
Cha dean iad mol nam mathraichean

Chi iad mol airson a mhathair
agus cha bhi pogach nam mnathan




The Kiss from the Stranger

The Kiss From the Stranger

For Grandfather and Grandmother will see:

The children will not know
The tongue of
***********Warrior
***********Poet
***********Holy Man
***********Wise Woman
from the years past

These Young will be living in the Land
and
They will not make praise to the mothers

They will see pebble strewn beaches for their mother
and the women give up their kissing habits

[Oldhiker]

My friend George (old hiker) has been attending classes to learn the language, and is coming along nicely, but he still thinks in ENGLISH GRAMMAR CONSTRUCTION. I suggest that by relaxing and making a multitude of mistakes, you will ENJOY the journey, rather than looking to your destination. No one is going to take your birthday away if you speak with an accent or mix up the SUBJECT AND PREDICATE. Here endeth the lesson.LOL

Brian is so correct I need to take my english brain out and put my gaelic brain in. I can get in the zone occasionally. In a month I am going to a 4 day 24/7 retreat for immersion learning experience. I have high hopes.

[Eric Schutte]

Ciltmore,

Thu ma dith do dean comhradh, tha mi deiseil, mo caraidh!

Eric Schutte

[BobsYourUncle]

Brian is so correct I need to take my english brain out and put my gaelic brain in. I can get in the zone occasionally. In a month I am going to a 4 day 24/7 retreat for immersion learning experience. I have high hopes.

Can you tell us more about the immersion program? Who runs it?Where is it held? What are the features of the program, i.e. how is instruction to be conducted? And, if you don't mind, what is the cost? Very interesting!