I hope this isn't a really stupid question, but it's not easy for an American to learn to pronounce Irish correctly without a teacher, and I want to do the best I can to get things right.

I've been working through "Irish On Your Own". I've reached unit 7, and I'm a bit confused about pronunciation.

On the tape, it sounds like they are pronouncing "Cá bhfuil tú ag dul" as "Cá bhfuil tú gul". Am I just hearing it wrong because they are saying it fast on the tape, or is it pronounced that way?

Also, when they say, "Cá bhfuil sibh ag dul", I don't hear that "v" sound at the end of "sibh". Again, am I just missing it because they are speaking fast, or is the word being pronounced that way?

Hi Mark.

You're hearing it right. In the Con na Mara region, many speakers say "gul" but the Standardised Irish version is "dul". It's a dialect thing. They also say "gon" rather than "don".

You ought to be hearing the V sound at the end of "sibh", maybe they're just speaking too fast.

Another dialect feature you may come across from Con na Mara is that some speakers pronounce the word "acu" as "acub", which is far nicer sounding, IMHO.

In Ireland we call that Culchie talk. That's how boggers talk, they slur their words. I myself live in Dublin, I pronounce "ag dul" as "egg dull", and sibh as "shivER".

Mark,

Just out of curiosity... How long has it taken you to reach unit 7?

I have been working through "Irish on your Own" also. It seems like I have to spend a very long time on each unit and listen to the lesson over and over before I can remember everything. Just wondering if anyone else has that problem. I've been working through "Irish on your Own" and "Learning Irish." They are both great books.

I have developed some software for drilling vocabulary from "Irish on your Own" (up to Unit 10, so far). I need all the help I can get! If anyone is working through that book and is interested, I'd be happy to E-mail (or send a CD) the program to you--No charge, of course. It's basically a flash card program with sound bits from each lesson to help pronunciation.

Thanks to everyone for the help.

Chris,

It's taken me about 6 weeks to get to unit 7. I generally spend one week on each unit. I listen to the tapes every day on my way to work and on my way home. Since I live about 40-45 minutes from work, I've heard each lesson quite a few times by the time I move on. I also spend a little time each day reading the unit I'm working on in the book.

It is a bit tough for me to remember what I'm learning, but I'm trying to make sure I go slowly enough to be sure I've learned everything in each unit as well as I can before I move on.

I also have "Teach Yourself Irish", and I've been spending some time with that one, too.

I am also using "Irish on Your Own." It takes me a week to complete a lession. Like Mark, I listen to the tapes while commuting to work. I transferred the tapes to CD and broke each lesson into two units which take about two or three days to learn. I also review the book in the evening. I'm up to lesson 8. Like any language, you can hear the differences among various speakers even on these tapes. I don't worry too much about how fast I'm going. I'm up to unit 8.

It also helps to listen to Irish radio (RTE and BBCni) and read forums like this one.

Hello everyone,

I am a complete beginner in the Irish language. I am trying to learn the Ulster dialect since that is what was spoken by my gggrandparents. Can anyone here speak it or is trying to learn it? I saw where someone posted the "dul" sounding like "gul" so I thought that maybe there could be other Ulster learners.
Keeping fingers and eyes crossed..

Slán agus go raibh maith agaibh!

Deb

Deb,

i dont want to confuse you by writing as Gaeilge but i can speak both Ulster and Southern Irish dialects,

if you need a hand
give me a shout k

Slán
Eibhlín

You say that you speak both Ulster and Southern Irish dialects. Well which is it? Tomato or Tomato?

I can understand all dialects of Gaeilge, just as how I can understand American, Australian, English, Jamaican TV shows.