Haló,

I am moving to Stockholm in August. Is there anyone there who would like to meet for "comhrá as Gaeilge sa café"?

Hi

I live in Stockholm, but wouldn't have enuff Irish to hold a meaningful conversation...I'm trying to learn more and it would be good to get a chance to practise what little I have I know a couple of other Irish guys who might be persuaded to join in (one of whom is a native speaker from cork who didn't learn english till he went to primary school, tho I haven't seen him in 3 years or so).

Also there is a guy who used to hold weekly Irish group meetings/classes in Stockholm (I attended them for a while)...ah I found his address on the net:
Swedish-Irish Society
Box 7140, S-10387 Stockholm, Sweden
Philip Hale

Also, Uppsala University has degree courses in Irish language: http://utbdatabas.uu.se/katalog/kurs.asp?kod=5KS131

Haló a Chormac

I lived in Sweden for a few months a few years back and picked up some of the langauge , would I be right in saying that although they are nothing alike that there are certain conections between the langauges , I keep finding words that remind me of Swedish. even some sounds , when I listen to Radio Gaeilge the sing song sound reminds me of swedish. do you find this too or am I just limited in my reference points for Gaeilge??

Well, I cannot agree with you beginer. I'm a fluent Irish speaker and a native speaker of Swedish so I guess I should know them. :-) Of course, there are some connections between them. They are both members of the Indo-European language group. As are English, Russian, Hindi, Farsi, Spanish and many many more. Swedish is definitely much closer languages such as English, German or Dutch than to Irish. Neither can I say that I find the sounds alike. My Irish friends have never thought so when they have heard me speak Swedish nor have my Swedish friends when they have heard Irish.

Just me then !!

Fy fan

I wish they were more similar tho as swedish is *much* easier to learn ;)

A Chormac,

Thank you very much for the advice. You know, I found the best way to learn Irish is to speak it. As a result I would say that I speak it better than I write it, but grammer can always be worked upon. So, if you are interested in getting together, let me know. I will be arriving at the end of August. Might take me a couple of weeks to settle in and find a flat and all that but after that, I am sure I could meet up with you.

Jonas, I have always been told that many words to do with commerce were introduced into the Irish language by the Vikings. I don't know enough Swedish yet to really verify this but perhaps you could confirm or deny this? Maybe it is more related to Old Norse.

np eibhlín...post in this thread when you're settled in...since we are both learners we should maybe try to find out whether Philip Hale's group is still active...

Norse words in Irish off the top of my head:
pingin
margadh