Eeragh, as in the place on one of the Aran Islands, how is it pronounced.

Thanks

Ka:-)

Eeragh < An tOileán Iartharach = The Western Island

An-fhuimniú ansin agat, a Dhe'n Fhios!

Is dócha gur EEE-ruh a deirtear i mBéarla, ach tá mé leasc chun é sin a admháil. ;-)

Is leasc leat é.

quote:

Is leasc leat é.

An do mo cheartú atá tú, Peter? Féach FGB, led thoil, s.v. "leasc":

2. Loath, reluctant; diffident. Bheith ~ chun rud a dhéanamh, to be loath to do something

Non mi piace.

quote:

Non mi piace.

Well, tough shit.

Whatever.

Google	leasc chun	0
	leasc liom	102
aimsigh.com	leasc chun	0
	leasc liom	52

Peter, is léir go bhfuil cúpla rud ann nach dtuigeann tú:

A. Deirim "is leasc liom" beagnach i gcónaí. Uaireanta éirím bréan de na múnlaí ceannann céanna. Ansin is maith liom feidhm a bhaint as cor cainte nach gcloistear i gcónaí. Ní cuimhin liom cá bhfuair mé an ceann sin ar dtús, ach má tá sé in FGB, tá sé maith go leor domsa. Níl suirbhé dá bhfuil ar an líon ag teastáil uaim i gcás mar sin. Pé scéal é, tá cuid mhaith Gaeilge i gcló nach bhfuil ar an líon.

B. Ní bhíonn "FRC" ar mo chuid teachtaireachtaí anseo. Chuaigh tú thar fóir nuair a "cheartaigh" tú mé go tobann, gan ceist a chur nó rud ar bith eile. An dtuigeann tú? Níl Garda Gaeilge ag teastáil uainn anseo.

(Message edited by dennis on February 07, 2006)

> Well, tough shit.

Well, at least there's *some* English in this thread. :-)

Ní maith an rud é go bhfuil Béarla ar an bhfóram seo..

quote:

Well, at least there's *some* English in this thread. :-)

Is trua nár scríobh mé "tanto peggio!" mar fhreagra ar "Non mi piace" (= ní thaitníonn sé liom, ní maith liom é). Ach bíodh sin mar atá, conas a déarfá "that's tough!" ~ "tant pis!" , etc. as Gaelge?

quote:

Ní maith an rud é go bhfuil Béarla ar an bhfóram seo..

Ehh? Sa Bhreac-Ghaeltacht atá muid anseo. Ach is fíor duit mar sin féin. Cuir tusa Gaeilge ar "tough shit", agus beidh mé faoi chomaoin agat, a Dhomhnaill. ;-)

Okay, bye.

Cad atá ar siúl anseo??? Ní thuigim aon rud. A dhomhnall, cén fáth go gceapann tú nach rud maith é go bhfuil Béarla ar an bhfóram seo?
I can't speak fluent Irish. This site is all about the Irish language but that shouldn't mean you've to be fluent to attend it.
Mar shampla, uaireanta, ba mhaith liom ceist a cur faoi ghrammadach na Gaeilge. Tá sé níos éasca dom an freagar a fháil as Béarla, so as I can understand it, and then apply the grammar in irish. If it's answered in Irish, I may not understand fully , and so I may apply the grammar incorrectly in Irish.
So, you see, speaking English here also benefits the Irish language in an indirect way.

hear hear !

>>Cuir tusa Gaeilge ar "tough shit", agus beidh mé faoi chomaoin agat

I've been thinking about that for French...
I can't find the right equivalent. "tant pis" translates "too bad", but I can't think of anything else...
So... I'd say your question is a "tough" one, Dennis!

quote:

"tant pis" translates "too bad"

Often in an unsympathetic sense, right? Italian "tanto peggio" is rarely sympathetic, I think. English "tough luck" can be either sympathetic or the opposite. In Irish there's:

Is mór an trua é sin! Is trua sin! (sympathetic) = What a pity! What a shame!

Dona go leor! (sympathetic) = Too bad!

Is cuma liom sa tsioc. (unsympathetic - but not quite the same focus) = I don't give a damn.

Táim cinnte go bhfuil rud éigin níos gonta ná sin ann.

quote:

A dhomhnall, cén fáth go gceapann tú nach rud maith é go bhfuil Béarla ar an bhfóram seo?

Tóg go bog é. Cad é an Ghaeilge ar "misspoke"? Is é sin a rinne Domhnall, gan dabht. Is minic a chuala muid Béarla uaidh anseo sa Bhreac-Ghaeltacht.

>>Often in an unsympathetic sense, right?

I'd say it depends on the context: "tant pis...(pour toi / pour moi / pour nous, etc.)"

>>I don't give a damn.

This makes me think: instead of "tough shit", you could have answered in French "on s'en fout". It's quite rude but there's worse (depending on the choice of verb), and I like the impersonal "on", suggesting "no one cares but you"... I wonder: could you use the impersonal in Irish in a similar way?

> This site is all about the Irish language but that shouldn't mean you've to be fluent to attend it.

I'll second your "Hear, hear!" to that, Max.

Some day, when I get to be like the big kids, I can venture into the all-Irish forum. Maybe baby steps at first. But for the time being, I don't get enough subtleties to use nothing but Irish in my posts. And I imagine there are a lot of people newer to Irish than I am.

Using Irish is Good Thing. Just make sure it's used appropriately. Continuing to post in all-Irish when the original poster has explicitly said that they don't speak it well appears almost tantamount to a raised middle finger.

quote:

Continuing to post in all-Irish when the original poster has explicitly said that they don't speak it well appears almost tantamount to a raised middle finger.

Two comments on that, one reasonable and one inflammatory:

(1) When a thread lapses into Irish, the conversation has usually moved beyond the original question.

(2) Sometimes the English-speaking world needs to see that finger. Speakers of Irish and Scottish Gaelic have for centuries docilely stifled themselves as soon as an English-only enters the room, switching politely to English, so the poor soul doesn't get his feelings hurt. The outcome of this is that the incomers have no incentive to learn ScG or Irish, and the local language is weakened in its very pubs and chapels. None of us should ever, EVER criticize an Irish-speaker for using Irish here or anywhere, no matter what. That's my position.

About Dennis's comment no. 1
That is always what I thought/suspected/knew anyway.

About comment 2, I kind of think that Dennis is right. I get jealous when I can't read what the all of you are saying, but I guess that gives me something to strive for. For now I suppose some of us are just more fortunate than others and that is just the way life goes. I like trying to look for words I know and read the rest in wonderment, tossing around the thought that it might switch back around but not really minding too terribly much if it doesn't. The only times I feel a tad bit annoyed are when we were talking about something I liked or what have you and it switches, but then I think about it and realize how fortunate the all of you are to be able to do that whenever you like, just because you can.

Beir bua agus beannacht

For me, it takes a few seconds to enter "Irish mode". Let's say some-one says something to me in Irish, I'll understand them even if I wasn't expecting Irish, but I'll pause for a few seconds before I can speak Irish back to them. Once I get the first sentence out though, it flows from there.

I was in college the other day and one of my lecturers said something to me in Irish, and I instinctively responded in English (I tend to forget which language is being spoken... it's all just information to me). Then when I realised he spoke Irish, I stuttered for a second before I could give him some Irish back, but it was too late!

As for "Should you speak Language X when there's someone who won't understand?". There's no answer to that question. There could be several arguments posed. For instance, if someone told me it was rude to speak Irish when some people can't understand (and this has happened), then I say something like "I'm Irish, I'm in Ireland and I'm speaking Irish -- makes perfect sense to me". If they start getting arrogant then I usually just stop reasoning and just give it to them straight, "I'm speaking Irish, get used to it". (Although I may use more colourful language depending on the context).

I fully agree with Dennis.
Because Dennis wrote to me in Irish when my Irish was close to non-existant, he left me no choice but to improve, and that at a great pace.
I thank him for that, and those who did as well too.

Fear_na_mbrog,
I really think you are ever so right, I mean, it's Irish being spoken in Ireland. Noone should expect you to not speak your language just because they aren't fortunate enough to have any. If I were to ever run across you, which is highly unlikely though not theoretically impossible, I'd not ask such a thing.

Beir bua agus beannacht

If I'm ever in American (again), I'll look yous up! : )

You misread me..

I was suggesting that in a perfect world there'd be no need for Béarla on a foram Gaeilge.

Sin an méid

I think it's great that people are posting in Irish whenever they want … but if they're responding to a question asked in English, there's no guarantee that the questioner speaks Irish, so it's always nice to present information in a way that they at least somewhat understand. It's perfectly understandable that posting in Irish provides incentive to learn. But in my case, where my Irish ability is just about 0% and I'm not currently studying the language, to respond in Irish to my English would is strange. It's like if I was downtown and someone asked for directions, but I reply in Navajo, claiming that I'm encouraging them to learn the language. Kind of random. I'm sure there are people on these forums who want to learn about Irish, but not actually learn Irish.

However, the cases of when one should speak Irish far outnumber the cases where one shouldn't, in my opinion. ;-) If an English speaking monoglot enters a room with four bilingual Irishmen conversing in Irish, by no means should the Irishmen feel obligated to switch languages. It would rude of the English speaker to request such. I'm sure this is an age long debate. When is it rude to speak another language blahblahahahablah ………

The comments of Fear na Mbróg are interesting. I notice the same. "It's all information." It takes me a second to respond if I'm speaking English with my teacher and she asks me something in Spanish. Or when I listen to Spanish and Esperanto radio, my brain doesn't process at first as two different languages … I just understand it all.