Irish Beginner (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted From:
| Posted on Wednesday, June 14, 2006 - 02:55 pm: |
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I am using "Learning Irish" and am already having trouble with the pronunciations of certain letters. I have the tapes, and they help a lot, but if someone could help me with the following letters, I'd appreciate it: The broad sound of gh as in ghaoth and ghasúr, and the broad sound of dh as in Dhonncha? The slender r sound as in Máire? The slender "ng" sound as in ngeata? The "e" sound as in sé? The book uses the symbol e: for this sound. |
Maidhc_Ó_g
Member Username: Maidhc_Ó_g
Post Number: 212 Registered: 05-2005
| Posted on Wednesday, June 14, 2006 - 03:37 pm: |
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Ok, I'll assume you've read the fold-out at the back of the book. Broad 'gh' and 'dh' are made by NOT bringing the back of your tongue completely to the roof of your mouth as if to create a regular "g". Then vocalize. With a slender 'r', you bring the tip of your tongue up to the back ridge of your upper front teeth - but not touching - then your tongue will reverberate, creating the sound. In English, the long a vowel is actually a run-on of long a followed by a long e. In Irish, it is a pure vowel. Say the English word "stay" slowly. When you get to the end of the word, don't pronounce the long e vowel which will come at the very end. They're actually easier said than explained. ☻ ;-) |