Bhual, bhí mise sa Cheathrú Thaidhg i dTuaisceart Mhaigh Eo dhá mhí ó shin, agus i mbaile Bhéal a' Mhuirthead agus caithfidh mé a admháil nach ndearna sé an-imprisean orm ar chor ar bith, Mar shampla, chuaigh mé isteach i siopa sa Cheathrú Thaidhg, agus labhair mé Gaeilge leis an mbean a bhí ann, ach labhair sise Béarla liom. Bhí sé sofheicthe gur thig sí gach rud a dúirt mé, ach fós, níor labhair sí ach Béarla..... Ní raibh a lán Gaeilge i mbaile Bhéal a' Mhuirthead ach an oiread. Ní mór dom a rá go raibh díomá an domhain orm... Cad a cheapann sibh fhéin faoi seo?

Labhair muid fá dtaobh dó sin cheana féin ins an fhóram seo.

Braitheann an scéal ar an áit a bhfuil tú (bhfuil a’ Ghaeilg láidir ann nó nach bhfuil), ar a’ Ghaeilg atá agatsa (an bhfuil cuma áitiúil ar do chuid Gaeilge nó ab é Gaeilg chaighdeánach/ Gaeilg na scoltach atá agat), srl. Muna labhrann tú Gaeilg na háite (nó Gaeilg chosúil léithe) le muitir na Gaeltachta, tchífidh siad gur foghlaimeoir thú agus tuigfidh siad gur fusa leat Béarla a labhairt. Tá ’s acu go bhfuil a gcuidsean Gaeilge deacair le tuigbheáilt fá choinne na bhfoghlaimeoir.

Mar a d’úrt mé go minic anseo, nuair a bhí mise i dTír Chonaill, char labhair mé ach Gaeilg agus char freagraíodh mé ach i nGaeilg fosta, siocair go rabh mo chuidse Gaeilge ionta’ cosúil le cuid na ndaoiní sin féin.

Ní dóigh liom go bhfuil dúil ag muitir na Gaeltachta ina bheith ’labhairt le duine a bhfuil Gaeilg chaighdeánach aige. Ach níl ’s agam an bhfuil sé fíor maidir leat féin.

quote:

Ní dóigh liom go bhfuil dúil ag muitir na Gaeltachta ina bheith ’labhairt le duine a bhfuil Gaeilg chaighdeánach aige.

Tá sé rud beag níos casta ná sin. Ní maith le muintir na Gaeltachta go ndearcfaidh orthu mar duine atá i reservation. Agus an cheart ar fad acu.

Ach gaeilge is mó a labhair mé le roinnt blianta anuas i gCorca Dhuibhne; agus roimhe sin ar Oileáin Árainn.

Tá Maigh Eo iontach lag mar Ghaeltacht; agus ní gá go mbeadh duine a bhfuil tuiscint na Gaeilge acu líofa i labhairt na gaeilge.

Fuair Gaeilg Mhaigh Eo báis = chomh bás le doornail!

Tá an Ghaeilge láidir i gCeathrú Thaidhg, Port a' Chlóidh, Cill Ghallagáin, Ceathrú na gCloch, Greanaí, agus Ros Dumhach i nDú Chaocháin. Ar leithinis Bhéal an Mhuirthead tá sí measartha láidir thart ar an Eachléim. Irish is still spoken in the villages of North Mayo mentioned above. A harrassed shopkeeper trying to get back to a hot half-eaten meal on the kitchen table inside may not have wished to engage in conversation with a stranger -- in any language. There is a heritage centre in Eachléim almost always staffed by Irish-speakers who will be only too delighted to speak Irish to you. They may not find it easy conversing in Irish with you because their Irish is entirely oral/aural. They don't have the benefit of a literary education in Irish. They probably don't know what's a word and what's a phrase nor do they know a word like "taispeáin" (show) -- they say "Seán dom é!" But their Irish is the genuine article with lovely phrases such as "ar fhairnis", "ceann feadhnaí", "mhoithigh mé" (I heard), "ar mhodh ar bith" (ar chaoi ar bith) etc. They deserve better from the authorities: education through Irish, church services through Irish, employment at home ... Instead they get all services mostly through English.

Why do you all use apostrophes so often to omit letters? When writing English, I don't write:

I went fishin' yesterday; I caught two salmon 'n' a trout.

I write:

I went fishing yesteray; I caught two salmon and a trout.

Why do you write Bhéal a' Mhuirthead and Port a' Chlóidh instead of Bhéal an Mhuirthead and Port an Chlóid? Do you not consider your use of apostrophes to be slang?

Of course, in English, there are some accepted contractions such as isn't, wouldn't, etc., but things such as fishin' and 'n' are just plain slang.

A Fhir na mBróg,

Amharc ar na leabharthaí Gaeilge a foilsíodh go dtí ar na mallaibh, agus achan leabhar Ghaeilge roimhe 1950, tchífidh tú uaschamógaí in achan abairt. Chan "slang" atá ann ar chor ar bith, ach an dóigh a bhí á húsáid ar feadh i bhfad.

'sea! tá 's'am! s'iontach liom! ag Dia atá'ios!

A Fhear na mBróg, to be honest I was replying to the "message" the topic of the discussion. The people of Ceathrú Thaidhg (also known as Dú' Chaocháin) are curators of one of the most beautiful dialects in Irish and I hope they succeed in retaining it and hopefully transmitting it to their children. Spelling, the use of grammar, the "medium" was furthest from my mind.

Regarding "Dú' Chaocháin" that is how I have heard it pronounced. I see it written now as "Dún" but I don't think that is correct. I think it may be similar to Dumha Loch (Doolough) further down the coast of Mayo where the reference is to "dumhaigh" or sand dunes. But I digress.

Irish is still well-known in North Mayo. Many probably don't realise how valuable it is to them.

I understand Fear na mBróg's irritation with the apostrophe. Who writes "Is é do bheatha, a Mhuire" or "Is é fáth mo bhuartha nach bhfaighim cead cuarta ar an ngleanntán uaigneach mar a mbíonn mo ghrá." Nevertheless it would be as well for learners to accept what is actually written "'Sé do bheatha" etc and continue to expand their own Irish before jumping in to correct someone who merely trying to communicate.

Éamonn Mhac An Fhailigh in 'The Irish of Erris, Co. Mayo' write Du Chaocháin as 'du' with a circumflex (French style) over the u

Taighgín,
were can one stay, extendedly, in North Mayo to learn (apart from a stint as a Shell engineer, that is)?

Write to one of the "Shell to Sea" five -- those who spent 90 lá sa phríosún rather than suffer the pipeline to go past their houses -- for advice on getting lodgings in an Irish-speaking household. At least two of them speak the most beautiful Irish, Mícheál Ó Seighin and Uinseann MagGraith. [sic] The others have Irish too but I never heard them speak other than English.

When you get set up there make friends with some of the older people who speak mostly Irish. See if some of them will agree to teach you. For some it is still an honour to be seen to be helping a "foreign scholar". Think of Muiris Ó Súilleabháin and that extraordinary professor of philosophy whose name escapes me.

Sit in Johnie Connolly's pub in Ceathrú na gCloch on a night when the locals are in and listen.

I am not sure you can rely on Gaelsaoire to distinguish between Irish-speaking families and non-Irish-speaking families. It would not be politically correct for a State-funded organisation charged with bringing tourists to the "Gaeltacht" to select the few families who speak Irish and the many who don't in the Gaeltacht.

In any case all you want is to get to know one or two people who will become your "informants". Then, again, you might find a native Irish speaker from Erris closer to home if you tried. Unfortunately you won't hear Irish in public from people whom you don't know. You must know people.

Ríona's account of her experience in Ireland is very heartening however: that if you indicate an interest in Irish you may get to hear much more than I am suggesting. The main thing is not to go looking for Irish in the non-Irish-speaking parts of the "Gaeltacht" of North Mayo. I gave a list above of the Irish-speaking villages -- with apostrophes -- but even there you have to watch out for the house that is now occupied by a grandson or daughter reared through English in America or Britain. The cuisine and accommodation may be better but a knowledge of traditional Irish may be lacking. These villages are tiny and the fishermen at the pier or in the pub speaking English may be from villages further afield that have lost the Irish.

Incidentally another good contact for this dialect would be An tOllamh Séamas Ó Catháin, of University College Dublin. He lives there for part of the year every year. He edited John Henry's stories with both text and tapes. I've forgotten who published them but you'll easily find them. John Henry was a seanchaí from Cill Ghallagáin which has to be the most Irish-speaking cluster of houses in the world apart from Toraí and other areas unknown to me. ;-)

http://www.gaeltacht.info/index.html

http://www.gaeltacht.info/learscail.html

"Fáilte ‘nár mBailte"

"welcome to our towns," nach bhfuil?
(ó http://www.gaeltacht.info/index.html)

Oh my goodness, John Henry rocks! Pardon my juvenile outburst here, but you've got me excited. He was monoglot Irish speaking, my most favorite thing. I saw a short segment of himself on In Search Of The Trojan War, recommended to me for that purpose by Robert, GRMA if you are secretly still around a chara. I'm so interested in the limited English topic as we all know.

Sure and that Seamus O Cathain is mean, he didn't answer either of my e-mails that I sent to himself, the first I sent before I found out that he had known John Henry, the second afterwards. I'd just hoped that he might know something about the last few people with limited English, it turned out that indeed he does. Maybe I should try e-mailing him again, looking for new avenues for learning more about a topic that is hard to find information on.

Ta bron orm to go off topic.

Beir bua agus beannacht

Gnag níl an ghaeilge láidir ann in aon chor.. There's a bit of the íomha bogger-latin maidir leis an nGaeilge.. Duine des na Mic Léinn i mo chúrsa, is as Béal An Mhuiread é aontaíonn sé maidir leis an drochmheas seo.

So go bunúsach, níl an ghaeilge láidir ann agus mar sin ní fíor-ghaeltacht atá ann. Téigh go Conamara nó Gaoth Dobhair nó fiú An Rinn agus i measc na nGael a bheidh tú ;)

"Téigh go Conamara nó Gaoth Dobhair nó fiú An Rinn agus i measc na nGael a bheidh tú ;)"

..... agus Corca Dhuibhne freisin

Chomh fada agus go mbíonn tú lastiar den Daingean.

Just a word in response to Domhnall's post number 563: He says "Duine des na Mic Léinn i mo chúrsa, is as Béal An Mhuiread [sic] é aontaíonn sé maidir leis an drochmheas seo." (One of the students on my course, he is from Belmullet, agrees with this negative evaluation." Else where he says "Irish is not strong at all [in Erris]"

Does anyone remember the book "The Great Silence" by Seán de Fréine on the decline of the Irish language and the situation of the "fringe towns" ajacent to the Gaeltacht. He describes the "fringe town complex". Imagine the prosperous shop keepers and hoteliers and professionals including nuns, priests, and school-teachers with only a few exceptions -- all English-speaking -- having to learn from the poor farmers and fishermen in the hinterland who hadn't yet yielded to the pressure and learnt English. When I gave a list of the Gaeltacht villages above I did not include Belmullet or any of the many villages close to it. Surprisingly Belmullet is so far out of the Irish discourse that they don't even realise the official name of their town is now "Béal an Mhuirthead". I wonder will they ever follow the example of "An Daingean" in Corca Dhuibhne and hold a plebiscite to change the name back to "English" again.

Certainly there is only a small population of Irish speakers in a few clusters in Erris but that is no reason to ignore and isolate them. The experience in Eachléim has proved they are very receptive to encouragement from outside to continue speaking Irish especially if there is employment involved. And unlike other areas of the country where attempts are being made to "revive" Irish the people here can actually speak it -- given a chance. Which they don't get in their shopping town, Belmullet.