A question for people from outside of Ireland. It may be a bit daft but I've always been curious about this. -
How does/did the Irish language SOUND to you? By that I mean as you first started to hear the language what was your impression, what other languages did it remind you of etc and how did it compare with other languages eg. fast, slow, guttural, ugly, beautiful etc?

The strange thing is, even though I've spent most of my life without understanding most of it and am still learning now it's been around me all my life and I've always been aware it this country's 'true' language so it's difficult for me to detach myself from that and simply hear the sound of it with 'fresh ears' :) so to speak.

And while I'm at it.
To those who learned English, How did it 'sound' before you learned to understand it?



Thanks to anyone who dignifies this nonsense with a response :)

Sure and that is not nonsense a chara,

The first place I ever heard Irish was on an Enya song called Ebudae (crappy spelling alert) and it sounded very different than any other language I'd ever heard. I didn't immediately think it was pretty, just different sounding. Thus I was curious about it. That curiosity became desire as time went on. I came to think it was beautiful when sung. When I first heard it spoken I thought it was nice too but this was on a learning tape so it was slower. Then when I first heard it spoken on R na G I thought, it is very fast and has some gutteral sounds in it and occasionally has twitches of German, Hebrew and Arabic sounds now and again. I think that Irish sounds better when people are just talking to each other rather than giving the news or reading off announcements. When people sing in it or just talk with each other it sounds like a language that is suited to whare it comes from. It belongs with the sea and the rocks and the green hills.

The best part of Ireland was hearing people speak Irish to each other and using my little bits of it and seeing how happy it made people I met.

Beir bua agus beannacht

Táim ag aontú leat, a Riona. First time I heard Irish - it definitely didn't sound European (understood as Romance + Germanic). Some flair of Arabic maybe. Munster dialect sounded the prettiest as it the slowest, the clearest and the most melodic. Although I agree - Ulster Irish sounds like a miracle in songs.

To me, the aesthetic effect of the sound of a language really depends on the individual speaker. I have a tendency to favor the female voice for the full effect.

For some reason the sounds seem richer in a female register. Maybe that is some kind of auditory "illusion" on my part.

Of the Gaelic languages, I think that Scottish Gaelic sounds the most beautiful, specifically the South Uist dialect. And the Scottish Gaelic song tradtion is utterly magnificent. Maybe you can hear related echoes of it in Ulster.

It is easy to see why the Scottish Gaels have probably produced the greatest Goidelic language poet of the past century--Somhairle MacGill-Eain.

I must agree that Ulster Irish sounds lovely - owing to intonation, not the actual realization of phonemes. I must admit I don't understand why some people say Munster sounds nice... but....

I do know people who don't know any Irish and have listened to my CDs and they think the language is ugly. That is just the truth.

What is the most beautiful language? People normally say either French or Portuguese.

Scríobh Kieran:

I do know people who don't know any Irish and have listened to my CDs and they think the language is ugly. That is just the truth.

Are you a musician as well, a Kieran?

My thoughts are similar to those already expressed. And when I play the language for my friends who have not heard the language before, they say that the sounds remind them of German or Yiddish. This is especially true when they hear the "ch" sound.

There is a segment in Turas Teanga where the characters compare how to say love in various languages. I suppose beauty is in the "ear" of the beholder.

Last week, a fluent French speaker and I were comparing various sentences in Irish and French. Her lilting sounds sung like a sweet song. Mine sounded more like something grounded in the land, like "It belongs with the sea and the rocks and the green hills," as Riona said above. Of course, I am not yet making all the sounds that are possible by a fluent Irish speaker.

Before I started studying Irish, I would quip that it was lucky for me that I was born in an English-speaking country because English was the only language I could speak.

That is interesting about some thinking Irish sounds ugly. My first "sound experience" with Irish was with Clannad (EARLY Clannad)--I don't see how anyone could classify that as ugly.

Once Clannad gave up the ghost with their New Age muzak period, the sonic beauty definitely shifted to the Scottish Gaels for me. They went where Clannad should have gone but did not. An example being the Gaelic cuts on the Mo-di album by Mouth Music. I am not sure, but I think that the late and great Martyn Bennett collaborated on that album.

Yes, I would say that I used to think that French and Portuguese were the two languages vying for the most beautiful designation. But after "listening around" I have reached the conclusion that the most beautiful language is: Certain women speaking fluent Scottish Gaelic.

There is the beauty of the intonation contrasted with the earthy gutterals. Compared to this, French and Portuguese just seem too slick, too bland.

"Certain women speaking fluent Scottish Gaelic."

Worked with a Scots Gael one -a man. I would go as far as to call his voice 'beautiful' !

Interesting how so many people got interested from singing, seeing as people hardly go around speaking like Enya, unless they are undead and haunting your house

Honestly, Irish was the last language I thought I would like...

It didn't matter which language I chose...the only language spoken where I live is English. (Spanish hadn't quite made it this far north yet...) The only other langauge even close to me is the Lakhota spoken on the rez down the road.

In truth, if there is one language that I could learn and be fluent in...it would be Latin. I really should have paid more attention in school ;0)

I knew I wanted to learn a language but it had to meet my criteria:

It had to be a language that is being spoken right now. What good is knowing how to speak a language and having no one to talk to???

It couldn't be Spanish, French, Italian, or German...I wanted to broaden my education.

It couldn't be too difficult in terms of grammar...Russian is today's Latin in my opinion ;0)

It had to be pleasant sounding to my ears.

And finally, I wanted a language that had a connection with its people. I wanted to find a language that affected its people one way or another, or could define the culture that spoke it. As an English speaker, I think we take for granted our language...and don't appreciate it the way I think people should.

Irish was the first language that I came across that met all the criteria I was looking for. Also, my family were Scottish and spoke Gàidhlig. So, not only did I find a language that had a connection with its people, but it had a connection with my people. And before anyone asks...there were many languages that could have met my criteria including Gàidhlig...however, I feel that when it comes down to it...Irish was the better choice.

I like all Irish sung. I prefer Munster and Connacht Irish spoken rather than Ulster. It is just personal preference and I do not say it to make our fans of Ulster unhappy with me.

I think that Irish is most beautiful when sung and least beautiful when being announced in like on nuacht or music programs.

I do not inherrantly like learning languages. I don't find pleasure in it. But I want Irish very much so I'll have to power past my dificulties in patience and grammar and laziness and lack of quickness.

Irish is beautiful to me because ...
a) it is really very very sexy.
b) it contours to the land as I mentioned above and I find that beautiful.

Beir bua agus beannacht

"It belongs with the sea and the rocks and the green hills"


"it contours to the land"

A Riona

A very poetic description of our language

An Ghaeilge - teanga comhriain na tíre - teanga na mara, na charraigeacha is na chnoic ghlas

(FRC ar an sliocht thuas)

Teanga álainn-Italian, is mo mar courted agus won me 30 years ago.

What déan sé sound to me? Gargling with rocks-no kidding-

Why try learning it? Dhísé mo shanmháthair voice (déanim correct Antaine?)agus the challenge of learnings something no one else sa household knows.

Love questions like seo, helps me is obair mo knowledge.
GRMA

Faoi na haibhneacha
faoi na clocha
faoin bhféar

a lorg mé


i lochanna
i gcrainn
sa spéir!

a lorg mé


Lorg mé le Gaeilge, agus fuair mé í...í ag damhsa le péist, le salachar, le taisleach...


What? Cén fáth nach bhfuil sí i mbéala, i gcinn, i dtigh, i scoileanna?


To the waters and the wild...a shiúil mé

What about English? For those who didn't learn it first, what did it sound like to you? I'm writing a book and I would really like to know for it.

You guys may not be able to help me with this but I'd like to know how English would sound to an Irish speaker upon hearing it for the first time. Did anyone of old mention this in a book or some such? I want to know this.

Beir bua agus beannacht

quote:

What about English?

What about staying on topic?

As you may recall, a Dhennis a chara, in the original post the author mentioned that he'd also be interested in hearing what people thought English sounded like before they learned it and thus it is essentially part of the topic as specified by James_Murphy.

Beir bua agus beannacht

If you were rigorous enough, a tip might be to compare loan words from Latin, Old Norse, Norman French, Middle English, modern English, and note how they were modified in comparision to the originals.

"What about staying on topic?"
Surely you're being a bit extreme there Dennis. It was just a simple question while I was already on the subject regarding Irish. If you're not interested no-one's forcing you to read it.

bainteach leis an nGaeilge

Níl barúlacha mar gheall ar fhuaim an Bhéarla bainteach leis an nGaeilge, go háirithe nuair a chuirtear an cheist i mBéarla agus a phléitear i mBéarla í. Tá sé chomh simplí sin.

Chuir fuaimeanna an Bhéarla mo ghasúr ar strae; bhí léamh na Gaeilge agus na Gearmáinise acu ar dtús.

Bhí sé deacair orthu a thuiscint tuige gurbh "spesial" seachas "spekial" an fuaim a bhain le "special"!

A Aonghuis,

Cén fáth go raibh Gearmánise acu ar dtús? An Ghearmáineach máthair do ghasúir? (FRC)

Is ea. Agus bhíomar ar fad thall go dtí go raibh na gasúr 4 & 5 faoi seach.

Ní raibh focal Béarla acu go ceann bliana i ndiadh domsa filleadh, agus iad a bhreith liom.

Feicfidh muid cad a tharlóidh dá deirfiúr!

Irish sounds so unique and different to me. It's one of a kind. And it's just so beautiful! For me Irish is the most beautiful language of them all. And as Riona said; it actually really contours the land.

> How does/did the Irish language SOUND to you? By that I mean as you first started to hear the language what was your impression, what other languages did it remind you of etc and how did it compare with other languages eg. fast, slow, guttural, ugly, beautiful etc?

Well, I don't know a lot of languages other than English. Of the European languages I've heard, it probably sounds more Germanic than anything, what with the gutturals.

Even for a fairly guttural language, it sounds remarkably elegant and smooth. I'm learning Connemara dialect in class, but listen mostly to Munster in song. I don't really have a preference for one over the other.

In any case, Iarla Ó Lionáird could probably make any language sound obscenely beautiful.

http://www.realworldrecords.com/iarla/