I need to know if someone out there can help me please. I am looking to get a tattoo to honor my grandparents who came to america right after they were first married in 1942. I would like to know what the words " My Miracle" would look like in Gaelic. If there is someone out there that could help me I would be forever in your debt. I am very proud of my heritage and would like to display this sentiment. Thanks in advance for all your help.

I'll take a stab at this. Await confirmation from one of the native speakers, I'm just a very beginner-level student. I'd say that "My Miracle" would be...

Mo Mhíorúilt

... did I get that right?

You did.

Thank you so mush! I cannot tell you how much this means to me. I am forever in your debt!

Just make sure you see the fadas (accent marks) in "Mhíorúilt."

The first "i" in Mhíorúilt has a fada, not a dot, over it.

The "u" in that word also has a fada over it.

Thank you! I will make sure that that they are exactly as you have shown me. I think the worst possible thing would be to have the tattoo done wrong, then have my grandmother be the one to point out to me that it was supposed to be a fada not a dot. Then the tribute to what they gave me would have been all for not. Again I am forever in your debt. I promise i will make sure that over the i and the u that it is a fada not a dot. Thanks again.

P.S. I remember you saying that you are a "beginner- level" speaker of the language. Where would be the best place for me to purchase some CD's that are accompanied by books. So that i can see the words while i hear them to help a beginner learn to speak and read the language? If you know of someplace that is.

Thanks agagin for the information you have already provided. I will forever be in your debt.

Why don't you check out the Siopa section right here on this website? You can get a nice introductory to Irish in the form of Buntús Cainte.

Beyond that, it's a matter of personal taste and learning style that will determine what's best for you if you want to really learn the grammar. I'm partial to Learning Irish, which comes with tapes or CD's.

It sounds like your grandparents speak Irish. What part of Ireland to they come from?

Hi,

That's great that you're interested in learning the language.

A couple of ideas:
Buntús Cainte (First Steps in Spoken Irish), Book 1 (with CD) is available from a US company at www.OssianUSA.com.

Also, Gaeltalk.net offers real-time one-to-one tutoring
for beginners. They're located in County Cork, and the lessons are affordable.

There might be Irish classes in your area. Check the "Classes" section of this website.

Best regards,
Paul

My Grandmother was born in Tullamore ( Please forgive me if I spelled that wrong ) and my Grandfather was born in Roscrea ( Again please forgive me if I spelled that wrong) I am planning to go to Ireland next April or around there so that I can see where they came from and maybe see the beautiful countryside my Grandfather always used to tell me about when I was growing up. Before he passed that is. ( Of course boy that was a duh move) To be exact where they were born i would have to ask my Grandmother. But as far as my memory serves that is where my Grandfather stated. I'll ask Nana

If you want i will tell you where to go to see a picture of the tattoo when it is completee. I will be getting the color and the words you so graciously told me how to spell put in it in about two weeks. The outline was done yesterday.

By the way how in english would i pronounce your user name and what does it say and mean. If you don't mind me asking.

Thank you Paul. That is so helpful. I will look in my area as well as the sites that you provided.

Is "beo láidir" the corrent wording for "alive and strong"?

I dont know if such 'snippets' are used that way, but 'alive and strong' would be 'beo agus láidir', but a more idiomatic construction might be preferable, as I think there is a thing in Irish that adjectives are never used so interdependently as in English; they will be tagged on to something else, mar shampla, tá sí ina beatha agus ina tréan (she is in her life and strength)

Sorry. I am new to this irish language. Working on getting a tattoo designed. I am a two time cancer survivor and don't really want "livestrong" as a tattoo, but am looking for something with a similar meaning. I have been told by a few others that "beo láidir" is correct. You are saying "beo agus láidir"?

Does anyone else have any ideas.

I'm saying that what those bullshitters told you does not sound plausible in the same way in Irish as it would be in English. 2 adjectives would come after the noun as in 'cat bán láidir' (strong white cat), but not stand alone in the way they told you 'beo láidir'; I mean would 'alive strong' make much sense in English? A prefixing adjective like 'sean-bhán' ('old white') might do so, but since beo in that meaning tends to change to beatha a lot for abstract meanings, I think you'll need something else.

"You are saying "beo agus láidir"? "

No I am not.

I wonder if modern sound bite advertising that developed in English first has melded, maybe via New Age thinking, into a sort of hybrid 'sound bite identity'; that is, one decides often off the cuff, that something like a song, or phrase etc 'resonates' and one can use it as a sign, even when the signifier is barely known. Regardless, the phrases that might refer to something in ones life or identity are meaningless in another language as there is a style to usage which can get lost in translation.

Of course, I understand what you are trying to communicate -it is very clear, and to overcome cancer twice must have been very difficult, but here you are and you want some way to sign it off. I'm trying to suggest you keep in mind it might need some passing over and back here first.

I'm just saying that in Irish, such 'snippets' are not always possible outside of a whole phrase in cases when the same sort of style is of communication is not found in the language as in English. I only say this out of wanting the phrase to be correct, not out of been awkward. We had a few moths ago a girl tattoo something like 'drugs for sale' across her shoulders. Not pretty.

So...do you want 'livestrong' as in 'to live strong' or 'alive and strong'? Be clear on the meaning in English and people here will help you, just be patient!

I'd have to disagree (if I've understood you correctly). The word "agus" is often omitted between two adjectives, even in instances where English would retain it.

"Beo láidir" sounds just fine to me for "alive and strong." In both cases, it isn't a complete sentence but the implied completion is fairly unambiguous: "[Tá mé] beo láidir", or "[I am] alive and strong."

True, it is oft removed. I just wonder on philosophical grounds how 'contextually correct'. You see with some new neurological evidence with 'mirror neurons' that go off when we act and as well when we see another enact the same act, that this has been (more tenuously) extended to differences in mirror neuron activity in people from different cultures http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20070618062339data_trunc_sys.shtml

" Mirror neurons "fire" when an individual performs an action, but they also fire when someone watches another individual perform that same action. Neuroscientists believe this mirroring is the neural mechanism by which we can "read" the minds of other people and empathize with them."

Culturally: " The researcher's used two actors, one an American, the other a Nicaraguan, to perform a series of gestures - American, Nicaraguan, and meaningless hand gestures, to a group of American subjects. Transcranial magnetic stimulation was then used to gauge levels of "corticospinal excitability" — a measure of mirror neuron activity. They found that the American participants demonstrated higher mirror neuron activity while observing the American making gestures compared to the Nicaraguan. And when the Nicaraguan actor performed American gestures, the mirror neuron activation of the observers dropped."

SO it may follow that how a native uses language may be very cultural specific and so one would try to emulate that usage, not the usage styles of ones own native language.

Anyway, Abaigail has given an answer.

OK, so now you have a me a bit confused. But if I am reading correctly "Beo Láidir" will work OK if we are simply trying to say "alive and strong"? Bearn, if I was to understand a 10% of what you said I might be concerned, but you lost me. Too in depth for me I guess, but thank you for the help.

I second Abigail.

"Beo láidir" is fine.

Never mind, I was trying to round out the conversation ; a bit like when you are wrong and you get a bit noisy (cough cough ahem etc) I still think the people who advised you were only right by mistake, if you catch my drift...

quote:

only right by mistake

Seafóid. Easpa taithí ar an nGaeilge atá d'ad chuir ar strae. Leigh níos mó, a mhic ó; litríocht seachas staidéir acadúla. Bíonn siadsan de shíor sa tóir ar mion-mion-mion-phointí.

Well Aonghus, I think you are right, whether it be by mistake or not. I believe I will go with "beo láidir".

Thank you.

Tuig mé do phoint