1. Tá mé líofa in nGaeilge
2. Nil mé líofa in nGaeilge fós
3. Táim tuirseach traochta
4. Tá mé beagnach líofa i nGaeilge
My spelling is probably incorrect, but as the seanfocail goes, Is fearr liom Gaeilge Bríste, nó Béarla clíste.
Go raibh míle maith agat!

"Tá Gaeilg líofa agam."

You can’t write "in nGaeilge": the proper spelling is "i nGaeilge".

You should stick to either "Táim" or "tá mé" but it is odd to use táim in one sentence and "tá mé" in the next one...

And: níl (long i)
Gaeilge bhriste (no long i, Gaeilge bhríste = an Irish of trousers... :-) )
Béarla cliste (no long i).
seanfhocal has no i in the singular.


As my own seanfhocal goes : Is fearr Gaeilg chliste ná Gaeilg bhriste !!!

Go n-éiridh leat

Go raibh míle maith agat Lughaidh! You must forgive my very bad spelling and grammer! I'm still doing gaeilge in school! Isnt it amazing, Des Bishop (the funny guy) can become fluent in a year, and I've being doing Irish a VERY long time and i'm still nowhere near fluent!
Slán!

Sorry I just have to chime in... there's nothing spectacular about becoming fluent in a language within a year. People with a flare for language take about three months (when immersed, that is). And then of course there's the savants who can do it in a week or two (wasn't there that savant guy who could speak Icelandic proficiently after one week?).

I've been learning Lao for about 6 weeks now and I can have a comfortable conversation... but it isn't long before they say something I don't understand. Like tonight somebody asked me if I had showered yet and I hadn't a clue what they were saying (I knew they were saying something about water but that was about it). Fortunately there was somebody at the table who spoke both Lao and English so they were able to explain to me. It helps to bring a dictionary around everywhere too.

And of course you have the people who are just plain crap at languages. I know a certain somebody who's being living in Laos for 6 years and he knows the word for beer, cigarettes, lighter, not much else.

And then there's the people who can learn vocabulary and grammar but just never pick up the accent so they always sound like a "ting tong love you long time". It's a real shame because these people can be otherwise fantastic at the language.

(Message edited by Tomás_Ó_hÉilidhe on October 19, 2008)

I doubt Des Bishop is fluent in Irish.

Well I doubt it took him a year anyway.

Bhí Mac an Easpaig líofa an t-am so anuraidh a Thrigger.

Fear eile as Meiriceá a dúirt le Pádraig Mac Donncha, Ráth Chairn "Oh don't worry about that, I'll have Irish in three months", bhí an ceart aige. Bhí sé líofa. Ghlac sé páirt i ndráma Gaeilge an Samhradh dar gcionn agus éinne a chonaic an dráma, shíl siad gurbh fhear de bhunadh Ráth Cairn é.

Ach a bheith sa nGaeltacht agus an cur chuige ceart agat, dhéanfadh daoine go leor é.

I understand everything you wrote just there a Sheosaimh, and even though I could probably write back to you in Irish, I didn't want to. At first I was going to respond to you with "Interesting point, ", but then when I went to speak Irish I found myself coming out with "Pointe suimiúil, ", but the problem with that (and what makes me feel uncomfortable), is that I'm just taking my English words and making them Irish.

At the moment I've got English, Irish and Lao. My English is native. My Irish is technically very correct; I could take a page of Irish and correct the grammatical errors (e.g. wrong case, misplacement of séimhiú, wrong use of "fios" and "aithne"). My Lao is very basic at the moment, I lose the run of my words sometimes and jumble up the syllables, I get word order wrong sometimes, and sometimes I question if I'm using the right word for a given context.

Strangely though, I find myself more comfortable speaking Lao than speaking Irish, even though I am far more proficient at the latter. The reason for this is that when I speak Lao, it comes out straight away as Lao. Since I'm immersed in the language, listening to the way the natives speak, conversing back with them, from constantly hearing the same thing said in different ways in different contexts, I've developed my own claim to the language. For instance, a quick little quip I feel very natural saying is "men laew" which is a kind of idiomatic way of saying "damn right" or "sure is".

Even though I have a far more extensive vocabulary and command of Irish, because I've never been immersed in it, it isn't really that natural. I can't really start off with Irish speech, it tends to be English at first, and then painstakingly made Irish ("point suimiúil" being a good example). Just now I find myself thinking that I'd prefer to say "Suimiúil an pointe é sin", but see the problem is that that wasn't my initial reaction.

If I ever find myself back in Ireland I'd be interested to spend some time immersed in the language for at least a month or so... but it'd have to be during the Summer coz I can't stand it being freezing all the time and getting dark at 4pm.

quote:

Ach a bheith sa nGaeltacht agus an cur chuige ceart agat, dhéanfadh daoine go leor é.

While I like the sentiment, I have to respectfully disagree. Some people really are as dumb as dogs when it comes to picking up a second language, the kind of people who after 30 years of immersion are still saying "Why you did bring your two dog to vet?". (God only knows what havoc these people would wreak on the good ol' séimhiú).

When I was in college, I had a lecturer who was immersed in English for thirty full uninterrupted years. One day I asked him the following question:

"I don't understand. You're saying we have a 10-volt battery, right? Well how could it be that you measure less than 10 volts across the battery when a load is applied to the motor?"

His response:

"Yes" (with a nod and smile that gave the impression that I understood what was going on).

I stopped asking him questions after that. In fact I don't think I went to his classes for the rest of the semester.

Tabhair faoi deara:
... dhéanfadh daoine go leor é.
Ní hionann sin is a rá go ndéanfadh chuile mhac máthar é! Agus bhí rud beag eile i gceist aige chomh maith, mar atá an "cur chuige ceart". Seans maith nach raibh sin ag d'iarléachtóirse.

If I ever find myself back in Ireland I'd be interested to spend some time immersed in the language for at least a month or so...
Tá muid ar aon mhian ansin ceart go leor! Tá nóisean a'm le fada dá bhfaighinn mí - nó coicís féin - sa nGaeltacht, gurb é mo mhórleas a dhéanfainn.

Ar an láimh eile nach ar mo mhórleas a bhím anseo? An tsíorléitheoireacht, sin saghas eile tumoideachais, nach ea, agus más iad lucht na dea-Ghaeilge a scríobh atá i mo leabharlann agam... cuma cá fhaid siar a théinn, ní fhéadfainn a bheith ag súil le chuile dhuine faram a bheith chomh cruinn chomh saibhir leis na seanmháistrí (ach oiread le gnáthchainteoirí Béarla a chur i gcomórtas le húdair mhóra na teanga sin) nó go scaipfí an saibhreas sin orm i gcaitheamh chuile lae.

Dá dtéinn anois ansin dhéanfadh sé maith dhom cinnte - ní deirim nach ndéanfadh - ach seans nárbh é sin an deoch draíochta a shamhlaínn ann. Luí isteach léi an tslí is fearr uirthi tar éis an tsaoil (ar nós chuile bhaineannaigh eile!) agus a bhuíochas le Gutenberg is le Gore, sin rud is féidir a dhéanamh anois in áit ar bith.

Yes I agree that becoming fluent in a language isnt the most amazing thing one could do. I'm on my 9TH year learning gaeilge. I go to Connemara every year and i can immerse myself in conversations with the locals about the weather, news stories and hobbies ect. But the only difficulty that i have is the way people in the west speak gaeilge. I often go to Dingle and I find it way easier to understand. When I watch the nuacht in Irish, I understand little bits and pieces. I think the best thing anyone can do is use the bits of irish you have, in the gaeltacht or in the non gaeilge speaking places. You do get funny looks if you use your cúpla focail, but hey!!

Scríobh Tomás:

but it'd have to be during the Summer coz I can't stand it being freezing all the time and getting dark at 4pm

Well, I guess I could cope with that too, kinda need to every year, but then, it's a MOIST froze, go bhfios dom... LOL! But I'd love to go there some day, just have to find that day. I'd even have access to cheap flight from my closest airport.

An áit a bhfuil do chroí, is ann a bhéarfas do chosa thú!

I think the best thing anyone can do is use the bits of irish you have, in the gaeltacht or in the non gaeilge speaking places.
Abair leat, a dheirfiúr! Sin an rud is tábhachtaí ar fad - don teanga agus don fhoghlaimeoir féin.

.. I'm just taking my English words and making them Irish. ...

Is céim mhaith sa treo cheart í sin chomh maith a Thomáis. Céim mhaith eile an méid sin a aithint agus tá tú imithe thairis sin. Beir in ann imeacht ó 'fhocail Ghaeilge ar an mBéarla go dulanna cainte na Gaeilge féin' feasta. Tiocfaidh gach ní leat in am is i dtráth.

Feicim go bhfuil tú ar do chois thiar ansan a Abigail.

Tá mé féin in ainm is a bheith ag obair anseo in áit a bheith ag giotamáil anseo ar Dhaltaí na Gaeilge!

Ní taise domsa é... ach cogar, céard atá i gceist agat leis an "gcois thiar"? Sin nath nár chuala mé.

Cinnte ní doigh liom nach tá Gaeilge líofa ag Des Bishop - fuair sé a lán cúnamh mar bhí sé ag foghlaim lánaimsire, cúnamh ón cainteoirí dúchais. Gan amhras bíonn éinne ábalta é sin á dhéanamh

Fáilte romhat ar an gclár a Sheosaimh Mhic Giolla Coda. Tá súil agam go bhfeicfimid isteach ar cuairt thú go minic feasta.


Agus a Abigail, níor aon nath amháin mar 'chois thiar', ach ina dhá nath, a bhí sé thuas: 'ar do chois' agus 'thiar ansan'.

up an' about - tharla go bhfuil sibhse roinnt uaireanta an chloig inár ndiaidh.

Á athléamh arís, d'fhéadfainn a shamhlú go mb'fhéidir dhá nó trí chiall a bheith leis! - Gabh mo leithscéal.

Ah, tuigim anois. Ní rithfeadh sé liom na focla sin a scoilt óna chéile, mar ní 'thiar' ó chríocha Fáil atá mé in aon chor! Bhí saoire breá agam ansin níos luaithe sa samhradh ach tá mé ar ais san Eilvéis le seachtainí beaga anuas, agus uair a'chloig chun tosaigh oraibh dá réir.

Tchím anois. Tá tú soir ó dheas uainn in Éirinn in áit a bheith thiar mar a shamhlaigh mé.

Go n-éirí taobh tíre na nEilbhéiteach leat.