Hi all,
I've written a letter in Irish to a professor at NUI Galway, but I've got some reservations about addressing it to 'X, a chara'. The friend who suggested that I write to this professor emphasised that I really should be taking the angle of a very humble student, and certainly not some sort of colleague when making my enquiries.

Making a quick search online, some other sites had contributors who suggested that 'a chara' is used overwhelmingly in a range of contexts, but I'm still not convinced in this case.

Does the form 'A dhuine uasail', or 'A Uasail X' sound unnatural, or ridiculously formal to anyone here? Many thanks. :)

If you don't feel cofortable with a chara, a dhuine uasail is probably fine.

But "a chara" is equivalent to "dear sir/madam"

Dia Dhaoibh .. Tá a fhios agam gur nílim ar an t-ábhar céanna mar sin gabh mo leithscéal :)
Ach tá sé seo an chéad uair a ghlach mé páirt sa suíomh idirlíon cosúil leis sin agus ba mhaith liom cara pheann .. Tá an suim agam i nGaeilge agus ba mhaith liom mo Ghaeilge a fheabhsú :) Tá brón orm mura bhfuil mo ghramadach mí cheart ach ná déan dearmad tá mé ceithre bliana déag d'aois :) Ehhhmm .. Tabhair ríomhphoist dom ar an suímh sin má tá suim agatsa freisin .. Sin é mo dhomsa ;) Slán libh agus go raibh maith agaibh as léamh mo chuid téacteachtaireacht :)