'S e latha Twitter na Gàidhlig a th'ann an diugh! Head on to Twitter and take a look at the #Gàidhlig feed!
#Gaidhlig Tweets
Thursday 30 April 2015
Monday 27 April 2015
SOL goes meta...
...in episode 4 no less!
One of the clips from the drama Aig an taigh has a man, a potential employer of Mrs MacLeod, saying that he is learning Gaelic from Speaking Our Language. How can he do that?? If he's as far as we are (and he can't be further on than us, as it's not been broadcast yet), how does he know tha mi ag ionnsachadh Gàidhlig on telebhisean le Speaking Our Language (I am learning Gaelic from TV with SOL)?? It blew my mind.
Another clip in the programme showed Tormod's brother sitting in the car listening to a SOL tape.
In the programme, I learned how to say:
Cò às a tha sibh? - Where are you from?
A bheil Gàidhlig agaibh/agad? - Do you speak Gaelic? (literally: do you have Gaelic?)
Tha Gàidhlig agam. - I speak Gaelic.
Another bombshell from the programme was the fact that the English word "galore" comes from the Gaelic gu leòr, which means "aplenty" or "enough". Hence Whisky Galore - Uisge-beatha gu leòr.
In other news, I came across An Litir Bheag, The Little Letter, which are short podcasts of Gaelic spoken slowly for listening practice. They are pretty interesting - the most recent one is about a quick trip to visit Eilean Donan, that ubiquitous image of a castle by a loch made famous around the world on shortbread tins.
I also watched three episodes of Torcuil's Guide to Being a Gael, a comedy sketch about Gaelic life with Tony Kearney as the eponymous presenter. 'Twas chucklesome indeed.
One of the clips from the drama Aig an taigh has a man, a potential employer of Mrs MacLeod, saying that he is learning Gaelic from Speaking Our Language. How can he do that?? If he's as far as we are (and he can't be further on than us, as it's not been broadcast yet), how does he know tha mi ag ionnsachadh Gàidhlig on telebhisean le Speaking Our Language (I am learning Gaelic from TV with SOL)?? It blew my mind.
Another clip in the programme showed Tormod's brother sitting in the car listening to a SOL tape.
In the programme, I learned how to say:
Cò às a tha sibh? - Where are you from?
A bheil Gàidhlig agaibh/agad? - Do you speak Gaelic? (literally: do you have Gaelic?)
Tha Gàidhlig agam. - I speak Gaelic.
Another bombshell from the programme was the fact that the English word "galore" comes from the Gaelic gu leòr, which means "aplenty" or "enough". Hence Whisky Galore - Uisge-beatha gu leòr.
In other news, I came across An Litir Bheag, The Little Letter, which are short podcasts of Gaelic spoken slowly for listening practice. They are pretty interesting - the most recent one is about a quick trip to visit Eilean Donan, that ubiquitous image of a castle by a loch made famous around the world on shortbread tins.
I also watched three episodes of Torcuil's Guide to Being a Gael, a comedy sketch about Gaelic life with Tony Kearney as the eponymous presenter. 'Twas chucklesome indeed.
Tuesday 21 April 2015
Features of Gaelic 1: Orthography and Brown or White Bread
I've figured out that there are only two episodes of SOL a week on BBC Alba, meaning that I never missed an episode last week. Last night I learnt how to say where I am from:
Càit a bheil sibh a' fuireach? Where do you live?
Dùn Eideann Edinburgh
Dè an seòladh a th'agaibh? What is your address?
Dè an aireamh fòn a th'agaibh? What is your phone number?
One of the interesting and unusual features of Gaelic is its spelling. To the outsider, it seems as though there are far too many letters for the corresponding sound. And yet, the spelling makes more sense and is more consistent than English orthography. Many of the letters are there due to what I think of as the like-for-like rule, or the brown bread/white bread rule.
It's all about sandwiches
When you make a sandwich, you usually use two slices of the same type of bread. If you have a slice of white bread at the bottom, you'll use another slice of white bread on top. The same goes for brown bread, and it would be strange to mix the two. The same applies to consonants and vowels in Gaelic.
There are two groups of vowels in Gaelic and each group has a different effect on the pronunciation of the adjacent consonant. The two groups are called broad vowels and slender vowels.
Broad vowels are a, o and u.
Slender vowels are e and i.
Now, unlike other languages such as English or Italian, vowels in Gaelic have an influence over the preceding consonant as well as any following consonant. For example, the letter t changes from the t in 'toast' to a sound more akin to the t in 'tune' (what is called palatisation, or the insertion of a y after the sound). This means that the word càit (where) above is pronounced similar to the English word 'catch' by virtue of the i preceding the t. Make sense? Basically vowels are more 'influential' over adjacent consonants than in English or Italian. Easy, I'd say.
Yet there is a problem. What would happen then if you had a consonant with two different types of vowels on either side? Would you pronounce it broad or slender?
Gaelic's solution to this problem is to make sure that each consonant is only surrounded by the same type of vowel. It only uses the same type of bread on either side of the filling. White with white, brown with brown; slender with slender, broad with broad.
This is why fuireach (stay/live) above has an i before the letter r and an e after the r, even though neither are really pronounced distinctly in the word. Their purpose is to indicate how the r is to be pronounced (in this case, it is approximate to the 'th' sound in 'father', but lighter and less distinct - blooming difficult!)
Anyway, I'm sure my explanation is horribly complex and there are easier ways of doing it, but I like the white/brown bread idea. It also explains why there are so many vowels all over the place which aren't even pronounced.
Càit a bheil sibh a' fuireach? Where do you live?
Dùn Eideann Edinburgh
Dè an seòladh a th'agaibh? What is your address?
Dè an aireamh fòn a th'agaibh? What is your phone number?
One of the interesting and unusual features of Gaelic is its spelling. To the outsider, it seems as though there are far too many letters for the corresponding sound. And yet, the spelling makes more sense and is more consistent than English orthography. Many of the letters are there due to what I think of as the like-for-like rule, or the brown bread/white bread rule.
It's all about sandwiches
When you make a sandwich, you usually use two slices of the same type of bread. If you have a slice of white bread at the bottom, you'll use another slice of white bread on top. The same goes for brown bread, and it would be strange to mix the two. The same applies to consonants and vowels in Gaelic.
There are two groups of vowels in Gaelic and each group has a different effect on the pronunciation of the adjacent consonant. The two groups are called broad vowels and slender vowels.
Broad vowels are a, o and u.
Slender vowels are e and i.
Now, unlike other languages such as English or Italian, vowels in Gaelic have an influence over the preceding consonant as well as any following consonant. For example, the letter t changes from the t in 'toast' to a sound more akin to the t in 'tune' (what is called palatisation, or the insertion of a y after the sound). This means that the word càit (where) above is pronounced similar to the English word 'catch' by virtue of the i preceding the t. Make sense? Basically vowels are more 'influential' over adjacent consonants than in English or Italian. Easy, I'd say.
Yet there is a problem. What would happen then if you had a consonant with two different types of vowels on either side? Would you pronounce it broad or slender?
Gaelic's solution to this problem is to make sure that each consonant is only surrounded by the same type of vowel. It only uses the same type of bread on either side of the filling. White with white, brown with brown; slender with slender, broad with broad.
This is why fuireach (stay/live) above has an i before the letter r and an e after the r, even though neither are really pronounced distinctly in the word. Their purpose is to indicate how the r is to be pronounced (in this case, it is approximate to the 'th' sound in 'father', but lighter and less distinct - blooming difficult!)
Anyway, I'm sure my explanation is horribly complex and there are easier ways of doing it, but I like the white/brown bread idea. It also explains why there are so many vowels all over the place which aren't even pronounced.
Wednesday 15 April 2015
Is mise Seòras
I missed yesterday's episode of Speaking Our Language with good old Rhoda but I made up for it with a few texts from Tormod which were almost entirely in Gaelic. I wasn't too fussed about missing yesterday's episode as it is still covering very basic Gaelic.
I've just finished watching today's episode which covered the following:
Is mise (Seòras). - I am (George).
Dè an t-ainm a th'oirbh? - What is your name? (polite)
Thig a-steach. - Come in.
Tapadh leat. - Thank you. (informal)
As I said, the level is extremely basic but I enjoyed watching it as it is nice to know I understand these basics now. I also learn proper pronunciation from the programme. Before today, I would have pronounced thig a-steach as [hig uh-shchukh] whereas the programme has taught me that it is more like [hig uh-shchay-ukh].
An entertaining aspect of this episode of SOL is the ubiquity of Tormod's brother Màrtainn in the various clips, including the basic "soap" Aig an taigh (At home).
Finally, I've decided on Seòras as my Spraff Learns Gàidhlig pseudonym. Although I'm not a fan of the name George in English, I quite like the sound of Seòras (pronounced Shoras). I also don't know any Georges in real life whereas I know people whose names would be Seumas (James), Iain (John) Eòghann (Euan). I also wanted a name where lenition and slenderisation would make a difference in the pronunciation (i.e. Seòras becomes Sheòrais, pronounced Horash), which is a feature I love about Gaelic. So is mise Seòras an seo.
Dè an t-ainm a th'oirbhse? What's your name?
I've just finished watching today's episode which covered the following:
Is mise (Seòras). - I am (George).
Dè an t-ainm a th'oirbh? - What is your name? (polite)
Thig a-steach. - Come in.
Tapadh leat. - Thank you. (informal)
As I said, the level is extremely basic but I enjoyed watching it as it is nice to know I understand these basics now. I also learn proper pronunciation from the programme. Before today, I would have pronounced thig a-steach as [hig uh-shchukh] whereas the programme has taught me that it is more like [hig uh-shchay-ukh].
An entertaining aspect of this episode of SOL is the ubiquity of Tormod's brother Màrtainn in the various clips, including the basic "soap" Aig an taigh (At home).
Finally, I've decided on Seòras as my Spraff Learns Gàidhlig pseudonym. Although I'm not a fan of the name George in English, I quite like the sound of Seòras (pronounced Shoras). I also don't know any Georges in real life whereas I know people whose names would be Seumas (James), Iain (John) Eòghann (Euan). I also wanted a name where lenition and slenderisation would make a difference in the pronunciation (i.e. Seòras becomes Sheòrais, pronounced Horash), which is a feature I love about Gaelic. So is mise Seòras an seo.
Dè an t-ainm a th'oirbhse? What's your name?
Monday 13 April 2015
Cast list
I suppose to start with, I should give you a brief overview of where I am at the moment in terms of Gaelic-learning.
- I try to watch Speaking Our Language on BBC Alba each evening.
Happily, the whole series restarted this evening so I can finally watch the earlier episodes which lay the ground work. While I knew everything the episode was about (ciamar a tha sibh? Tha gu math, tapadh leibh. Madainn mhath, feasgar math. That was all), it was nice to get the explanation for why some letters were always written in blue/green. SOL also takes me to my next (and probably main) Gaelic source.
- I chat to my friend who is a native Gaelic speaker.
We mainly chat by text, though I have ventured an odd (rather bumbling and poorly constructed) sentence or two when we meet up in person. For the sake of this blog, he is called Tormod. He appears very very occasionally in the little practice clips throughout the second and third series of SOL, ordering lunch and what not, which is rather amusing. I'm not sure if he's in the first series, and I know he's not in the fourth.
- I watch other stuff on BBC Alba.
I like listening to it and trying to identify some of the words I know. I know I am improving as my recognition has definitely increased. What I now find difficult is identifying all the little words that have a lot of meaning in terms of tense and other grammatical function, such as tha/bha, gam/gad etc.
- I read Gaelic learning resources such as Gaelic in 12 weeks by Roibeard O'Maolalaigh and Everyday Gaelic by Morag MacNeill. I also use Am Faclair Beag and LearnGaelic.net.
So these are my main resources. I can get by through a few texts, though long complicated structures are still beyond me. Luckily Tormod seems to be patient enough with me and regularly texts me in Gaelic without my asking. I was worried about using him as a kind of practice buddy as I didn't want him to become a magister involens which I have been to others on occasion. Friend first, Gaelic helper second.
My aim is to eventually be able to hold a decent conversation in Gaelic rather like myItalian French skills (which have greatly deteriorated, sadly), or hopefully even better. I'd also like to be able to write decent length posts in Gaelic. Aim high, Spraff!*
*I think I may have to give myself a different pseudonym as a Gaelic learner just so I can do all the lovely lenition and slenderisation that make Gaelic so wonderfully interesting. I'll get back to you on that.
- I try to watch Speaking Our Language on BBC Alba each evening.
Happily, the whole series restarted this evening so I can finally watch the earlier episodes which lay the ground work. While I knew everything the episode was about (ciamar a tha sibh? Tha gu math, tapadh leibh. Madainn mhath, feasgar math. That was all), it was nice to get the explanation for why some letters were always written in blue/green. SOL also takes me to my next (and probably main) Gaelic source.
- I chat to my friend who is a native Gaelic speaker.
We mainly chat by text, though I have ventured an odd (rather bumbling and poorly constructed) sentence or two when we meet up in person. For the sake of this blog, he is called Tormod. He appears very very occasionally in the little practice clips throughout the second and third series of SOL, ordering lunch and what not, which is rather amusing. I'm not sure if he's in the first series, and I know he's not in the fourth.
- I watch other stuff on BBC Alba.
I like listening to it and trying to identify some of the words I know. I know I am improving as my recognition has definitely increased. What I now find difficult is identifying all the little words that have a lot of meaning in terms of tense and other grammatical function, such as tha/bha, gam/gad etc.
- I read Gaelic learning resources such as Gaelic in 12 weeks by Roibeard O'Maolalaigh and Everyday Gaelic by Morag MacNeill. I also use Am Faclair Beag and LearnGaelic.net.
So these are my main resources. I can get by through a few texts, though long complicated structures are still beyond me. Luckily Tormod seems to be patient enough with me and regularly texts me in Gaelic without my asking. I was worried about using him as a kind of practice buddy as I didn't want him to become a magister involens which I have been to others on occasion. Friend first, Gaelic helper second.
My aim is to eventually be able to hold a decent conversation in Gaelic rather like my
*I think I may have to give myself a different pseudonym as a Gaelic learner just so I can do all the lovely lenition and slenderisation that make Gaelic so wonderfully interesting. I'll get back to you on that.
Bloga ùr
Well, I've decided to dust off the old password and look into blogging again. This time I'm going to try and document, with no particular regularity or frequency, my progress in learning probably one of the hardest languages I've bothered trying to learn.
I frequently change the language I want to learn but I keep coming back to Gaelic with some regularity. Now that I actually know a Gael with whom I can practise, I've decided to give it a serious shot.
So here goes!
(I would have liked to insert a Gaelic phrase here, but I'm not at that point yet)
I frequently change the language I want to learn but I keep coming back to Gaelic with some regularity. Now that I actually know a Gael with whom I can practise, I've decided to give it a serious shot.
So here goes!
(I would have liked to insert a Gaelic phrase here, but I'm not at that point yet)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)