O chionn dà bhliadhna dh'imrich mi à Dùn Èideann do Fhrankfurt am Main anns a' Ghearmailt. 'S gann gun creidinn e! Dh'imrich mi a-nall airson dreuchd aig a' bhanca choitcheann na Gearmailte. Bidh an dreuchd doirbh ach 's toigh leam i gu math, agus tha mo cho-làmhaichean caomhail agus cuideachail.
Bu lugha orm Frankfurt ré nam miosan tòiseachail ach cha robh a' chiad chur romham ach dà bhliadhna an-seo fhuireach!
Uill, tha mi an-seo fhathast, agus tha mi air rùnachadh a-bhos fhuireach gu buanach. Bidh mi ag imrich a Würzburg ann an stàit na Baidheirn san Sultain. Carson? 'S e am baile mòr far a bheil mo ghràidhean a' fuireach :) Bidh sinn a' pòsadh san Dàmhair!
Thursday 2 August 2018
Monday 30 July 2018
Anns a' Ghleann Mhòr
O chionn trì seachdainean thill mi a dh'Alba airson saor-laithean leis an teaghlach. Air dòigh air chor-eigin bha a dol aig mo mhàthair an teaghlach uile fhaighinn agus mar sin shiubhail dà dhuine dheug à Dùn Èideann no à Peairt gus a' Ghleann Mhòr. Air an t-slighe stad sinn ann am Baile Chloichridh, far an d'rinn sinn sireadh-ionmhais.
Anns a' Ghleann Mhòr dh'fhuirich sinn air bruaich Loch Omhaich far am b'urrainn dhuinn spòrs a dheanamh air àrainn. Rinn sinne curachnachd, caidheagadh, urchaireachd chalman criadha, coiseachd tro mòr-ghil, mar sin air adhart. Agus chòrd a h-uile dad rium gu mòr!
Air an turas air ais gu Dùn Èideann chaidh sinn dhan Ghearasdan airson na trèin "Sheumasaich" a bhreith a Mhalaig. Bha an turas an sin glè bhòidheach agus chòrd an trèan ri macaibh mo pheathair gu math!
As dèidh sin dhraibh mi le mo bhràthair nas òige dhachaigh slighe Glinn Comhann.
Corrections/comments welcome!
Anns a' Ghleann Mhòr dh'fhuirich sinn air bruaich Loch Omhaich far am b'urrainn dhuinn spòrs a dheanamh air àrainn. Rinn sinne curachnachd, caidheagadh, urchaireachd chalman criadha, coiseachd tro mòr-ghil, mar sin air adhart. Agus chòrd a h-uile dad rium gu mòr!
Air an turas air ais gu Dùn Èideann chaidh sinn dhan Ghearasdan airson na trèin "Sheumasaich" a bhreith a Mhalaig. Bha an turas an sin glè bhòidheach agus chòrd an trèan ri macaibh mo pheathair gu math!
As dèidh sin dhraibh mi le mo bhràthair nas òige dhachaigh slighe Glinn Comhann.
Corrections/comments welcome!
Wednesday 4 July 2018
Still a-learning
Orite?
I know it has been an aeon since I last put something up here, but I got caught up with life in Frankfurt. That said, I'm happy to report that I'm still learning Gaelic, and I've even recruited someone else!
My thoughts on how to learn a language have also been changing. Based on my experience here in Germany and some blogs I've been reading, such as this one, I've realised the absolute importance of just speaking and reading and writing and listening to as much source language material as possible without looking up dictionaries endlessly or perusing grammar manuals.
As a consequence, I've decided to write a little Gaelic text on here as often as possible, and hopefully some of you Gaelic speakers out there can correct me or suggest more colloquial ways of saying it. Please feel free to make these or any other comments in Gaelic, too!
I know it has been an aeon since I last put something up here, but I got caught up with life in Frankfurt. That said, I'm happy to report that I'm still learning Gaelic, and I've even recruited someone else!
My thoughts on how to learn a language have also been changing. Based on my experience here in Germany and some blogs I've been reading, such as this one, I've realised the absolute importance of just speaking and reading and writing and listening to as much source language material as possible without looking up dictionaries endlessly or perusing grammar manuals.
As a consequence, I've decided to write a little Gaelic text on here as often as possible, and hopefully some of you Gaelic speakers out there can correct me or suggest more colloquial ways of saying it. Please feel free to make these or any other comments in Gaelic, too!
Sunday 25 September 2016
Beatha ùr ann am Frankfurt
Aig deireadh an Iuchair thig mi dhan Ghearmailt a thoiseachadh an obair ùr agam.
A nis, tha mi nam eadar-theangaich aig a' bhanca choitcheann na Gearmailte. Tha am prìomh-àras a' suidhichte ann am Frankfurt, far a bheil mi a' fuireach a nis.
'S e Frankfurt am baile as motha sa cheàrn Hessen, ach chan e Frankfurt am prìomh-bhaile - 's e Wiesbaden a tha seo.
Tha mi a' lorg flat fhathast agus chan eil an lorg furasta idir! Anns a' cheart àm tha mi a' fuireach anns an flat a chaidh solarachadh leis a' bhanca. Seo glè bheag agus cha toigh leam e idir. Tha mi an dòchas gum faigh mi flat a dh'aithghearr!
Corrections welcome and desired!
A nis, tha mi nam eadar-theangaich aig a' bhanca choitcheann na Gearmailte. Tha am prìomh-àras a' suidhichte ann am Frankfurt, far a bheil mi a' fuireach a nis.
'S e Frankfurt am baile as motha sa cheàrn Hessen, ach chan e Frankfurt am prìomh-bhaile - 's e Wiesbaden a tha seo.
Tha mi a' lorg flat fhathast agus chan eil an lorg furasta idir! Anns a' cheart àm tha mi a' fuireach anns an flat a chaidh solarachadh leis a' bhanca. Seo glè bheag agus cha toigh leam e idir. Tha mi an dòchas gum faigh mi flat a dh'aithghearr!
Corrections welcome and desired!
Tuesday 28 June 2016
All good things must...
Once again duilich! for the long delay in posting. It's been hard to keep up with Gàidhlig at the moment as so much is going on. Where to begin?
First of all, the classes aren't on any more so I don't have that regular weekly memory jog. I really ought to have gone back to the Cearcall Còmhraidh, but I couldn't be bothered going along to the other end of Sràid a' Phrionnsa. Leisg, I know, but that's the honest truth.
Secondly, Tormod and I don't talk and text nearly as much as we used to, and if I'm honest, this friendship was one of the main drivers behind learning Gaelic as I had to learn it on the spot. These things happen and it's sad, but that's the way things go.
Thirdly, I'm in the process of buying a taigh, which is starting to be a bit of a b**lache. That, coupled with the fact that...
Fourthly, I have a new job and I'm moving to A' Ghearmailt. Not great for learning Gaelic, but interestingly Scottish Gaelic seems to be unusually and surprisingly popular* there. Maybe I'll manage to continue learning.
In any case, I'll still try and carry on learning. I've been inspired by a good writer friend of mine who started her own blog (no longer existing) to track her progress in learning Polish. She's now been learning it for five years and seems pretty good, all because she was dogged in her desire to learn it. I too am very tenacious (to a fault, it turns out), so I'm sure I'll keep at it. Plus, to all those who think they're getting "too old" to learn a new language, she was in her late 30s** when she started, so there's no excuse! (Yes, I'm looking at you. You know who you are.)
* "popular" is always a very relative term when it comes to Gàidhlig
** I really don't consider late 30s or early 40s old at all, even though mid to late 40s used to be the world average life expectancy as recently as 1950!
First of all, the classes aren't on any more so I don't have that regular weekly memory jog. I really ought to have gone back to the Cearcall Còmhraidh, but I couldn't be bothered going along to the other end of Sràid a' Phrionnsa. Leisg, I know, but that's the honest truth.
Secondly, Tormod and I don't talk and text nearly as much as we used to, and if I'm honest, this friendship was one of the main drivers behind learning Gaelic as I had to learn it on the spot. These things happen and it's sad, but that's the way things go.
Thirdly, I'm in the process of buying a taigh, which is starting to be a bit of a b**lache. That, coupled with the fact that...
Fourthly, I have a new job and I'm moving to A' Ghearmailt. Not great for learning Gaelic, but interestingly Scottish Gaelic seems to be unusually and surprisingly popular* there. Maybe I'll manage to continue learning.
In any case, I'll still try and carry on learning. I've been inspired by a good writer friend of mine who started her own blog (no longer existing) to track her progress in learning Polish. She's now been learning it for five years and seems pretty good, all because she was dogged in her desire to learn it. I too am very tenacious (to a fault, it turns out), so I'm sure I'll keep at it. Plus, to all those who think they're getting "too old" to learn a new language, she was in her late 30s** when she started, so there's no excuse! (Yes, I'm looking at you. You know who you are.)
* "popular" is always a very relative term when it comes to Gàidhlig
** I really don't consider late 30s or early 40s old at all, even though mid to late 40s used to be the world average life expectancy as recently as 1950!
Thursday 21 April 2016
Latha na #Gàidhlig
'S e latha na Gàidhlig a th'ann an-diugh! And so it's time for an update.
When I started this blog, I had secretly hoped that my learning would be filled with weekly or even daily discoveries of new and exciting vocabulary and grammatical epiphanies. I'd read blogs by other friends and acquaintances who tracked their progress in learning a new language and I'd hoped to do the same. BUT... there's one problem in my case - tha mi glè glè leisg. Seriously lazy. I spend the large majority of the twenty-four hours of the day in a horizontal position. Work does take up a lot of my time and so the last thing I feel like doing afterwards is stare at a screen* browsing Learngaelic.scot or struggling with the silly sound files on Taic.
When I first started learning German and French properly during high school, I really went at it. My zeal back then amazes me even now! I would memorise endless vocab lists and read aloud passage after passage just because I loved hearing the nasal sounds of French or the back-of-throat German sounds come out of my mouth. When I couldn't sleep, I would have conversations in my head between a French person and a German person (with the occasional Italian rudely interrupting) to pass the time and hopefully send me to sleep. Sometimes, though, I didn't know a word and just HAD to look it up. So three small dictionaries lay on the floor next to my bunk bed for about three years.
But I don't do any of this now. I don't need to for French or German. But maybe I should start up night-time Gaelic conversations to help me sleep. If I'm honest, though, despite all that effort, my French and German really progressed when I visited France and Germany. Speaking the language with speakers of that language really is the best way to learn it. By far. And I don't do that in Gaelic. So that's my #goal for the next few months. Speak more. Listen more too. Learn all these words ending in -adh. I'll need to start torturing Tormod with my super-slow mangled Gaelic more regularly. Friendships need testing every now and then anyway ;-)
And then maybe by the next Latha na Gàidhlig I'll feel sufficiently justified to add Scottish Gaelic to my list of languages on Facebook. Cuz that's what matters, right?
P.S. Really getting into Beag Air Bheag le Iain Urchardan. It's not super easy but they speak slowly enough that I can note down words I dinnae ken.
* yes, yes, I know a smartphone has a screen. Pipe down! No more questions or comments! (Jokes! Please comment if you take the notion)
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| from SocialMediaAlba.scot |
When I started this blog, I had secretly hoped that my learning would be filled with weekly or even daily discoveries of new and exciting vocabulary and grammatical epiphanies. I'd read blogs by other friends and acquaintances who tracked their progress in learning a new language and I'd hoped to do the same. BUT... there's one problem in my case - tha mi glè glè leisg. Seriously lazy. I spend the large majority of the twenty-four hours of the day in a horizontal position. Work does take up a lot of my time and so the last thing I feel like doing afterwards is stare at a screen* browsing Learngaelic.scot or struggling with the silly sound files on Taic.
When I first started learning German and French properly during high school, I really went at it. My zeal back then amazes me even now! I would memorise endless vocab lists and read aloud passage after passage just because I loved hearing the nasal sounds of French or the back-of-throat German sounds come out of my mouth. When I couldn't sleep, I would have conversations in my head between a French person and a German person (with the occasional Italian rudely interrupting) to pass the time and hopefully send me to sleep. Sometimes, though, I didn't know a word and just HAD to look it up. So three small dictionaries lay on the floor next to my bunk bed for about three years.
But I don't do any of this now. I don't need to for French or German. But maybe I should start up night-time Gaelic conversations to help me sleep. If I'm honest, though, despite all that effort, my French and German really progressed when I visited France and Germany. Speaking the language with speakers of that language really is the best way to learn it. By far. And I don't do that in Gaelic. So that's my #goal for the next few months. Speak more. Listen more too. Learn all these words ending in -adh. I'll need to start torturing Tormod with my super-slow mangled Gaelic more regularly. Friendships need testing every now and then anyway ;-)
And then maybe by the next Latha na Gàidhlig I'll feel sufficiently justified to add Scottish Gaelic to my list of languages on Facebook. Cuz that's what matters, right?
P.S. Really getting into Beag Air Bheag le Iain Urchardan. It's not super easy but they speak slowly enough that I can note down words I dinnae ken.
* yes, yes, I know a smartphone has a screen. Pipe down! No more questions or comments! (Jokes! Please comment if you take the notion)
Thursday 3 March 2016
Air an t-slighe dhachaigh bhon mhonadh
Latha math dhuibh. Only two weeks remain of my Gaelic course and the class has dwindled down to a faithful remnant. We are following the structure of "Can Seo" which covers the comings and goings of Swotty Mary and ADHD John to and from the moor, with or without the dog or shinty stick. Apparently, 's toil le Iain a bhith anns a' mhonadh ach 's fheàrr le Mairi a bhith aig an taigh còmhla ri a màthair.
The teacher is pleasant and friendly enough. I'm just struggling to take stock of what I have learnt concretely over the weeks.
I'd say one of the things I definitely have a better grip on is the dative case - I now get how the little floating "t-" disappears after "air" or "anns an" for masculine nouns beginning with a vowel, etc., etc. That said, we haven't really covered feminine nouns and it was only yesterday that we looked at the slenderisation of the end of feminine nouns in the dative (what the...?? how on earth do I pronounce 'chaileig', 'làir'? Is this change noticeable in fast speech?). All the same, I'm no longer shocked or confused by the whole thing. A' dol dhan mhonadh and a' coiseachd air an rathad faisg air a' mhuir repeatedly does hammer the point dhachaigh eventually.
As for the genitive, don't ask..
Anyway, yesterday was the feasts of Saints Fergna Britt, Slebhene and Suibhne (Sweeney) a b'e abachan an Eilein Ì a bh'annta. So there you go.
The teacher is pleasant and friendly enough. I'm just struggling to take stock of what I have learnt concretely over the weeks.
I'd say one of the things I definitely have a better grip on is the dative case - I now get how the little floating "t-" disappears after "air" or "anns an" for masculine nouns beginning with a vowel, etc., etc. That said, we haven't really covered feminine nouns and it was only yesterday that we looked at the slenderisation of the end of feminine nouns in the dative (what the...?? how on earth do I pronounce 'chaileig', 'làir'? Is this change noticeable in fast speech?). All the same, I'm no longer shocked or confused by the whole thing. A' dol dhan mhonadh and a' coiseachd air an rathad faisg air a' mhuir repeatedly does hammer the point dhachaigh eventually.
As for the genitive, don't ask..
Anyway, yesterday was the feasts of Saints Fergna Britt, Slebhene and Suibhne (Sweeney) a b'e abachan an Eilein Ì a bh'annta. So there you go.
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