Stumped...

[An t-Ileach]

There's an old Highland saying that if you meet a man wearing the kilt then his language is Gaelic. No longer true, I suppose.

If you are familiar with certain European sound combinations (especially Spanish, German, and French) then you can pronounce Gaelic, no matter how it's spelled. There's a nasal quality about most Gaelic vowels. Forget about "dark" and "light" ells; most Gaelic speakers will understand.

Here's a few phrases:

Madainn mhath (matin - as in French, 'cos that's where it came from - vaa) Good morning
Feasgar math (fesker maa) Good afternoon; Good evening
Oidhche mhath ((ö as in German) - ö ikhye vaa) Good night

Dè mar a tha sibh? OR Ciamar a tha sibh? (Je mara ha shiv? Cemara ha shiv?) How are you?
Tha gu math, tapadh leibh (Ha gumaa, tahpa lev) I'm fine, thank you

Moran taing (ain as in French 'in' - moran tinc) Thanks a lot

Slàinte mhath! (slaanche vaa) Good health!

Saor Alba! (Sör alapa) Freedom for Scotland/Independence for Scotland!

Alba/Eireann gu brath! (Alapa/Eren gu bra) Scotland/Ireland for ever!

Fèileadh beag (é as in French - féla bek) kilt
Fèileadh mòr (féla mor) great kilt

How're those for a while? Best of luck.

[highlander_Daz]

bear in mind your more likely to meet nessie than a gaidhlig speaker in most parts of scotland, I think at the last count it was 75,000 out of 5 million.

shame

[highlander_Daz]

David nice to see you prounounced "slainthe" correctly with the ch sound instead of "Slanj" its like people who say "auld langs zyne" instead of syne.

My grandfather used to get thumped at school for speaking in gaidhlig. it was seen as a riff raffs language. he could speak both Scots and Irish versions as his father was an Irishman.

[Blu (Ontario)]

Thanks everyone for the help. This is great! These websites look like just the sort of resouce I was looking for.

Just out of curiosity... how many Xmarks members here actually have a working knowledge of gaelic?... or at least a basic grasp of it...

blubh ;-)

[An t-Ileach]

Highlander Daz,

Well, there's no accounting for willful and militant ignorance.

The Welsh seem to have turned around the effects of the Victorians on their language and culture: here's hoping the Scots can too!

There are promising signs - The Scotsman did a survey at the beginning of the year, and even people in North Berwick were saying that there should be a Gaelic Revival as it's the language of the Scots. All it needs now is some genuine effort from those temporary residents of the buildings by The Mount, and across the way from The Baillie Nicol Jarvie pub.

[An t-Ileach]

Blu (Ontario),

I do - quite rusty at times, and I forget words. I suppose it's through living with the other lot, and not having much chance to use it; although I'm finding a surprising number of Gaelic speakers in London and the South-East.

[millar]

One of our local PBS stations has an show on that is totally in Irish called Ros Na Run. It is totally bizzare to listen to the show. Because I see all of these faces that could be the people who grew up on my block and I can't understand a bloody word they say. http://www.rosnarun.com/

A funny story. A friend of mine had a grandmother who was born in Ireland. When he was a boy she used to tell him stories about ireland and would speak Irish every now and then which facinated him. He used to ask her everytime he saw her to speak Irish and so she taught him the Lords Prayer in Irish. He was spellbound when she would say the words. She made him recite each time she saw hime so he memorized each word and is still 50 years later able to recite it. He went out one night and met someone who spoke Irish. He thought he would impress him and recited what his gran had taught him. The guy was nice and listened attentively and then when my friend was finished he asked how he did. The guy told him he recited gibberish. My friend figures now that it was the only way his gran could get him to sit quiet for more than 5 minutes.

[Archangel]

I've mentioned before I've got my Firefox set to Scottish Gaelic. Not a clue what any of it means, it's just oddly reassuring to be silly like that. Google is about the only page it works on. It's nice to see and sure surprises anybody looking over my shoulder.

[Blu (Ontario)]

I've mentioned before I've got my Firefox set to Scottish Gaelic. Not a clue what any of it means, it's just oddly reassuring to be silly like that. Google is about the only page it works on. It's nice to see and sure surprises anybody looking over my shoulder.

Arch, I kinda figured you were a bit of a romantic at heart! :smile:

[Blu (Ontario)]

Hmmm.... I wonder if this tome would be any good? It might be a bit over my head....



??:

blubh