Category: Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig)

The joy of phonemes

By Simon

I’ve been listening to Scottish Gaelic radio all day today. I don’t understand a lot yet, though can get the gist if I concentrate. As I listen, I often repeat some of the words and phrases I’m hearing – it’s a good thing I work at home most of the time, or my colleagues might begin to doubt my sanity. I really like the sound of Scottish Gaelic and enjoy trying to speak it.

Tha mi ag èisdeachd ri Raidio nan Gaidheal fad an là an-diugh. Chan eil mi ‘tuigsinn mòran fhathast, ach tha mi a’ tuigsinn an bhrìgh ma tha mi ag èisdeachd gu cùramach. Tha còrd mòr rium Gàidhlig a’ bruidhinn.

For me, one of the joys of learning foreign languages is getting my tongue round their unfamiliar phonemes. Each language presents me with a different set of phonetic challenges, some of which are more challenging than others. At the moment, for example, I’m having fun wrestling with some pesky Czech consonant clusters.

Which languages do you most enjoy pronouncing?

My language studies

By Simon

I’ve decided to try a slightly different approach to my language studies. Up till now I’ve been listening to Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh language radio for several hours each almost every day. In the evenings I read novels in either Welsh or Irish, and also learn a bit more Czech. I’ve also been learning songs in the Celtic languages, particularly Irish.

This week I’ll be concentrating on one language for two days at a time. So today and tomorrow I’m focusing on Welsh – listening to Radio Cymru during the day and going through a lesson in Cadw Sŵn in the evening. On Wednesday and Thursday I’ll be listening to Radió na Gaeltachta during the day and studying from Turas Teanga or another of my Irish courses in the evening. Then on Friday and Saturday I’ll listen to Radio nan Gaidhael and study from one of my Scottish Gaelic courses in the evening.

I’ll continue to study some Czech every day, to read Irish, Welsh and maybe even Scottish Gaelic novels, and to learn songs. By the way, can any of you recommend any good novels in Celtic languages, or in French, German, Spanish or Chinese?

Welsh, Irish and Scottish Gaelic are the languages I most want to become fluent in at the moment. My other languages are less of a prioity, though I do get to practise Mandarin, Japanese and Spanish quite often on Skype and MSN.

Welsh and Gaelic education

By Simon

According to an article on Eurolang, education through the medium of Welsh is becoming so popular in Wales that there aren’t sufficient places in Welsh medium schools for all those who would like to attend them. As a result, the growth of Welsh medium education is being held up.

Increasing numbers of parents are wanting to send their children to Welsh medium schools, even in mainly English-speaking areas, such as Newport, where 31% of parents surveyed said they would probably send their kids to Welsh medium schools if such schools where available nearby.

At the same time enrolment in English medium schools has been dropping and many schools have empty places.

In other news, a brand new Gaelic medium school opened in Glasgow recently. It has 320 places and provides nursery, primary and secondary for children between the ages of 3 and 18.

Education through Welsh or Gaelic seems to be a very effective way for kids to acquire fluency in those languages, and the popularity of such education is encouraging.

This and that

By Simon

Most languages I’ve encountered seem to have a way of indicating that something or somebody is close to the speaker, i.e. this man, or close to the listener, i.e. that man. Some languages make a third distinction: that something is distant from both the speaker and the listener. In standard English you can express this idea by saying something like ‘that man over there’, but in some dialects of English you can say ‘yon man’, ‘yonder man’ or ‘that there man’.

Does anybody know of any languages that make further distinctions?

In the Celtic languages there are no single words for this and that. Instead they use the constructions ‘the man here’ and ‘the man there’.

Irish
an duine seo – this man
an duine sin – that man
an duine úd – that man over there / yonder man

Scottish Gaelic
an duine seo – this man
an duine sin – that man
an duine siud – that man over there / yonder man

Manx
yn dooinney shoh – this man
yn dooinney shen – that man
yn dooinney shid – that man over there / yonder man

Welsh
y dyn ʼma – this man
y dyn ʼna – that man
y dyn acw – that man over there / yonder man

Word of the day – seilleann-dé

By Simon

seilleann-dé, noun = butterfly – (lit. “bee of God”)

Related words:
seilleann-mòr – bumble bee (lit. “big bee”)
seilleann-nimh – hornet (lit. “poison bee”)
seilleann-seimhid – snail
seilleannach – fulls of bees, teasing, capricious

There are also some interesting words for butterfly in Welsh:
iâr fach yr haf (lit. “summer chick”)
glöyn byw (lit. “living coal”)
pila-pala
bili-balo

In Irish, a butterfly is a féileacán – sounds like “failure can”, and in Manx it’s foillycan or follican – sounds like “foily can” as in a can covered in foil.

Word of the day – cnatan

By Simon

cnatan, noun = cold

Tha’n cnatan orm = I have a cold (lit. “Is the cold on me”)
Tha an cnatan a’ tighinn orm = I’m getting a cold (lit. “Is the cold a coming on me”)

Another way to say I have a cold, which I do at moment, which is why I chose this word, is tha fuachd agam (lit. “Is coldness with me”).

The equivalent phrases in the other Celtic languages I know are:

Irish Gaelic: Tá slaghdán orm
Manx Gaelic: Ta feayraght orrym
Welsh: Mae annwyd arna i

All these mean, literally, “Is cold on me”

These phrases illustate some interesting aspects shared by the Celtic languages, such as the verb-first word order, and the way of showing possession. You don’t ‘have’ something in these languages, instead something is on you or with you.

They also give an example of how personal pronouns combine with prepositions. For example, orm (on me) is a combination of air (on) + mi (I/me). If you wanted to say “He has a cold”, it would be “Tha’n cnatan air”, and “We have colds” would be “Tha’n cnatan oirnn”.