Irish accent

Status
Not open for further replies.

Dready

Junior Member
Joined
May 18, 2009
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Kazakhstan
Current Location
Kazakhstan
I find it so hard to understand Irish English. Irishmen speak so fast and sometimes indistinctly that I struggle to follow them. Is it just me or it's a fact that their speech is a little bit harder to understand? What are you thoughts on that? Thank you.
 

bhaisahab

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 12, 2008
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
Ireland
I find it so hard to understand Irish English. Irishmen speak so fast and sometimes indistinctly that I struggle to follow them. Is it just me or it's a fact that their speech is a little bit harder to understand? What are you thoughts on that? Thank you.
There isn't a universal Irish accent. People from the west, east, south and north have different accents. They are no more difficult to understand than English speakers from other regions, parts of Scotland, England and Wales, for example.
 

Dready

Junior Member
Joined
May 18, 2009
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Kazakhstan
Current Location
Kazakhstan
Well, I can understand the British quite well, but when it comes to Irishmen, for example, from Dublin, something comes in the way of comprehending. What might that be? For instance, the other day I watched an interview with an Irish band Jetward and I had to play some parts over and over to make clear what they were saying.
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
Well, I can understand the British quite well, but when it comes to Irishmen, for example, from Dublin, something comes in the way of comprehending. What might that be?
Accent, intonation, vocabulary and speed of delivery can all make some dialects dificult to understand, even for native speakers of other dialects of English. You say that you understand the British quite well. Have you ever heard people from Glasow or North-East England? I find these two dialects difficult.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwx0-oewjsM
 
Last edited:

Dready

Junior Member
Joined
May 18, 2009
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Kazakhstan
Current Location
Kazakhstan
Accent, intonation, vocabulary and speed of delivery can all make some dialects dificult to understand, even for native speakers of other dialects of English. You say that you understand the British quite well. Have you ever heard people from Glasow or North-East England? I find these two dialects difficult.

YouTube - ‪Funny Geordie Monologue by Gary Hogg‬‏

Well, at the beginning it didn't sound like English at all for me, but then as I went on, I was able to make out some familiar words. What a lovely accent I must say. :-D
It always sort of amazed me how many there are English accents in the world. It's hard for me to comprehend it, because the Russian language is pretty much the same everywhere. Though there are still differences from region to region. But not as in English.
 

konungursvia

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Canada
Current Location
Canada
I find the Irish easy to understand.
 

bhaisahab

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 12, 2008
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
Ireland
I find the Irish easy to understand.
So do I, but my French wife still finds the west of Ireland accent difficult; even though we lived there for twelve years.
 

konungursvia

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Canada
Current Location
Canada
Maybe it's the strong Gaelic accent we find out there (I hear the Irish language is still in use where Cromwell feared to tread).
 

bhaisahab

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 12, 2008
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
Ireland
Maybe it's the strong Gaelic accent we find out there (I hear the Irish language is still in use where Cromwell feared to tread).
Yes, we lived in the Gaelteacht (Irish speaking area). We both took classes and learned to speak Irish (enough to have simple conversations with our neighbours and local shopkeepers). Almost everybody speaks English as well as Irish, although there may be some old people in remote areas who speak very little English.
 
Last edited:

konungursvia

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Canada
Current Location
Canada
Yes, we lived in the Gaeleacht (Irish speaking area). We both took classes and learned to speak Irish (enough to have simple conversations with our neighbours and local shopkeepers). Almost everybody speaks English as well as Irish, although there may be some old people in remote areas who speak very little English.

That's good to hear, from a philological standpoint. I hope the Irish make use of some inspiration from the Israelis and are able to revive their ancient language, and bring it back into everyday use. It's always a shame for a language to go dead.
 

birdeen's call

VIP Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Polish
Home Country
Poland
Current Location
Poland
That's good to hear, from a philological standpoint. I hope the Irish make use of some inspiration from the Israelis and are able to revive their ancient language, and bring it back into everyday use. It's always a shame for a language to go dead.
Irish is far from going dead. It's a compulsory subject in Irish schools and although the number of native speakers is generally quite low, there are much more for whom Irish is the second language. It's also the first official language of Ireland and an official language of the UE. Scottish Gaelic has a much worse position, but it also has some native speakers, some of whom are quite prety: YouTube - ‪Julie Fowlis - Hùg Air A' Bhonaid Mhòir‬‏ :)
 

bhaisahab

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 12, 2008
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
Ireland
Irish is far from going dead. It's a compulsory subject in Irish schools and although the number of native speakers is generally quite low, there are much more for whom Irish is the second language. It's also the first official language of Ireland and an official language of the UE. Scottish Gaelic has a much worse position, but it also has some native speakers, some of whom are quite prety: YouTube - ‪Julie Fowlis - Hùg Air A' Bhonaid Mhòir‬‏ :)
Yes, one of my daughters went to an all Irish primary school for one year. All schools in the Gealteacht are Irish medium; also all Irish state school teachers are required to have passed Irish at high school diploma level.
 

konungursvia

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Canada
Current Location
Canada
I'm guessing the title of that song means something like "He is a handsome man?"
 

birdeen's call

VIP Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Polish
Home Country
Poland
Current Location
Poland
I'm guessing the title of that song means something like "He is a handsome man?"
I'm not sure what the title means but there's the word "big" in it. :)

PS: OK, I checked with an online dictionary any "bonaid" means bonnet. I guess it's not about a man then! :-D
 

SoothingDave

VIP Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
There were areas in Ireland I went to on my honeymoon where the natives spoke Irish as a first language.

An Irish colleague of mine told me that the natives would speak English to my wife and me, as we were American tourists, but that they would expect him to speak in Irish if he were there.
 

bhaisahab

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 12, 2008
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
Ireland
I'm guessing the title of that song means something like "He is a handsome man?"
Scots Gaelic is a bit different from Irish, and my Irish skills are not great, but I'm pretty sure that "bhonaid Mhoir" means "big bonnet" and "Hug" looks like the verb "thug", to give.

 

konungursvia

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Canada
Current Location
Canada
Just a guess based on words that resemble Latin and Scandinavian relatives of Gaelic (Latin being more closely related of course: vir / fir, tu / tu, -ix / -icus, etc.).... I once read that Julius Caesar, during the conquest of Gaul, ordered military dispatches to be drawn up in Greek, as the Gauls could intercept and make out the general gist of Latin.
 

birdeen's call

VIP Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Polish
Home Country
Poland
Current Location
Poland
Scots Gaelic is a bit different from Irish, and my Irish skills are not great, but I'm pretty sure that "bhonaid Mhoir" means "big bonnet" and "Hug" looks like the verb "thug", to give.
I don't speak either Irish or Scottish Gaelic, but "g" seems strange to me. I thought the letter "h" didn't occur on its own in the language... I tried to make sense of this by using internet resources, but I failed badly. There's no mention of "hùg" anywhere I looked. I found a translation of the song on the web: Julie Fowlis - Hg Air A' Bhonaid Mhir, but I don't understand why there should be "celebrate" there after searching the online dictionaries.
 

bhaisahab

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 12, 2008
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
Ireland
I don't speak either Irish or Scottish Gaelic, but "g" seems strange to me. I thought the letter "h" didn't occur on its own in the language... I tried to make sense of this by using internet resources, but I failed badly. There's no mention of "hùg" anywhere I looked. I found a translation of the song on the web: Julie Fowlis - Hg Air A' Bhonaid Mhir, but I don't understand why there should be "celebrate" there after searching the online dictionaries.
You are quite right there is no "h" in the traditional Irish alphabet. It was introduced to replace a dot over certain letters, the dot changes the sound of the letter sometimes to "h" sometimes to "w" sometimes to "v". The infinitive of the verb to give is "túg" (toog), for example; when it is conjugated it becomes "thúg" (hoog). The word for "big" is "mór" (moor), when it is applied to certain nouns it becomes "mhóir" (wooir).
 

birdeen's call

VIP Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Polish
Home Country
Poland
Current Location
Poland
"Húg" seems to remain a mistery then, unless it's a misspelling a "thúg", but it's unlikely. I have the original CD with the song and that's how the title is spelled. I know that "h" can be used sometimes at the beginning of a word in some cases, when the word starts with a vowel, as in "Óglaigh na hÉireann". But this doesn't seem to be the case here either, does it?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top