Does anyone here speak Gaelic?

Question

I'm particularly interested in Scottish Gaelic, but Irish Gaelic as well. Is it a difficult language to pronounce for native English speakers? Is it a difficult language to read and write? Do many people in Scotland and Ireland still use the languages?
At home in Cape Breton, almost everyone, including myself, has celtic roots, but the language has unfortunately almost died out now.

Answer 1

The Irish language is still studied by all children in school in Ireland. It is spoken as a first language in small areas, mainly in the west of Ireland known as Gaeltachts. The word Gaelic is an Anglicisation of the names for any of the three of the Q Celtic language family group spoken in Ireland, the Isle of Man and Scotland. Strictly speaking these languages should be called Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx.

The first three sites below have information and lessons on how to speak Irish:

HOW TO PRONOUNCE IRISH FOR BEGINNERS
Learn how to speak Irish Gaelic
The Irish Language

Summer classes in Scottish Gaelic are held at The Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts in St. Ann's Bay in Cape Breton, I have included this site below.

The LeughSeo catalogue lists the Gaelic books available in the Cape Breton Regional Library and the University College of Cape Breton Library. This catalogue contains Gaelic language records held at both libraries.

Cape Breten Ceilidh: "The Learning Centre is a resource for more information on Cape Breton Island's rich Gaelic culture. Learn up to 50 Gaelic words and phrases in our audio vocabulary."

I hope you find some of this information useful.

Answer 2

The reason that the native Irish language is so hard to read and pronounce is because around 1940 it was decided that the Irish alphabet and script would be scrapped and the English alphabet used instead. This makes it very difficult to learn phonetically as some words such as 'abhaile' which means home and is pronounced 'avalia' would have been written with an inflection mark over the letter b which would have indicated its sound but has now been has been replaced by a bh. I think the Irish alphabet should be taught in schools again it would make things so much easier. Imagine trying to learn Spanish but instead of a tilda ~over an n to make a nye sound they put an e instead. The only thing that survived is the 'fada' which stretches a vowel such as in the world 'Lá' which means 'day' and is pronounced 'law'. Learning Irish is mandatory in Ireland for people born here and you can't get into college if you fail Irish. So it would be nice if they at least taught the language of our ancestors and not some kind of pidgon version.

Answer 3

I took an Intro course to Irish in University a couple years back... REALLY interesting and not all that easy... I can only remember two sentences really: g'day how are you? whats your phone number?- but that's besides the point.
The pronounciation is completely different from the spelling of certain words, as i'm sure you've come across it in a proper name Siboahn (pronounce SHIVAN) b's come out as v's and that's just the beginning.
Poke around the internet for sites that offer Audio translations
(you can take a look at these)
http://www.at.artslink.co.za/~gerry/index.html
http://www.englishirishdictionary.com/dictionary

It's still spoken in some parts of Ireland and it really is a shame that the language is dying out. It's really quite pleasant to listen to, it's very phonetic. You can even try to link up to Irish radio stations in which you can listen to their broadcasts ( i'd do that when i was taking my class just to get an ear for the sounds )

I wish i'd kept up with the class. I surprisingly learnt a lot while attending ( not only the language but the folklore and myths of Ireland as well as the political history ) but unfortunately for me the course was only offered each year and not each semester so i missed out on continuing seeing as it was my last year.

If you're truly interested in the language check at your local university, See if you can enroll in a class. Considering where you live this shouldn't be all that difficult. Even community organizations might offer such things. I know here in Ottawa the Irish community organized weekend events where all participants spoke Irish! I never attended but a few from my class did and truly enjoyed themselves!

Enjoy!
àdh mór ort!
(good luck!)

Answer 4

I can still understand some phrases in Gaelic. There really is only one Gaelic, the other are dialects such as Welsh that are a derision of Gaelic.

It is difficult to pronounce especially if you are a native English speakers because Gaelic is not (for the most part) pronounced phonetically and consonants can have vowel like sounds.

It can be difficult to read for the same reasons as above. It really has a unique origin that is only in that region. Most other languages have fairly common origins like Germanic or romance, but Gaelic is distinctly unique in that it really is the only derived language from that origin. Even Asian languages have a connecting origin thread.
Yes, Gaelic or Irish as it commonly referred as, is still spoken by the Irish in the Republic of Ireland (the Real Ireland not Northern) and still use the language in most road signs and village signs.

Answer 5

There are a quantity of Gaelic languages however because you published this within the Irish phase i presume you are speaking approximately the irish language (gaeilge) Challenger, Gift ogf God could be "Bean Dushlain,Tabhartas le Dia"

Answer 6

My cousin and I were interested in it. She found several books on it and there was a site that was free and had recordings so that you could hear what it was supposed to sound like. But sorry I can't remember the site name.

Answer 7

I only know a little bit.I found it a little hard to learn.I learnt it so I could help my daughters with their homework better.

Answer 8

No. I don't speek Gaelic. Good Luck ! :)

Answer 9

I don't

Answer 10

Hey!!! YES I do!! "GOO-GOO GAA-GAA"?