Tomhas na Teanga

May/June 2006

I have written this column in Irish, this time, and translated each sentence into English. I will be reading all the Irish on a podcast at www.philo-celtic.podcast.com, after a brief introduction.

Tá nuacht nua faoin nuacht agam an uair seo. I have new news about the news this time. Tá an nuachtán laethúil Gaeilge Lá ar fáil ar an idirlíon, mar a d’inis mé daoibh sa cholún roimhe seo. The Irish language daily newspaper Lá is available on the internet, as I told you in the column before this. Leis sin, tá podchraoladh laethúil acu anois. With that, they have a daily podcast now. Léitear achoimrí ón nuachtán air. Synopsis of the news are read on it. Tá na rudaí seo ar fáil ag www.nuacht.com. These things are available on their website.

Scríobh mé go minic faoin ngramadach sa cholún seo. I have written often about grammar in this column. Nílim ag déanamh amhlaidh sa cheann seo. I’m not doing that in this one. Tá stór focal chomh tábhachtach leis an ngramadach, agus faightear sin ó léamh na Gaeilge. Vocabulary is as important as grammar, and that is gotten by (the) reading (of the) Irish. Mar sin, an uair seo, táim ag scríobh níos mó as Gaeilge. Therefore, this time, I am writing more in Irish.

Tá súil agam go mbíonn seans agaibh chun éisteacht leis na rudaí atá ar fáil ar an idirlíon. I hope that you (often) have a chance to listen to the things that are available on the internet. Bíonn deis ann chun Gaeilge labhartha a chloisteáil. There is (all the time) an opportunity there to hear spoken Irish. Agus chun taithí a fháil ar gach canúint. And to get familiar with each dialect.

Má tá tú ag éisteacht le canúint Uladh, agus níl sí agat, seo cúpla nod duit. If you are listening to the Ulster dialect, and you don’t speak it, here are a couple of hints for you. Sa chanúint sin, ní bhíonn na gutaí fada an-fhada. In that dialect, the long vowels aren’t usually very long. Níl mórán difríochta idir ‘sean’ agus ‘Seán,’ mar shampla. There isn’t a lot of difference between ‘sean’ (old) and ‘Seán’ (John), for example. Sa chanúint sin agus i gcanúint Chonamara, cloistear ‘ú’ ag deireadh na bhfocal a chríochnaíonn in –mh agus –dh. In that dialect, and the Conamara dialect, ‘oo’ is heard at the end of words which end in –mh and –dh. Fuaimnítear ‘snámh’ mar ‘snáú,’ mar shampla. ‘Snámh’ (to swim) is pronounced like ‘snah-oo,’ for example. I gConamara, is minic a chloistear ‘mrá’ in ionad ‘mná’ – ‘mr’ in ionad ‘mn,’ sin a rá. In Conamara, often ‘mrá’ is heard instead of ‘mná’ (women) - ‘mr’ instead of ‘mn,’ that is to say. Déantar amhlaidh le ‘gn,’ freisin – ‘gró’ in ionad ‘gnó.’ The same thing is done with ‘gn’ - …instead of… Más canúint na Mumhan atá ann, is minic go mbíonn an bhéim ar shiolla fada, cé nach é an chéad siolla é – an tOireachtas, mar shampla. If it is the Munster dialect, often the accent is on a long syllable, even though it is not the first syllable – the Oireachtas (Irish language festival), for example. Sa Mhumhan, freisin, cloistear ‘so’ agus ‘san’ in ionad ‘seo’ agus ‘sin.’ Also in Munster, ‘suh’ and ‘san’ are heard instead of ‘seo’ (this) and ‘sin’ (that). Agus sna háiteanna a gcuirtear urú sa Mhumhan, cuirtear séimhiú go minic sna canúintí eile. And in the places where eclipsis is put in Munster, lenition is often put there in the other dialects. Ar an chlár vs. ar an gclár, mar shampla. …for example.

Bíonn a bhlás féin ag gach duine éagsúil, freisin, agus tagann tuiscint le cleachtadh. Each individual person has their own flavor of speaking, too, and understanding comes with practice. Ar ‘An tImeall,’ gach Aoine, agus ar phodchraoladh Lá, gach lá, bíonn an téacs ann mar chabhair. On ‘The Edge,’ every Friday, and on Lá’s podcast, every day, the text is there as a help.

Ag deireadh an cholúin seo, bíonn píosa agam faoi ábhar ar bith, nach mbaineann leis an nGaeilge, as Gaeilge. At the end of this column, I usually have a piece on any subject at all, that doesn’t have to do with the Irish language, in Irish. Ní rud maith é a bheith i gcónaí ag caint faoin teanga. Tá sé i bhfad níos fearr an teanga a úsáid! It isn’t a good thing to always talk about the language. It is much better to use the language! Mar sin, seo rud eile ar fad. Therefore, here’s something else altogether.

Tá an Cháisc thart, ach tá aimsir na Cásca ann fós. Easter is over, but it is still Easter season. Ceiliúraimid aiséirí Chríost ar an gCáisc, agus sin an rud is tábhachtaí, dar ndóigh. We celebrate the resurrection of Christ on Easter, and that is the most important thing, of course. Ach in Éirinn, ceiliúrtar rud eile, freisin. But in Ireland, another thing is also celebrated. Sin Éirí Amach na Cásca, lá saoirse na hÉireann. That’s the Easter Rebellion, Irish independence day. Is ait dom go gceiliúrtar é ar an gCáisc, pé lá den mhí atá ann, seachas ar 24 Aibreán, an lá a tharla sé. It’s strange to me that it is celebrated on Easter, whatever day of the month it is, instead of April 24^th, the day it happened. Ach sin mar atá. But that’s how it is. I mbliana, bhí mórshiúl ann i mBaile Átha Cliath, don chéad uair le tríocha bliain. This year, there was a parade in Dublin, for the first time in thirty years.

Tharla nach raibh Conradh na Gaeilge sásta bheith ar an ardán roimh ard-oifig an phoist i rith an mhórshiúil, mar ní raibh siad sásta nach léifear forógra na Cásca as Gaeilge. It happened that the Gaelic League wasn’t satisfied to be on the platform in front of the main post office during the parade, because they were not happy that the Easter declaration would not be read in Irish. Níor léadh as Gaeilge é in 1916, ach oiread. It wasn’t read in Irish in 1916, either. Mar a tuairiscíodh in Lá é: Dúirt [Uachtarán

Chonradh na Gaeilge, Dáithí Mac Cárthaigh] gur pé rud ba chúis le léamh an Fhorógra as Béarla amháin i 1916, ní hann dó a thuilleadh. As was reported in Lá: The president of the Gaelic league…said that whatever was the cause of the pronouncement being read only in English in 1916, it isn’t there any more.” “Is poblacht neamhspleách anois í Éire agus aithnítear an Ghaeilge mar theanga náisiúnta agus príomhtheanga oifigiúil na Poblachta sin.” “Ireland is an independent republic now and Irish is recognized as a national language and the official language of that republic.” ”Ba chóir í a chur chun cinn agus a aithint mar theanga náisiúnta agus mar phríomtheanga oifigiúil ag ócáidí den chineál seo," ar seisean. “It would be proper to advance it and recognize it as a national language and as the official primary language ag an occasion of this kind,” he said.

Agus aontaím leis. And I agree with him.