Irish and French tape

Steve01

Surely I'm not the only one who thinks there's a HUGE difference in the standard for the Irish and French tape tests. Irish tape is a piece of piss imo. The people on the tape speak clearly and its easy to comprehend what their saying. Sometimes too easy! For instance:

Ceist: Cén aois í Mháire?
(on the tape)
Séan: A Mháire, cén aois tú?
Máire: Táim seeeeeeeeee mbbblliiiaaaaannnaa deeeeeeag d'aaaaaoooiisssss

On the other hand when it comes to French tape I'm at a complete loss. Its gonna bring down my overall mark by a substantial amount since the highest I've ever gotten is in around 53/80. The people on the tape speak at noughts per hour and it takes ages for me to figure out what their saying, let alone translate it into English. Having the questions in Irish on the paper really doesn't help either!

Is anyone else in a similar situation?

lilmizzme

Steve01 wrote:

Having the questions in Irish on the paper really doesn't help either!

You do know there's an english version written beside the Irish version don't you?

Steve01

The point I'm making is that having the Irish language on the paper at all isn't helpful for those of us who are answering through English.

JC 2K3

However, it is rather useful for those of us who answer through Irish. What's your point?

Lol, the Irish cluastuiscint should be some comic relief.

Síle: Conas atá tú, a Pheadar?
(A 70 year old man responds)
Peadar: Ó a Shíle, nílim rómhaith, tá mé buartha faoin Ardteist.

Steve01

JC 2K3 wrote:

However, it is rather useful for those of us who answer through Irish. What's your point?

Its a pain in the ass and a distraction for the rest of us. Why don't the Department print a different paper for those answering through Irish and give the other 99% of students a break

lilmizzme

it's called ignoring the irish part, concentrate on the english questions and you won't notice the irish sentence!!

JC 2K3

Presuming you write with your right hand simply cover the left hand side of your paper with your left arm. Problem solved, no more evil Irish to "distract" you.

Honestly, a "break"? So the paper is bilingual, big deal.

PurpleFistMixer

It can be occasionally detrimental, if you suffer from the extreme confusion between Irish and French... But it really isn't hard to ignore half the page.

Steve01

Pfft. Even scribbling out the Irish section isn't good enough. Knowing those horrible 'focail' are still on the paper. Staring into your soul...

I'm not saying its the main reason I don't perform well in French tape but it is at the very least an annoyance and my entire class agrees. I think its perfectly acceptable that the department keep the paper in English/ French and issue a few Irish/ French copies lest the Gaelsnobs throw a hissy fit . That way everyone's happy.

cson

Its also the reason why a lot of people only use half the page for their answers.

He has a point though, the last thing you want is Irish in your head doing a french exam. Fine if you go to a gaelscoil and are more or less fluent in it but for the rest of us its just a distraction.

md99

I love the French tape test and the Irish one.

The Irish is absolutely hilarious.... All about TG4, the Gaeltacht, Bono, U2, the Gardaí and 'Gaeilge líófa'..... so repetetive, so slow, so good!

The middle section (the part you hear more times than the rest) is the funniest IMO... Seriously, WHO talks that slow? I remember one which is meant to be a conv. between two LC students. 'Go raibh míle maith agat, a Sheáin' I love it

French is great too... It provides a proper challenge for the Honours student, it's the hardest part of the exam and the part students score worse in... but at least you've the delightful written paper to recover on. With plenty of practice and a some natural ability the French tapework can become rather simple.... I got 60/80 in my pre but I've got 70+/80 before too, all from practicing and practicing... I can pretty much translate it word for word at this stage. The most offputting/confusing answers are those which are said with different pronounciation to what you're used to, or answers where theres two answers contained in what appears to be one response... and most importantly of all, the answer you hear at first and dont EXPECT it to be the answer they're looking for... Some of the actual answers are very strange altogether, but always write down something and you won't regret it.

Steve01

md99 wrote:

The Irish is absolutely hilarious.... All about TG4, the Gaeltacht, Bono, U2, the Gardaí and 'Gaeilge líófa'..... so repetetive, so slow, so good!

I find it impossible to keep a straight face during the exam. Especially when there's the same voice doing the 16-year-old 'déagóir faiseanta' and the 75-year old príomhoide. Not to mention the comically exaggerated Northern accents. Pure gold

JC 2K3

PurpleFistMixer wrote:

It can be occasionally detrimental, if you suffer from the extreme confusion between Irish and French... But it really isn't hard to ignore half the page.

God forbid you might even answer in Irish by mistake! :eek:





















































(And get an extra 5% - FTW)

Rozabeez

Steve01, tad dramatic there aren't we? What's so distracting about it? This argument is so stupid.

Why don't they print a seperate paper? - Waste of paper, to give students the option, because they don't feckin' feel like it.

Enough reasons there?

analyse this

I completely agree. The Irish paper is an embarrassment to be honest. I got 93/100 for my mocks. But I am just baffled by the French tape test. No matter how hard I practice, I never get more than 60/80. It’s so frustrating and it means I have to rely a lot on getting good marks in the rest of the exam. Thanks god I do pretty well in the remainder of the exam.

Donald-Duck

Rozabeez wrote:

Steve01, tad dramatic there aren't we? What's so distracting about it? This argument is so stupid.

Why don't they print a seperate paper? - Waste of paper, to give students the option, because they don't feckin' feel like it.

Enough reasons there?

I agree completely. How can it be distracting? Maybe the first time you looked at a tape work paper, but after that it shouldn't be.

justbringit89

in french tape i got 20/120 in pre

Haven't a Clue

Haha, I love the Irish aural. The only drawback is the different accents, like I'd be at a bit of a loss for the Kerry Irish section but **** hot at Donegal Irish.

analyse this

justbringit89 wrote:

in french tape i got 20/120 in pre

Isn't it out of 80?;)

genericgoon

yes the french tape is alot harder. Although French shares a lot more words with english than irish does.

PurpleFistMixer

JC 2K3 wrote:

(And get an extra 5% - FTW)

Don't you have to answer completely in Irish for this to qualify?

Anyway, answering in Irish on French listening would be suuuch a bad idea, for me anyway. I see one word of Irish during French class and I can't understand anything for the next five minutes.

Steve01

Rozabeez wrote:

Steve01, tad dramatic there aren't we? What's so distracting about it? This argument is so stupid.

It was never a compelling argument to begin with. Yes obviously the issue of having Irish printed on the paper is no big deal. I only included it as an afterthought in my original post. Wasn't exactly expecting the masses to come out brandishing pitchforks chanting 'burn the witch'... (again, being a tad dramatic)

So back to the matter at hand. The french tape is way harder than the irish tape as far as I'm concerned

md99

JC 2K3 wrote:

(And get an extra 5% - FTW)

French through Irish! What a nightmare! Or any subject for that matter...

sternn

You should have all done spanish, if you had the option...possibly the easiest tape test you will ever do

JC 2K3

PurpleFistMixer wrote:

Don't you have to answer completely in Irish for this to qualify?

Well yes. But they're not hard on you throwing English words in.

md99 wrote:

French through Irish! What a nightmare! Or any subject for that matter...

Ah it's not too bad. Communicating through both Irish and English in my daily life actually makes it easier to pick up other languages I find.

Rozabeez

I found switching from a Gaelscoil to an English speaking school pretty confusing back in 1st year, the maths was a load of "what the hell does that mean?".

analyse this

Rozabeez wrote:

I found switching from a Gaelscoil to an English speaking school pretty confusing back in 1st year, the maths was a load of "what the hell does that mean?".

Yeah I'm from a Gaelscoil too and I have to admit that I came in with somewhat of an overly cocky attitude in relation to irish . I have never studied for any irish exam and this has led to me forgetting almost all my grammer and a lot of vocab.

Rozabeez

Sweet jesus, its spelt grammAr.

Anyway, yeah I was cocky too, but I reckon I can still manage a B.

me2gud4u

yeh i'm in a gaelscoil too. The tape is such good fun- i love the way the teachers drag it out towards the end of the yr! Bring on the tape!