Irish Language dialects

Coinin

Can someone help me with regard to the different dialects of Irish (Gaeilge)?

From being so young I can’t remember until she died (when I was about 12) I used to speak to my Great Gran in Irish.

Having spoken not a word in the past 30 years or so (living outside Ireland it aint easy to find someone to practice with) I decided I would like to take a Gaeltacht holiday to brush up. Trouble is I don’t know what dialect it was, so I don’t know which Gaeltacht to visit, and having listened to samples of Ulster, Connemara and Munster, it seems to have elements of them all and quite a bit that fits none of them.

For example, ‘dia dhuit’ was pronounced ‘deeeyah gitt’, anois was ‘a-nash’ or sometimes just ‘nash’, oiche as i-he (with the i from pin). Mouth was always gob, never beal, agus was virtually never used, just ‘is’ for and.

Any sentence starting with ‘Go’ was shortened to a very quick ‘g’ sound, for example, ‘go raibh maith agat’ was pronounced ‘grummairget’

I have no idea where this dialect comes from. Can anyone help me out here????????

Suaimhneach

Its kind of hard to tell based on what you've said there a chara. I'd recommened doing as much research on your Gran as you can and then trying to find out where she grew up. Probably a better bet.

Go néirí leat.

Karlusss

If you can think of other dialectic words, an Ó Donaill dictionary might point you right.

Also, broadly speaking: "Conas taoi" is Kerry, "Cad é mar a tá tú" is Conamara and "Cen chaoi a bhfuil tú" is Donegal, if you can remember, but then again that's not exactly precise.

dranoel

Maybe this list might help you:

able to ábalta ulster
alright réasúnta connacht
alright cuíosach munster
alright measartha ulster
also freisin connacht
also leis munster
also fosta ulster
anything tada connacht
anything faic munster
anything a dhath ulster
boy gasúr connacht
boy garsún munster
boy gasúr ulster
difficult doiligh ulster
dog mada connacht
dog madra munster
dog madú ulster
every chuile (gach uile) connacht
every gach aon munster
every achan (gach aon) ulster
fast sciobtha connacht
fast tapa (igh) munster
fast gasta ulster
for fá choinne ulster
forty ceathracha connacht
girl girseach ulster
hospital otharlann ulster
lazy falsa ulster
look breathnaigh connacht
look féach munster
look amhairc ulster
lovely galánta ulster
minute nóiméad connacht
minute neomat munster
minute bomaite ulster
new nó munster
new úr ulster
nothing tada connacht
nothing faic munster
nothing a dhath ulster
play seinm connacht
play seinnt munster
play seinm ulster
potato fata connacht
potato práta munster
potato préata ulster
rest a rest scíste ulster
see feiscint munster
something rud eicint connacht
something rud éigin munster
something rud inteacht ulster
suitable feiliúnach connacht
suitable oiriúnach munster
suitable fóirstineach ulster
table tábla ulster
too much an iomarca connacht
too much an iomad munster
too much barraíocht ulster
wall falla ulster

barclay2

Karlusss wrote: »

If you can think of other dialectic words, an Ó Donaill dictionary might point you right.

Also, broadly speaking: "Conas taoi" is Kerry, "Cad é mar a tá tú" is Conamara and "Cen chaoi a bhfuil tú" is Donegal, if you can remember, but then again that's not exactly precise.

Nil an ceart agat ansin. "Cad é mar atá tu" is Donegal, "Cén chaoi ina bhfuil tu" is connemara/aran islands. Conas taoi is definitely in Kerry but simple old "Conas atá tu?" is also common.

BoozyBabe

Not that I have much Irish or anything, but when I look at phrases & words that I would commonly use, I have aspects of all dialects in my Irish.

I think this is true to say of everyone brought up in the Irish Education system who weren't from a Gaeltacht area. My 3 teachers in Primary may have each used a different dialect, then my two in Secondary school could have been any. Or they may also have used phrases interchangeably.

I really don't think it'll matter which Gaeltacht you go to, as the people there will understand your Irish & they'll change their phrases to suit you, if you can't understand theirs.

Incidentally, in theory I would be in the Ulster dialect area, but even just going from the list above:-
I've never said Cad é mar atá tu (fada doesn't work on the u for some reason!!)
Have never used falla, barraiocht, rud inteacht, préata, bomaite, etc, etc, etc

In fact, I'd use very little of them

dranoel

Fair points - some of those words are probably specific to only small areas within the broader region. How do you say 'how are you'?

BoozyBabe wrote: »

(fada doesn't work on the u for some reason!!)

You (like me) are probably an Internet Explorer user and suddenly find that you can't use 'Alt Gr + i' or 'Alt Gr +u' to make í or ú. This was caused by the last Boards upgrade. To restore these shortcuts you will now have to change your message editor interface to "Enhanced Editor - Full WYSIWYG Editing" in the miscellaneous options on Edit Options page under User CP.

BoozyBabe

Thanks Dranoel, I'll try that now.

I'd say Conas atá tu (haven't applied the fix yet!!!)

imasmeasmecanbe

BoozyBabe wrote: »

Not that I have much Irish or anything, but when I look at phrases & words that I would commonly use, I have aspects of all dialects in my Irish

Sounds like your teachers at second level spoke An Caighdean. An Caighdean is the standard methos of teaching irish in most schools and is generally taken as the modern day standard for written Irish