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How do you say "No English" in Irish?

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  • 14-09-2010 10:55am
    #1
    stephanus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 57 ✭✭


    I know there is that TV series "No Béarla". What would the complete expression be in Irish?


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    #2
    Krusader
    Registered Users Posts: 4,057 ✭✭✭Krusader


    Níl Béarla ar bith agam
    Níl aon Bhéarla agam

    I have no English/ I haven't any english (I can't speak English)

    You must negate the verb and use 'aon' or 'ar bith' to say no


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    #3
    earwax_man
    Registered Users Posts: 264 ✭✭earwax_man


    Use "aon", "ar bith" or "cosc ar" to make an Irish version.

    Cosc ar Bhéarla; Aon Bhéarla; Béarla ar Bith.

    Not as catchy :rolleyes:


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    #4
    mathepac
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 4,991 ✭✭✭mathepac


    earwax_man wrote: »
    ... Cosc ar Bhéarla; ...
    ?? Tá cosc ar na Sassanaigh., The English [people] are banned :eek:


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    #5
    pog it
    Registered Users Posts: 2,912 ✭✭✭pog it


    earwax_man wrote: »
    Use "aon", "ar bith" or "cosc ar" to make an Irish version.

    Cosc ar Bhéarla; Aon Bhéarla; Béarla ar Bith.

    Not as catchy :rolleyes:

    hey earwax_man. Is this 'aon bhéarla' a munster term? I've not heard it in this context!

    The others I'm familiar with. Mathepac, cosc gets used on non smoking signs and the likes, it's a bit on the formal side but 'cosc ar X ' does translate as 'no X'

    Earsmax I'd be really grateful if you could tell me more on 'aon bhéarla' if you get the chance.

    I'm guessing here but is it a variation of 'Gan aon Bhéarla' ? As in Munster slang/usage for this maybe?


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    #6
    Aard
    Registered Users Posts: 4,905 ✭✭✭Aard


    If it's a contraction of "I have no English", then "gan Béarla" would be an appropriately colloquial translation.


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    #7
    earwax_man
    Registered Users Posts: 264 ✭✭earwax_man


    pog it wrote: »
    hey earwax_man. Is this 'aon bhéarla' a munster term? I've not heard it in this context!

    The others I'm familiar with. Mathepac, cosc gets used on non smoking signs and the likes, it's a bit on the formal side but 'cosc ar X ' does translate as 'no X'

    Earsmax I'd be really grateful if you could tell me more on 'aon bhéarla' if you get the chance.

    I'm guessing here but is it a variation of 'Gan aon Bhéarla' ? As in Munster slang/usage for this maybe?

    Usually in the standard form, it must use gan as a prefix, but most people around here just use aon on it's own. :rolleyes:

    I come from near the Cork-Kerry border in North Cork, so we have a mixture of everything ^___^

    Recently I've started using more Connaught words, such as using "tada" instead of "ní" or "dada". I really should stick to my own dialect. :pac:


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    #8
    stephanus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 57 ✭✭stephanus


    Go raibh maith agaibh! Would look great on my office door ...


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    #9
    An gal gréine
    Registered Users Posts: 941 ✭✭✭An gal gréine


    Crosáidí wrote: »
    Níl Béarla ar bith agam
    Níl aon Bhéarla agam

    I have no English/ I haven't any english (I can't speak English)

    You must negate the verb and use 'aon' or 'ar bith' to say no

    Just to add to the above
    Níl Béarla agam...I haven't got English


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    #10
    pog it
    Registered Users Posts: 2,912 ✭✭✭pog it


    earwax_man wrote: »
    Usually in the standard form, it must use gan as a prefix, but most people around here just use aon on it's own. :rolleyes:

    I come from near the Cork-Kerry border in North Cork, so we have a mixture of everything ^___^

    Recently I've started using more Connaught words, such as using "tada" instead of "ní" or "dada". I really should stick to my own dialect. :pac:

    Are you a native speaker?

    I've been thinking about it and I can't see how "aon bhéarla" would work for "no english" without "gan".
    And I don't worry about the standard too much so I'm considering it from the point of view of colloquial speak.

    It's just grating on me!


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    #11
    Aard
    Registered Users Posts: 4,905 ✭✭✭Aard


    I'd guess that "Aon Bhéarla" is a contraction of "Níl aon Bhéarla agam".


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    #12
    pog it
    Registered Users Posts: 2,912 ✭✭✭pog it


    Aard wrote: »
    I'd guess that "Aon Bhéarla" is a contraction of "Níl aon Bhéarla agam".

    Still, that doesn't sit right. 'Aon' bhéarla to me is 'any English'. I'm open to any meaning under the sky, but it doesn't come off for me, even in that context either.

    Anyway, just my own feeling! Has anyone any native speaker sources with this?


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    #13
    An gal gréine
    Registered Users Posts: 941 ✭✭✭An gal gréine


    Have'nt heard that one used but we've all heard "fadhb ar bith" which means there IS a problem when what's meant is a pithy translation for "no problem". "fadhb ar bith" started in the Galltacht and has now spread to the Gaeltacht so it shows that if enough people use a certain phrase it then becomes the norm!


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    #14
    earwax_man
    Registered Users Posts: 264 ✭✭earwax_man


    pog it wrote: »
    Are you a native speaker?

    I've been thinking about it and I can't see how "aon bhéarla" would work for "no english" without "gan".
    And I don't worry about the standard too much so I'm considering it from the point of view of colloquial speak.

    It's just grating on me!

    I grew up speaking both languages since I was born, so I guess so. Gan doesn't have to be used to be understood. It's just the norm here ^___^

    Is dócha ar aon nós xD


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    #15
    pog it
    Registered Users Posts: 2,912 ✭✭✭pog it


    earwax_man wrote: »
    I grew up speaking both languages since I was born, so I guess so. Gan doesn't have to be used to be understood. It's just the norm here ^___^

    Is dócha ar aon nós xD

    I'm still not sure. A native speaker is really a person who spoke that language from day dot, was raised and brought up with that language primarily, and obviously whose parents are native speakers. You should be 100% fluent in it if it is your native language. I'm not being sticky, that is the true definition of it.

    I had lots of exposure to the Irish language but it's not the same thing as being a native speaker in the true definition of the word.

    Would be great if you had some examples, even one, from a writer in the dialect you heard this in?


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    #16
    Krusader
    Registered Users Posts: 4,057 ✭✭✭Krusader


    He said he grew up speaking the language since he was born, how more native to you want him to get


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    #17
    pog it
    Registered Users Posts: 2,912 ✭✭✭pog it


    Crosáidí wrote: »
    He said he grew up speaking the language since he was born, how more native to you want him to get

    No offence Crosáidí but that is not the definition of a native speaker. Just because someone has somebody speak some Irish to them from a young age that doesn't mean they are a native speaker. It means they have more Irish than the majority in the Galltacht.

    Along with what I said in my other post, a native speaker is obviously fluent in the language. Completely fluent. I think that's a given. Either accept that or don't. I don't care whether you do or not!


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    #18
    Krusader
    Registered Users Posts: 4,057 ✭✭✭Krusader


    Well then we'll call him a Neo-native speaker

    English is my 1st langauge, and there's things I still don't know about it, am I completely fluent?


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    #19
    pog it
    Registered Users Posts: 2,912 ✭✭✭pog it


    Crosáidí wrote: »
    Well then we'll call him a Neo-native speaker

    English is my 1st langauge, and there's things I still don't know about it, am I completely fluent?

    What language do you think in? You'll be working on any language for life if you want even your mother tongue of course.

    Sure wouldn't 3 million people here love to claim they are native speakers? Already we have a census with 40% or some warped figure claiming they have 'fluent' Irish? That's what self-assessment gets you. So we go to school and we learn Irish. With our education system you most certainly do not leave 'fluent' yet people think that they are?????

    A native speaker to me is someone like Dara Ó Cinnéide. As soon as he opens his mouth you know he was brought up and reared through Irish. I had uncles, cousins, and my dad all fluent speakers. I heard it plenty growing up, but I'm not going to try fooling myself or anyone else about being a native speaker!

    I'm not trying to be rude or argumentative, but it's wrong to bandy about native speaker term.


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    #20
    cantalach
    Registered Users Posts: 1,922 ✭✭✭cantalach


    pog it wrote: »
    Along with what I said in my other post, a native speaker is obviously fluent in the language. Completely fluent. I think that's a given.

    Perhaps it depends on what you mean by 'fluent', but I'm not sure I'd agree that being a native speaker in a language inherently implies fluency. I know many native English speakers who, by their own admission, frequently have to reach for the dictionary to understand what I would regard as everyday English words and phrases. They have appalling grammar, spelling and punctuation, and this as a result of complete ignorance rather than sloppiness.

    In contrast, my Continental sister-in-law is now completely fluent in English having lived in this country for the best part of a decade. I cannot recall when I last used a word or phrase that she didn't understand and it is a very rare thing indeed for her to say something that doesn't sound quite right to my ear. Crucially, she has been thinking and dreaming in English for years and now gets a headache when she has a lengthy phone conversation with friends and family back home.

    So in the case of English at least, I'm not sure that there is any inherent advantage to being a native speaker rather than a non-native speaker who is completely fluent. That said, it could perhaps be argued that Irish is different. A non-native Irish speaker, even if they move to An Ghaeltacht, is never fully immersed in Irish to the same extent that a non-native English speaker would be if they moved to an English speaking country.


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