Dialect Confusion

mtmjr90

Hi,

I'm just beginning to learn Irish and I have an app on my iPad called uTalk Irish. It's great because for every word/phrase it lists, there's recordings of native speakers. However, it seems that the two native speakers (one female, one male) have two very different accents. I just don't know which one I should be focusing on since I'm finding that I'm pronouncing some words with one accent, others in another. I imagine this might sound odd to other speakers? Anyway, I've listed some examples below and how the male voice (M) and female voice (F) pronounces each (my IPA attempt as well as sounds). I'd like to know which one is more common, or closer to "standard" Irish. Thanks!

liathróid
M: [liərɔɪd] lee-uh-royd
F: [liəro:d] lee-uh-rode

siosúr
M: [ʃosɔr] show-soar
F: [sɪsur] sih-soor

clúdach litreach
M: [kludəç lɪtrəç] clue-dech li-trech (with "ch" representing a velar fricative)
F: [kludək lɪtrək] clue-duck li-truck

tuáille
M: [tuɑɪlə] too-eye-leh
F: [tuɔlə] too-awe-leh

Sorry for all the examples, I just wanted to be as clear as I could. To be honest, I just used [r], but I have no idea which /r/ I'm supposed to use since sometimes it sounds retroflex, sometimes a flap. Thanks in advance for the help!

-mtmjr90

Insect Overlord

I think the phrases you tagged with "M:" are in the Ulster dialect.
The "F:" phrases seem closer to Munster Irish, which would probably be closer to what's more commonly used in the Republic.