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Top 5 Being Irish Questions (St Patrick's Day)
10 years ago
Top 5 questions I get asked in English about being Irish. My Replies
Do the Irish drink as much as we think?
I would say this is totally Stereotypical but you're right to think that we drink a lot, you're probably actually underestimating it.
Is Ireland as beautiful as it is in ads?
More so, but what you're seeing on TV is mostly the western or central parts of Ireland, the majority of population live on coasts but mostly in the east. But Ireland is Beautiful.
Where in Ireland should I go?
Kerry, if your looking for scenery and typical 'TV' Irish accent then Kerry is a place to go, I'd also suggest Donegal or Mayo my home county . But in Donegal you may get a little frostbit
What is gaelic?
Well we don't in Ireland call the language we speak Gaelic, but that's confusing because we do have the Irish for it which sounds similar "As Gaelgiá"
However it is also the name of a sport, best comparison for an American is Aussie Rules
What's a primary school?
Well in Ireland our school system may bewilder the American's as until 2004 we had three types of Primary School which lasts from 4-12 . We had 3 divisions
Catholic Primary
Public Primary
Private Primary
Then we have secondary school which is like highschool, but a lot less clique than American Highschools.
Top 5 things in Irish I get asked a lot
1. What does "Póg mo thoin" mean?
It means kiss my ass, although I have to spell it differently as I have connemara Irish . Which leads too.
2. What dialects are their?
Well 4 provinces will make it easier .
s
Connemara is the West Coast dialect, here are Irish is stronger, we add endings like -sht and -ogóa
ex .. "Taim a shaternasht ó Eireanogóa" = I'm speaking from Ireland.
phonetically "Time a shas-er-nocht oh hair-og-ig-a"
Donegal is the Northern dialect here some words are still in old irish, or don't use an urú as much as Connemara.
ex ... "Taim ag rincé ar an mhord" = I'm dancing on the table
phonetically "Time egg rin-ca air on vord"
Dingle/Daingean Much like in english the accent of Southern Irish Speakers is very muddled and hard to understand urús galore.
finally
Leinster Most americans if you hear Irish on tv 'if ever' its mostly going to be this Dialect as most of the population hail in this part the East.
3. What's an Urú
The irish equivalent of the the the apostrophe usually means a letter is missing or has been taken away
D'ól- The Verb to drink is the common one Dhol -h = D'ól
4. What is this over some of your vowels.
Its called the fada usually to mean that its that vowel which is stressed in the example
Ag gáire - Laughing is said egg gaa-reh
5. Is Irish hard.
Yes and rarely used unless you want to go to the Gaeltachts in the west bar a few. Or unless you run into a student studying it. You won't hear it spoken . For americans though look at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhIw_qwrrpE
Also Google is offered in Irish and Gmail too.
Do the Irish drink as much as we think?
I would say this is totally Stereotypical but you're right to think that we drink a lot, you're probably actually underestimating it.
Is Ireland as beautiful as it is in ads?
More so, but what you're seeing on TV is mostly the western or central parts of Ireland, the majority of population live on coasts but mostly in the east. But Ireland is Beautiful.
Where in Ireland should I go?
Kerry, if your looking for scenery and typical 'TV' Irish accent then Kerry is a place to go, I'd also suggest Donegal or Mayo my home county . But in Donegal you may get a little frostbit
What is gaelic?
Well we don't in Ireland call the language we speak Gaelic, but that's confusing because we do have the Irish for it which sounds similar "As Gaelgiá"
However it is also the name of a sport, best comparison for an American is Aussie Rules
What's a primary school?
Well in Ireland our school system may bewilder the American's as until 2004 we had three types of Primary School which lasts from 4-12 . We had 3 divisions
Catholic Primary
Public Primary
Private Primary
Then we have secondary school which is like highschool, but a lot less clique than American Highschools.
Top 5 things in Irish I get asked a lot
1. What does "Póg mo thoin" mean?
It means kiss my ass, although I have to spell it differently as I have connemara Irish . Which leads too.
2. What dialects are their?
Well 4 provinces will make it easier .
s
Connemara is the West Coast dialect, here are Irish is stronger, we add endings like -sht and -ogóa
ex .. "Taim a shaternasht ó Eireanogóa" = I'm speaking from Ireland.
phonetically "Time a shas-er-nocht oh hair-og-ig-a"
Donegal is the Northern dialect here some words are still in old irish, or don't use an urú as much as Connemara.
ex ... "Taim ag rincé ar an mhord" = I'm dancing on the table
phonetically "Time egg rin-ca air on vord"
Dingle/Daingean Much like in english the accent of Southern Irish Speakers is very muddled and hard to understand urús galore.
finally
Leinster Most americans if you hear Irish on tv 'if ever' its mostly going to be this Dialect as most of the population hail in this part the East.
3. What's an Urú
The irish equivalent of the the the apostrophe usually means a letter is missing or has been taken away
D'ól- The Verb to drink is the common one Dhol -h = D'ól
4. What is this over some of your vowels.
Its called the fada usually to mean that its that vowel which is stressed in the example
Ag gáire - Laughing is said egg gaa-reh
5. Is Irish hard.
Yes and rarely used unless you want to go to the Gaeltachts in the west bar a few. Or unless you run into a student studying it. You won't hear it spoken . For americans though look at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhIw_qwrrpE
Also Google is offered in Irish and Gmail too.
I also saw an animation based on the Book of Kells, it was a lot of fun :3 Thank you for the info
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee_N.....e_gdata_player
they need to look more carefully; its a Scottish language :p