Chan eil mi gur tuigsinn

I studied Spanish in high school only because we had to study a language and I figured that sounded as good as any. In my youthful ignorance I remember saying “why do I need to study a language? I’ll never use it.” Fast forward several years – I’m a much wiser adult who has lived in 3 foreign countries, one of them Spanish speaking. Go figure.

When we traveled overseas we would make a very valiant effort to learn as much of the language as we could. We would start studying months before we moved, then once in the country we would attend college language classes.

In Germany, I found I had a talent for the German language. It came easily to me. 

In Italy, I took a few semesters of college Italian, but my professor got so frustrated with me he developed a crook in his neck from shaking his head at my attempts to speak Italian and NOT German. 

I mastered none of the languages I studied, but I sure had fun trying. I learned just enough to make myself dangerous actually.

This past Christmas my daughter gave me a learning CD for the language of Ireland and Scotland- Gaelic. As if I weren't linguistically dangerous enough.

Unlike the other languages, which are Latin based and make a certain amount of sense to the student, Gaelic doesn’t even try to make sense. The minute I opened the package – I knew I was in trouble.

The opening paragraph in the accompanying book to my CD says- “At first Gaelic words may look strange and complicated. The words may not appear to represent the way they are pronounced.” 

No kidding.

Here are some examples of the first lesson in my Gaelic book/CD for beginners. I would love to hear your thoughts on this:

“b” at the start of the word, pronounced as in English but If it falls anywhere else in the word it’s pronounced as a “P”

“bh” at the start of a word, is pronounced as a “v”, elsewhere in the word it’s pronounced as a “v” or “w”

“d” at the start of the word is “d” but elsewhere in a word it’s “t”

“fh” is silent – no sound (so why is it there?)

“g” if not at the beginning of the word, is pronounced “k”

“gh” pronounced as a “Y” (me:why?)

There are three pages of such directions. At this point of reading the book, I’m ready to call it a night and drown my failure in a gallon of rocky road. But I won’t. I’m determined.

On page 4, once you’ve memorized all of these (totally non-sensical) pronunciations, you can move on to the first lesson, where you can actually learn to talk.

Except that doesn’t work. Because I can’t remember how to pronounce the "b" sound when it’s in the middle of the word. I’m totally a loser at the Gaelic alphabet.

I’ve decided to try another tactic. I will memorize phrases I think I will need for my trip. Here are a few I’m working on for conversation’s sake:

- Camar a that thu?  (How are you?)

- Meadhanach math, tapadh lelbh (reasonably well, thank you)

- Co as a tha thu? (where are you from?)

- Tha mi sgith (I'm tired)

- Moran taing airson do chuideachaidh (thanks a lot for your help)

   

-   Then there’s a few phrases I want to be familiar with just in case:

   

     - Chaidh iarraidh oirnn falbh (we were asked to leave)

-    - Cha deach duine a mharbhadh anns an tabaist (nobody was killed in the accident)

-     - Agus de an seorsa caise a tha sib hag larraidh? (And what kind of cheese do you want?)

-     - A bhell thu posda? (Are you married?)

-     - Tha do mhathair an dochas nach do ghabh thu cus fion (your mother hopes that you didn’t have too much wine)

-     - Am pos thu mi (will you marry me?)

-     - Hell no (Hell no)

 -  conas a dhéanann tú breith a thabhairt ar an b sa bhfocal seo? (How do you pronounce the "b" in the middle of this word?)

Good thing that English is spoken throughout the country. Still…I want to give it a good shot. So I will give it my best shot.

     

     Oh..and the title of this posting; "Chan eil mi gur tuigsinn" translates "I don't understand you" 

     I'll definitely have to learn that one.