Seonaidh wrote:Chan eil ainmean s`onraichte G`aidhlig air `aiteachan an ann Sasainn ach "Lunnainn", "An Caisteal Nuadh" is "Cathair Luail" Seadh, "Bearuig".
Chan eil cinnt agam dè cho earbsach a tha Wikipedia Gàidhlig, ach tha aistean seo aca (I'm not certain how reliable Gaelic Wiki is, but they have these articles):
Tha mi ag ionnsachadh à - agus a' leabher - "Colloquial Scottish Gaelic - The Complete Course for Beginners" by Katherine M. Spadaro, Katie Graham.
I have borrowed this from the library, and can only renew it for one more month before it has to go back. So I want to ask for a replacement for Christmas! But this was the only Gàidhlig course my library had on offer, so it chose me rather than the other way around.
What I like about this course so far: Very dense material - every time I go back to the beginning of Lesson 1 there is more for me to dig out of it; Good audio materials to go with it (I have already got an iPod Shuffle as an early Christmas gift, so I can listen to the audio material wherever I am); all recorded by native speakers, so I know I can rely upon the phrasing and pronounciation.
That said, there's a lot missing from the audio which is in the books.
My style of learning is quite academic - I want as much insight into why sentences are constructed that way, and as much information about the language patterns as possible early on, so I can extrapolate to new sentences myself. I am also quite happy to do lots of repetition to drive the material into my head. I absolutely need strong audio materials, because a lot of my studying time is whilst I'm riding on the bus or train, and I can't read on buses and often there isn't much space to get a book out on the rush-hour train!
I have only really intensively studied Lesson 1, and dipped into the next two or three lessons, so I am not completely committed to this course.
Does anyone recommend any other materials which I might want to ask for as well as or instead of this Colloquial Scottish Gaelic book and CD set?
Uill chan eil mi cinnteach, a Threaclemine, ach nuair a bha mi a' fuireach ann an Sasainn, b' urrainn dhomh leabhraichean fhaighinn de leabharlannan eile sam bith le òrdachadh. Dè mu dheidhinn leabhar ath-làimh? 'S dòcha gum bidh rudan gu math rim faighinn air e-bagh.
Ach dè? "Teach Yourself Gaelic", 's dòcha - tha mòran as toigh leotha sin. Teipichean "Beag air bheag", 's dòcha, no "Litir do na luchd-ionnsachaidh" (chan eil mi cinnteach air an ainm ud), Nach eil clas Gàidhlig ri fhaighinn ann am Brum?
Seonaidh wrote:Uill chan eil mi cinnteach, a Threaclemine, ach nuair a bha mi a' fuireach ann an Sasainn, b' urrainn dhomh leabhraichean fhaighinn de leabharlannan eile sam bith le òrdachadh. Dè mu dheidhinn leabhar ath-làimh? 'S dòcha gum bidh rudan gu math rim faighinn air e-bagh.
Ach dè? "Teach Yourself Gaelic", 's dòcha - tha mòran as toigh leotha sin. Teipichean "Beag air bheag", 's dòcha, no "Litir do na luchd-ionnsachaidh" (chan eil mi cinnteach air an ainm ud), Nach eil clas Gàidhlig ri fhaighinn ann am Brum?
Dè a' Gàidhlig air "Huh?" :-) Tha mi duilich, a Sheoaidh, ach chan eil mi a' tuigsinn. Tha me glè bheagan Gàidhlig agam!
I guess I want to say:
"Chan eil clas Gàidhlig ri fhaighinn ann am Brum."
There are not any Gàidhlig classes in Brum, that I can find.
I wasn't getting on very well with "Beag air bheag", partly because I can't use it on the bus.
Last edited by treaclemine on Sat Nov 21, 2009 8:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
Have you tried Smo - the Gaelic college? I've just started In Sept, on An Cùrsa Inntrigidh, and I'm really enjoying it and the workbooks. It's £250 for the First part (Earrann) and there are 3 Earrann's to the course.
Hope it's going well with your learning, I'm at the very basic stage, but hopefully someday, I'll be able to write all this san a' Ghàidhlig
If you're the grammar-oriented type, I suggest the TAIC online course. You might also want to get a grammar per se, e.g. Gràmar na Gàidhlig by Michel Byrne.
For audio, you can try An Litir Bheag. I also used music a lot to practice the sounds when I first started.
Check out the Goirseasan section on the homepage for the links.
Have you tried Smo - the Gaelic college? I've just started In Sept, on An Cùrsa Inntrigidh, and I'm really enjoying it and the workbooks. It's £250 for the First part (Earrann) and there are 3 Earrann's to the course.
Hope it's going well with your learning, I'm at the very basic stage, but hopefully someday, I'll be able to write all this san a' Ghàidhlig ;)
Tapadh leibh!
Is it possible to download a coherent set of lessons as audio files from the SMO course? That would enable me to study air a' bhus. Otherwise, I wouldn't have time to follow the course, I fear.
GunChleoc wrote:If you're the grammar-oriented type, I suggest the TAIC online course. You might also want to get a grammar per se, e.g. Gràmar na Gàidhlig by Michel Byrne.
For audio, you can try An Litir Bheag. I also used music a lot to practice the sounds when I first started.
Check out the Goirseasan section on the homepage for the links.
Thrissel wrote:Chan eil cinnt agam dè cho earbsach a tha Wikipedia Gàidhlig, ach tha aistean seo aca (I'm not certain how reliable Gaelic Wiki is, but they have these articles):
Thachair dhomhsa coimhead air gd.wikipedia o chionn ghoirid (rudeigin mu dheidhinn MhicBheatha) agus, nam bheachd-sa, 's ann uabhasach dona a tha e.
Le ainmean mar Liverpool, 's e "Liverpool" a th' anns a' Ghàidhlig. Mu "Àth nan Damh", 's e "Rhydychen" sa Chuimris is "Oxenford" sa Bheurla Mheadhanach - 's dòcha gum biodh sin ceart gu leòr. Ach "Eabhraig" airson "York" - cha toil leam sin idir. An robh thu eòlach air murt nan Eabhrach ann an York anns an 13mh lìnn?
Dè a' Bheurla air "Tobermory" (Tobar Mhoire)? Marywell? Chan e. Dè a' Bheurla air Glasgow (Glasgau, Glaschu)? Greenslade? Chan e. Dè a' Ghàidhlig air Carloway/Càrlabhagh? Camas Tearlaich? Chan e. Nam biodh facal Gàidhlig air "Liverpool", b' e rudeigin mar "Liobharpul", mar sa Chuimris (Lerpwl). Chan eil "Pol a' Ghruthain" ach ann an saoghal sgeul gun bhrìgh.
In short Johnnie confirms my suspicion that some of the information in the Gaelic version of Wikipedia is a bit of a "wishful thinking", only allowing "Àth nan Damh" as a possible Gaelic (form of) name.
On the other hand I found "Poll a' Ghrùthain" even in the SMO database, and English Wiki says about "Eabhraig / York" this:
"The toponymy of Eboracum is uncertain as the language of the pre-Roman indigenous population of the area was never recorded. These people are thought to have spoken a Celtic language, related to modern Welsh. Therefore, it is thought that Eboracum is derived from the Brythonic word Eborakon meaning either "place of the yew trees" (cf. yew = efrog in Welsh, eabhrac in Irish Gaelic and eabhraig in Scottish Gaelic, by which names the city is known in those languages) or perhaps "field of Eboras"."
(Of course, English or not, it's still but a Wiki.)
Also, no trace in my sources (Y Geiriadur Mawr, Colin Mark) of anything remotely like "efrog" or "eabhraig" meaning "yew". The hypothetical "Eborakon" could be a plural form, or could gisplay the Old Celtic equivalent of the "-um" 2nd declension neuter noun ending in Latin (which would facilitate the known Latinisation of the name as "Eboracum").
It is no kent how the locals spoke in Roman times, but the suspicion is probably Old Welsh, as the post-Roman Kingdom of Elmet (based on Leeds) was undoubtedly "Welsh". However, east of York is the Esk (sea at Whitby) and to the north is the Wiske (Ure/Ouse near Thirsk), river names seemingly linked to Gaelic "uisge". Mind, all this probably indicates is that the names are Insular Celtic, a fairly recent hypothesis that reckons the Q and P difference developed in Britain and Ireland AFTER the main body of Celts came here and that, f'rinstance, there's probably more in common between Q-Celtic Irish and P-Celtic Welsh than between either and Q-Celtic Celtiberian or P-Celtic Gaulish.
Air ais gu "Eboracum": sin "Efrog" sa Chuimris, tha sin ceart. San t-Seann Bheurla, fhuaireadh "Eoforwic" [EWvorwik] agus san t-Seann Norsais (cànan nan Lochlannach) "Jorvìk" [yorwik no yorvik]. An-diugh, bidh na Sasannaich ag ràdh "York", a tha nas coltaiche ris a Norsais na ris a' Bheurla aosta. ("Earick", 's dòcha, bhiodh sin).
Fhad 's a tha fios agam, "York" did not feature greatly in Mediaeval Gaelic, so there was probably no specific term for it. To invent one now - based upon the modern Welsh form, one not followed even by English itself, seems to me to be spurious, to say the least.
Stòr-Data Briathrachais aig SMO: chan eil a h-uile rud ann ceart. M.e., tha iomadh baile ann am Fìobha far a bheil a' "Ghàidhlig" caran diofraichte bho na sgrìobhas Taylor is Markus (Place-names of Fife).
Trouble is, that spurious or not, it seems to be catching on, with 3,900+ Google hits, although of course this includes "Eabhraig Nuadh", and although I wonder if at least one in a thousand hits points at something which was written by a native speaker...
This seems to me to be a part of a general problem for us who are only in contact with Gaelic online - it's often hard to decide whether what you're reading wasn't actually written by another learner, who may have been well-meaning but misinformed. Moreover, I'm afraid this possibility doesn't even occur to many people, who then in good faith spread neologisms (that 99% of native speakers never heard) of all around. (Tha eagal orm gu bheil mi a' dèanamh sin cuideachd an-dràsda 's a-rithist.)
Anyway, I'll reveal to you, a Sheonaidh a charaid, in a way of a parting gift (for, leis an fhìrinn innse, I'd rather leave this topic*), what's the Gaelic for Manchester. Quite naturally, famous as it is for its monks, it's Manchain. Go figure.
* because personally I prefer placenames differing as little as possible from the form used by people actually living at those places themselves, and I'm afraid I look as though I advocate something very different
Thrissel wrote:This seems to me to be a part of a general problem for us who are only in contact with Gaelic online - it's often hard to decide whether what you're reading wasn't actually written by another learner, who may have been well-meaning but misinformed.
The worst thing of the kind I have seen so far are online phrase lists that mix Irish and Gaelic, because whoever put them up copied from I don't know where without understanding what they did.
