Hàlo, 's mise Mairead!

[Mairead]

Hàlo! 'S mise Mairead. Tha mi à Amaireaga, ach tha mi a'fuireach anns Ànstruthair. Thainig mi ri mo theaghlach seo ann June*. Tha mo phàrantan ag obair aig oiltigh Chill Rimhinn. Tha sinnsearan Albannach agus sinnsearan Èireannach agam. Ionnsaich mi Gàidhlig anns a' Chill Rimhinn. 'S toil leam cananan; tha Beurla agus Spàinntis agam. Thòisich mi air ionnsaich Gàidhlig ann September. 'S toil leam eachdraidh, miotas-eòlas, beul-aithris, diadhaidh, siubhal, seinn agus leughadh. Gnàthaich mo bhean-teagasig speiligeadh sean, mar sin tha nòsarachdan ann mo fhacal.

Hello! I'm Meg. I'm from America, but I'm living in Anstruther. I came here with my family in June. My parents work at the University of St Andrews. I have Scottish and Irish ancestors. I am learning Gaelic in St Andrews. I like languages; I speak English and Spanish. I started learning Gaelic in September. I like history, mythology, folklore, religion, travel, singing and reading. My teacher uses old spelling, so there are idiosyncrasies in my words.

*My teacher said that the Gaelic month names are not used very commonly.

Please let me know of any corrections to my introduction! I'm using two print dictionaries and one online.

[MonaNicLeoid]

Fàilte chridheil ort an seo, a Mhairead! Tha deagh Ghàidhlig agad mar-tha.

A bheil thu fhèin ag obair ann an Ànstruthair no Cill Rimhinn cuideachd, no a bheil thu a' dol dhan sgoil?

Is toigh leamsa eachdraidh agus beul-aithris, gu h-àraidh na cultaran Ceilteach.

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Welcome to the forum, Mairead. Your Gaelic is great already.
Do you work in Anstruther or St Andrews, too, or do you go to school?
I also like history and folklore, especially the Celtic cultures.

[MonaNicLeoid]

Hàlo! 'S mise Mairead. Tha mi à Amaireaga, ach tha mi a'fuireach anns Ànstruthair. Thainig mi ri mo theaghlach seo ann June*. Tha mo phàrantan ag obair aig oiltigh Chill Rimhinn. Tha sinnsearan Albannach agus sinnsearan Èireannach agam. Ionnsaich mi Gàidhlig anns a' Chill Rimhinn. 'S toil leam cananan; tha Beurla agus Spàinntis agam. Thòisich mi air ionnsaich Gàidhlig ann September. 'S toil leam eachdraidh, miotas-eòlas, beul-aithris, diadhaidh, siubhal, seinn agus leughadh. Gnàthaich mo bhean-teagasig speiligeadh sean, mar sin tha nòsarachdan ann mo fhacal. ]

Some corrections:

Tha mi às na Staitean Aonaichte (sounds a bit more specific than America)
ach tha mi a' fuireach ann an Ànstruthair
Thàinig mi an seo san Òg-mhìos còmhla ri mo theaghlach (I would definitely use the Gaelic names of the months, and I have rarely met any speakers who did not understand them)
Dh' ionnsaich mi // Tha mi ag ionnsachadh... (depending on which tense you mean)
cànanan (pay attention to those stràcan )
Thòisich mi (air) Gàidhlig ionnsachadh
Frankly, I've never heard miotas-eòlas, I think the traditional concept is well-covered by beul-aithris, or if you want to be more specific in a Celtic context, you could call it sgeulachdan nan sìtheach...
Then I think you mean diadhachd, although I'd probably rather say creideamh or more generally rudan spioradail.
For teacher, tìdsear seems to be more common, and spelling is litreachadh (not to be confused with litreachas, literature!)
I'm not sure about your last bit because I'm not familiar with the term nòsarachd, but if this is something you got from your teacher, it will be alright, maybe it's a dialect thing

[Mairead]

Hàlo, a Mhona, agus tapadh leibh! 'Se deònach annam ann an Ànstruthair aig an taigh-tasgaidh na h-iasgaireachde. 'Se deònach annam anns a' Chill Rimhinn cuideachd, aig "Scotland's Coastal Heritage at Risk". Tha am bliadhna "gap" orm. Chuir mi do oiltigh Chill Rimhinn... freagairidh iad gu grad! Tha mi ag iarraidh a'bhith a' leughadh eachdraigh mheadhan-aoiseil. Tha mo thìdsear às na Hearadh. Cha gnàthaich i na stràcan anns a' chlas, mar sin tha mi ag ionnsachadh na stràcan fhathast.

'S toil leum na culturan Ceilteach cuideachd! (Beàgan follaiseach.) Bha mo shinnsearan à Eirinn, agus anns an teaghlach agam, tha na culturan Ceilteach cudromach. Càit' an do dh'ionnsaich sibh Gàidhlig? Agus carson?

Hello, Mona, and thank you! I'm a volunteer in Anstruther at the fishing museum. I'm also a volunteer in St Andrews at Scotland's Coastal Heritage at Risk. I am on a gap year. I applied to the University of St Andrews... they will answer soon! I want to study medieval history. My teacher is from Harris. She doesn't use accent marks in class, so I am still learning the accent marks.

I like the Celtic cultures too! (A little obvious.) My ancestors were from Ireland, and in my family, the Celtic cultures are important. Where did you learn Gaelic? And why?

-

Thanks for the corrections!! Which instance of "learn" were you correcting with the Dh'ionnsaich mi/Tha mi ag ionnsachadh? Or were you changing both of them? The English-Gaelic dictionary where I'm getting most vocabulary is from 1981, so that might explain some of the words like "miotas-eòlas", "nòsarachd" and "speiligeadh." I really appreciate having someone point out which words are not in common usage since it's hard to tell that from a dictionary.

[Màiri na Coille]

Hai, a Mairead, agus fàilte! Tha mi a' smaonicheadh gu bheil Gàidhlig math agad an dèidh direach seachd mìosan! Tha mise air ionnsachadh airson bliadhna gu leth, agus dèan mi mòran mearachdan fhathast. Bu mhiann leam sinnsearan Albannach, ach chan eil sam bith agam. Direach Eireannach agus Gearmailtach. O uill. Càit' an robh thu a' fuireach anns na Stàitean Aonaichte? Tha mise a' fuireach ann an Illinois, faisg air Chicago.

Hi, Mairead, and welcome! I think your Gaelic is quite good after only seven months! I have been learning for a year and a half and I still make lots of mistakes. I'd love to have Scottish ancestors--but I don't have any. Just Irish and German. Oh well! Where did you live in the States? I live in Illinois, near Chicago.

[Mairead]

Hàlo, a Mhàiri! Tapadh leat. Tha mo phàrantan às na Nuadh Eabhrac, ach bha sinn a' fuireach ann an Wisconsin -- De Pere, faisg air Green Bay. 'S toil leum Chicago! Thainig mo shinnsearan Albannach do Pennsylvania anns an t-ochdamh linn deug ... o chionn fhada! Cha robh Gàidhlig aca. Carson a bheil thu a'ionnsaich Gàidhlig?

Hi, Mary! Thank you. My parents are from New York, but we lived in Wisconsin -- De Pere, near Green Bay. I love Chicago! My Scottish ancestors came to Pennsylvania in the 18th century ... long ago! They didn't speak Gaelic. Why are you learning Gaelic?

---

If you're interested in Irish genealogy, I just got an email from Ancestry.com saying they've got a promotion going on through St Patrick's Day where several of their Irish collections are searchable for free!

[GunChleoc]

Fàilte chridheil ort, a Mhairead!

Cha chreid mi nach eil dithis an-seo a tha a' fuireach ann am Fìobha.

Uill, nì sinn uile mearachdan, chan eil sinn ach nàdarra. Nach math gun tog thu Gàidhlig brèagha na Hearadh

A thaobh faclair, feuch am fear seo: http://www.faclair.com/

Tha thu làn di-beathte seann nòs sgrìobhaidh a chleachdadh an-seo, ach bi an dùin gun cuir daoine gu "ceart" thu ag amannan air sgàth `s nach eil a h-uile duine eòlach air. Thoir an aire air na stràcan co-dhiù - bidh fuaimreag air a bheil stràc fada seach goirid agus tha seo glè chudromach.


Let me know if you need anything translated

BTW If wou want to turn an English infinitive into a Gaelic word, adding -igeadh is a common strategy: Tha mi a' wondr-igeadh, a' speil-igeadh etc.

[Mairead]

Hàlo a GhunChleoc. Tapadh leat!

I think I understood what you said about how you can't believe two people live in Fife. I'm not 100% sure what you were saying afterwards about errors, Harris Gaelic, and spelling. I think I followed what you said about the accents; I put them in whenever I know they're there, but my teacher doesn't ever use them so when I learn something in class I don't always know if it should have an accent!

Càite às am bheil thu, a GhunChleoc? Agus carson an do dh'ionnsaich thu Gàidhlig?

[Màiri na Coille]

Tha mi ag ionnsachadh Gàidhlig leis gu bheil toigh leam i. Leugh mi "Fo Bhruid" le Raibeart Louis Stevenson trì no dhà bliadhna air ais, agus chòrd e rium gu math. Leugh mi tòrr leabharan eile, cuideachd. Bha gaol agam air a h-uile rudan Albannach. An dèidh sin, aon latha, thòisich mi beagan Gàidhlig a dh'ionnsachadh air loidhne. Agus cha do sgur mi riamh!

I'm learning Gaelic because I like it. A few years back I read Robert Louis Stevenson's "Kidnapped" and enjoyed it very much. I read a lot of other books, too. I loved everything Scottish. Then one day I started learning a bit of Gaelic online. And I never stopped!

[GunChleoc]

Cha chreid mi nach eil dithis an-seo a tha a' fuireach ann am Fìobha.

I think there are 2 people here who live in Fife (double negative becomes positive)


Uill, nì sinn uile mearachdan, chan eil sinn ach nàdarra. Nach math gun tog thu Gàidhlig brèagha na Hearadh

We all make mistakes, that's natural. Isn't it ggod you are learning beautiful Harris Gaeic


A thaobh faclair, feuch am fear seo: http://www.faclair.com/

Concerning a dictionary, try this one


Tha thu làn di-beathte seann nòs sgrìobhaidh a chleachdadh an-seo, ach bi an dùin gun cuir daoine gu "ceart" thu ag amannan air sgàth `s nach eil a h-uile duine eòlach air. Thoir an aire air na stràcan co-dhiù - bidh fuaimreag air a bheil stràc fada seach goirid agus tha seo glè chudromach.

You are welcome to use older orthography, but expect that people will "correct" you sometimes, because we're not all familiar with it. Be carerful about the accents though - vowels with accents on them are long rather than short and that's very important

BTW I got a typo here: ach bi an dùin -> ach bi an dùil

[Mairead]

A Mhàiri, 's toil le mo mhathair "Fo Bhruid" agus Robert Louis Stevenson cuicheachd. A GhunChleoc, tapadh leat!!

Rinn mi video Ghàidligh. I made it in September back when I first started learning Gaelic, so it uses the old "Am bheil" and is missing an accent or two, but otherwise I hope there aren't too many mistakes. (I also put on a Scottish accent in it just for fun... ) I made it for my American friends, but I thought you guys might like to see it!

[GunChleoc]

Bha sin tlachdmhòr

The "am bheil" is fine, that's dialect. The actual spelling mistake is "cha neil" - it should be "chan eil", but you can also see "chaneil" in older spellings.

[Mairead]

Oh right yes, I had a feeling that wasn't quite right. I can't remember how my teacher spells it, but now that you point that out, I have seen "chan eil" in my "Teach Yourself Gaelic" book. Tapadh leat!

[GunChleoc]

'S e do bheatha

[Mairead]

Tha naidheachd glè mhath agam! Ghabh mi an tairgse na h-oiltigh Chill Rimhinn an-dràsta! Bidh mi a' leughadh eachdraigh mheadhan-aoiseil. Tha mi glè shonasach!

I have very good news! I just accepted an offer from the University of St Andrews! I will be studying Mediaeval History. I am very happy!