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Archive for June, 2013

Vocabulary Round-up for the “Tearanódón” Blog (An Éan É? …) Posted by on Jun 30, 2013

(le Róislín) This blog will take a closer look at some of the vocabulary used in the most recent pteranodon-themed blog, “An Éan É?  An Reiptíl É?  An Dineasár É?  Bhuel, Ní Hea, ‘Sea, agus Ní Hea,” with some pronunciation tips and guidelines for using the words in other forms and phrases (nasc don bhlag…

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An Éan É? An Reiptíl É? An Dineasár É? Bhuel, Ní Hea, ‘Sea, agus Ní Hea Posted by on Jun 27, 2013

(le Róislín) So, no sooner do I finish ploughing through examples of the word for “teireadachtalach” (pterodactyl) in umpteen languages, as reported in the last blog (nasc 1 thíos) than I come across the following statement on About.com (nasc 2 thíos): “There’s no such thing as a pterodactyl.” So doing a little more taighde online, I…

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The Case of the Missing ‘P’ or, Ó ‘Tharmachan’ (Irish) go ‘Ptarmigan’ (English) Posted by on Jun 23, 2013

(le Róislín) In the last blog, we looked at a few of the more unusually spelled words in the Irish language (aghaidh, bratach/bhratach, buachar/bhuachair lámh/láimhe, Saoirse/Shaoirse and saoirse/shaoirse, sráid/tsráid).  Not that these are overly long or unusual words in Irish.  They’re mostly very basic vocabulary, except perhaps for “buachar” (cow-dung) which is no doubt ordinary…

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How To Say Irish Words Like ‘Aghaidh,’ ‘Bhratach,’ and ‘Shaoirse’ (Pronunciation Guide for the Red, White and Blue Blog) Posted by on Jun 20, 2013

(le Róislín) The recurring chorus that I hear in Irish classes, year after year, is “How do you pronounce that?,” or as students get more advanced, and ask it in Irish “Cén chaoi a ndeir tú sin?” (How do you say that?).  In theory, at least, people could be asking, “Cén chaoi a bhfuaimníonn tú…

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An Dearg, An Bán, agus An Gorm (The Red, White, and Blue) Posted by on Jun 17, 2013

(le Róislín) The time has come to talk … of bratacha (flags).  In the United States, at this time of year, we segue from Lá Cuimhneacháin (Luan deireanach mhí na Bealtaine) to Lá na Brataí (14 Meitheamh) to Lá (na) Saoirse (4 Iúil).  All three offer up an abundance of sraoilleáin de ribíní (ribbon-streamers) and stiallbhratacha …

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You Just Call Out My Name (sa Tuiseal Gairmeach, of course, in Irish) (Pt. 3: Ainmneacha Buachaillí) Posted by on Jun 14, 2013

(le Róislín) In several previous blogs (links below), we looked at Irish names used in direct address, focusing on names for girls and women in the most recent one.   Today we’ll look at saying names for buachaillí (boys) and fir (men) when you’re speaking directly to them. In English, there is no official change when…

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You Just Call Out My Name (sa Tuiseal Gairmeach, of course, in Irish) (Pt. 2: Ainmneacha Cailíní) Posted by on Jun 11, 2013

(le Róislín) Remember how “Séamas” changes to “a Shéamais” and “Sinéad” changes to “a Shinéad” for direct address in Irish?  (Nasc: https://blogs.transparent.com/irish/you-just-call-out-my-name-sa-tuiseal-gairmeach-of-course-in-irish-pt-1/).  The first blog in this mini-series discussed Irish given names in general, and gave some specific examples for use with phrases like “Dia duit!” (Hello) and “Slán agat!” (Good-bye!).  We looked at a…

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