Scottish gaelic phrases

[mysterychemistry]

I agree with the top commenter. Don't let this language die. It would help if you had added sound, that is, pronunciation of these phrases.

[Ichnusia]

But the audio?? How can I learn if I can't ear ?

[Elberiver11]

Do people in Scotland still speak Gaelic?

[Elberiver11]

The only thing in Scottish i know is "ken fit like" :-)

Ok seriously, this Scottish gaelic seems interesting, but now i have no clue how to pronounce it., as there is no sound.

Its strange how all these keltic languages are so far away from English, they seem to have nothing to do with English at all. Thats really interesting. I wonder why keltic languages are so differnent.

Actually there is some similarity with Russian: "Evan" (Welsh for warrior), and "Ivan"(same in Russian).

[UrineArtist]

@Elberiver11

All our languages come from the original Indo European settlers, there are many charts online that may help, google "European Languages Chart".

While the Celtic and Germanic languages (such as English) are related, you have to go all the way back to the start to find their common ancestor.

I believe only the basque language is mostly unaccounted for, leading to a number of fascinating theories as to their origins, I'm not a linguist though, just to add as a disclaimer.

[Elberiver11]

@UrineArtist Yes i know, Bask is the only language whose origine is unnknown. Nobody knows where it comes from.

[Elberiver11]

@UrineArtist

Of course German and Keltic have the same offspring, but so have slavic and latin etc. , and yet they are very different. Actually i am surprised that especially keltic and german are so different, because i would have expected them to be closer.

The whole south of Germany is actualy keltic settled, the Germans are not a "pure" but a mixed race. German-Keltic mix in the South, German-Slavic in the (former) East.

Are you scottish? I like Scotland, i love the sound of Gaelic.

[UrineArtist]

@Elberiver11

Yes I'm from Scotland, our common migration path is supposed to be Iberia by way of Ireland, we have many genetic similarities with people from Galicia and Asturias for example. Irish legend actually details this migration.

That said however Scotland also consists of many cultures too like Germany, the Brythonic Celtic cultures and Picts in the East, nobody knows for certain where the Picts are from. Then we have Norse blood on the Islands and Germanic migrations in the South.

[Elberiver11]

@UrineArtist I like the sound of Scottish Gaelic, i heard it the first time in my life a few weeks ago, when i discovered BBC ALBA on here, its been launched only a few years ago, as far as i know? I am surprised to have found it sounding like Swiss German (which is completely different from Standard German, most Germans would not be able to understand the Swiss) , it has a very strong melodic sound, the sound of Scottish Galic reminds me a lot of it.

Can you speak Scottish Gaelic?

[Elberiver11]

@UrineArtist and why are you called "Urine" artist? lol

[funkydonkey11051989]

that pronunciation is really wicked O.o

[TheGoodChild12]

thanks, this really helped. I have to know basic gaelic to get into the college I dream of going to (:

[HanMan3000]

Should really have someone sound these out, I have no idea how to pronounce these properly just by reading them =/

[inquestFLASH]

hello all.

i asilly question since im not aware of history at all.here goes:

a baby from its early years that is scotish or irish,understands gaelic dialect,and is taught english at school as a second language?

excuse me for my ignornace.

[MarvellousMuffin]

@inquestFLASH

Yes. There are some people who learn Gaelic as you have said, but that only tends to happen on the islands, specifically the Outer Hebrides (very remote areas). Many Scots will learn Scots Gaelic either from birth, not at all or as a second language, the latter two being more common. The same thing happens in Wales.

[SimCity4IE]

I'm Irish, and I speak Irish as my first language; and it's amazing how similar it is to the Ulster dialect of Irish. Dè tha thu a dhèanamh => Céidé atá tú ag déanamh => Céard/Cad atá tú ag déanamh.

[masterknaster]

Nice, but would be even better if someone was actually speaking it in the video so you can get a feel for the pronounciation

[jwplater]

I agree with some of the other posters, would love to hear how to say these phrases. I'm an American with Scottish heritage and i wish there were more resources to learn from.

[AnakinSkySkater]

you should also say the phrases in the video, so its clear how to pronounce them

[thehackman888]

This is very cool

[Essanach]

Bord na Gaidhlig - "In the 12th and 13th centuries, THE HIGH POINT of the EXPANSION of Gaelic as a language in Scotland, one could traverse the whole mainland of Scotland and find speakers of Gaelic in most corners, whether it be the Gaelic landowners of the Lothians like Colmán and Gille Mhuire who gave their names to Comiston and Gilmerton, or the Clydesdale serf belonging to Glasgow Cathedral, named Gille Mochaoi; or the serfs of the Tweed valley called Mac Cormaig and Maol Mhuire"

[thestrongtiger82]

Sound!!!  Where's the sound???

[sam778395]

This Irish Gael understood it all. Just you have funny spelling and your fadas are back to front! Don't lose it cousins!

[gert83]

I think also Donegal gets Scottish Gaelic TV too! I've met Donegal Irish who say they can understand Scots gaelic more easily than Munster Irish.

But Scots Gaelic has several dialects, some of which have difficulty understanding each other!

One of my relatives spoek Deeside Gaelic. It's dead now, but was meant to be quite different from Hebridean dialects....

[sam778395]

I got BBC Alba for a few days after I got my new Sky card and I found it very interesting. I can remember there was a Shinty match on it and in the clubhouse there was a shinty stick and a hurling stick (we say caman too!) overlapped on the wall. Wish I still had it instead of some of the rubbish channels I have. Yes the dialects change gradually from Munster to Connemara to Donegal. I presume this continues in Scotland. Incidently can you get TG4 (Irish language) TV channel in Scotland?

[gert83]

I don't live in Scotland anymore, but I think I can pick up RTE on my sky box.

Yes - the gaelic dialiects of scotland change from south to north, and before deeside gaelic died out they also changed from West to East.

It can be quite difficult for gaelic speakers from different hebridean islands to understand each other.

Just 150 years ago 20% of the scottish population spoke gaelic, but now it's only about 50 - 60,000, fewer people than will go to Murrayfield this weekend.

[gert83]

Can you understand spoken Gaidhlig very easily? I know written they're about 80%+ similar.

[sam778395]

I'm not a native Irish speaker but learned Caighdean (Standard) Irish at school. Understood most of the Gaidhlig weather forecast upload on YouTube but would probably understand more if it was written down! Picked up eg anocht (tonight), ocht (eight), tirim (dry), grianach (sunny) etc etc. Noticed the days written at botom of screen Disathairne (De Satharn) agus Didomhnaich (De Domhnach). Oiche mhaith!

[gert83]

I remember seeing a clip on Irish TV of Oban Camanachd (I think) going to Ireland to play a cross rules game versus a Hurling team.

The interviews were done in Irish and Scots Gaelic, and they didn't bother subtitling the Scots, so it must have been fairly intelligible to an Irish speaker.

[NorthLimitation]

There's definitely a small amount of difference between various forms of Scots Gaelic, but it is a lot less so than Irish Gaelic. The Scots Gaelic that is now taught in the classroom is more or less the same nation wide :)

[Niamhie90]

I speak irish gaelic and I can understand almost every word of this bar one "afternoon" we call this "tráthnóna" . I love the sound of it being spoken it's so nice! Tá sé an a mhaith an gaeilge a bheith á clóisteáil! :)

[gert83]

People that speak Ghaidhlig say the difference between it and irish is like the difference between Shakespeare's English and modern English - you can kind of understand it.

Also, Donegal Irish is more similar to some dialects of Ghaidhlig than it is to Munster Irish, so really we're looking at a dialiect continuum.

[conchubhar1]

it is gaidhlig/gaelic. scots gaelic.

irish is irish.

manx is manx.

breton is breton and is not like the previous 3 languages but is celtic and does share some things with them.

but it is closer to cornish and welsh mostly.

[polishranger]

it is kind of pointless without the audio. it would only make sense if one learned how to read gealic.

[NorthLimitation]

Isn't it 'Tha *mi* gu math, tapadh leat/leibh' ?

[NorthLimitation]

Doesn't matter, just realised that it can be either.

[calhounboys]

Why is there no audio?

[ronasheton]

Don't let it disappear. Cut that Scots Englsh crap and do revive gaelic. I'm not even from the British Islands, I'm a Catalan, but it would break my heart to see these beautiful languages dead.

[ElGalloDelNorte78]

Chinga tu madre "polaco" de mierda. Hay el escocés y luego hay inglés con acento escocés, son distintos. Yo hablo los dos y el gaélico y todos forman parte de mi cultura siendo escocés y británico. Escocés es un idioma tan noble como el catalán así que no me cagaré en tu idioma sólo en ti, pendejo.

[ronasheton]

@ElGalloDelNorte78

sí, y luego estáis los monguers. Cágate en lo que quieras cuando te quiten la verga del culo, idiota, y sigue hablando ese inglés apollardado.

[jbjaguar]

@ronasheton

Scots is a language. 55000 people speak Gaelic, 2 million speak Scots. There is no 'revive', because Gaelic was never our national language except for about 200 years during the early medieval period. I agree it should be spoken more in the Highlands, but the Lowlands are historically Scots speaking.

[ronasheton]

@jbjaguar, If Gaelic is bound to disappear, it just will, that's life, no complaints. But don't you tell me Scots English it's not English or that Britain wasn't all about Celtic languages before. And by that I don't mean to say that you should speak Gaelic because "it was there before English", I'm just pointing out that a language is dying. Anyway, as I said the time of the Celtic culture is through and perhaps it deserves a decent death more than a forced revival.

[jbjaguar]

@ronasheton

Scottish English is not the same thing as Scots. And tbh, i don't see a problem with reviving Celtic culture, if we don't have that we might as well be English or worse American. Its part of our national identity.

[ronasheton]

@jbjaguar Scots and English are not the same, we agree on that. Gaelic and English are plain different. Scots is some dialect of English, and not the most remote. Nothing against that, though, Scots sounds really good to me. Peoples (not nations, I'd say) are recognised by their language, and what we see today is the twilight of the Celts. Awesome people.

[jbjaguar]

@ronasheton

Its not a dialect of English, it evolved from Old English parallel to English. The reason it is so similar to English is that it has converged, taking on Scots words and vice versa with English taking on Scots words.

[ronasheton]

@jbjaguar I'm not really going to argue on that against a Scotsman, but are you sure it evolves from Old English? When exactly did English reach Scotland? I was under the impression that it was introduced later on.

[jbjaguar]

@ronasheton

Old English supplanted Brythonic in England during the 5th and 6th Centuries AD. The Anglic dialect moved up to Scotland and was spoken in the Lowlands as a majority language by the end of the 7th Century. By the 11th and 12th centuries, after 500 years, the language had diverged into Middle English in England, and Middle Scots in Scotland. By the end of the middle ages, Gaelic had completely died out in the Lowlands.

[Essanach]

@jbjaguar "The Anglic dialect moved up to Scotland and was spoken in the Lowlands as a majority language by the end of the 7th Century"

Absolute unmitigated twaddle. English didn't make ANY headway in Scotland WHATSOEVER, anywhere, at that time. Gaelic was on the rise in Scotland as late as the 11th century with Gaelic place names being laid down as far south as the likes of Peebles ( Gaelic didn't finally die out in the Lowlands until the late 18th century). Why spread these ridiculous fables?

[Essanach]

@jbjaguar To refute the laughable idea that English was the "majority" language of the Lowlands by the 7th C, I'll quote Andrew Trevisano, the Venetian ambassador, (writing 800 years later!) in the 16th C :  "The language of the Scots is the same as that of the Irish, and very

different from the English; but many of the Scottish people speak English

extremely well, in consequence of intercourse they have with each other on

the borders."

I have more quotes, if needed.

[MarvellousMuffin]

@ronasheton

Good sir, as a former resident of the West Coast, I have to say that we aren't all Gaels. Scots Gaelic is the language of the highlands, but the lowlanders (in the recent centuries I mean) would have spoken Lowland Scots, a language which is completely different. The point I'm making is that Scots Gaelic is not "The" Scottish language, it's just one of them.

[UrineArtist]

@ronasheton

<3 Catalonia

[LordZaphikel]

@ronasheton I'd like to thumbs up your comment a million times.

[mliflim2]

Good to see Gaelic on the net. Useful phrases here. Note, there should be an apostrophe before DÈANAMH.

[AskSOmeoneelse]

thanks

[Kamerad1337]

It would've been helpful to know how the phrases "sound", because a number of letters in all the gaelic languages are not pronounced the way one would think. But, whenever i read such a phrase, i'll try to remember its meaning! Thank you!

[steaphris]

Irish is not Failte gu h-Alba either. But anyway, I can't put accents in on my computer. Unless I paste and copy from Word.

[conchubhar1]

this is gaelic not irish/gaeilge

[LunasCraincloud]

You mean this is Scots Gaelic, because there are sooo many differnt places that speak Gaelics

Tehi Breton

Thei Éire

Thei Gàdhlig

Gor Manx

Gor Francesa

I mean you can not just say Scots speak Gaelic and the Irish speak Irish Gaelic,

[gert83]

Breton is Brythonic, descended from the pre-roman language of Mainland Britain.

It's quite different from Gaelics, and most similar to Welsh and Cornish.

The difference between Scots and irish Gaelic is akin to the difference between, perhaps, Swedish and Danish - basically there's a fair degree of intelligibility, especially when written.

The difference between the Gaelics and Breton is more like the diffference between Swedish and English - i.e. they're related but not mutually intelligible.

[steaphris]

Il doit etre "Failte gu Alba". Ce n'est pas "Failte gu h-Alba".

[AskSOmeoneelse]

You're correct, sorry I was getting this confused with Irish. And by the way it's spelt 'fàilte'.

[Cadbren]

How do you add accents though when using a comments box?

[AskSOmeoneelse]

Depends, most keyboards have these: áéíóú, (pressing AltGr and the vowel), I also can get âêîôûŵŷ and àèìòù, ñç etc due to this being a 'gaelic' keyboard lol :D

[reineroro]

Excellent. Tu devrais faire la même chose avec le son, cela permettrait d'avoir la prononciation des mots. :-D .