Chiff and Fipple Forums

Just thought I would share that I received an awesome addition to my slowly growing Gaeilge library: "Harry Potter agus an Órchloch" (the Irish version of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone"). It's a lot of fun to compare it with the English version and see how good my guesses are!

(By way of short introduction: I've been slowly studying Gaelic on my own for the past couple years, using this website http://www.erinsweb.com/gae_index.html and, recently, a couple of books: Progress in Irish (Ní Ghráda), Buntús Cainte (Domhnalláin), and Learning Irish (Ó Siadhail), and I've been meeting to practice my spoken Irish with a woman who went through the public school system in Laois, Ireland. I'd really like to teach music in Ireland for a few years and was told by the embassy that I needed Gaelic to do so, but I haven't seen anything on any of the education websites--does anyone know anything more about that? I'm having a great time learning it, anyhow!)

Meaghan

I read "Harry Potter Agus an Órchloch" last year. It is fun to read a book in Irish that you've read in English, isn't it? I'm about to start on Artemis Fowl.

I heard a rumor years ago that "The Hobbit" was to be translated to Irish, but I haven't seen that come to fruition yet.

Yes, teachers in The Republic of Ireland must pass an exam in Irish (at least if they want to teach in the public schools). If you want to ask this question on the forum over at IGTF (www.irishgaelictranslator.com), we have a teacher or two there who can answer any questions you may have about that.

I don't believe that Northern Ireland has the Irish language requirement.

Redwolf