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Hello to all

I'm currently translating a book by an Irish author and I came across the following phrase "Cu na Gealai Duibhe". It apparently means "Hound of the Black Moon", but I have no idea how it's pronounced. Would someone give me a transcription? I would appreciate it a lot

Trip wrote:Hello to all

I'm currently translating a book by an Irish author and I came across the following phrase "Cu na Gealai Duibhe". It apparently means "Hound of the Black Moon", but I have no idea how it's pronounced. Would someone give me a transcription? I would appreciate it a lot

Well, you've got it misspelled a bit. It should be:

Cú na Gealaí Duibhe

Pronounced, roughly:

Koo nuh GYAL-ee DIV-uh

Those accents are important. Without them the words are misspelled, would be mispronounced by any native reader, and can even change meaning.

For a better idea, plug the words INDIVIDUALLY into this synthesizer:

http://www.abair.tcd.ie/index.php?page= ... s&lang=eng

It works best word-by-word. If you try to plug entire phrases into it, it sometimes truncates individual words. And DO make sure you get the accents in there. There are buttons for the accented vowels below the posting form.

Redwolf

Redwolf wrote: .......Those accents are important. Without them the words are misspelled, would be mispronounced by any native reader, and can even change meaning.
.........

yes, its the same for many languages transcribed into english roman script without the benefit of accents.

talasiga wrote:

Redwolf wrote: .......Those accents are important. Without them the words are misspelled, would be mispronounced by any native reader, and can even change meaning.
.........

yes, its the same for many languages transcribed into english roman script without the benefit of accents.

True. You'd be surprised how many people omit them, though...or even put accents on every letter, under the impression that they are merely decoration!

My favorite examples (from Irish):

Seán: A man's name, variant of "John." Pronounced "Shawn"

Séan: As a noun, a sign or omen. As a verb "deny." Pronounced "Shayn"

Sean: A prefix meaning "old."

Then there's:

Éire: Ireland. Pronounced "AY-reh"

Eire: Burden. Pronounced "EHR-eh"

Redwolf