Caidé mar atá sibh?

[j.hohl.kennedy]

Haighea a chairde,

Cha raibh a fhios agam go bhfuil an fóram anseo, tá sé deas é a fheiceáil. Mise Seanachán Ó Cinnéide agus is as Massachusetts mé ach tá mé i mo chónaí i nGaillimh anois. Tháinig mo bhean agus mise go Tír Chonaill i rith an tsamhraidh fá choinne Gaeilge a fhoghlaim. Anois, tá muid ag déanamh MA i Nua-Ghaeilge ag Ollscoil na hÉireann, Gaillimh. Píobaire atá ionam agus is fidléir í mo bhean agus téann muid amach fá choinne ceoil corruair.

Tá gaoth mhór ann anocht!

Ádh mór,
Seanachán
Gaillimh

[Seonachan]

Hallo agus fàilte a Sheanacháin - 'se Seonachan eile a th'annam agus 'si Gàidhlig eile a th'agam. Cò as a tha thu ann am Mass? Thogadh mi ann an Haverhill ach tha mi a' fuireach ann an Hampton a Tuath an drasda.

Gach soirbeachadh leat aig an oilthigh agus cùm sàbhailte anns an stoirm!

[j.hohl.kennedy]

Tá a fhios agam cá háit a bhfuil Haverhill ach cha raibh mé ansin le fada, b'fhéidir ó 1995. Cá háit a bhfuil tú féin?

Ádh mór,
Seanachán

[Seonachan]

Tha mi nis ann an Northampton.

[j.hohl.kennedy]

Northampton? Go breá. Bhí mé i mo chónaí ansin cúpla bliain ó shin. Tá teach againn i Montague anois ach tá aithne mhaith agam ar Northampton. Bhí mo bhean ag obair ansin ar feadh blianta.

Ádh mór,
Seanachán

Tha mi nis ann an Northampton.

[Nanohedron]

So may I intrude and ask (in English ) how much difficulty there has been in this happenstance conversation idir Gaeilge agus Gàidhlig? It would seem as if none at all, at least on a basic level. Not meaning to derail, but this is very interesting to me. And I imagine that mutual comprehension would be easier in the written word than with the spoken.

[Seonachan]

Northampton? Go breá. Bhí mé i mo chónaí ansin cúpla bliain ó shin. Tá teach againn i Montague anois ach tá aithne mhaith agam ar Northampton. Bhí mo bhean ag obair ansin ar feadh blianta.

Bha mi 'fuireach an Sunderland fad 3 bliadhna, agus 's iomadh thuras a chaidh mi gu Montague - 's toigh leam "Muilleann nan Leabhraichean". Am bi sibh 'tighinn air ais?

[Seonachan]

So may I intrude and ask (in English ) how much difficulty there has been in this happenstance conversation idir Gaeilge agus Gàidhlig? It would seem as if none at all, at least on a basic level. Not meaning to derail, but this is very interesting to me. And I imagine that mutual comprehension would be easier in the written word than with the spoken.

You are right that it's easier to linguistically cross the Giant's Causeway via the written word (assuming one is literate of course), and also to note that we've been sticking to beginners level. I also know just enough basic Irish to get me past (most of) the difficulties and false friends. The few occasions when I've spoken with Irish speakers, it's had to stay at the basic conversational level, but I couldn't generalize about others. I've seen very fluid and fairly complex conversations go off without a hitch - but then I've seen speakers of different dialects of Scottish Gaelic struggle to understand each other. I suspect past experience and personal comfort/confidence in speaking go a long way in determining how successful these things go.

The most unusual Gaelic conversation I had with an Irish speaker was at a Native American language revitalization conference in Connecticut. He was an American learner (like myself), and was switching between Irish (with me) and Passamaquoddy (with his mentor). I also got to speak a bit of Yiddish at that conference, but that's a story for another day.

[Nanohedron]

Thanks.

[j.hohl.kennedy]

Haighea,

Go breá! Bhí mo bhean agus mise inár gcónaí i Sunderland cúpla bliain ó shin -- ar an bhóthar 47. Nach bhfuil an Muileann an Leabhair go hiontach ar fad? Tá ár dteach chóir a bheith 20 bomaite siúlóid faoin tuaithe. Beidh muid ar ais i mí Lúnasa nuair a bheas muid críochnaithe leis an chéim anseo i nGaillimh.

Ádh mór,
Seanachán

Northampton? Go breá. Bhí mé i mo chónaí ansin cúpla bliain ó shin. Tá teach againn i Montague anois ach tá aithne mhaith agam ar Northampton. Bhí mo bhean ag obair ansin ar feadh blianta.

Bha mi 'fuireach an Sunderland fad 3 bliadhna, agus 's iomadh thuras a chaidh mi gu Montague - 's toigh leam "Muilleann nan Leabhraichean". Am bi sibh 'tighinn air ais?

[j.hohl.kennedy]

So may I intrude and ask (in English ) how much difficulty there has been in this happenstance conversation idir Gaeilge agus Gàidhlig? It would seem as if none at all, at least on a basic level. Not meaning to derail, but this is very interesting to me. And I imagine that mutual comprehension would be easier in the written word than with the spoken.

What he said. Also, due to the fact that my dialect is Ulster Irish (in particular Donegal), there are many connections in between the two countries. Some folks may say that there are more similarities between Scottish Gaelic and Ulster Irish Gaelic than between Ulster and Munster Irish.

Regards from rainy Galway,
Jonathan