An Duine Nua

[Aindriu]

Dia daoibh!

Aindriú is anim dom agus táim an duine nua anseo. Tá dhá bhliain is fiche d’aois agus is as Éire dom. Tá mé I mo chonaí í mBaile Átha Cliath agus rugadh mé anseo freisin. Níl a lán Gaeilge agam, ach ba mhaith liom foghlaim an teanga arís. D’fhoghlaim mé Gaeilge sa scoil, ach ní labhair mé an teanga le mo chlann agus sa Baile Átha Cliath, níl a lán Gaeilgeoirí ach oiread.

Ok guys, I hope that made sense. Is there any mistakes above?

I just wanted to introduce myself here.
My name is Andrew and I’m from Dublin. Recently I’ve felt the urge to reeducate myself on the Irish language. Like most other people in Ireland, I grew up resenting the fact that I had to learn Irish in school for the best part of 14 years and only now am I seeing the value to speaking my own native language.

In school I wasn’t all that great at Irish (or any language to be honest), but that hasn’t stopped me on this quest. My girlfriend is French and she speaks about 4/5 languages pretty well. I almost feel obliged to at least speak Irish, if she can make the effort to speak English to me. In addition to that, I have a lot of friends of different cultures and love to hear about their backgrounds. Likewise, I love to share information about Ireland and one such part of that is the language. (It’s shocking how many people didn’t realise the Irish language existed)

I’m 22 years old and as I get older, I’m starting to think about growing up and educating my future children with some Gaeilge. I think it would be great for them understand their Irish roots, regardless of where in the world we live. On the same note, I’d like to be able to demonstrate some Irish, outside of the typical one liners, like “Conas atá tú?”. I’d like to be able to share a few Irish words with a fellow irishman overseas if the opportunity presented itself.

While Googling around for resources, this board seemed to pop up quite a lot, so I went ahead and created an account. So you will probably see me post a good bit about learning Irish and I’m guessing others do this too? I’d love to pop over to the open chat board too (when my Irish improves) and just have general chat as Gaeilge.

So any advice for an “beginner/intermediate” Irish speaker? Who needs to just blow off the cobwebs and remember what he has neglected for the last few years? Any resources that are generally favored?

Thanks,
Aindriú

[Seáinín]

A Aindriú, a chara:

Tá fáilte romhat chuig an fóram seo. Bíonn na daoine anseo an-chairdiúil agus cuidiúil, amach is amach. Tá súil agam go bhfuil sé úsáideach agat.

Acmhainní is maith liom atá leabhair ó Gaelchultúr, Gaeilge Gan Stró san áireamh. Tá dara leibhéal ar fáil b’fhéidir go bhfuil oiriúnach duit.

Is breá liom na leabhair le Nancy Stenson freisin.

Go n-éirí an t-ádh leat.

[Onuvanja]

Dia is Muire dhuit, a Aindriú,

Welcome to Daltaí! I think it’s great that you’ve decided to brush up your Irish and take pride in the language, especially if you didn’t do that well in the subject at school, something that might have put you off it for good. The Forum is not very active these days, but arm yourself with patience and you can still have most of your questions answered.

As a study aid, I would recommend “Turas teanga”, which is perfect for someone who already has a solid base like yourself and helps you pick up conversational skills.

Go n-éirí leat!

Aindriú is anim dom agus táim an duine nua anseo. Tá dhá bhliain is fiche d’aois agus is as Éire dom. Tá mé I mo chonaí í mBaile Átha Cliath agus rugadh mé anseo freisin. Níl a lán Gaeilge agam, ach ba mhaith liom foghlaim an teanga arís. D’fhoghlaim mé Gaeilge sa scoil, ach ní labhair mé an teanga le mo chlann agus sa Baile Átha Cliath, níl a lán Gaeilgeoirí ach oiread.

What you wrote shows you shouldn’t be at all ashamed about your Irish. 🙂 The sentences make sense and would only need a bit of tweaking. Some tips for a start:
– Is mise an duine nua (not “táim”). You need the copula “is” when saying “I am + NOUN (e.g. student, Irishman)”. But, here you could just say “táim nua anseo”, which would sound more natural.
– Níl mórán Gaeilge agam (not “a lán”). “Mórán” is the word to use in negations and questions.
– Ba mhaith liom an teanga a fhoghlaim arís (not “foghlaim an teanga”). In such a sentence (“I want/plan/try/forgot to + VERB), you need to invert the structure (… rud éigin + a dhéanamh, a dhúnamh, a thosú, a ghlanadh).
– Níor labhair mé an teanga le mo mhuintir. “Ní” becomes “níor” in the past tense and “clann” means “children”, which you probably still don’t have.

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