Clarification on translation of “family matters”

[Mahno]

Hi I am planning to get a tattoo of the words family matters and woul just like a clarification of the translation, on google translate it comes up with cursai teaghlaigh and I’m unsure to weather this is the correct way around. Any help would be much appreciated.

[Seáinín]

Dia dhuit, a Mhahno:

You might want to clarify what you mean as Bearla. Give us some context. “Family is important”, “family concerns”, “business of the family”?

[Mahno]

Yes as in family is important, like I said when I type it in to google it comes up as cursai teaghlaigh

[Onuvanja]

In my opinion, “cúrsaí teaghlaigh” sounds a bit too formal. Besides, it would mean “issues, questions, things related to the family” rather than “family matters to me”.

There’s a proverb in Irish “is treise dúchas ná oiliúint” (literally “heredity is stronger than education”), which could roughly correspond to the idea that family matters more than anything else. But perhaps other members of the Forum can suggest something better.

[Mahno]

Is that the correct way of writing it though?

[Onuvanja]

What do you mean? “Cúrsaí teaghlaigh” is the correct spelling (watch out for letters “u” and “i” in the first word which have a length mark above them), but it doesn’t really convey the meaning you have in mind…

[Seáinín]

You are probably not going to end up with a literal, word-to-word translation of the two English words “Family Matters” that carries the meaning you want. “Cúrsaí teaghlaigh” is really closer to “the business or affairs of the family”. It’s not what you mean by “family is important”. If you are open to translations of meaning rather than of those two specific English words, folks in this forum may offer up lots of creative ideas that will be much more “Irish” than what Google Translate will be able to provide.

[Mahno]

Yeah thank you guys will probably just stick with teaghlaigh then, thank you for the help, will post a photo when I have it done

[Wee_Falorie_Man]

I think you should go with Onuvanja’s idea instead of translating something directly from English.

“Is treise dúchas ná oiliúint” is an actual saying in the Irish language and not merely a translation of something from English.

Or even better, you could show your appreciation for the Irish language by taking the time and effort to learn it. It’s fun and you will get a lot out of it. Just putting in my two cents …

[Onuvanja]

Unless you’re just pulling our leg, Mahno, I wouldn’t have “cúrsaí teaghlaigh” written on my arm. It would be more or less the equivalent of having a tattoo reading “current affairs”… 😉

If you’re really interested, you could also try out the IrishGaelicTranslator forum where they have a special thread for tattoos.

[Héilics Órbhuí]

I really advise against getting any tattoo that you yourself couldn’t have written and fully understand and be able to explain to someone if they ask about it.

Getting a tattoo in a language you don’t speak is just asking for problems. Even if you get it right and don’t litter your body with embarrassing grammatical errors, spelling errors, or worse, conceptual errors (“cúrsaí teaghlaigh” falls into this category, as it means something rather different than what you want), you will still be left to explain to people something that you don’t actually understand. At best you can hope to memorize someone else’s (hopefully) good explanation of the tattoo and hope that the conversation doesn’t stray from those talking points.

I don’t mean to sound preachy or condescending, but I think people should really examine their motivations for wanting to get a tattoo in a language they don’t speak. If you think it’s part of your heritage, then you really should learn it before you invest in inking it on yourself. If you actually believe it’s part of who you are, this isn’t asking a lot, in fact one might say it’s your duty if you truly believe it. If you think it will make a cool conversation piece and make you look more cultured, then well.. I don’t have a whole lot of sympathy for such people who get horribly wrong tattoos.

If you do insist on getting a tattoo in Irish, I would make the following advice: at least choose an existing saying or piece of writing that came from a native Irish speaker. Resist the urge to take a saying that you like in English and try to conform it to Irish, because it very rarely works.

And, while I really don’t want to slander a group of people, I would not recommend the Irish Translation Forum. There are a few people with good grammatical knowledge of Irish there but as far as I know, no native speakers, and every single thread there devolves into indecision and I can basically guarantee you won’t achieve actual resolution on your question. At best you can expect a grammatically correct translation that may or may not mean what you really want it to mean and probably won’t sound very “Irish”. That’s my opinion though, and I don’t want to offend anyone here who uses both forums.

[Seáinín]

Is é sin comhairle mhaith, a Héilics, agus is breá liom do tattoosa! Is é sin greannmhar! 😆

[padraiginrua]

The old Irish Gaelic Translator forum has been changed to the Irish Language Forum due to the sale of the IGT site. The new site has several competent translators, The old site has possibly 2 competent posters. Anthing you find there is highly suspect.

[Héilics Órbhuí]

Is é sin comhairle mhaith, a Héilics, agus is breá liom do tattoosa! Is é sin greannmhar! 😆

Grma 😉 ní cuimhin liom fiú cén áit a bhfuair mise é. bhí in a shuí i bhfillteán pictiurí ilghnéitheacha agam. Tá sé iontach feiliúnach don chás atá i gceist thuas, sílim.

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