[Antain]

Míle Buíochas as do freagraí!

Sin é, a Dháithí! Grmma!

And thank you very much for your kind offer and suggestion, a Sheáinín. I think I will look into the Acadamh.

A Sheáinín agus a Dháithí, do you agree with my that Wong’s book is quite useful? I remember it explaining grammar points very clearly and her use of phonetic spelling in brackets was also very helpful.

Im determined to go to the Gaeltacht in the next few weeks. Only in Ireland could one be learning a language for 15 years and never visit a place where it’s spoken daily. In a country as small as ours! If I try to speak Irish will people be patient? Surely it must be odd straining to be understood in Irish when both speakers are probably fluent English speakers?

There are many differences between Connemara Irish and standard Irish, but a bit fewer than between standard Irish and the other dialects 🙂

Ive never quite understood the relationship the Irish language has to its dialects. Can anyone explain it? The Caighdean is basically hated by Irish enthusiasts, is it? It’s seen as a pathetic means to simplify and Anglicisise Gaeilge? I also get the feeling that there’s more of a difference between Irish dialects in terms of spelling and phraseology than there is in English. Are there ‘dialects’ in English or are they just uncodified accents? Funnily enough, Id probably consider Hiberno English a dialect..

That old phrase ‘a language is just a dialect with an army’ is pithy and makes us think about history and question national identities but linguistically it’s off the point, isnt it?

Apologies for stream of consciousness but “ye’re” all so learned and friendly.

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