Difference between Irish and Scot Gaelic

[Laird O'the Cowcaddens]

I have found ALL remarks expressed here, both interesting and logical. As a native born speaker of "the tongue", I believe that colloquial, rather than colloquy, is at the root of non-speakers who wish to learn to speak "the tongue'. Gael, like Latin, is a DEAD language in comparison to English. The only way to grasp the essence, is by listening to it like a baby, and speaking it like one too. I should add, that one of my Grandfathers' was a Irish speaker, and till the day he died, I never had a problen understanding him. When I first came to this country, I engaged in limited conversation with people here who were learning, or had a touch of the gab; I soon realized that I was spending more time trying to break long formed habits of speach, than in actual conversation. My friend George (old hiker) has been attending classes to learn the language, and is coming along nicely, but he still thinks in ENGLISH GRAMMAR CONSTRUCTION. I suggest that by relaxing and making a multitude of mistakes, you will ENJOY the journey, rather than looking to your destination. No one is going to take your birthday away if you speak with an accent or mix up the SUBJECT AND PREDICATE. Here endeth the lesson.LOL

[cajuncelt]

I have a wee bit o' the Gàidhlig. I agree with most all posts here. There was a great previous post about Irish vs. Gàidhlig (Scots Gaelic). being like Spanish to Italian. That is exactly right. I cannot understand all or have a conversation with an Irish speaker, but I know what the subject is. I can read Irish and muddle through enough to understand it. It is very different compared to Gàidhlig (Scots Gaelic). Many of the words are the same, but when used in a phrase it is different.
To comment on another post, the Irish Gaelic speakers say they have the "Irish", not Gaelic. A Scots Gaelic speaker says he has the Gàidhlig which is pronounced kinda like garlic without the 'r'. Another member said it was the other way around...it is not. If you disagree, give me your email address and I will have dozens of both language speakers dispute this with ya as it is a very passionate subject to some. Lol.

[castledangerous]

Well, if you are saying it in Irish, you say, "Tá Gaeilge agam" not "Tá Irish agam."

[Oldhiker]

My friend George (old hiker) has been attending classes to learn the language, and is coming along nicely, but he still thinks in ENGLISH GRAMMAR CONSTRUCTION. I suggest that by relaxing and making a multitude of mistakes, you will ENJOY the journey, rather than looking to your destination. No one is going to take your birthday away if you speak with an accent or mix up the SUBJECT AND PREDICATE. Here endeth the lesson.LOL

Brian is so correct I need to take my english brain out and put my gaelic brain in. I can get in the zone occasionally. In a month I am going to a 4 day 24/7 retreat for immersion learning experience. I have high hopes.

[BobsYourUncle]

Brian is so correct I need to take my english brain out and put my gaelic brain in. I can get in the zone occasionally. In a month I am going to a 4 day 24/7 retreat for immersion learning experience. I have high hopes.

Can you tell us more about the immersion program? Who runs it?Where is it held? What are the features of the program, i.e. how is instruction to be conducted? And, if you don't mind, what is the cost? Very interesting!

[OC Richard]

he still thinks in ENGLISH GRAMMAR CONSTRUCTION.

The instructor of the Gaelic class I attended many years ago suggested that we read some books written in Anglo-Irish. He described these books to be written in English but by authors whose native tongue was Irish, and who used Irish word order and sentence contruction etc. The teacher said it was a good way to get used to thinking the Gaelic way.

[Lallans]

I've just come across the interesting information that the Gaelic language and indeed the Scottish Highlanders themselves, were both once referred to by their lowland kinsmen as "Irish". This was in the period between the Jacobite rebellion and the Clearances. (Information found in the book "The Last of the Celts" by Marcus Tanner, Yale University Press.)

[Dale Seago]

I've just come across the interesting information that the Gaelic language and indeed the Scottish Highlanders themselves, were both once referred to by their lowland kinsmen as "Irish". This was in the period between the Jacobite rebellion and the Clearances. (Information found in the book "The Last of the Celts" by Marcus Tanner, Yale University Press.)

Some interesting points on the divergence of the Scottish and Irish forms of Gaelic:

Scottish Gaelic, originally the language of the Scoti settlers from Ireland to Scotland, became the language of the majority of Scotland after it replaced Cumbric, Pictish, Old Norse, and in considerable places, Old English. There is no definitive date indicating how long Scottish Gaelic has been spoken in today's Scotland, though it has been proposed that it was spoken in Argyll before the Roman period, although no consensus has been reached on this question. However, the consolidation of the kingdom of Dál Riata around the 4th century, linking the ancient province of Ulster in the north of Ireland and western Scotland, accelerated the expansion of the language, as did the success of the Gaelic-speaking church establishment, started by St Columba, and place-name evidence shows that Gaelic was spoken in the Rhinns of Galloway by the 5th or 6th century.

The Gaelic language eventually displaced Pictish north of the River Forth, and until the late 15th century was known in the Scots' English language as Scottis, and in England as Scottish. Gaelic began to decline in mainland Scotland from the beginning of the 13th century, accompanying its decline in its status as a national language, and by the beginning of the 15th century, the highland-lowland line was beginning to emerge.From around the early 16th century, Scottish-English speakers gave the Gaelic language the name Erse , and thereafter it was invariably the collection of Middle English dialects spoken within the Kingdom of Scotland, that they referred to as Scottis . This in itself was ironic, as it was at this time that Gaelic was developing its distinct and characteristic Scottish forms of the modern period.

Scottish Gaelic was called "Erse" partly because educated Gaelic speakers in Ireland and Scotland all used the literary dialect (so that there was little or no difference in usage). When Classical Gaelic stopped being used in schools in both countries, colloquial usage began to predominate, and the languages diverged. Scottish Gaelic has a rich oral and written tradition, referred to as beul-aithris in Scottish Gaelic, having been the language of the bardic culture of the Highland clans for many years. The language preserves knowledge of and adherence to pre-feudal 'tribal' laws and customs . The language suffered particularly as Highlanders and their traditions were persecuted after the Battle of Culloden in 1746, and during the Highland Clearances, but pre-feudal attitudes were still evident in the complaints and claims of the Highland Land League of the late 19th century. . .

. . .The first translation of the Bible into Scottish Gaelic was not published until 1767 when Dr James Stuart of Killin and Dugald Buchanan of Rannoch produced a translation of the New Testament. Previously the Irish Gaelic translation of the Bible dating from the Elisabethan period was in use. Very few European languages have made the transition to a modern literary language without an early modern translation of the Bible. The lack of such a translation until the late eighteenth century may have contributed to the decline of Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic may be more correctly known as Highland Gaelic to distinguish it from the now defunct dialects of Lowland Gaelic. Of these Galwegian Gaelic was spoken in Galloway and seems to have been the last dialect of Gaelic to have been spoken in Lowland Scotland, surviving until the Early Modern Period. By the end of the Middle Ages, Lowland Gaelic had been replaced by Middle English/Lowland Scots across much of Lowland Scotland, while the Brythonic language had disappeared. According to a reference in The Carrick Covenanters by James Crichton , the last place in the Lowlands where Scottish Gaelic was still spoken was the village of Barr in Carrick (only a few miles inland to the east of Girvan, but at one time very isolated). There is, however, no evidence of a linguistic border following the topographical north-south differences. Similarly, there is no evidence from placenames of significant linguistic differences between, for example, Argyll and Galloway.
(http://www.thehouseofoojah.com/audio...ow/gaelic.html)

This article also mentions the dialect in Donegal as being the one most closely tied to Highland Gaelic.