Talk:Irish language/Archive 2

message: The Cambridge Encyclopedia,2004 edition,states under the "Irish Literature" entry that the Irish language was the LAST European Language to be written down.
This proves that history,as written in England about Ireland,really is "bunk".
:It proves either that (1) you misread and/or misunderstood what was written, or (2) the author of that article hadn't the faintest idea what he was talking about. Irish was first written down in Ogham inscriptions in the fourth century A.D. and Old Irish was first written down in the sixth century. Albanian and Finnish, on the other hand, were first written down in the 16th century. --Angr/ 13:31, 7 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: INTERESTING NOTE

message: I think the ref to Bedell in the Irish Language Movement section is incorrect: the first translation (NT, I recall) was in the late 16thC. by an Irish cleric. I don't have facts to hand - help anyone?shtove 19:19, 29 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  First bible in Irish 

message: (The following is a duplicate of comments I made here: Talk:Scottish_English#Inaccurate_map.)
The following map has been applied to the English English page, and to Scottish English:
It appears to have one major flaw, and several quibbles:
*Where on earth is the Scots language? Its ommission seems particularly inappropriate considering the debt owed to Scots by Scottish English. Somewhat bizarrely, only one dialect of Scots is included, and that is the tiny number of Ulster Scots speakers, only about 2% of all Scots-speakers! I know that the map is titled "Selected languages", but it is baffling why the only language the auther has "selected" not to include is Scots!
*Why on earth have two distinct languages, Scottish Gaelic language and Irish language, been shown as a homogenous blob?
*Highland English is missing: another rather stark absence on this Scottish English page.
*Why are several subdivisions of English English shown, but only two of Scottish English? The differences between the Fife dialect and Aberdonian are just as big, if not bigger, than the differences between Brummie and Yorkshire dialect.
*Where on earth did Shetland go? A stunning ommission, considering that it is one of the most distictive linguistic groups in the entire British Isles?
Well to be fair, Scots Gaelic came out of an Irish invasion in the 5th century anyway, and even now, while the 2 languages are not mutually intelligible, they largely look identical in written form. So I guess lumping them together is ok. - Peter
I find it very depressing to hear that a German textbook publisher wants to use it in textbooks for 600 schools. No wonder many people grow up with a very strange perception of the language situation in the United Kingdom.--Mais oui! 10:28, 27 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: God, that map is bollocks, not to put too fine a point on it! LOL --feline1 14:41, 11 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Inaccurate Map 

message: Is irish really an Endangered language ot doesn't seem to be one according to the endangered language page and it is not on the List of endangered languages? Fabhcún 01:20, 12 November 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: It depends on your definition of "endangered" and "language". See Talk:List of endangered languages#Irish for why Irish isn't on that list, although the explanation there leads one to wonder why Scottish Gaelic is on the list. I suppose as long as Irish is a required subject in schools in Ireland it's not in danger of running out of learners, but it is very much in danger of native speakers, especially ones who descend from an unbroken line of native speakers. --Angr/ 01:26, 12 November 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Does the fact that it could have no native speakers in 50 years (which i doubt) make it one, the main reason why i ask is because I had a look at the category of Endangered langs and to be Irish has too many speakers to be in that catagory. Fabhcún 10:23, 12 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Endangered language 

message: The article refers exactly once to the "spelling reform of 1948".  Does this deserve more elaboration?  --Doradus 18:15, 6 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Spelling reform of 1948 

message: :There are number of sites offering online Irish lessons. b:Irish, for example. But your best bet is to find a language school in the Gaeltacht and spend two or three weeks there in the summer. --Angr (tɔk) 06:23, 10 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  want to learn 

message: The caption for the picture states "Picture of a typical Irish road sign with placenames in English and Irish." Surely the place names are not in English but Anglicised spellings of Irish place names. The place names usually mean something in Irish. In English they are meaningless.
84.135.216.193 00:46, 18 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Anglicised spellings of Irish place names = what people call them in the English language. --Boothy443 |  trácht ar 06:00, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

text: Dublin is english for dublin, it is its offical name ie an english place name. The caption is not saying that the name has a meaning what does London mean for example Fabhcún 21:00, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

text: Well then cant a fair about of irish place names not be condidered to be badly pronounced versions of old norse. --Boothy443 |  trácht ar 21:45, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

text: Why of course the names are in English, the fact that many are also anglicised spellings of Irish names is only of academic interest really and should not be used in a photo explaination as to do so would only allow limited explaination of the significance of anglicised spellings in Ireland. I suspect our anonymous user maybe living in a gaelic paradise. Djegan 21:55, 18 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Placenames in English ? 

message: Hello, I'm completely unfamiliar with the Irish Language or any Celtic language for that matter. I have two questions:
What does the " O' " mean when used before a family name as in O'Brien or O'Connor?
Similarly, (and I realize this question might refer more to Scottish than to Irish), but what is the meaning of the prefix "Mc" or "Mac" in family names such as McDonald or MacDonald? ThanksLoomis51 22:16, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: See Irish name. Djegan 22:20, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: A few questions from a non-Celtic

message: This article was nominated for listing on Wikipedia:Good articles.  I haven't listed it because I think it's better than good, and deserves to be nominated on WP:FAC.  Would suggest peer review first, I think wider community input would be useful, but generally it seems very interesting, detailed and thorough to me.  Worldtraveller 15:24, 14 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: GA nomination

message: I have dropped the word working from the phrase
:decided to make Irish an official working language of the European Union.
as the definition of working language appears to be different than official language in the linked article Languages of the European Union.  In that article's talk page I've asked that perhaps the definition could be made clearer so this misstatement is not so easy to make.  Shenme 05:53, 17 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Official language vs. Official working language 

message: Does someone out there have a sufficient knowledge of the phonetics and phonology of the Irish language to include a section in this article?  I realize the vast differences among the dialects complicate things and perhaps something as general as the "Orthography and Pronounciation" is as specific as is necessary, but an article on a language seems (to me) incomplete without addressing some trademarks of the sound system, such as palatalization versus velarization.--Coyne025 02:52, 30 March 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: It's discussed in a separate article, Irish phonology. See also the articles on the dialects: Ulster Irish, Connacht Irish, and Munster Irish. Angr (talk • contribs) 06:20, 30 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Irish Phonetics/Phonology