Irish pronounciation

ant.lei

Ok, I have no knowledge of Irish whatsoever. But I would like to know how to pronounce Irish words in general so that I can learn the language on the inter web. Is it quite different from English?

In particular, I would like to know how to pronounce "seangán", for the obvious reason. Thank you!

Gael

Yes, Irish is quite different from English in terms of syntax and inflection. Seangán is pronounced as SHAN-GAWN(Emphasis on first syllable).

aonfocaleile

The first step is to learn how to correctly pronounce vowels with a fada
(fada means long/length depending on the concept so a fada over a vowel effectively lengthens it)

á - pronounced as aaaah / aaaww

é - pronounced as A (as in Hey there)

í - pronounced as eeeee

ó - pronounced as oooooo

ú - pronounced as youuu

Go n-eirí leat!

JaysusMacfeck

ant.lei wrote:

Ok, I have no knowledge of Irish whatsoever. But I would like to know how to pronounce Irish words in general so that I can learn the language on the inter web. Is it quite different from English?

In particular, I would like to know how to pronounce "seangán", for the obvious reason. Thank you!

Cad is ainm duit? What's your name? If it's Anthony, 'Antoine' is the version that is used in Irish, same in French.

Might I recommend "Fócloir Póca" Irish dictionary by An Gúm? It contains a comprehensive guide to pronunciation with IPA for each word. A very handy dictionary. It costs about €7.

Out of interest, are you from the UK? And what's the interest in Irish?

Fócloir Póca on Amazon UK.



Add this site to your bookmarks also. http://www.englishirishdictionary.com/

Go n-eirí leat

ant.lei

JaysusMacfeck wrote:

Cad is ainm duit? What's your name? If it's Anthony, 'Antoine' is the version that is used in Irish, same in French.

Might I recommend "Fócloir Póca" Irish dictionary by An Gúm? It contains a comprehensive guide to pronunciation with IPA for each word. A very handy dictionary. It costs about €7.

Out of interest, are you from the UK? And what's the interest in Irish?

Dia duit, is mise Antoine. How do you pronounce 'Antoine' in Irish anyway? Is it the same as French?

Thank you for the replies. They are very helpful. Sometimes it's hard to learn a new word when you don't know how to say it. I hope they have the dictionary Jaysus mentioned in our local bookstores. That would make life much easier.

I am indeed from the UK. I am planning to travel to Ireland. I know most people speak English in Ireland, but I thought it would be fun to speak some local language as well. After all, travelling is all about experiencing different cultures. Guinness here I come!

Cheers.

Kwekubo

ant.lei wrote:

Dia duit, is mise Antoine. How do you pronounce 'Antoine' in Irish anyway? Is it the same as French?

It's pronounced anne-tun-eh (emphasis on the first and last syllables).

ant.lei wrote:

I hope they have the dictionary Jaysus mentioned in our local bookstores. That would make life much easier.

It should be quite easily available in a good bookshop, I'd guess it's the most popular Irish dictionary. Good luck with your learning!