Irish language tattoo

SuperGlen27

I have decided I am going to get an irish language tattoo. I have narrowed it down to 2 choices. "united we stand" or "You can only be brave when you are afraid". Can someone translate them both? Not looking for direct word translations, etc., more so the general sentiment. agus ta gaeilge agam, ach ta se ag imigh uaim.

FoxyVixen

Google translate is your friend though don't think it incorporates all the gailge dialects.

P_1

Be very careful with Google translate when going for tattoos in languages that you're not fluent in. Machine translation can go spectacularly wrong sometimes.

There's an Irish language forum here somewhere, I'm sure someone will help you with the translation.

Focail.ie is also a better site for Irish translation than Google, its still machine translation though so be careful again.

Prodigious

SuperGlen27 wrote: »

I have decided I am going to get an irish language tattoo. I have narrowed it down to 2 choices. "united we stand" or "You can only be brave when you are afraid". Can someone translate them both? Not looking for direct word translations, etc., more so the general sentiment. agus ta gaeilge agam, ach ta se ag imigh uaim.

United we stand = "Ciúnas bóthar, cailín bainne"

Not too sure about the second one.

Aineoil

Getting a translation on Google is risky, as pointed out by P1

United we stand - Seasaimid le chéile - is one option, literally we stand together,

or

Seasaimid gualainn ar ghualainn - we stand shoulder to shoulder

but please wait for more options as this phrase can be translated a number of ways and inking is a serious business.

You can only be brave when you are afraid - this would a very long translation, and I think a painful tattoo.

Aineoil

Prodigious wrote: »

United we stand = "Ciúnas bóthar, cailín bainne"

Quiet road and milk girl? Where did you get those from?:D

Prodigious

Aineoil wrote: »

Quiet road and milk girl? Where did you get those from?:D

Shhh :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTNBmFveq2U

Mac-Chops

My 2c for the first one:

United we stand: 'Seasaimid, aontaithe' (comma optional).

Simply (as mentioned) 'Seasaimid le chéile'. Or something along the lines of 'Seasaimid in aontas'.

I like the first one!

Aineoil

Prodigious wrote: »

Shhh :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTNBmFveq2U

Go bhfóire Dia orainne!!;)

Sin í an cheist, im thuairmse - An maith leat Sharon Ní Bheoláin?

onemorechance

Each of those can have many translations and you will need to decide which dialect you want, the most widely spoken is Connamara Irish, the official is some Dublin version I think. Then you have Ulster and Munster, plus Mayo, Meath, Waterford.

You could probably get a different version from each of these regions!

You are better off choosing a sean-fhocal which is similar to what you want.

Is fearr rith maith ná droch-sheasamh. (Bascially means running away is better than un-scucessfully standing your ground).

Glaonn gach coileach go dána ar a atrainn fhéin. (Every cock crows boldly in his own farmyard.)

Here is a good one for you:

Ní neart go cur le chéile: There is no strength without unity.

You should for sure choose a proverb that already exists in Irish as it's a very creative language and it's easier than trying to make one up and a suitable one exists for most situations!

Mac-Chops

onemorechance wrote: »

Ní neart go cur le chéile: There is no strength without unity.

This!

I knew there was some 'neart'y phrase to be had somewhere!

Aineoil

I agree with onemorechance

Ní neart go cur le chéile is the best translation, literally there's no strength unless we stand together

onemorechance

Aineoil wrote: »

I agree with onemorechance

Ní neart go cur le chéile is the best translation, literally there's no strength unless we stand together

There are so many great Irish proverbs, it's usually best to choose one rather than trying to translate something from English; when it comes to tattoos anyway, IMO! :pac:

Aineoil

onemorechance wrote: »

There are so many great Irish proverbs, it's usually best to choose one rather than trying to translate something from English; when it comes to tattoos anyway, IMO! :pac:

Tá an ceart agat! Tá fadbh agam le tatoos - tá siad chomh críochnaithneach. Tá sé i bhfad níos fearr cloí leis an teanga nadúrtha.

P_1

onemorechance wrote: »

There are so many great Irish proverbs, it's usually best to choose one rather than trying to translate something from English; when it comes to tattoos anyway, IMO! :pac:

Good point, the two languages work so differently directly translating a phrase from one to the other can be a tad problematic

belcampprisoner

"Póg Mo Thón"



is the second one

longhalloween

'Nice tattoo! What does it mean??'
'It's Irish, it means United We Stand'
'Oh, you speak Irish?'
'no' :rolleyes:

Esoteric_

longhalloween wrote: »

'Nice tattoo! What does it mean??'
'It's Irish, it means United We Stand'
'Oh, you speak Irish?'
'no' :rolleyes:

He already said he speaks Irish, just not a huge amount. What's the issue?

I have an Irish tattoo. I don't speak Irish very much in my day to day life, but I'm fluent. Even if I wasn't fluent, what's wrong with wanting something in your native language? :rolleyes:

OP, Ní neart go cur le chéile is the best option for 'united we stand,' sean-focail are much easier to use than trying direct translations.

I can translate the second one if you want it in the dialect that I speak. What dialect are you looking for?

Star Lord

Folks please refrain from posting conversationally in Irish. Providing translations of the texts is fine.

SuperGlen27

I actually did speak irish fluently for years. Still have a lot of it. Thought I explained that so I would get rid of the "funny" comments. And google translate hasn't mastered the irish language just yet. Thanks everyone who helped seriously. Other guys, at least read the whole comment! Thigim gach rud agus ta mo ghaeilge ar fheabhas! Amadanai!

onemorechance

longhalloween wrote: »

'Nice tattoo! What does it mean??'
'It's Irish, it means United We Stand'
'Oh, you speak Irish?'
'no' :rolleyes:

It's very popular for people to get tattoos in languages that they cannot speak, or even read such as chinese, arabic etc.

You could do yourself some permanent damage if you were to go around rolling your eyes at all of them! :pac:

endacl

Aineoil wrote: »

United we stand - Seasaimid le chéile - is one option, literally we stand together,

or

Seasaimid gualainn ar ghualainn - we stand shoulder to shoulder

Careful now...

Seasaimid le chéile is more like 'we stand up (at the same time) together'.


Seasaimid gualainn ar ghualainn - 'we stand up (at the same time) shoulder on shoulder (?!?).

OP, as previously mentioned, maybe an existing phrase that matches your sentiment would suit better. Doesn't really matter the language, phrases rarely translate. Sentiments do.

As an aside, I've always liked 'nil aon toin tinn mar do thoin tinn fein'.

there's no sick arse like your own sick arse

Always draws a giggle from those gaelgoiri who were forcefed the aul' seanfhocail.

endacl

FoxyVixen wrote: »

Google translate is your friend though don't think it incorporates all the gailge dialects.

Google translate is only good for comical effect when translating whole phrases. And it doesn't contextualise where there are multiple options.

Its better than it used to be, but if you use it to do your Irish/French/German etc homework, you'd most likely barely scrape a pass.

Up until recently, a English to German and back to English translation of 'the complete works of Shakespeare' would give you 'all of Shakespeare's factories'.

Don't trust Google with permanent inking. They're really good at what they do, but translation ain't what they do...

SparkySpitfire

Is ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine

Learned that one in school Means something more like 'no man is an island' or 'we all depend on each other' though. You might like the sound of it though

Esoteric_

SparkySpitfire wrote: »

Is ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine

Learned that one in school Means something more like 'no man is an island' or 'we all depend on each other' though. You might like the sound of it though

It technically means 'we live in each others' shadows,' although the most direct English translation is 'No man is an island,' as you said. Basically means we should all help others.

endacl

Esoteric_ wrote: »

It technically means 'we live in each others' shadows,' although the most direct English translation is 'No man is an island,' as you said. Basically means we should all help others.

Good example of the sentiment translating where the words might not.