Samhradh

Tá mé i mo chónaí in Asheville sa samhradh seo. Tá Texas dearg te. Tá Asheville fionnuar. Cuir mé seaicéad orm agus tá mé i mo shuí amuigh gach oíche. Tá mé ag seinm mo maindilín ochtach agus ag canadh gach lá. Éiníní canann. Tá Iora rua beag ag súgradh faoi an crann. Ithim cáis agus ólaim fíon gach lá. Níl caill orm.


I live in Asheville this summer. Texas is burning hot. Asheville is cool. I put on my jacket and sit outside every night. I am playing my octave mandolin and singing every day. Little birds sing. A little squirrel is playing under the tree. I eat cheese and drink wine everyday. I have no complaint.

Anseo fós

So many things have happened and continue to press forward. I thought I would just update those of you who might be curious. At this moment I am waiting for final approval on my new CD's artwork. I am very very excited. I hope to have it in my hands by Sept. 17. The most exciting thing about it is that I decided to step out there and record five songs in Irish! My truest deepest hope is that some of you more experienced Irish speakers will listen to my CD or even clips that I have posted online and think... hmmmm... she's close enough and hard working enough that with a little help, she could take it to the next level. I want my second CD (yes, I'm already thinking about it) to have many more instruments and at least another five songs in Irish. In order to accomplish the Irish part, I'm going to need some pronunciation assistance. With today's technology, I can easily record and post or send people what I'm working on. I would love feedback and serious coaching. I love this music and I want to do it justice. I want to bring it out into the world in the best way I can.

If you're interested in what I did this time around, visit my website. Each song has a one minute sample posted. Or you can visit my MySpace page where four of the songs are posted in their entirety.

Thank you for all of you past support.  I hope to be posting more posts in Irish soon :-)

sa bhaile (10)

An tseachtain seo chugainn, beidh mé sa bhaile. An tseachtain seo chugainn, beidh EJ sa bhaile. Tá mé i mo chonaí i Austin, TX. Tá sé ina chonaí i Asheville, NC. Ní bheidh mé ag féachaint ar an fear go luath, ach beimid ag caint, ag gáire, agus ag éisteach gach lá.

Aréir (8)

Cad a bhí sé a dhéanamh anseo aréir? Bhí sé ag ithe agus ag féachaint ar an teilifís. Bhíomar ag caint agus ag gáire cois tine.

Ag gol (7)

Stad ag gol anois. Críochnaigh an obair agus téigh abhaile. Ná bris an fhuinneog. Tá sé glan. Scuab an t-urlár.

Cailín agus buachaill (6)

Tá an cailín deas rua agus an buachaill ard fionn ag siúl abhaile. Tá siad ag caint agaus ag gáire. Tá cóta bán aici ach níl cóta aige. An bhfuil siad ag canadh?

Cad tá agam?

Tá urlár glan agam. Tá carr glas agam. Tá fear deas agam. Cad tá agat?
Táim ag obair, ach níl airgead agam. Níl punt agam, ach táim ag canadh.

An fear

Tá an fear imithe. Tá sí ag scíobh litir.  (wrong case noun...  future lesson :-)
An bhfuil tú ag teacht abhaile?
Tá sí ag éisteacht, ach níl sé ag caint.
Tá sí ag léamh, ach níl sé ag scríobh.
Tá sí ag canadh, ach níl sé ag rince.
Tá sí briste anois.

Let's try this again

After a year long hibernation, which really was about six months long, but I got bogged down in trying to make things fancier and more complicated than necessary, so I stopped posting.  I' not making any promises except to keep things a little more simple.  Because I really have been away from my studies for nearly 6 months with only small doses thrown in there occasionally, I'm going to blaze thru PII from the beginning to refresh my brain.  

This morning I did lessons one through five.  Starting on lesson four, I am writing something using just what is in the lessons.  Hopefully it will make some sense even if you probably wouldn't say things like that if you had a better vocabulary and more poetic understanding of the language.  I'm going to try this new method and see what happens.

ag scríobh

Bhí mé ag scríobh in eitleán Dé hAoine. Scríobh mé seo:
Chuala mé aon duine ag teacht. An bhfuil aon duine ansin? ... Cé atá ansin? ... Cé atá ag teacht?!?!
Ó! An teannas. (Go raibh maith agat, a Fearn!)
Ní raibh aon rud ach an cat. Bhí an cat ag imirt sa chistin. Bhí sé suas ar an mbord ag fanacht do a dhinnéar. Thug mé a dhinnéar leis. D'ith sé go léor é. Bhí ocras aige, cinnte.

I was writing in an airplane of Friday. I wrote this:
I heard someone coming. Is anyone there? ... Who is there? ... Who is coming?!?!
Oh! The suspense. :-)
It was nothing but the cat. The cat was playing in the kitchen. He was up on the table waiting for his dinner. I gave him his dinner. He ate it all. He was hungry, indeed.

Litir

A Mharilyn,
Dia duit!! Tá mé ag scríobh mar ní féidir liom dul ar scoil an tseachtain seo chugainn. Ach rinne mé rud éigin duit! Feicfidh mé thú 28 Eanáir.
Slán anois!

I wrote this note to a fellow Irish student today. The more you know, the less you realize you know! Translation: Marilyn, Howdy! I am writing because I can't go to school next week. But I made something for you! I will see you January 28. Bye for now!

Scéal

Today I read three stories. Leite - nó Cinnín Óir agus Na Trí Bhéar (Goldielocks & the 3 Bears), Seán agus An Fathach (Jack & the Beanstalk), & Naimh (A story about 2 leprechans, a little girl and a witch) For anyone around my level, it is nice to actually be able to read simple text and only have to look up a couple of words the whole time! Here is the link. You will find them as PDFs: http://www.cnagstl.org/CnaGClassL1.php?PG=Class&LV=1

Otherwise.... I am fighting to catch up with the Buntús Cainte Yahoo group who is on chapter 41. I am on 37 this evening. PII and I fight daily. There are still many unmemorized words, but I have mostly finished chapter 36.

i bhfad

Sorry for this horribly long delay. I have not forgotten about this blog... I started a super mega accelerated dose of Buntús Cainte. I should be caught up with the yahoo group (They are on ceacht 40 this week) by this Friday. I only started the book just before Christmas. I have been building a library of learning materials... I promise, I'll be back in force soon!
Nollaig shona dhuit, agus athbhliain faoi mhaise dhuit!

The Festival

Either that last post is so poorly written that no one even knows where to begin to help me fix it, or its subject matter with all the fried foods is so repulsive that no one can comment. I KNOW it can not possibly be that the post is perfect! :-)

Aonach

Chuaigh mé go dtí an aonach Ceilteach Dé Sathairn agus Dé Domhnaigh. Chuaigh Ceridwyn liom. Bhí ceol agus siopadóireacht ann. Chualamar Dervish, Frankie agus Sean Gavin, James Keane, John Williams agus Dean McGraw. Cheannaigh mé CD Dervish, leabhair na Geailge, T-léinte, muince, agus bianna. D'itheamar cistí friochta, prátaí friochta le cáis, agus fajitas. Níl airgead agam inniu, ach bhí an aonach greann.

I went to the Celtic festival on Saturday and on Sunday. Ceridwyn went with me. There was music and shopping. We heard Dervish and all those guys. I bought a Dervish CD, Books in Irish, T-shirts, a necklace & foods. We ate fried cakes, fried potatoes with cheese, and fajitas. I have no money today, but the fair was fun.

Cé leis cat?

Tá an cat agam, ach ní liom í. Is leis an cat mé!
Dúirt mé léi, "An féidir leat teacht anseo, a chait?"
Dúirt an cat liom, "Ní féidir liom. Tá codladh orm. Is mian liom fanacht sa leaba."
Is maith liom í. Is mian liom bheith cosúil leí.

Title: Who owns a cat?
I have a cat, but I do not own her. The cat owns me!
I said to her, "Can you come here, cat?"
The cat said to me, "I cannot. I am sleepy. I want to stay on the bed."
I like her. I want to be like her.

This blog entry brought to you by PII lesson 15 :-)

Meán Fómhair?

With two months since my last posting, I'm sure one would expect something spectacular, something so profound that it took two full months to choose just the right words. But alas. Read no further if that's what you expect. I can assure you that time just slipped away from me while I was on the road. Priorities took over and/or very "good" excuses to skip out on my Irish blog. But now I'm back. I'm in front of the computer. Now, for something in Irish!

Oh wait -- Here is something profound... my new motto! "Is fearr Gaeilge bhriste, ná Béarla cliste!" So there. Our Gaelic League here in Austin sells T-shirts with this printed on them. Someday, my Irish will be fabulous, but for now, I will be encouraged by my new motto :-)

Meán Fómhair: Chuaigh mé go i gColorado agus An Iodáil. Bhí sé ag cur sneachta i gColorado. Bhí An Iodáil go hálainn. Bhí dealbha agus fuarání i gnach áit. Fós, tá Éire níos áille ná An Iodáil.

Deireadh Fómhair: Chuaigh Istanpitta in Illinois, in Indiana, agus i Nevada. Bhí mo bhreithlá 11 Deireadh Fómhair. D'éist mé le ceol na h'éireann agus d'ól mé Guiness ag an teach tábhairne.

September: I went to Colorado and Italy. It was snowing in Colorado. Italy was beautiful. There were statues and fountains everywhere. Still, Ireland is more beautiful than Italy.

October: Istanpitta went to Illinois, Indiana, and Nevada. My birthday was October 11. I listened to Irish music and drank a Guiness at the pub.

fidil

an bhean ar goideadh a fidil..... Is mise an bhean. Bhí ionadh agus fearg orm. Abair liom cad chuige níor thug sé an t-airgead dom, ach tá an fidil aige fós. Chris atá air. Grrrrr.

Léigh an scéal i mBéarla anseo.

the woman whose fiddle was stolen..... I am the woman. I was surprised and angry. Tell me why he did not give me the money, but has the fiddle still. Chris is his name. Gúrrrrr (surely growling translates into Irish with a good strong fada! hee hee).

Read the story in English here. (the conclusion - a happy ending)

In case it's not entirely obvious, I found some great phrases online and patched them together to tell this short story. We'll see if I patched them properly :-)

Te.....

Tá sé tuarim is gcéad míle céim anseo in Austin, Texas. (refined version: Tá tuairim céad míle céim anseo in Austin, Texas.) Níor mhaith leat é. Ní maith liom é. Ba mhaith liom dul ag snámh sa sneachta.

It is about a hundred thousand degrees here in Austin, Texas. You wouldn't like it. I don't like it. I would like to go swimming in snow.

I might as well set this one to music. It's the chorus of Austin life! hot....... hot...... :-)

Ól

Dia duit! Tá an lá go deas. Tá mé sa bhaile. Chuaigh mé ag campáil. Bhí mé ag aonach mór i bPennsylvania le Istanpitta. (Can "Beidh aonach amárach i gContae an Chláir") Bhí mé ansin ag canadh agus ag ól beorach, ach den chuid is mó ag canadh. Bhual mé le cairde nua.

Translation: Howdy! It's a lovely day. I'm home. I went camping. I was at a big fair in Pennsylvania with Istanpitta. (Sing "Beidh aonach amárach i gContae an Chláir") I was there singing and drinking beer, but mostly singing. I met new friends (I wanted to add that I saw many old/past/established friends but didn't want to accidentally say that my friends are old!)