I've been thinking that some of the flyers and stuff that I get would make nice, short translation exercises. Does anyone want to try translating this to English? After that, I'll post the "official" English version. If someone wants to suggest a better way to say it in Irish; that will be welcome as well.

Here's the first bit:

An raibh a fhios agat gur féidir leat suas le €50 a shábháil gan ach d'fhearais a phlugáil amach in ionad iad a fhágáil ar fuireachas? Breathnaigh ar na rudaí beaga eile is féidir leat a dhéanamh i do sheomra suí a chabhróidh leat a bheith níos tíosaí ar fhuinneamh agus airgead a shábháil ar do bhillí fuinnimh.

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賢いふくろぐま
Seans Eile - free software to help you practice your Irish
Scéala na Wombait - Muddle-headed Memes and Musings

"Did you know that you can save as much as €50 just by unplugging your appliances instead of leaving them [plugged in]*? See other little things you can do in your living room to help you be more thrifty with energy and to save money on your energy bill."

*[I think this actually says something more along the lines of "leaving them at the ready," but I went with an idiomatic slant]

Redwolf

Maith thú, a Redwolfie! Here's the original English:

An raibh a fhios agat gur féidir leat suas le €50 a shábháil gan ach d'fhearais a phlugáil amach in ionad iad a fhágáil ar fuireachas? Breathnaigh ar na rudaí beaga eile is féidir leat a dhéanamh i do sheomra suí a chabhróidh leat a bheith níos tíosaí ar fhuinneamh agus airgead a shábháil ar do bhillí fuinnimh.

Did you know that you can save up to €50 just by plugging out your appliances instead of leaving them on standby? Have a look at the other little things you can do in your living room that will help you be more energy efficient and save money on your energy bills.

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賢いふくろぐま
Seans Eile - free software to help you practice your Irish
Scéala na Wombait - Muddle-headed Memes and Musings

Here's another one:

Tá an difríocht idir seanmheaisín níocháin de chuid 1998 agus meaisín níocháin nua AAA-aicmithe a rith thart ar €12 in aghaidh na bliana i gcostais fuinnimh. Leis na táillí nua uisce á dtabhairt isteach ag deireadh na bliana, seo roinnt rudaí eile nach mór duit smaoineamh orthu agus meaisín níocháin nua á cheannach agat.

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賢いふくろぐま
Seans Eile - free software to help you practice your Irish
Scéala na Wombait - Muddle-headed Memes and Musings

The difference in running costs between old pre-1998 washing machines and new washing machines with AAA rating is about €12 per annum in energy. With the new water rates coming in at the end of the year, this is something else you must think about when you are buying a new washing machine.

Not quite sure about the wording of the 'old pre-1998' bit. This is another great idea a Wombat, a chara.

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Maith thú, a Shaoirse! Here's the original:

The difference between running an old 1998 washing machine and a new triple A rated washing machine is around €12 per year in energy costs. With the new water charges being brought in at the end of the year, here are a few other things that you need to think of when buying a new washing machine.

And here's the next one:

D'éabhlóidigh bolgáin solais go mór le 10 mbliana anuas, agus spáráil fuinnimh de suas le 80% á tairiscint ag na bolgáin solais nua LED i gcomparáid leis an ngnáthbholgán solais gealbhruthach. Sa phostáil bhlag seo chuir muid an spotsolas (tá brón orm!) ar an solas cistine LED Osram a mhairfidh 25 bliana agus a shábhálfaidh €178 ort.

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賢いふくろぐま
Seans Eile - free software to help you practice your Irish
Scéala na Wombait - Muddle-headed Memes and Musings

Bainfidh mé triail as :

Light bulbs have evolved greatly over the past 10 years, and energy savings of up to 80% being offered by the new LED light bulbs in comparison with the normal incandescent light bulbs. In this mail blog we put the spotlight (I'm sorry) on the Osram LED kitchen light that will last 25 years and will save you E178.[/quote]

Maith thú arís! Here's the original:

Light bulbs have evolved significantly over the past 10 years, with the new LED light bulbs offering an energy saving of up to 80% compared to the ordinary incandescent light bulb. In this blog post we put the spotlight (sorry!) on the Osram LED kitchen light that lasts 25 years and saves you €178.

I was surprised to see "na bolgáin solais nua LED" instead of "na bolgáin solais LED nua". Is it just me, or does the former seem a little awkward? Anyway, now that we all know cupla chaoi airgead a shábháil ar ár bhillí fuinnimh, here's something different:

An tSeirbhis Náisiúnta Tástála Carranna

Tá Applus+ Car Testing Service Teo. freagrach as an gclár éigeantach iniúchta feithiclí a oibriú in Éirinn. Tá sé mar phríomhchuspóir sa chlár seo, atá mar chuid na treorach 2009/40/CE, sábháilteacht ar bhóithre a fheabhsú agus cur le cosaint an chomhshaoil, trí astúcháin dhochracha feithiclí a laghdú in Éirinn.

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Seans Eile - free software to help you practice your Irish
Scéala na Wombait - Muddle-headed Memes and Musings

Applus + Car Testing Service Ltd. is responsible for the compulsory vehicle inspection program operating in Ireland. It is a key objective in this program, which is part of directive 2009/40/EC, to improve road safety and contribute to environmental protection by reducing harmful vehicle emissions in Ireland.

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__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___

Maith thú. Here's the original.

Applus+ Car Testing Service Ltd, is responsible for the operation of the compulsory vehicle inspection programme in Ireland. This programme which falls under the directive 2009/40/EC is in its thirteenth year of operation and its primary aim is to improve road safety and enhance environmental protection by reducing harmful vehicles emissions in Ireland.

I find these sorts of materials useful because it provides an opportunity to learn some some formal phrases that you wouldn't necessarily pick up in a textbook. Often you can figure out what the phrase means from the context and because you are familiar with a different form of the word. For example, when I see a phrase like freagrach as, I immediately think of freagra, which I know means answer. Since we're talking about an organisation here, that makes me think of the phrase "answerable for", which captures the meaning pretty well. Now, if I'm translating it (rather than just reading it) I might realise that "responsible for" would sound a little more natural in English (because the phrase "answerable for" has connotations of blame).

Another less familiar word is phríomhchuspóir. I know one meaning of cuspóir is target, so I get an image of someone aiming for a target, and combined with príomh I know that's their main target. If I'm just reading, that captures the meaning well enough. But if I'm translating, I can phrase that more naturally as "primary aim".

And then there's treorach. I know treoir means "direction", which conjures a mental image of someone being given directions. If I'm translating rather than simply reading, it takes me a second or two to come up with a suitable word for the context, i.e., "directive".

My point here is that when I'm reading, I get a series of mental images. Normally those images are good enough for me to feel I've understood the text. Translating is harder than simply reading because it involves an extra step of finding the "mot juste". Anyway, here's the next bit:

In Éirinn, le blianta beaga anuas, tá sé soiléir go mbraitear níos mó ar fheithiclí inneall-ghluaiste, agus tógann sé breis ama anois chun turas a dhéanamh mar tá níos mó feithiclí ar na bóithre. Níos mó ná riamh cheana in Éirinn, cuirtear amhras inniu ar shábháilteacht feithiclí; dá bhrí sin, nuair a thugann tú do fheithicil isteach chun an Tástáil Náisiúnta Carranna a dhéanamh uirthi féadfaimid fáthmheas forleathan a sholáthar duit ar staid na feithicle lá na tástála. Chun cabhrú leat cloí leis an gceanglas dlíthiúil seo, tá líonra tiomnaithe de 47 ionad tástála NCT ar fud na tíre. Cliceáil anseo le do thoil chun an t-ionad tástála is gaire duitse a aimsiú, inar féidir iniúchadh a dhéanamh ar do fheithicil.

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賢いふくろぐま
Seans Eile - free software to help you practice your Irish
Scéala na Wombait - Muddle-headed Memes and Musings