Hello!

My name is Fiona and I'm of Welsh and Irish descent (among some others all in the same general vicinity). My dad's adopted parents are second-generation Irish-American and my mother's mother's family is from Wales and England, so keeping Celtic traditions has always been strong in my family.

I'm from North Carolina, on the US East Coast, and am currently living in Washington State.

Besides English, I speak Mandarin Chinese, though I haven't practiced in a while. I started Irish within the past month and found this site through all my searches for online material. I've been listening to Raidió na Gaeltachta for immersion help and am teaching my two daughters (Moira and Elizabeth) Irish, both for their knowledge and to help me practice. We make sentences for everything that we can. Sort of "Eng-rish", lol.. half Irish, half English sentences if we don't have the vocabulary, so to reinforce the grammar, if nothing else.

I've sifted through some of the forums, here, and already know that this site (being representative of its members) is going to be such a great help in my studies. I do hope I don't harang ya'll too often!

My sister and I are planning a trip to Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, next year and my plan is to be comfortable enough to understand spoken Irish. Next on my list is Welsh, but... we'll see.. that one looks a doozy, lol!

Thank you all and best to you!

Croeso! (Oops, that's Welsh) I mean Fáilte romhat isteach ! (You're welcome in!) 欢迎！欢迎！

Feel free to harangue us anytime.

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[hr]Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher[/hr]
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

Dia dhibh! Is anyone resident in Dublin interested in meeting to speak Munster Irish?

Donal

Dia daoibh, gach duine! Is mise Meaghan, agus tá mé i mo chonaí i Saskatchewan, Ceanada. Bím ag foghlaim Gaeilge ar feadh...erm...cúig nó sé bliana anois. Thosaigh mé ag seinm ceol na hÉireann (an fheadóg agus an fheadóg mhór), agus is amhránaí mé freisin; agus ba mhaith liom tuiscint cad a bhí mé ag canadh. Bhí mé ag smaoineamh faoi beith i mo mhúinteoir in Éirinn...leithscéal maith chun an teanga a fhoghlaim! Anois, tá an eacnamaíocht ró-dhroch agus ní cheapaim go bhfaighinn post ann, ach bainim ró-shult as chun cealú ag foghlaim. Chaith mé cúpla seachtain i nGleann Cholm Cille an samhradh seo caite--bhí sé go hiontach! Ach anois is mise oifigeach na Gaeilge sa craobh Comhaltais i Saskatoon...is mise an duine agus tá Gaeilge is mó agam, ach amháin an "t-uachtarán"; ach, mar is féidir leat a fheiceáil, tá mé ag foghlaim fós! Bíonn sé iontach deacair chun beith ag labhairt as Gaeilge le daoine anseo, agus tá gach áit agus "seachtainí Gaeilge" nó cúrsaí mar sin i bhfad uaim. Buíochas do TG4, RnaG agus an idirlíon!

Hello, everyone! I'm Meaghan, and I live in Saskatchewan, Canada. I've been learning Irish for...erm...five or six years now. I started playing Irish music (whistle and flute), and I'm a singer, too; and I wanted to understand what I was singing. I was thinking about teaching in Ireland...a good excuse to learn the language! Now, the economy is too bad and I don't think I'd get a job there, but I enjoyed it too much to stop learning. I spent a couple of weeks in Glencolmcille this past summer--it was awesome! But now I'm the Irish Officer for our Comhaltas branch in Saskatoon...I'm the one with the most Irish, except for our president; but, as you can see, I'm still learning! It's been really hard to speak Irish with people here, and every place where there are "Irish weeks" or courses like that is really far away. Thank goodness for TG4, RnaG and the internet!

Meaghan

(Wow...re-reading this, the English bit sounds kinda stilted (not going to comment on the Irish...)...just trying to keep the Irish sentence-structure I started with!)

Dia's Muire dhuit, a Mheaghan. Is é do bheatha isteach. Is trí mheán an cheoil agus an Chomhaltais a thosaigh mise ag foghlaim na Gaeilge freisin. Seinmím ar fheadóga stáin agus ar an bhfeadóg mhór freisin, agus tá cúpla ceol agam ar an bpíb uilleann freisin. Bhí mé ag teagasc na Gaeilge sa tSeapáin ar feadh roinnt bliana (le m'fhoghlaim féin ar ndóigh) agus bhí buíon ceoil traidisiúnta againn i dTóiceo darb ainm Éirí na Gréine.

Hi, Meaghan. Welcome in. I got into Irish through (the medium of) music and Comhaltas too. I play tin whistles and flute too, and I have a couple of tunes on the uilleann pipes. I was teaching Irish in Japan for a few years (for my own learning, of course) and we had a trad band in Tokyo called Éirí na Gréine (The Rising Sun).

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[hr]Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher[/hr]
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

Thank you all for your welcomes! I apologize for my delays in responding.


The story that I understand is that my grandfather came from Glasgow, Scotland to Galway, Ireland. His mother's last name was Russell and his father was a Dutchman named Scmid. My grandmother's family lived north of Galway around the towns of Tuam and Dunmore, and though they were Cunninghams, which are rooted in Scotland, they had lived there for generations and were considered, and considered themselves to be, Irish. My grandfather met my grandmother in Galway city where he was working as a painter and she as a housemaid. At some point, they both moved back to Dunmore, where both my Uncle Russell and my dad were born. When they emigrated to the United States in 1945, our name got changed from Scmid to Smith.

My mom's side of the family has a long history of living in Ireland and are scattered across the entire nation, but my mom herself was born in Kilkenny. Her maiden name, incredibly, was MacGabhann, which also means Smith. Other surnames from her side include Driscoll, Riley, Fox, and Kelly (among many others). She came to the United States in 1942 when she was only 3 years old.

Hello from Boston,

My name is Jason and I am very new to the forum, although I have asked for some translation help. Thank you to everyone who has contributed. I apologize for skiping this step.

Recently I have started to explore my family history and found my Grandmother Healy who was born here in Massachusetts was Irish/English and both of her parents had the Healy sir name. Her Father's family was from Cornwall, unfortunately I have almost no information on my Great Grandmother Healy (the Irish side).

I have always been interested in the music and history. I would love to begin exploring the language.

Welcome Jason,
Healy is a common name in North Mayo.
If your Great Grandmother was from that area she was almost certainly an Irish speaker.

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It is recommended that you always wait for three to agree on a translation.
I speak Connemara Irish, and my input will often reflect that.
I will do an mp3 file on request for short translations.
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Thank you for the welcome.
I would love to be more connected to my family history. My Grandmother was not connected to her Irish heritage, to hear my mother and uncle speak of my Great Grandfather he was not a very nice man. In some small way I think my Grandmother would smile down on me if I could learn the language

S'mae Pawb! I've made the migration from IGTF to join you all here and very pleased to do so. A bit of background for those who don't know me. My Mom's family is from Northern Ireland (Carrickfergus and Bangor) and my Dad's family is from the Scottish Highlands (I've just found out). So I'm Celtic through and through.

I first came to IGTF as an Irish learner years ago and soon found I loved Welsh. So went forward to pursue a degree in that language. To that end, I recently returned from Wales after doing a joint honours degree in Welsh and Medieval History with a focus on Welsh history from about 1240 to 1450, although my dissertation was on a period much earlier than that. My all time hero is Llywelyn ap Gruffudd - last true Prince of Wales.

To the mods: If you'd like to add Welsh to your translations for Gaelic section I'd be please to drop by and respond to anything there.

Glad to be here with all of you!