Hi all,

First off, I thank you in advance for taking the time to read my post. I have previously used this forum with great success for my last tattoo. I am looking for the translation to be in "Connacht" dialect. My family is from Ross Common. Please see the below phrase which I wish to have translated (I understand that this phrase is not an Irish proverb (Go Reds), but love the reference and meaning. Also, not sure this matters, but I am looking to do the script in Bunchlo font. Thanks, and I look forward to any available options, ideas, ect…

Walk on, walk on With hope in your heart

As nobody’s responding to help you with this, I’ll give a quick reply.

The Roscommon dialect is now extinct, and has been for a long time. The first president of Ireland, Douglas Hyde, was one of the last speakers of that particular dialect, if I’m not mistaken. As I understand it, the recording of his inauguration is one of very few recordings, if not the only one, of native Roscommon Irish speech. Unfortunately, this means very few people will have the specialised knowledge to be able to give you any translation specific to Roscommon Irish, and I don’t know of anybody who comes on this forum who would be confident in doing so.

If you’re happy with Connaught Irish, which, of the three major dialects still in use, is geographically closest to Roscommon, there are forum users who are proficient in it, but it may be some time before one of them sees this post and is able to help. Feel free to bump it every so often if you’re not getting any responses.

For my part, I can’t give you a Connaught translation, as I’m not from there or particularly proficient with that dialect. However, your requested translation, with its repetition and idiom may defy a dialect specific translation anyhow, unless you’re happy for whoever translates it to take liberties with how they interpret it. With that all being said, here is a relatively literal translation:

Siúil ar aghaidh, siúil ar aghaidh le dóchas i do chroí (spoken to a single person)

OR

Siúlaigí ar aghaidh, siúlaigí ar aghaidh le dóchas i bhur gcroí (spoken to more than one person)

Edit: to correct as per Labhrás’ suggestion.

Siúil … (slender l)



Siúlaigí …

Yikes! That was a blunder. I’d say at least the l was slender in the repetition, only I left the bloody s broad there.



And a sloppy copy/paste job to top it off. I’d better call it a night.

Do any of you think that this form could be used:

Siúil (siúlaigí) ar aghaidh, agus tú (sibh) ag siúl le dóchas i (in) do (bhur) chroí (gcroí)

I know that this kind of avoids the use of the double imperative suggested in the original request (i.e. Walk on, whilst walking with hope in you heart instead of Walk on, walk with hope in your heart), I just feel that this form could perhaps be a little more natural. Though, I could be completely wrong about this entirely.

It would be presumptuous to claim that I - far from being a native speaker - have a good and reliable feeling for the language, but nonetheless, this very feeling says: No, that sounds a bit odd.
I can't explain why. Perhaps this agus phrasing (agus + small clause) is too much a narrative form not suitable for commands. And for a condition (walk on if ...) it is too weak (compared with má ...)

Possible variations are perhaps:
... (agus) bí(gí) ag siúl ...
... (agus) déan(aigí) siúl ...

Go roibh maith agat, a Labhráis,

I felt that this idea was perhaps a bit 'far out there' as I was saying it. I also think that this phrase might just be a little more foreign in general in Irish, especially the 'le dóchas i do chroí' part; I just wouldn't really think of saying something like 'with X in your heart' in Irish, but I'm not a native speaker, so I could just be rambling.