Hello Everything!

I thank you in advance for any help! I am writing a book and one of the main characters is Irish (from Killarney area) and I want to make sure I portray not only his accent but also idioms he'd use in every day conversation. I also would like to avoid any American induced stereotypes of Irish culture. I've been to the area several times on holiday (I'm American, as you've probably guessed) and have a few Irish friends, but they are from Dublin. I've just asked them so much already so I thought I'd give them a break! :lach:

I'm not going to try to write out his accent with impossible spellings and misplaced accent marks. I hate when authors do that and its such a pain trying to figure out what the character is saying. But I would like to use phrases common to the County Kerry area. To give a quick background of my character, Declan: He is a teenage prince (modern day kingdom, long story. :lol: ) who speaks very formally 90% of the time (never uses contractions) and only relaxes around his closest friends. He is kind and brave, but can often come across as arrogant, since he's use to life as royalty. He is now a refugee in America.

Here are my questions:

1.) Would it look wrong if I had him use an Irish word in an english sentence. (i.e. "You are my buanchara." or "Yes, múinteoir." And please correct me if I'm using these words wrong.)
2.) Does buanchara work for a very dear friend you'd cherish forever, not a lover.
3.) I know when talking to a group of men you can say "lads" what about a group of girls? (teenage girls)
3.) Can anyone give me a general list of idioms someone from County Kerry would use or where I could find a *real* list of them. (i.e. How are you? How he'd refer to his mother and father. I currently have "mum and da" but have seen a few people mention "ma and da". How he's respond if he witnessed something shocking and frightening. How he's try to tell something everything is going to be okay...)

Thank you again for any help! I really appreciate it!

C. Borlain

cara buan or cara dílis would be better.



lasses? (but isn't it Scottish?... I don't know actually)



How are you is "conas atánn tú" in Kerry Irish.

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

I think this sort of thing happens naturally enough. A specific example that comes to mind is "Muise, Tim, a mhuirnín, why'd you die?" from the song Finnegan's Wake.


Using Lughaidh's cara buan, I think you'd include the mo "my", and the changes it makes, thusly:

You are mo chara buan.


You would apply the vocative case to the interjection.

In the Finnegan's Wake example above, the dictionary form is muirnín "darling, beloved, sweetheart" and the vocative form, used to address someone is a mhuirnín.

The dictionary form "múinteoir" would theoretically become a mhúinteoir, but I think the usual form of addressing a teacher is/was a mháistir "(school) master" or a mháistreás "(school) mistress".

The vocative of cara buan would be a chara bhuan, and the vocative of cara dílis would be a chara dílis.

(Wait for corrections before using any of the above.)

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
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).

Regarding "lads," I think the current practice is to use it similarly to the English "guys," in that it can apply to both sexes. But I'm not sure how long that practice has been in place, or if it's universal.

Redwolf

Thank you very much to all that have replied. All the information is VERY helpful.

Just to clarify, I would need to use something like this:

"Yes, a mháistir."

We have a couple of teachers and native speakers here who could help us with this, but they live in different parts of the planet and log on at different times. Ireland is only just waking up, for example. It will be well worth waiting for their opinions.

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
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).

Sometimes technology is so wonderful! I'm in Hawaii about to GO to bed. My father lives in Dublin and if it wasn't for technology, we'd barely ever get to talk. I'm use to waitin for time zones, so I can be patient and wait for verifications.

In my experience, very few Irish people say 'guys', but a fair few would say 'lads' for both males and female - for example, 'Come on lads' does not really indicate whether you are talking to boys or girls or a mixed group. Lasses or lassies sounds very Scottish as Lughaidh mentioned.

'Mum and Dad' usually go together and 'Ma and Da' form a pair. I associate 'Mum' more with an English connection. Irish people are more likely to say 'Mam and Dad' or 'Mammy and Daddy'. Instead of saying 'my mam', some Irish people say 'me mam' - I don't think your prince would do that though!

However, I'm not from Kerry so there may well be specific phrases from that neck of the woods.

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I think the best way to address a group of girls is by saying 'girls'. I agree that 'lassies' is more Scottish - I've never, ever heard anyone say this in Ireland, but who knows, maybe in some parts. 'Guys' is ok for young men (but is a tad American). Using 'guys' for young girls is 100% American - yes, it's sometimes used, especially in recent years, but we get a huge amount of American TV here (in the same way, a fake 'Friends' - or is it Paris Hilton? - accent has almost become the norm among certain social groups).

Breandán - cara bua??