Speaking personally only I think my brain has gotten to the stage that it is too old to learn another language. I can't progress with Welsh, and I have put a lot of hours into it. My brain is swisscheese.


Redwolf, why don't we go chat on skype, you, me, and maybe Braoin.
I know we have the wrong dialect for you but it might give you a chance to practice without pressure.
I think you may be freezing up because you are putting too much pressure on yourself to be perfect. Take Faber's advice, he has achieved a lot in a very short time. (After a few hours he did understand me )

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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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conas tánn tú Redwolf, mo shean-chara. Rossaí anso. Conas a bhí tú ó shin? You are one of the loyalest of Gaels I've ever encountered.

You can't practice a conversation. You either have one or you don't. There are things you say in English that are incorrect according to some. Does that that bother you? Of course not! You don't focus on it when you are communicating. If i corrected every grammar mistake in West Kerry, I'd have been thrown out years ago. The months of the year are in English, the numbers are in English, words for the football even are in English...." An All- Ireland" jesus the home of football!

I understand completely what you mean. You've got to ignore yourself, if that makes any sense. I know you can't be drunk every time you want to speak Gaelic but it does help, cos you don't care then. You just want to celebrate. Focus on your vast learning and what you feel of it....and speak that and fuck mistakes...make them and so what... speak it...don't practice...speak it. Scaoil amach í a chailín mar is gnáthach dhuit.

Hi Bríd,

Hen post, wi'n gwybod, ond allaf helpu ti?

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Pegi
Well behaved women seldom make history
My Welsh is good, my Irish is just beginning.

Diolch yn fawr Pegi.
I might start again soon.

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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.
___________________________________________________________

My fiancé is a native welsh-speaker, and I'm trundling along at the Gaeilge. We're hoping to have trilingual babies

If you do, people learning Welsh have said great things about this site to me:
https://site.saysomethingin.com/communities/welsh-for-english-speakers/pages/home-cyen

Maybe you already know it.

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The dialect I use is Cork Irish.
Ar sgáth a chéile a mhairid na daoine, lag agus láidir, uasal is íseal

I made more progress with that course than any other. It's a great course. But the fault is with my head, too old to learn new languages.

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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.
___________________________________________________________

Redwolf, I agree with you. I have the same problems and it's not fear of making a mistake. I make so many each day, it's routine. When I speak Irish at a gathering, the more I speak, the more tongue-tied I get. It seems I get worse with practice.

I actually cracked the code a bit, on a very, very rainy day in Gleann Fhinne:

http://www.bitesizeirishgaelic.com/blog ... o-fluency/

My guess is that you are just venturing further and therefore as Redwolf mentioned in her blog, the concept/content jumps ahead of your comfort zone.

The most useful thing that I have found is someone who is better than me being happy to correct a little without ruining the flow of the conversation. Encouraging, supportive people who are positively disposed to all efforts of speaking Irish are invaluable. After all, when someone says in English 'there were less people there than I expected' instead of 'there were fewer people there than I expected', we don't get into a knot.

Some of the 'Is leor beirt' groups have a mixture of native speakers, fluent speakers and others at various stages of learning. Fantastic opportunity for a learner.

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