Braoin wrote:
or why not be helpful and suggest a translation that makes sense yourself?
Well, that sentence suggests that there always **must** be a good Irish version of every phrase in the English language - regardless of whether the words are ever used or not.
A lot of modern terminology is made up purely for the translation industry - and made up by non-native speakers sitting in Dublin. This was pointed out by Feargal Ó Béarra, native speaker of Connemara Irish and academic at NUI Galway, when he complained about "dental hygienist" being sláinteolaí déadach according to the vaunted Coiste Téarmaíochta - when that means, in native Irish, "hygienist with big teeth". They eventually changed the recommended term to sláinteolaí fiacla following Ó Béarra's intervention. And that is just one of many thousands of examples of made-up terms.
On focal.ie you can look up the Irish for AIDS - but I wonder if it has **ever** been used **even once** by **any** native speaker. Siondróm easpa imdhíonachta faighte is what they recommend - but this phrase doesn't exist in Irish...
There are things that just do not correspond to the reality of life in the Gaeltacht. Are there any passenger terminals in the Gaeltacht?
It is no valid objection to say that all languages have made-up terminology - English terms are also invented by "experts" - because in most languages the ones making the terms up are native speakers - and the terms are in use in the native-speaking community.
Terms that are not made up by native speakers and are not in use in the native-speaking community are just not part of the language. I think Bríd says somewhere on this site that microwave is just microwave in the Gaeltacht. Those who say it is oigheann micreathonnach or some such rubáiste - are just wrong. There's no such word. The terms made up have to be ratified by real usage in the Gaeltacht to become valid. Many thousands of junk words are given on the focal.ie website - a website that ought to be closed down by the government.
The key thing is native usage. *If* native speakers says críochfort - a word that appears to be incorrectly formed according to the rules of the Irish language (that method of forming compounds is not productive in the modern language) - then it is a correct word. *If* they say "terminal" - in English - then that is the word - even if it has to be italicised as an obvious loanword.
I do not believe críochfort means anything in Irish - but I am open to persuasion if it can be shown that Gaeltacht natives do use the word, as I don't have independent evidence either way. I suppose the correct approach is to say "which Gaeltacht village is críochfort heard in?"
Braoin said that he didn't hear this word - but came across it in writing - but nearly all writing in Irish is by non-native speakers, using the Caighdeán Oifigiúil, and adopting words out of the dictionary invented by the Coiste Téarmaíochta - and I would guess that many native speakers, if they couldn't find a native word for a concept, would also look up focal.ie and such sources and faithfully transcribe whatever they found there. So it is no surprise that, in writing, the invented terms are found. What was interesting was that Braoin said he hadn't heard the word in Gaeltacht speech...
And if the word is not heard in Gaeltacht speech... it is not a word. Neamhfhocal is ea é.
Passenger terminal could be said as 'passenger terminal' in the middle of an Irish sentence. I believe it is possible to say 'restaurant' in the middle of an English sentence, so the use of loanwords should not be shocking in any language.
Passenger: paisinéir (Munster), paisinéara (Connacht), pasantóir (Ulster), according to Mc Cionnaith.
Control tower = control tower (unless anyone can show that control towers are a) found in the Connemara, and b) called túr rial-anything).