Gaelic is much harder phonetically than English! "Once you know the rules" I used to live in Gaeltacht and no one could even describe what these "rules" were. No offense, but JEEZUS.
Never mind what dogboy says, Leesh is a pretty good approximation. [My first language is Irish so he cant accuse me of being a 'brit'] And approximation using english phonemes is the best you can expect since Irish has many more sounds than english. One does not, for example, have changes in intervocalic consonants in english the way one has in Irish or Spanish.
And the following with english pronunciation in [brackets]
Worcester [wooster], Gloucester [gloster], I read [reed]/ he read [red], I lead [leed]/ he lead [led], StJohn [sinjin], Magdalene [mawdlin], ..............
So it's probably fair to say that many languages do not pronounce some words the way they are written. No need for us to get too precious about it
I agree, Breandan. It's virtually impossible for someone to assimilate and reproduce perfectly the pronunciation of another language without spending many years of total immersion in that language and culture. The best he can hope for otherwise is a reasonable and understandable approximation, which natives of the country concerned are usually happy to accept without adverse comment, and perhaps with praise. A member of my family has been living in Flanders for a few years now with total immersion in Flemish - she works in a hospital. Her Flemish is fluent (even thinks in it), but even so she admits her pronunciation is still not that of a native speaker.
A good example of being precious would be an English person say "Paris" using a native Parisian's pronunciation of "Paris", when having a normal English conversation in England. I've heard it done.
However, I am grateful to Dogboy for that concise and informative explanation of how to pronounce "Laois", but I must say that the Irish people I know appear to be unaware of it. They just say "Leesh".
Pronunciation
Pronunciation
Could anyone give me an idea of how to pronounce "March of the King of Laois"? I'd hate to say it wrong. Thanks!
# Posted on May 8th 2006 by TJ
Re: Pronunciation
"Laois" is pronounced "Leesh".
# Posted on May 8th 2006 by lazyhound
Re: Pronunciation
Wow. I never would have guessed. Thank you very much!
# Posted on May 8th 2006 by TJ
Re: Pronunciation
Irish spelling looks strange and apparently doesn't bear much relation to pronunciation, but in fact it is a more logical system (once you learn the rules) than English. It all arises out of the fact that Irish has only 18 letters in its alphabet, so various combinations of letters have to be pressed into service to cope with all the different sounds.
A few websites to give you a bit more help:
http://www.standingstones.com/gaelpron.html
http://www.utm.edu/departments/english/everett/496pron.htm
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/irish.htm
# Posted on May 8th 2006 by lazyhound
Re: Pronunciation
A Trevor a chara, Dia dhuit agus go raibh maith agat!
Lovely to catch up with you on Saturday. Sorry you're so busy. Hope all goes well with your music. We'll get a session next time I'm over. Promise!
Brianx
# Posted on May 8th 2006 by briantheflute
Re: Pronunciation
"A more logical system than English"? What are you on?
# Posted on May 8th 2006 by Farr
Re: Pronunciation
Almost any other language has more logical pronunciation than English! Cough bough hiccough though through tough thought ...
# Posted on May 8th 2006 by Bren
Re: Pronunciation
...thorough, if you don't say it with an American accent
# Posted on May 9th 2006 by Dow
Re: Pronunciation
Try danish (language): angstskrig {cry of anxiety}
# Posted on May 9th 2006 by fiel
Re: Pronunciation
Hmm,
"Laois" is pronounced "Leesh".
Some Brit wrote the above and it's absolute crap (and clearly written by someone who has no understanding of the Irish language).
Try to say "laze", but then bring your voice upwards towards the word's ending.
Ah, but you're not Irish, so why the feck should I care?
# Posted on May 9th 2006 by Dogboy
Re: Pronunciation
Gaelic is much harder phonetically than English! "Once you know the rules" I used to live in Gaeltacht and no one could even describe what these "rules" were. No offense, but JEEZUS.
# Posted on May 10th 2006 by Farr
Re: Pronunciation
Never mind what dogboy says, Leesh is a pretty good approximation. [My first language is Irish so he cant accuse me of being a 'brit'] And approximation using english phonemes is the best you can expect since Irish has many more sounds than english. One does not, for example, have changes in intervocalic consonants in english the way one has in Irish or Spanish.
And the following with english pronunciation in [brackets]
Worcester [wooster], Gloucester [gloster], I read [reed]/ he read [red], I lead [leed]/ he lead [led], StJohn [sinjin], Magdalene [mawdlin], ..............
So it's probably fair to say that many languages do not pronounce some words the way they are written. No need for us to get too precious about it
# Posted on May 10th 2006 by breandan
Re: Pronunciation
I agree, Breandan. It's virtually impossible for someone to assimilate and reproduce perfectly the pronunciation of another language without spending many years of total immersion in that language and culture. The best he can hope for otherwise is a reasonable and understandable approximation, which natives of the country concerned are usually happy to accept without adverse comment, and perhaps with praise. A member of my family has been living in Flanders for a few years now with total immersion in Flemish - she works in a hospital. Her Flemish is fluent (even thinks in it), but even so she admits her pronunciation is still not that of a native speaker.
A good example of being precious would be an English person say "Paris" using a native Parisian's pronunciation of "Paris", when having a normal English conversation in England. I've heard it done.
However, I am grateful to Dogboy for that concise and informative explanation of how to pronounce "Laois", but I must say that the Irish people I know appear to be unaware of it. They just say "Leesh".
# Posted on May 12th 2006 by lazyhound