matt@brl-tgr.ARPA (Matthew Rosenblatt ) (10/23/85)
Mr. JONATHAN QUI reached me by e-mail to ask where to find out more
about the Irish language. The mailer gave me such a woefully truncated
return address that I had no hope of replying by e-mail. Since his
question may be of general interest to net.nlang.celts, I reply here.
Unfortunately, I have not had the time to go about finding genuine
Irish speakers in the Aberdeen-Baltimore area. I am told the way
to do this, at least in major cities, is to look up the local Gaelic
League and talk to them. The Gaelic League started out as an
organization to promote the use of Irish in Ireland. I have a
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history of the League, "Dochas agus Duaineis," (subtitle: Sceal
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Chonradh na Gaeilge) by Aindrias O Muimhneachain (Mercier, Cork and
Dublin, 1974), written (naturally) in Irish. If anyone is interested,
I could post a page or two for language buffs to translate.
My main source of Irish printed material has been a wonderful lady
named Meav Mooney, who runs The Claddagh Shop on Northern Boulevard
in Little Neck, Queens, Long Island, New York. I didn't want to wait
until I had her full address before posting this article, but the
telephone area code up there is 718. The Claddagh Shop is attached
to a restaurant, so it is open pretty much 365 days a year -- I was
there once on Easter Sunday. Mrs. Mooney has clothing, records, and
other items imported from Ireland, as well as books. Call her, and
I'm sure she'll be happy to tell you what's available and what she can
order for you.
If any of you readers is in the Metropolitan Area and has a Queens
telephone book handy, please post the address and phone number of
The Claddagh Shop in a follow-on article. Thank you.
In addition to "Dochas agus Duaineis," I have obtained the following
books from The Claddagh Shop:
1) New Irish Grammar, by the Christian Brothers (C.J. Fallon, Limited,
Lucan Road Palmerstown Dublin 20 Ireland, 1980). This is a reference
work, not a text for learning the language.
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2) Anseo is Ansiud (This and That), subtitled Nua-Chursa Gaeilge, by
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A. O Dubhghaill (published by C.S. O Falluin Teoranta, whose address is
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Bothar Leamhcain, Baile Pamar, Baile Atha Cliath 20, Eire). This is
a set of three paperbacks, each 60 to 80 pages long. The first (pink)
volume recounts incidents in a child's life (such as getting up in the
morning, dinner, the rabbit in the garden, the television), in very
simple Irish, with an illustration at the start of each lesson and
fill-in-the-blanks or answer-in-Irish exercises after that lesson's story.
Far from all the words are listed with English equivalents, so one should have
a native speaker or a dictionary close by. The second (yellow) and third
(orange) volumes go over the same type of incidents, but the stories get
longer and the Irish progressively more difficult (the illustrations are
still there, though).
3) A picture dictionary of Irish for children. I don't have the title
handy, but this is a folio-sized hardback such as one sees in English
(and, in Canada, in French -- we have one in French, too) in the children's
department of bookstores. My oldest son had great fun with this.
Other useful books:
4) Teach Yourself Irish, published by McKay. This little light blue
paperback is a great way to start, and I've seen it in chain stores like
Walden Books, or B. Dalton, in shopping malls.
5) Dictionaries: The big ones are published by the Irish government
publishers. I got mine from The Dictionary Store on Fifth Avenue, across
18th Street from Barnes and Noble, in Manhattan, for $35. The store features
dictionaries of almost any language you can think of, at exorbitant prices.
The $35 was for Irish-English only -- the English-Irish would have been
another $35! You might be better off having your bookstore order direct
from Ireland.
-- Matt Rosenblatt
(matt@amsaa.ARPA)
Aberdeen, Marylandsingleto@unc.UUCP (John Singleton) (10/25/85)
> Other useful books: > > 5) Dictionaries: The big ones are published by the Irish government > publishers. I got mine from The Dictionary Store on Fifth Avenue, across > 18th Street from Barnes and Noble, in Manhattan, for $35. The store features > dictionaries of almost any language you can think of, at exorbitant prices. > The $35 was for Irish-English only -- the English-Irish would have been > another $35! You might be better off having your bookstore order direct > from Ireland. A smaller dictionary is published by Talbot Press, Dublin (compiled by , , , Micheal O Siochfhradh). It is small (5" x 7", about 300 pages, hardback) but contains both Irish-English and English-Irish and should be helpful to beginners. I obtained mine several years ago from: S. F. Book Imports, P. O. Box 526, San Francisco, CA 94101. I don't remember what it cost but it was certainly less than $35. Check BOOKS IN PRINT or a local bookstore to see if it's still available. -John John Singleton singleto@unc decvax!mcnc!unc!singleto -- -John John Singleton singleto@unc decvax!mcnc!unc!singleto