Lets learn Gaelic I say! But what's the first step? The accent. YIKES! I know. But thankfully this will only take up one of my posts. So many things go into learning the Irish accent. For starters there's so many Irish accents! There's the North Dublan Irish accent. The "th" will turn into a "d" sound, and the "Ir" will become "oor". There's also the South Dublan Irish accent which is the same thing but more mixed with American phrases. So they'll say things like, "Oh my Gods", "Hellos!", and "Totallys!". There's also the stereotypical lepricon of American media, but never mind that. The one I will focus on is that of Northern Ireland. Hence, the actual place Gaelic originated.
So the Northern Ireland accent is quite similar to the North Dublan. You bring every phrase up at the end like a question, and you use all of the front of your mouth. For me I had to first go to the English accent and then slide to the Northern Ireland. Since I am American, its just easier that way. The same as North Dublan, the "th" is "d", and the "ir" is "oor". In this accent, I always feel like I am using my nose like the voicing is coming straight out from in between my teeth and my nose. It's also kind of like I am using my head voice, where everything is breathier and not as bright as the American accent.
It's kind of funny if you witnessed me attempting to learn this accent. I would be in the cafeteria repeating phrases over and over, changing the shape of my mouth, and making so many annoying noises to sharpen the phrase that my friends thought something was wrong with me. Their first words to me were,"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?". I think you can imagine their reaction when I said I was learning Irish.
So many things go into learning the Irish accent. It's so hard! But it's the first step to getting the language right, so I am determined to do it.
Go to the Youtube links below if your interested in learning any Irish accents. I encourage you! It's fun!
I will post a video of my Irish accent soon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9SApeProCY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2PHch4IPPQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fch8MqqhQw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNukOsD7Nuc - This one is where I got most of my info :)
Wow! I hope you cmplete your mission in learning Gaelic. With your expanded laguage diversity, do you plan on visiting Ireland and sharing what knowledge you have acquired? Also, what other endangered languages do you plan on learning after Gaelic?
ReplyDeleteHey stanley :D Thank you for the encouargement :) and actaully YES :D I'm thinking of goiing on a mission trip to Ireland. Mrs.Heckert has introduced the career in Linguistics :D I'm thinking about it :)
DeleteGoing to Ireland would be great since your learning the language. Also, Irish is very different to learn considering all of the variations of pronunciation, but I think your doing great!
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