Easy-to-Learn
"Talk sometimes in a foreign language, not to forget how bad you know it."
- Boleslav Paszkowski
Languages
SCOTTISH
GAELIC
1270 - 1305
Sir William Wallace was a Scottish knightwho became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence.
Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in September 1297.
He was appointed Guardian of Scotland and served until his defeat at the Battle of Falkirk in July 1298. In August 1305, Wallace was captured in Robroyston, near Glasgow, and handed over to King Edward I of England, who had him hanged, drawn, and quartered for
high treason and crimes against English civilians.
Since his death, Wallace has obtained an iconic status far beyond his homeland. He is the protagonist of Blind Harry's 15th-centuryepic poem The Wallace and the subject of literary works by Sir Walter Scott and Jane Porter, and of the Academy Award-winning film Braveheart (1995).
English
Gaelic:
Transcription:
Dialogue 1
Gaelic: - Tha e fuar an-diugh.
[ha ɛ fuər əNʲˈdʲu]
English: - It is cold today.
Please meet William Wallace, a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence.
Being a true Scotsman, Wallace wore a kilt without undergarments.
He must have been freezing... there.
The climate of Scotland is temperate, and tends to be very changeable, but not normally extreme.
Choose one the following phrases to describe the weather in your country at the moment.
It is warm
Tha e blàth
[ha ɛ bla:]
It is wet
Tha e fliuch
[ha ɛ flux]
It is dark
Tha e dorcha
[ha ɛ dɔrɔxə]
William: - Halò! Is mise Uilleam Uallas.
You: - ......./e.g. good evening/! Is mise ............
William: - Ciamar a tha sibh?
You: - ......... /e.g. I am well/ C..................... fhèin?
William: - Tha mi gu math, tapadh leibh.
Ciamar a tha an t-sìde an-diugh?
You: - Eh?
Let's talk to Willam Wallace
about weather.
It's boring, I know...
But I don't care.
The Gaelic phrase "Ciamar a tha an t-sìde an-diugh?" means
"What is the weather like today?
You cannot use "tha e..." to answer this question,
because "e" is a personal pronoun used for he or it (masculine).
In Gaelic the word "weather" - sìde [ʃiːdʲə] - is feminine,
so here you need to use "i" (she/it faminine) instead.
Ex.: Tha i fliuch
English
Gaelic:
Transcription:
It is dry
Tha e tioram
[ha ɛ tʲirəm]
It is sunny
Tha e soilleir
[ha ɛ sɤLʲɪrʲ]
Ok, let's try again
Dialogue 2
William: - Ciamar a tha an t-sìde an-diugh?
You: - ....................... /e.g. it is sunny/
Now, let's make your life more complicated.
You can put glè (very [gle:]) in front of fliuch, blàth etc.
to emphasise the adjectives.
NB: glè causes lenition of words beginning with
b, c, d, f, g, m, p, s and t
Lenition is an initial consonant mutation which "weakens" the sound of the consonant at the beginning of a word.
See how it works:
It is very cold
Tha e glè fhuar
[ha ɛ gle: uər]
It is very warm
Tha e glè bhlàth
[ha ɛ vla:]
It is very wet
Tha e glè fhliuch
[ha ɛ gle: lux]
It is very dry
Tha e glè thioram
[ha ɛ gle: xʲirəm]
It is very dark
Tha e glè dhorcha
[ha ɛ gle: γɔrɔxə]
It is very sunny
Tha e glè shoilleir
[ha ɛ gle: ɤLʲɪrʲ]
English
Gaelic:
Transcription:
Now, let's try one more time.
Don't forget about the gender of
the word "weather" in Gaelic.
Dialogue 3
William: - Ciamar a tha an t-sìde an-diugh?
You: - ....................... /e.g. it is very wet/
William: - Mar sin leibh an-dràsta.
You: - .... /e.g. see you/
English
Gaelic:
Transcription:
It is cold
Tha e fuar
[ha ɛ fuər]
UNIT 2: Weather