Bríd Mhór wrote:
I saw ham being made on "How's it's Made" recently, not the most appetising.
An Lon Dubh wrote:
This is a difficult one, even in the Gaeltacht there is a lot of variations.
You can find four possibilities:
(i) The English word, altered by Irish phonology and grammar.
(ii) An Irish translation of the English word.
(iii) A coined term, made by one of the official bodies.
(iv) A traditional word for the idea that isn't commonly known.
Now, (ii) and (iii) can coincide, although they often don't.
I've found that for animals, plants (or aspects of nature) not native to Ireland, native
speakers often accept and say (ii)/(iii).
For technology it's really (i) they use.
The real area of contention though is when there was a word that younger native speakers have
forgotten. For instance for anatomy many younger speakers don't know the original word for
spleen, let's say. They won't use a coined term, since they find it unnatural, but they will use
the English word. However I've met older speakers who would prefer if you used a coined term
instead of the English term. (Or course they'd prefer you to use the original word.)
So it's a complicated issue.
That's the thing, it is actually way more complicated than I had thought.
On a recent visit to Gaoth Dobhair, a native speaker who now teaches/lectures in Dublin said that if an Irish word exists, Irish speakers should choose it over the English word when speaking Irish, but many often don't.
It was the first time that I ever heard anyone suggest that the non-Gaeltacht speakers were doing something 'better' (probably not the correct word to use) than the Gaeltacht speakers. Up until now, we often just accept that whatever is done by native speakers in the Gaeltacht is the best in every aspect. I certainly believe it to be true in most cases, but I am thinking that in this instance, the native speaking teacher in Gaoth Dobhair has a point.
I also asked another fluent speaker while in Kerry last week and his response was simply, "How is a Gaeltacht speaker supposed to learn new terms?" His point was that the English terms are readily available everywhere and the Irish terms are not. Most English speakers do not have a dictionary in their home and neither do Irish speakers. In his view it is natural to use the term you know, regardless of which language it is in.
I think it is a really interesting situation. I was really looking forward to the feedback here!
_________________
Is foghlaimeoir mé. I am a learner. DEFINITELY wait for others to confirm and/or improve.
Beatha teanga í a labhairt.
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