On Mon, 26 Jan 2004 22:58:13 +0100, Einde O'Callaghan
<einde.ocallaghan@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>Mark wrote:
>> In my (as of yet) limited Irish, I actually know these words.
>> Again "spelling" the Irish in english, I've heard
>> "Thank You" as "gara ma ha gus"
>> and other phrases ending with "at you" said sometimes as ah-gus and
>> sometimes as ah-gut.
The phrase "Go raibh maith agat", which means "thank you very much" as
you say above is pronounced differently in different places in Ireland
but the standard way of saying it is "Go row my ah-gut"
>I'm not sure where you heard this, but the "t" at the end of "agat" is
>more like the English voiceless "th" than the English "t" let alone an
"s".
>
>Having been fluent until I left Ireland I've now lost most of my Irish,
>but I still know what it sounds like and can think of no dialect where
>"t" is pronounced anything like "s" by a *native* Irish speaker.
There are words that have 'Ts' at the beginning, due to case
inflections, that sound like that. In my experience in Ireland the
word "agat", was always said "ah-gut" or even "hoggut" but the sound
"agus" is another word...it means "and".
>> I'd just like to learn and not be laughed at whilst in Ireland. I've
>> been 5 times now and I'm arranging to go back shortly (in the west and
>> north-west region).
>>
>I don't know why anybody would laugh at you if you attempted to speak to
>them in irish - unless they themselves couldn't speak the language. most
>people appreciate attempts by strangers to speak their language.
Quite right. Go for gold, don't let anyone put you off.
Nik
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