In Scotland Wales and Ireland (UK bit)

[JazzAnnNonMouse]

Is it more common to have a very scottish Welsh Irish name or a more English easily pronouncible one in a say a class of kids?
Does this depend on areas eg close to borders are more anglicised? Or just those with english connections (family possible moves etc)
There are so many names that are so beautiful that I'd never heard of before reading them on here but theyre almost never pronounced how I expected

how would google know how you say h!
The haitch vs aitch thing might well have come from Ireland then! I remember in primary schooo it being a thing that it was only 'proper' to say aitch and saying haitch was common.

I bet none of those names aside from sinead are said how i would try and say them...

Ciara - see air a or kyra?
Grainnes - grain Ness - no idea lol
Meabhs - meaves?

Grainne - Grawn (rhymes with Dawn) ya
Meabh - Meav (rhymes with brave)
Ciara - Keer (rhymes with beer) a

But I have a very fast West Belfast accent, so my pronounciation leans towards that.

Ciara not quite but nearly Kira

Grainne (no s) Grr awn ya - best I can do

Meabh rhymes with grave.

Haha wiggles cross post down south but not too different.

Foggymist I think, mentioned Caoimhe - I would always say Kkee as opposed to Quee (like Queen). I know a few people whose heads are turned with different family members saying it each way.

Because you (presumably? ) speak Irish or at least know how to pronounce thinga are there any other languages across the world that you find easier - are there other languages simular pronunciations? And when reading English if you come across a word you don't know that has say an ais or something with a different irish pronounciation in it does your brain automatically go to the Irish pronounciation or English?

Is the pronouciation vastly different between scottish gaelic and Irish gaelic?

i stumbled on to bbc scotland once and to my amazement I could understand bits of it. to be fair ''bits of it'' is all I could understand if I ''stumbled on to'' tee gee cahurrrrr

BBC N Ireland did an interesting Irish language documentary (I can't speak Irish myself, but it was subtitled) about the links between Irish language and culture and Breton language and culture.

BBC aren't very good at achiving their programmes so that people can view them months/years later!
They often make fantastic programmes that can then never be found again!

I'd find that interesting.

true jazz. Stephen Fry appeared in some Irish language soap opera if I recall. He had one line but he didn't fluff it.

[Grin] how random

Ros na rún:

Is the pronouciation vastly different between scottish gaelic and Irish gaelic?

It varies from word to word, and accent to accent. But a good name example is Mairead, which is Margaret in both languages. In Irish it is pronounced Mah-RADE, but in Gaelic it is MYE-rit.

Similar example: Siobhán and Siùbhan. They're versions of the same name and look very similar, but Siobhán is pronounced She-VON, and Siùbhan is SHOO-ann in some areas and SHOO-van in others.

Rule of thumb for Gaelic is the emphasis is almost always on the first syllable, but I'm not sure of the rules for Irish.

Ok they sound really different to me

Mairéad and Siobhán have an emphasis on the second syllable in Irish because that's where the fada (accent) is.

Gaelic is more similar to Ulster Irish which is quite different to Munster and Connacht Irish. A friend of my from Gweedore, the Ulster Gaeltacht region, went to a stag in a Gaelic speaking part of Scotland. He said they spoke hybrid Gaelic/Irish with the natives all weekend and reckoned it would have been no different to trying to understand a Scots person speaking English in a broad Glaswegian accent.

Regarding languages it's generally "easier" to pick 3, 4, 5 languages once you have a mother tongue and an additional language.

I hear the influence of Scottish Gaelic on my little boy's English vowels, which is interesting as you'd assume English would be his dominant.

I've heard that it's easier to pick up other languages once you've already got 2. I wondered whether anyone had discovered another language they had an afinity for because of the pronunciation similarities. Eg someone who speaks Spanish might find Italian easier than German because there are more words in common etc

It's interesting about your son. Do you find he does the same the other way round? Sometimes using more English pronunciation for Scottish words he doesn't know yet?

Isnt it amazing that the ulster one can be closer in similarities to something spoken in Scotland than a variation down the road!

I think it's easy to forget just how close the north east of Ireland actually is to Scotland. On a clear day you can easily see across to Scotland, it's only 12 miles or so. Whereas Leinster is something like 60 miles away. Still not a huge distance obviously, but I suppose historically it was easier to travel by boat than by road, so it would explain the strong links.

Do you find he does the same the other way round? Sometimes using more English pronunciation for Scottish words he doesn't know yet?

Not really, which is why it's interesting as generally we're English speaking. Oh, and I know you're trying but remember it's Scottish Gaelic or Scots, Scottish isn't a language it's an accent.

Alot of MPs and MSPs take their oath in Scots or Gaelic, that's got to be on You Tube if you're keen.

Jazz
someone who speaks Spanish might find Italian easier than German because there are more words in common etc

It depends really IMO I speak English, and Italian fluently, some Irish, Spanish, some French and in October I'll start Arabic lessons. Italian, French and Spanish are all Latin Languages but are different both in grammar and vocabulary wise. I think it depends more upon the way a language is taught and not which language it is

Well, I speak Spanish and obviously (it seems obvious to me) Italian is much easier. Not saying I can actually speak it but if I catch a bit, I'll remember it. It is a definite head start but there is so much overlap and I've never formally been taught a word of Italian.