Steepholm's Dream Diary: 1

[steepholm]

I was with a party of monoglot Welsh speakers, taking the train through Ireland deep into the Gaeltacht. Finally we pulled up at a village station, the name of which no one, Irish or Welsh, had the least idea how to pronounce. Most unsettling.

Comments

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not a monoglot Welsh speaker, just a fluent learner, but I can't pronounce Irish place names from reading a sign.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Have you read DWJ's Tough Guide on that subject, btw? Irish is second only to English in its orthographical inconsistency. Welsh is bliss by comparison.

But I should confess that I'm a monoglot myself. Despite diligent attempts to learn German, French, Welsh, Latin and Esperanto, I can speak only English.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I had forgotten the details of the PanCeltic Tours entry, but I've just re-read it now.

Most syllables in the written form of Scottish and Irish Gaelic seem to be surplus to requirements and have, presumably, been added simply to foil non-native speakers. :)

The more or less phonetic way of writing Welsh leads to other pitfalls though. Firstly, unless you're going to impose the same dialect and accent on the whole country, it's not possible to have both a standardised spelling and a phonetic orthography. Secondly, it makes it possible to be able to read a passage perfectly fluently, and yet have not the faintest idea of what you just said!