A language learners’ forum

I am going to visit the Dingle peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland, in November, and I was curious if anyone on this forum has been there. I've read that Dingle is part of the Kerry Gaeltacht, and I am curious as to how much Gaelic you can hear in the streets of Dingle. Any good tips about things to see and do are of course also welcome.

I am not planning to learn Gaelic (for the time being ) but who knows, maybe my visiting there will inspire me to play around a bit with Celtic languages (as happened some years ago when I visited Isle of Skye in Scotland) - at least I will try to learn how to pronounce correctly the Gaelic I am sure I will come across during my five days in Dingle.

I've been to the peninsula a few times. Business in Dingle tends to be conducting in English, but lot's of people can speak Gaelic. If you go further west you'll find Gaelic as the community language. I didn't speak a word of English in Ballyferriter or the surrounding area.

If you manage to find some music events there, concerts or sessions, you can probably hear some Irish songs (if nothing else).

Then you have An Fhéile Bheag Filíochta (The Little Poetry Festival) November 6-8. Lectures, workshops and more.

From the website:
"While the festival is run through Irish, poems in any language will be welcome." (my emphasis)

jeff_lindqvist wrote:If you manage to find some music events there, concerts or sessions, you can probably hear some Irish songs (if nothing else).

Then you have An Fhéile Bheag Filíochta (The Little Poetry Festival) November 6-8. Lectures, workshops and more.

From the website:
"While the festival is run through Irish, poems in any language will be welcome." (my emphasis)

Thanks for the tips, Jeff. I am going at the very end of November, so I will miss the Poetry Festival, but I am sure there must be some music events taking place, at least some pub sessions. From what I've read Dingle is one of the best scenes for traditional music in Ireland.

By the way, can you recommend some free, legal material on the web for learning how to pronounce Gaelic? I've been searching a bit, but so far I haven't seen anything very useful. I am looking for something like a guide to pronunciation with examples you can listen to.

Yeah, the music scene is probably good down there. I don't know if any of the Begleys still live there, but if there's a gig with say Brendan, Seamus or Cormac Begley, don't miss it.

How much Irish do you have? And which material have you used so far?
There is this computer-voiced tool called http://www.abair.tcd.ie/ which is OK. Just enter a text string and voilà.

http://www.focloir.ie/ is a dictionary with audio.

Other than this, I focus on the accompanying audio to the material I'm using (Gaeilge gan Stró). There is no widely accepted standard pronunciation in Irish (a good and natural thing, in my opinion). Model your way of speaking according the people you meet or the accent you like.

Hope this helps!

I am back from my visit to the Gaeltacht, and I have written about it over here in my log. It was a great experience, and I hope to go back there soon.

Jeff, I hardly know any Irish, but I learnt a few phrases when I was there. Although I would really love to learn Irish, I do not think I will find the time right now, which is a pity, because a visit like that really awakens your interest in a language, and adding a Celtic language has been on my list for some time.

Edit: I see I wrote that I was going at the end of November, but I meant the end of October

Alright, I'll have a look at your log!

Thanks for taking the time to tell us about your stay in Ireland, I enjoyed reading it. But now I have a question for you or your wife. How do I go about finding more youtube videos in that style, of Irish songs with lyrics in Irish? Those would be a great supplement to my Irish studies.

Hi tangleweeds, I cannot really give you any other tip than searching on youtube. If you do a search on "Na Casaidigh", which is the group that sings the song in the clip I posted, you can find other songs in Irish by them, and normally Youtube will give you recommendations for similar kind of music by other artists as well. When you go to the song I posted, "Trasna na dTonnta", in Youtube you will get recommendations for Irish songs by Clannad, Mary Black etc.

By the way, here is a nice video I found of the Dingle peninsula and the town. No comments, just music and images: