So my friend who knows a little Gaelic and I were testing how good our small talk was (which we soon learned was terrible) but we kept noticing that we pronounced the same words differently.

If we said hello (dia duit) I would say it like Deeah huit and she would say something like deeah dwitch or something like that, I don't remember.

So I assume this has to do with dialects? She learned some from her mom and learned off Rosetta Stone Irish. Does anyone know what dialect Rosetta Stone uses? Or is Rosetta just wrong? Thanks!

Not sure about Rosetta Stone, but yes, there are different dialects. The main ones Ulster, Munster and Connacht.

Thanks! Just making sure I wasn't totally wrong or anything. Poking around the internet I found other sites that said things like I do, now only if I can figure out the dialect....

I google searched what dialect the Rosetta Stone teaches, and my suspicions were confirmed: it's written in Caighdeán, the standard written dialect of Irish, which is actually a combination of the three main Irish dialects. I've noticed a lot of 'newer' lesson plans follows this format. So, in a way you're learning a bit of all three of the dialects FromIreland mentioned Caighdeán pronunciation is based on the Connacht dialect, so your friend's mom might speak either the Munster or Ulster dialect which would explain the differences in your pronunciation.

I grew up speaking Gaeilge and Welsh as my family are immigrants. The Irish side comes from Tramore, Waterford (far South) and from Teelin, which is a Ghaeltacht speaking area in the West of County Donegal. I would pronounce it 'dee-ah gwwit'- the W is far in the back of the throat, almost rolled.

I'm not sure where the Rosetta stone is pulling it's language from as I have not heard it before- but there are many dialects of Irish just as there are many dialects of Welsh, Spanish, French etc. Keep practicing and working hard at it though, it's great that people want to learn the language and keep it alive. It's a hard language to learn but very beautiful.

Hello! I teach Irish dance and I also teach a little Gaelic while I teach. I learned all my Gaelic from bitesizeirishgaelic.com The owner, Eoin(Owen), has thousands of words on his site. Each word is written in GAELIC, then written in PHONICS, then every single word has his own VOICE RECORDING to be sure you are pronouncing it correctly. Eoin and his wife Sasha live in Limerick Ireland and are absolutely wonderful! He has also posted videos I have taken of my students speaking Gaelic to show even the little dancers can have a conversation. Because I support Eoin and his wonderful site, he said anyone that wants to sign up that mentions my name gets a discount! Even if you only sign up for a couple months, it's so worth it! My name is Amanda.

Hey ive been learnin irish since primary school...we ave 2 know the different dialects for our tape test for leaving cert so we can understand..i speak the munster dialect...i think you are speaking the donegal dialect....how do you say "how are you" in irish???

Hello,
Gaelic Rosetta Stone ? I have never heard of it. Where did you get that? I asked at B&N and the lady thought I was kidding.
Thanks!

I'm pretty sure I bought it online, but I think they call it "Irish" as opposed to "Gaelic" I think.

madseason wrote:

I would pronounce it 'dee-ah gwwit'- the W is far in the back of the throat, almost rolled.

That's how I pronounce it also, learned from a teacher who said he spoke "good Munster Irish". (!) I've heard others pronounce "gwit" as "ditch" or "gwitch".

Someday I really should get back to Irish. Decades ago I signed up for an Irish course at a nearby college, met some Irish dancers in the process...and that was the end of that. At the time I reasoned I wasn't getting any younger and should dance while I had the chance, and I'd go back to learning the language after I hung up my shoes. Hasn't happened yet!

Well I hope someday you go back, it's such a beautiful language

Just as a side note...if anyone is looking for other learning materials, sometimes "Gaelic" books/kits/etc. are actually Scots Gaelic, and not Irish. A friend of mine bought a "teach yourself" Gaelic kit (wanting to learn Irish), but it turned out to be Scots Gaelic, so she gave it to me, as that's the language I've been studying.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but in Ireland, I think the language is referred to as "Irish", or "Gaelige" but not "Gaelic"...and in Scotland it's called "Gaelic" (pronounced as GAH-lic, not GAY-lic).

^ The first dictionary I ordered turned out to be Scots Gaelic. Oops.

QueenOf_TheDance wrote:

Well I hope someday you go back, it's such a beautiful language

It is indeed. My students are fascinated every time I say even one word in Irish. Maybe I could cue them to start by counting in Irish? Say hello and goodbye in Irish? Hmm.....