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Celtic languages

PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 9:45 am
by icelander93
http://www.geocities.ws/reginheim/celts.html

Language: the Proto-Celtic language was of Indo-European origin and descended from the same root as Italic (Italo-Celtic), the Proto-Celtic language was later divided into Q-Celtic (which was spoken on the Iberian peninsula and the British isles) and P-Celtic (which was spoken on the mainland).
Nowadays Celtic languages are only being spoken in the more remote areas of Ireland and Great Britain where they are called "Gaelic", Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic are very similar because the Scottish Highlanders are direct descendants of the Irish.
Examples of some Celtic languages:

(Universal Declaration of Human Rights article 1)
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

Irish Gaelic:
Saoláitear na daoine uile saor agus comhionann ina ndínit agus ina gcearta. Tá bauidh an réasúin agus an choinsiasa acu agus dlíd iad féin d'iompar de mheon bhrthreachais i leith a chéile.

Scottish Gaelic:
Tha gach uile dhuine air a bhreth saor agus co-ionnan ann an urram 's ann an còirichean. Tha iad air am breth le reusan is le cogais agus mar sin bu chòir dhaibh a bhith beò nam measg fhein ann an spiorad bràthaireil.

Welsh:
Genir pawb yn rhydd ac yn gydradd â'i gilydd mewn urddas a hawliau. Fe'u cynysgaeddir â rheswm a chydwybod, a dylai pawb ymddwyn y naill at y llall mewn ysbryd cymodlon.

Bretons(Spoken in northwestern France):
Dieub ha par en o dellezegezh hag o gwirioù eo ganet an holl dud. Poell ha skiant zo dezho ha dleout a reont bevañ an eil gant egile en ur spered a genvreudeuriezh.

Re: Celtic languages

PostPosted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 11:24 am
by Filidh
Here's how you'd pronounce the Irish, roughly. Scots Gaelic has a slightly different pronunciation, being closest to the Ulster dialects but further away from southern and western ones.


Saoláitear na daoine uile saor agus comhionann ina ndínit agus ina gcearta. Tá bauidh an réasúin agus an choinsiasa acu agus dlíd iad féin d'iompar de mheon bhrthreachais i leith a chéile.

Show*(1)lah-tch*(2)eer na dj*(3)ayn-oola sheer agus cahv-eenann ena nee-nit agus ena gare*(4)tchah. Ta bween ray-shoon agus an kh*(5)oin-sheesah-koogus djeed eedj fayn djompar dje veen vraykhas i leh khaylah.

*1 (as in 'cow', not 'show')
*2 'tch' as a single sound inbetween 't' and 'ch'
*3 'dj' as a single sound inbetween 'd' and 'j'
*4 'are' as in 'stare'
*5 'kh' as the 'ch' in Scottish 'loch' or a hard German 'doch'

edit: Just adding an edit in to let others know that this is, indeed, a verrrrry rough pronunciation guide, and since I've never studied the actual content of the language but only the pronunciation, and that only very lightly, it's just to give an idea rather than be precise. For example, I never learned the differing pronunciation regarding broad and slender consonants.