I just wanted to tell some of the minor problems (which may turn into major ones in the future!) I face in my workplace. My 25 team mates are Irish except for Iwasaki (I hope he is of no relative to the protagonist of 'Memoirs of Geisha', in real life - Mineko Iwasaki ). Anyway my first task was to familiarise with the names of my team mates. The irish names, written as something and pronounced as something else were(are) difficult for me. For eg: Dublin in written as
Baile Ãtha Cliath and Athlone is Ath Luain, in Irish. Me and hubby have funny time, trying to spell and pronounce irish name boards, while we travel. For eg: we had a fight over Inis OÃr which turned out that both of us were wrong(which actually meant 'golden island' , an island which is part of Aran Islands). I know Irish ppl must be laughing their heart out when we try to pronounce words in the same way as we read english.When I first talk to any one, I just try to get their name written in English as they pronouce in Irish. It turned out to be very helpful,cos I will recite it again and again, so as to avoid embarassment both for me and for them. So my team mates include:
Aine - "awn + ye" my version:'aye-yin'
Ciaran -"care + in" my version:'see-ya-ran'
Ciara - "kee + ra" my version:'see-ya-ra'
Aidan - "aid + on" my version:'aye-dhan'
Eoin - "ow + en" my version:'ee-wo-yin'
Niall -"nye + al"
my version:'nile'
..and the list is incomplete…
In fact I am surprised that my name is pronounced corerctly by them 'swa-thi'… impressive!!!
Now isnt it odd that Ireland in irish is written as
Éire ???…and I am still studying….and it seems I have to never stop it..
The Irish speak funny too.... thier accents must be the second most teased characteristic(after their love for drinking)....in fact if done right,thier accent is down right hilarious like Willy the Groundskeeper in The simpsons....but can also be exotic if spoken like William Wallace in Braveheart!!
ReplyDeleteI'd get confused too. :P (Jerome's fiancee is part Irish... as well as Genesis.)
ReplyDeletejust lemme know how they pronounce Manu !...
ReplyDeletewell the name u have given din seem so much of a fuss other than Aine !...
Take care !
*karthik-- i know irish are 'famous' for their drinking.. but i have seen pure veggies and non smokers here.. including my landlord!
ReplyDelete*lisa--i didnt know THAT!!!!!oh!!!!!!!!
*manu---they would prefer to call u cheeeze.. i really had trbl cos i said ciara as 'see-ya-ra' and eoin as 'ee-wo-yin' and ciaran as 'see-ya-ran' and aidan as 'aye-dhan' and aine as 'aye-yin' LOL!. may be cos i was not so familiar with foreign names!!
yup swathi this is another challenge to b faced when we travel out of our country .......
ReplyDeleteYeah... I don't know Trish's full heritage, but Genesis (on the a-hole's side) is part Irish & Scottish.
ReplyDeleteLearning another language is always fun.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed like anything while learning Tamil :-)))
Definitely confusing... but i guess with time you will get the hang of it. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteIt should be quite interesting to learn another language. As a couple, u will have more fun swathi.
ReplyDeletedo u understand them when they speak? reading i can understand is difficult...how about their accent?
ReplyDeletedoes the name ithee mean anything????:)
ReplyDeleteI am surprised to know about irish. but i guess you must be having lot of fun while learning. What would be your name in Irish ?
ReplyDelete*pradeep-- yes, u r right!
ReplyDelete*lisa--i never thought that hole was irish...
*chandra--i will never learn irish..its always trial and error :-)
*sab--yea, may be after 3-4 yrs!! thanks!
*sekhar--yea,we have our own funny versions ;-)
*roshan--if i cant understand,i ask them. but if i tell a name wrongly, its unpardonable, i would say!
*orange--welcome, to my page! ithee..i dont know, i will ask them! ;-)
*piyush---they call me swa--thi,with alot of stress on 'thi'.