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Post Info TOPIC: Pronouncing Irish Places by Michele Erdvig


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Pronouncing Irish Places by Michele Erdvig
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Michele Erdvig
ezOP
Posts: 2217
(3/2/04 7:01 pm)

Pronouncing Irish Places


Hello Everyone,

I thought you all might enjoy a thread for the pronunciation of Irish Places. I will start it off with the places that are commonly mis-pronounced.

Galway: Gaul-way
Sligo: Sly-go
Glendalough: Glen-da-lock
Achill: Ack-ill
Ardara: Ar-dra
Drogheda: Draw-hed-a
Youghal: Yawl
Oughterard: Ooch-ta-rad
Roscrea: Ross-cray
Portlaoise: Port-leash-a
Laois: Leash
Cliffs of Moher: Cliffs of Mo-her
Cahirciveen: Care-her-sa-veen
Cashel: Cash-el
Cahir: Care
Cobh: Cove
Avoca: A-vo-ca
Dun Laoghaire: Dun Leery

Have fun!

Michele




mldmv
Posts: 6
(3/2/04 9:30 pm)

Pronouncing Irish Places


Great idea Michele!

So is Bunratty really Bun- ratty?:D

I would never of guessed Cobh was pronounced Cove.




twanda49
Unregistered User
(3/2/04 11:53 pm)

Pronouncing Irish Places


Great idea, Michelle! My favorite pronunciation is Youghal. Naturally, a West Texas gal would approve of what y'all have done! :rollin
Marsha



pegoode
Registered User
Posts: 8
(3/3/04 6:48 am)
 
Re: Pronouncing Irish Places


Thank you. Since I've started researching for our trip, I find myself often wondering how to pronounce things. How about Kenmare and Kinsale? I'm afraid it may not be as obvious as I thought.
Pam



gillespie
Unregistered User
(3/3/04 7:07 am)
 
Pronounciation


You said Cobh was prnounced cove....is the "o" a long sound....or short sound like cuv??



Clodagh Ni 
Posts: 3
(3/3/04 8:51 pm)

Re: Pronounciation



Quote:


Portlaoise: Port-leash-a




There's no "a" on the end, it's just port-leash.

Kinsale is pronounced as it is, Kin-sale

Bunratty, is indeed Bun-ratty

Cobh is ko-v, a short "o"

Youghal is just like the american "y'all"



Michele Erdvig
ezOP
Posts: 2228
(3/4/04 12:34 am)

Re: Pronounciation


Hi Clodagh Ni,

Thanks for your input! Actually I have heard Portlaoise pronounced both Port-leash-a and Port-leash on the radio. Were they having me on?

Now I'm going to guess that Clodagh is Clo-da. How close did I get?

My all time favorite mispronounciation is my husband's of Youghal. It was something like Yo-gulls. Now maybe that is because he's from Brooklyn. Perhaps he was greeting sea birds. :rollin

Michele

P.S. Clodagh, who or what is Mariska?



Clodagh Ni
Posts: 7
(3/4/04 7:39 am)
 
Re: Pronounciation


Bang on with the pronounciation of me name, Klo-da.

I've seen Youghal butchered beyond belief so nothing would surprise me anymore. It's a toughie. The best one I heard was "yog-heel":rollin

Portlaoise is only pronounced Port-leash-a by the older natives. If you call it Port-leash-a, it will be assumed that you're from there or have relatives there.

The Mariska thing is a silly private joke, sorry, I didn't realise it was still up there. It's gone now:D



wojazz3
Registered User
Posts: 379
(3/4/04 11:40 am)

Re: Pronouncing Irish Places


Great work Michele, but there if you could edit and point out where the accent lies in each word it would certainly help me. A notorious version of wrong accents are the seemingly easy to pronounce Donegal, but few Americans would realize at 1st glance that the accent is on the last syllable. The musician Gerry O'Beirne (we like to consider ourselves cousins but it's probably only in some primordial ooze sort of way) always makes a joke about how we all pronounce that county/town. He likes to say it with a drawl, which is pretty amusing from an Irishman.

Bill



Clodagh Ni
Posts: 8
(3/4/04 11:51 am)

Re: Pronouncing Irish Places


The only other way I think she could have spelled Donegal phonetically is Dunnie-gall.

The rest of them are absolutely spot on.

You don't need to sweat the pronounciations, we won't throw stones at ye if ye get them wrong, and the best way to learn is to hear it from the mouths of the Irish people when you go.




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"Ireland Expert"  Michele Erdvig

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