The GaelMinn Gazette: October, 2013 http://ezezine.com
THE GAELMINN GAZETTE (#101): October, 2013
==========================================
The GaelMinn Gazette, a monthly e-newsletter from Gaeltacht Minnesota,
carries helpful items for anyone studying the Irish language, anywhere,
as well as news of interest to local and regional students.
Please FORWARD this newsletter to any friends who may want to learn
Irish. And if you received this Gazette from someone else, go to
www.gaelminn.org to sign up.
To read this newsletter as a web page, go to
www.gaelminn.org/lastgaz.htm .
Content (C) 2013 Gaeltacht Minnesota
CONTENTS
==========================================
Tips, Tools, & Tricks
The Imperative-Past Connection
GaelMinn News & Announcements
Lessons Learned
How To Learn To Learn
About Gaeltacht Minnesota
*******
TIPS, TOOLS, & TRICKS
==========================================
----------THE IMPERATIVE-PAST CONNECTION
When you look up a verb in an English-Irish dictionary, finding a way
to use it immediately can help it stick in your head. Fortunately, the
form you find in most dictionaries comes "ready to use".
Witih very little effort, you can use the new word to give an order,
and to talk back.
Look up the verb "drink" and your first option is likely to be "ól".
Now, that basic, root form is also exactly what you need to give an
order (to one person), that is, it is the singular imperative form.
That means that as soon as you see that word, you can use it in a
command. You could say, "Ól!" ("Drink!") or "Ól é!" ("Drink it!"). WIth
the exception of the large De Bhaldraithe dictionary (and the old
Dineen dictionary), pretty much all of the smaller dictionares you
might use, including online versions, will give you the verb in this
imperative form.
(Again, this is the singular form, ordering more than one person to
drink would be "Ólaigí", but we'll leave you to work on those details.)
One of the great things about Irish is that once you have that
imperative form, you are very close to the past tense:
* If the verb starts with a consonant that can be lenited, lenite it
and you are done. So if you find the verb form "ceannaigh" ("buy"), the
past will be "cheannaigh".
* If the verb starts with a consonant that can't be lenited, you
already have the past form. The order "Nigh!" ("Wash!") looks just like
the past tense, "nigh" = "washed", because you won't show a mutation
for the "n". (This also applies to some combinations that cannot be
lenited, even if the inital consonand could be. So you can't turn
"stad" into "shtad", it remains "stad".)
* If the imperative starts with a vowel, add D' in front of it. "Imigh"
in the imperative becomes "D'imigh" in the past.
* Verbs beginning with "f" follow both rules! First, you lenite the
"f", and then you put "D'" in front of it. "Fan" ("Stay!") becomes
"D'fhan" ("stayed").
So here's where the "talking back"comes in. When my kids were young,
sometimes I'd tell them to do something only to get the response, "I
already did it, so there!" You're going to do something similar.
Let's go back to the English verb "Drink!" You look that up in the
dictionary and find "ól", so you give yourself the order, "Drink it!":
"Ól é!" But then you talk back to yourself, "I drank it already!":
"D'ól mé é cheana féin!" (or "D'ól mé cheana féin é!")
Don't worry about the rest of the command (drink what?), or of the past
tense sentence, too much. Just give the command and response. Look up
"start" or "begin" and you'll find "tosaigh". Give the command --
"Tosaigh!" -- and then answer that you've already started -- "Thosaigh
mé!"
Do this regularly when you look up verbs and, by using them
immediately, you'll find them easier to remember. What's more, you'll
get a lot of practice giving orders, and using the past tense. That's a
lot of learning for an activity that will only take a few seconds each
time you look up a verb in the dictionary.
*******
GAELTACHT MINNESOTA NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
==========================================
----------THANKS, MAEVE, WELCOME NEW STUDENTS
Gaeltacht Minnesota held an "all-class" sesion this week, in which all
three levels work together as one group. We did puzzles, sang a song,
ate cookies ...
We also enjoyed a visit from Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant
Maeve, who has recently arrived from Uachtar Ard to help with the Irish
language courses at the University of St. Thomas. Maeve talked about
her interest and background in Irish and cheerfully answered questions
from our students.
And "our students" included a nice addition of quite a few new
beginners from our recent "Introduction" class.
Thanks to Maeve for helping out, and welcome to our new students!
----------IF YOU LOVE SINGING IN IRISH ...
It is very exciting to hear that a reunion of the group Skara Brae is
on tap for late October, and that they will be touring the midwest and
northwest.
Skara Brae consists of Dáithí Sproule, Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill, and
Maighréad Ni Dhomhnail, all of them outstanding musicians and fluent
Irish speakers. They only get together every few years, so this is a
rare opportunity to enjoy an exceptional performance.
In the Twin Cities, they will perform at the Celtic Junction on Sunday
evening, Oct. 27. More information at
http://thecelticjunction.com/home/skara-brae-in-concert-october-27/ .
Before that, they will be in Milwaukee and Madison. After Minnesota,
they head to Portland, OR and Seattle. Go to Dáithí's site for that
schedule: http://www.daithisproule.com/dates/ .
----------HO HO HO
If you live in the Twin Cities, pencil in Monday, December 16, for our
33rd annual Christmas Dinner. We have not nailed down all the details
yet, but we're fairly confident of the date.'
And don't just check your calendar, check with family and friends. We
all get a lot of support as we put time into learning the Irish
language, and the Christmas Dinner is always a time when we gather
students and teachers and friends and family together just to celebrate
that effort and that support.
We'll have more details soon.
*******
LESSONS LEARNED
==========================================
Sharing ideas we learn from both instructors AND students.
----------HOW TO LEARN TO LEARN
When you undertake a project like learning Irish, you already have
ideas about how "learning" is supposed to take place. But there are
many ways to learn things, and you want to have the right model for
your study efforts.
It is easy to put too much emphasis on memorizing things, for instance.
Sometimes we approach learning Irish the way we learned, say, history:
accumulating a lot of individual items. In this case, the items are
vocabulary and rules of grammar.
With enough "parts", then -- words and rules -- we try to construct
sentences and express ideas in Irish.
That's all well and good, but perhaps a couple of other models can be
even more helpful in guiding your study efforts.
The first model is skill learning, as speaking a language is a
performance. In other words, think about a performance skill you might
have learned -- a sport, say, or dance, or a musical instrument, or
acting. Whatever skill you might have developed successfully in the
past is likely to point to skill-learning practices for your Irish
studies.
For example, most athletic and performance skills involve a ton of
repetition and drill. We repeat movements, or situations, again and
again and again until we can perform the needed action automatically,
without having to think it through.
In learning a language, on the other hand, we often under-utilize
drill. We find the repetition boring, and we think that when we
intellectually understand the rule or pattern we're studying, that is
enough. But it is rarely enough. Without the skills practice, the
intellectual understanding will not produce spontaneous, natural
speech.
The second model worth applying to your study efforts is lifestyle or
behavior change. This is not about the language per se, but about your
habits -- how often and how regulalry you study, how frequently you use
the langauge.
We're talking about the methods you use to, say, exercise more
regularly, or to build other useful habits. You might lay out your
exercise clothes every morning, or take the stairs instead of the
elevator at work.
In the same way, you can look for ways to make sure you "touch" the
language more often. Make sure your homework or drill is laid out for
your next study session, so you can jump right in. Say the Irish
version of the first license plate you see every morning.
Use your experience, with learning skills and building habits in other
reas of your life, to take you beyond simply memorizing words and
grammar. When you take a performance approach, and pay explicit
attention to your study habits, you'll be sure to build your vocabulary
and your understanding of grammar as well.
And you'll be much better prepared to "perform" the language under the
pressure of a conversational situation.
*******
ABOUT GAELTACHT MINNESOTA & THE GAZETTE
==========================================
Gaeltacht Minnesota is a volunteer organization that has been teaching
free weekly classes in Irish for more than two decades. Besides free
classes, we offer several workshops each year, publish a printed
newsletter for learners, and participate in a wide variety of community
events.
The GaelMinn Gazette is distributed to our subscriber list on the 25th
of each month: Will Kenny, editor.
---------- CONTACT US
You can stay up to date with Gaeltacht Minnesota at www.gaelminn.org ,
or drop us a line anytime at info@gaelminn.org .
---------- MANAGE YOUR SUBSCRIPTION