Irish & Scottish

Like other non-Latinate languages, Irish & Scottish Gaelic can seem quite bizarre to the English speaker--all those 'h's & vowels! The rules for letters & sounds are certainly quite different, but they are fairly uniform. Once you have those down, pronunciation is pretty straightfoward.

Consonants (where different from English. Note: the letters J, K, Q, V, W, X, Y, and Z do not appear in native Gaelic words):
  • b:
    • Irish: like English 'b' ("boy")
    • Scottish: start of word, like English 'b' ("boy"); otherwise, like English 'v' ("vat")
  • bh:
    • Irish: before/after 'a', 'o', or 'u', like English 'w' ("won"); before/after 'e' or 'i', like English 'v' ("vet")
    • Scottish: start of word, like English 'v' ("vent"); otherwise, like English 'v' ("cave") or 'w' ("away")
  • c: always hard--"cat"
  • ch: gutteral 'k'--"loch"
  • d: 
    • Irish: before/after 'e' or 'i', like English 'j' ("joy"); otherwise, like English 'd' ("day")
    • Scottish: start of word, like English 'd' ("day"); before/after 'e' or 'i', like English 'j' ("jet"); otherwise, like English 't' ("cat")
  • dh: before/after 'a', 'o', or, 'u', like a gutteral 'g', no English equivalent; before/after 'e' or 'i', like English 'y' ("yet")
  • fh: silent
  • g: 
    • Irish: start of word, like English 'g' ("get"); otherwise, like English 'k' ("take")
    • Scottish: always hard--"get"
  • gh: before/after 'a', 'o', or, 'u', like a gutteral 'g', no English equivalent; before/after 'e' or 'i', like English 'y' ("yet")
  • mh: 
    • Irish: before/after 'a', ''o' or 'u', like English 'w' ("went"); before/after 'e' or 'i', or at the end of a word, like English 'v' ("van")
    • Scottish: start of word, like English 'v' ("vent"); otherwise, like English 'v' ("cave") or 'w' ("away")
  • ph: like English 'ph'/'f'
  • s: before/after 'e' or 'i', like English 'sh' ("shin"); otherwise, like English 's' ("sun")
  • sh: like English 'h'--"hay"
  • t: before/after 'e' or 'i', like English 'ch' ("chin"), otherwise, like English 't' ("tin")
  • th: like English 'h'--"hay"

Vowels (long vowels are generally indicated with an accent. Nice & easy.):
  • a:  short like in "cat", or long like in father
  • e: short like in "pet", or long like English 'ey' ("hey")
  • i: short like in "pit", or long like English 'ee' ("feet")
  • o: short like in "pot", or long like in "cope"
  • u: 
    • Irish: short like in "cup", or long like English 'oo' ("boot")
    • Scottish: short like in "crude", or long like English 'ewe' in "crewed"

Digraphs & trigraphs:
  • ae: like English 'ay' ("tray")
  • ao: like English 'ee' ("tree")
  • aoi: like English 'ee' ("tree")
  • ea: like short English 'a' ("cat") or 'e' ("pet")
  • eo: 
    • Irish: like English 'oe' ("toe")
    • Scottish: like short English 'o' ("pot")
  • eoi: like short English 'o' ("pot")
  • io: like short English 'i' ("pit")
  • ui: like short English 'i' ("pit")

Examples:
  • Irish
    • Aoife (f)--"EE-feh"
    • Bébhinn (f)--"BEY-vin"
    • Daithí (m)--"DAH-ih-hee"
    • Ruaidhrí (m)--"ROO-ah-ree"
  • Scottish
    • Beathan (m)--"BEH-han"
    • Eilidh (f)--"AY-lee"
    • Seóras (m)--"SHAH-ras"
    • Máiri (f)--"MAH-rih"


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