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"