It’s widely known that the predominant language in Ireland is English, spoken with a distinct and widely beloved Irish accent. But have you ever wondered why Irish people have the accent they do? The accent is a relic of Ireland’s past, as this is the accent that modern-day Irish people’s ancestors spoke English with when they learned it as a second language. Indeed, in the past, Irish people spoke Irish, and even today, a significant number of people speak this culturally significant Celtic language.
Most inhabitants of Ireland spoke Irish until around the 18th century, when English steadily took over and pushed Irish to the sidelines. The language remains an important cultural artifact of Ireland, something that brings pride to the island nation, but since English is used so much more widely and opportunities to use Irish are relatively scarce, it’s nonetheless classified as a “vulnerable” endangered language. Not that many companies offer translation services for Irish, but we at TranslationServices.com stand proud as one of the few with a dedicated Irish translation team.
Want to see how much your Irish translation project would cost? Reach out today and request a quote.
Understanding the nuances of the Irish language
Since Irish language classes are a mandatory part of the Irish education system, as many as 1.7 million people claim to be able to speak Irish. However, native speakers of the language number only around 170,000, almost all of whom live in communities on Ireland’s western coast. Irish is divided between three distinct dialects: Munster, spoken in the south; Ulster, spoken in the north; and Connacht, spoken in the center-western region of the country. With Irish seen as an important part of Ireland’s identity, language revitalization efforts are strong.
Irish is a Celtic language bearing a strong resemblance to Scottish Gaelic. The language employs a verb-subject-object word order, used only in 9% of the world’s languages. Irish is famous for its unique orthography, with sounds represented by letter combinations that would never be used in other languages (e.g., “bh” can represent the “v” or “w” sound in English, and “fh” is silent). Irish nouns and verbs also undergo lenition and eclipsis, which changes the sound and spelling of words based on the grammatical context. The root letter is always retained, even if not pronounced (e.g., the eclipsed version of banc (bank) is mbanc—the “b” is retained but not pronounced).
Our Irish translations are for any client with any content.
We value flexibility in our translation services. Anyone who needs Irish translation services can access them from us, whether they need to translate from Irish to English or from English to Irish. Both have great use cases. Our team is happy to translate Irish literature, academic notes, or historical documents into English, allowing Irish people to spread knowledge of their culture and language abroad. Our translators will also gladly translate business content, academic materials, books, games, websites, apps, poetry, and anything else into Irish—such translations are a great way to increase people’s opportunities to use Irish, and entertainment content in Irish makes it easier and more enjoyable to learn the language.
These are simply examples of what we can translate. Send us a message and tell us what kind of Irish translation project you have, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.