Will's Class

Announcements

The Occasional Book Thing

Next meeting July 15, I'll try to get the Wilder room again. Work on Chapter 2 of Eilis.

Last Time (June 10) (back to top)

Fun Expressions

We looked at several items, one being, "Ná déan paidir chapaill de", don't make a horse's prayer out of it. When a horse is so tired or worked so hard that it falls to its knees (as if in prayer), it is likelly to be there a good while. So a horse's prayer is long, and this is saying, "Don't make a long drawn-out story out of it," or more simply, "Don't make it into a big deal.

Audio

We had a very brief listening session from the national headlines in Ireland. The subject was that Trump was in Ireland, and if the weather were to be good enough for him to play golf, he's stay the day, otherwise he was leaving early.

Alice

We then worked through the first chapter of Alice. The pattern was:

read a paragraph aloud
translate
review for interesting grammar, vocabulary, or translator decisions

We just barely finished by 8:30, and the work was excellent. There were lots of grammar and style points to consider, and people seemed to think this was a decent approach.

Quick Comhrá

We didn't have time for a full blown Cén scéal, but we learned that Glenn is combining his passions for science fiction and Ireland in a trip in August, Kerry will be heading to Killarney about the same time, and Maureen is considering heading to Montant to reinforce her Munster accent.

Homework for July 15

Do your best with the second chapter of the Alice translation.

Last Time (May 13) (back to top)

Superstitions

The first of May, or Bealtaine, has a lot of lore and superstitions, many of which were collected by those intrepid school kids in the 1930's, and a few of which we looked at in class. Lots of good advice, like Nlligh d’éadan sa drúcht le héirí gréine agus ní dhófaidh grian an tsamhraidh thú, that is, wash your face in the dew at dawn and the summer sun will not burn you.

Comhrá

After these longer breaks between classes, there are always plenty of stories to catch up on! Nicely done by the group.

Dracula

We did a quick run through of the two versions of Dracula's letter, one an original unabridged translation, one for teenagers. The unabridged version was not just a little more complicated, it had an old-fashiolned feel to it.

And this was Glenn's cue to pull out the paperback version (English) he bought decades ago for less than a dollar!

Article: Blasket

We just barely got through the entire article on the death of one of the last people from the Blaskets. Students admirably worked from the original web article when I screwed up the paper handout. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the article was the presence of some really stiking Munsterisms, the author wasn't worried about the Standard forms at all.

Comments and questions are welcome via e-mail