Tips On How To Talk To Animals In Irish

Appeler un chat un chat, to call a spade a spade       -  French saying
(Lit. to call a cat a cat)

I always find it fascinating to learn how different cultures incorporate their observations of nature and animals to create often unique proverbs and sayings. The Irish language is a rich source of striking and amusing sayings involving animals, birds, fish and other living creatures.

Respect the Animals
If you meet an Irish speaking farmer and wish to talk about or praise an animal you must always add the  blessing 'Bail Ó Dhia uirthi'.  It is thought that  bad luck ( the evil eye,'drochshúil' ) could befall the animal if 'God preserve her'  ('Bail Ó Dhia uirthi)  is omitted from the conversation about a cow or livestock on the farm.
But if you see a dog in the window of a farmhouse it could be a clue that their is some trickery afoot: 'ag cur madraí ar fhuineoga (lit. putting dogs in windows) is an expression in Irish that means you are bluffing or trying to hoodwink a person. The saying could derive from trying to trick thieves into believing that if the faithful farmer's dog is home then his master is most likely at home too.

Teith! Teith! Call to Cows
Teith as sin! Come/Get back from there! 
Teith : to flee
Useful Irish phrase when calling to a calf or cow approaching your car on a lonely Irish country road.

 'Tseo! 'Tseo! Call to Dogs
Shout a loud 'Tseo! 'Tseo! when you want to 'Shoo! Shoo!' your Irish speaking neighbour's dog out of your house!

 Tórach!Tórach! Call to Bulls
 If you see a 'tarbh dásachtach' (raging bull) it might be a wise idea not to call it over for a chat in Irish. If there are sheep grazing about the field you might like to call them away with the word  'Seabhainín' as you run for safety.

Perhaps 'Tórach' stems from the verb  'tóir' ( to chase, pursue) and is more of a warning to a person that a bull is in hot pursuit!

Know your Birds
You might think that the black raven was being rude to you when he sticks out his tongue, but actually, it is just  his way of communicating to you that it is an extremely hot day

Lá a mbeadh an fiach dubh ag cur amach a theanga, (Lit. a day that would make a black raven stick out his tongue) i.e. an exceedingly hot day

The raven and the grey crow are at odds with each other in the following Irish saying:

D'inis fiach é agus shéan feannóg é, (Lit. The raven says so but the grey crow denies it)
i.e. there are conflicting reports about it

Terms of Endearment
Should you find you're lost for Irish words of love, here are some useful titbits :

Mo lao thú! My Darling!
Smóilín! Little Darling 

Cautionary Note!  Should your  loved one ask what these Irish outbursts mean, do not translate the above lovey-dovey Irish expressions literally. Few English speakers would appreciate the nuances involved in  being addressed as  'You're my calf'(Mo lao thú!) or 'My Thrush! ('Smóilín!)
They might even think you were a 'speig neanta' ( 'a hairy caterpillar' ) or malicious person!

You might cast sheep's eyes at someone when you are lost in love in English. However, when besotted by love in Irish, people might notice that you are casting a wagtail's eye (súil na glasóige a chaitheamh ar dhuine) at the object of your infatuation - your 'beanchealgaire' seductive woman, siren

In love you become a 'glasóg' (wagtail),  or 'gullible person'

If a person is too clinging in love you might hear the following expression involving a 'limpit' rather than 'a leech'.

Ghreamaigh sé dom mar a bheidh bairneach( limpit) ann, he stuck to me like a leech

We get 'butterflies' in the stomach when we are nervous in English, but in Irish we have an expression that literally means 'to knock the butterflies out of someone':

Na féileacháin (butterflies) a bhrú as duine, to crush someone 

I might add that having the butterflies knocked out of you does not relieve your anxiety in Irish or English!

A Bit Fishy
In English, when we say there's a fly in the ointment, we know we have a problem. But you won't catch an Irish speaker talking about flies in that way, no, Irish speakers know that the situation is grave when they hear the words 'Tá an breac sa bainne' or 'the trout is in the milk'. How it got there is another problem!

While trout might be associated with problems, salmon are associated with health and wisdom.
In proposing a toast in Irish you could try this mouthful about salmon:

Sláinte an bhradáin agat, croí folláin agus gob fliuch. (May you have the healthy heart and wet mouth of a salmon)      from  An Béal Beo  p. 82

Well we know that in French calling a cat a cat really means you are calling a spade a spade, so we'll add to that confusion with an Irish cat phrase. This one sums up succinctly that what has been said, done or written is all damned nonsense, i.e. 'Tuar cait is féasóg air! (Lit. Cat shit with whiskers).  In English, we single out a different animal to produce the load of 'codswallop' and conclude that 'It's all bullshit!'

If you have time on your hand or in Irish 'lá faoi tor' (lit. a day under the bush) you might like to try figure out the meaning of the following Irish phrases from their literal translations:

'Na bí do lámh i mbéal an mhadra,' don't put your hand in the dog's mouth
'Giorra a chur ina shuí,' to make a hare sit up
'Muc i mála', a pig in a bag
'An cearc a dhíol lá na báistí, to sell the hen on a rainy day

Ádh mór! Good Luck!

Rud saor in aisce/Free Stuff

Type in any of these Irish Phrases on the free app at www.abair.ie and hear how a maschine posing as a ‘cainteoir ó dhúchas’ (native speaker) might utter the above ‘cúpla focal’. 

You can also download the recording of the phrases entered for repeated listenings on your computer or mobile phone.

Bananas Lost In Translation

POLONIUS

What are you reading, your highness?

HAMLET

Words, words, words.

In my training as a translator I was taught that words matter and that you have to account for the meaning of every word in a sentence. This instuction did not mean that you had to translate word for word. It meant you had to convey as much as possible all the bits of infomation implied or expressed by the words within the given text. Irene Duffy grappled with  some unique challenges in translating into Irish  Amongst Women by John McGahern. On the back cover of the Irish version Idir Mhná we are told that the translator is simply translating McGahern’s English back into Irish from which it originated (...tá sí ag aistriú ‘ar ais’ go dtí an teanga dhúchais ónar síolraíodh é.) Faced with metaphors in a literary text the task of the translator is usually to try and find like-for-like metaphors or failing that to use a simile or reduce the metaphor to its sense. But in Amongst Women McGahern and his characters talk English with a heavy Irish influence which often results in quirky English sentences or expressions but these same sentences when translated ‘back’ into Irish turn out to be just everyday Irish idioms or an Irish way of saying things.

Here are some examples from the novel Amongst Women/Idir Mhná : 

Moran (Main character) - ‘I’d throw it in their teeth,’ is Moran’s angry reaction to the suggestion that he could still claim an IRA pension.  In English we usually throw something in someone’s ‘face’ rather than their ‘teeth’ so this utterance might strike mother tongue English speakers as a strange or novel expression. But Moran is just translating word-for-word the Irish expression  ‘chaithfinn sé suas lena bhfiacla é’ ( I’d throw it up to their teeth).  

Moran - ‘... it’s time for me to beat away’. Here you can see Moran has muddled into his English usage the translation of the Irish verb ‘Buail‘ (beat, hit, strike, etc) which is often used in the context of ‘Buail an bóthar’ ‘to hit the road’ .  In Idir Mhná  the translator simply ‘corrects’ the original and interprets  ‘to beat away’ as meaning ‘to leave’ : ‘tá sé in am dom bheith ag imeacht liom’.

Other characters in the book show the same tendencies to transfer Irish expressions and words into their English usage.

Maggie - ‘They say she’s wild after him,’ ‘Deirtear go bhfuil sí splanctha ina dhiadh.

Rose’s mother - ‘They say he’s no ornament,’ ‘Deirtear nach aon mhaise é siud’

Moran’s brother -’I got broke down.’ Theip ar an ngluaisteán’ 

‘You’ll have to shape up, Daddy.’ 

‘Chaithfidh tú feabhas a chur ort féin. a Dhaidí’

Here the translator could have used the same expression in Irish:

cruth a chur ort, to shape up

It's never a dull task but always a difficult one for a translator to find ways and words to deal with metaphors. Here are a couple of sayings from  Amongst Women/Idir Mhná :

‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’, 

becomes in the Irish version:

‘Is iomaí lá ag an uaigh orainn.’ p. 113, p.76 (Lit. We'll be many a day in the grave')

'nick of time',  becomes 'ar an nóiméad tráthúil' (the opportune moment)

'live and let live' - 'ceart dom ceart duit' (You're right, I'm right)

McGahern's narrative throughout the book is also influenced by the Irish language and his English often hints at non-native usage:

 'black with people' is a literal translation from the Irish of 'dubh le daoine' but for some reason the translator ignores this and goes instead with 'plodaithe le daoine' (crowded with people)

and again:

'Rose put down a big fire' which is the way an Irish speaker using the verb 'cur síos' (to put down) would say it.

English speakers might 'put out' a fire but would more likely  'make' or 'light' a fire.

The translator opted once again to ignore a chance to do a word-for-word translation and rendered it as 'Las Róise tine mhór. (Rose lit a big fire)  p.124

'a bit of a fling' is rendered as 'ceol a bhaint as an saol' (Lit. to draw music from life)

The translator is lost for words when dealing with the phrase 'that sounds bananas to me' and is left with no choice but to convey the sense of a nonsensical saying:

'Ceapaim go bhfuil sé sin seafóideach' (I think that's nonsense/silly)

I enjoyed reading Amongst Women years ago and am grateful to Irene Duffy for the opportunity she gave me to enjoy once again Idir Mhná in her excellent translation.

Scéal gan Dath (A Story without Colour)

i.e. an unlikely story

And one read black where the other read white, his hope

The other man’s damnation:

Up the Rebels. To Hell with the Pope

And God Save - as you prefer - the King or Ireland                

                                               Excerpt from      Autumn Journal by Louis MacNiece

Colours have different shades of meaning depending on context; you can see red, feel blue and go green with envy. An English speaker will know that certain colours are associated with particular moods and states. Red suggests anger, blue is sadness, green is jealousy in the above context. The Irish language has its own unique way of expressing moods and states through the use of colours that is often amusingly different than in English. I have not come across the term  ‘black humour’ in Irish but you can be ‘left black with the laughter’, ‘fagadh dubh leis na gáirí’.  Colours are not so ‘black and white’ in Irish so you have to be careful not to translate them literally. ‘Gorm’ is blue according to the first entry in Ó Dónaill’s dictionary but if we translate ‘daoine gorm’ literally, we end up with a race of ‘blue people’ rather than ‘black people’ as intended. ‘Glas’ as a colour can also prove tricky to translate as it can mean ‘green’, ‘grey’, or even ‘blue’

depending on context. Describing a person’s eye colour in Irish to a policeman as ‘Glas-súileach’ can mean the person was grey-eyed, blue-eyed or green-eyed! The situation gets more confusing when you find that Irish also has the word ‘uaine’ to describe ‘green’ things and ‘liath’  to describe ‘grey’ things. The following phrases and tips might help you become more colour conscious in Irish.

Bán, white

‘Bán’ has many meanings other than the colour ‘white’.

Song snippets:

‘Nach mise a chuirfeadh cluain ar a báncneas mín

Agus bhéarfaidh mé go Tuaifín í grá mo chroí.’         From the song ‘Gardaí An Rí’

Oh wouldn’t I seduce the lady with the skin so fair and fine

And I’d carry you off to Tuaifín, my sweetheart 

‘… ógánach bhán atá cráite (tormented) I do dhiaidh’

A raw young youth yearning madly for you         

                                                                                 From ‘Bean an Fhir Rua’  A song about a young man who is unashamedly in love with another man’s wife 

( the red-haired man’s wife of the song title)  

‘Tiocfaidh mo rúnsearc le bánú an lae’

My darling will come at the dawn of the day          From ‘Tiocfaidh an Samhraidh’

Translating even an apparently simple word like ‘bán’ can have its pitfalls for the unwary translator. In these next two song lines ‘bán’ is used twice in quick succession with different meanings:

‘Ag iomáin ar an trá bhán

Is mo chamán bán I mo dhorn liom’ 

‘Playing hurling on the white strand

 My trusty hurling stick grasped firmly in my hand’     From ‘Airdí Cuan’

An bád bán, the emigrant ship

Páipéar bán, blank paper

Bánghlas, pale green

Mo chailín bán, my darling girl

Ní bán dom tracht air, I ought to mention it. I’d be crazy not to mention it

Tá sé imithe bán ina diaidh, he’s crazy about her, he’s chasing her like mad. 

Béal bán a dhéanamh le duine,  to butter  someone up

Tá saol an mhadra bháin aige, he has a cosy life

Cuirdín bán, wild  parsnip

Feoil bhán, fat meat

Feoil dhearg, raw/red lean meat

Dubh, black

‘Dubh’ as a prefix intensifies the meaning and can equate to words like ‘utterly’, ‘depressingly’, ‘evil’ , ‘dark’, ‘dismal’

Song snippet:

Fuígfidh mise an baile seo mar tá sé dubhghránna…

(Fágfaidh)

I’ll leave this town because it’s so dismal and ugly

Rinne tú go dubh orm é, you let me down badly

Black mark for translation of ‘black’

Beidh an Bíobla sin Liútair ’s a dhubhtheagaisc éithigh…

That bible of Luther and his false black teaching,     line of a poem with translation quoted in A History of the Irish Language

The above translation of the Irish word ‘dubh’ for the English word ‘black’  ignores all the other possible meanings found in Ó Donaill’s Irish dictionary. The translator fails to provide the reader with the true meaning of  ‘dhubhtheagaisc’, which summons up more the connotation of ‘evil teachings’.  The non-standard English phrase ‘black teaching’ is just as meaningless in English as the non-existent terms ‘blue teaching’ or ‘purple teaching’ might be to an English reader.

In Irish you can be left ‘black with the laughter’, ‘fagadh dubh leis na gáirí’.

An Fear Dubh, diúltamid dó, have nothing to do with the evil devil

Faoi dubh na hiongan don bháis, within an inch of death

        (Black dirt of a fingernail)

Níl dubh d’iongan ann, there’s not a scrap in it.

Na dromanna dubha a chur le rud, to utterly renounce something.

Chruthaigh sé (go dubh is go bán) orm go raibh an ceart aige, he asserted (in unmistakeable terms) to me that he was right

Dhiúltaigh sé go dubh agus go bán é a dheanamh, he absolutely refused to do it.

Thug sé dubh is daite dó é, he gave it to him hot and heavy

              (Black and colourful)

Tá an áit dubh le daoine,  the place is packed with people

Las dubh, safety match

Dearg, red

An cosán dearg, the beaten track

Bhí sé ina chraiceann dearg, he was stark naked

Bhí sé ar deargbhuile liom, he was furious with me

Mo dheargnáire iad! I’m utterly ashamed of them!

Feoil dhearg, raw/red lean meat

Feoil bhán, fat meat

D’ól sé dearg é, he drank it raw

Bí an t-ádh dearg air, he was really lucky

Ní raibh aon phioc de fáil de, bán ná dearg, there was not a trace of him to be found.

Scríos dearg orthu! Blast them!

Tógfaidh siad an gáir dhearg, they will raise an uproar (dic.)

Buí, yellow

Buí - Same Word Spelling - Other Meanings

Song snippets:

‘Aithreachas Chathail Bhuí’ 

The Repentance of Grateful Cahill   Title of religious song

Ag altú buí, saying grace (thanks)

Ba bhuí bocht liom cupán tae a fháil,  

I was more than glad/grateful to get a cup of tea 

Buí used as verb:

Thósnaigh na deoch ag buíú agus ag órgú na gcuimhní aige. 

The drink began to mellow and colour his memories.             From   Í Siúd p.123

Bean buí, merry (loose) woman

Diabhal buí, ugly devil 

Tiocfaidh an lí buí air, he will have a fit

(Lit. The colour yellow will come on him)

Buí used to emphasize or intensify meaning of another word:

‘B’fhearr liom go mbeinn chomh folláin léi, má bhí sí sleamhain buí féin.’ ‘I wouldn’t mind being as healthy as her, as she is quiet a slippery one.’

Dath, colour

Is tú an dathadóir!, what an exaggerator you are!

Tá dath ar do scéal,  your story is plausible

Scéal gan dath, an unlikely story

 Níl a dhath air, there’s nothing the matter with him 

Glas, green

‘Glas’ can mean ‘a lock’ as well as a colour. Here we deal with it as a colour.

Glas a chur ar do theanga, 

to seal one's lips; to shut up.

Generally ‘glas’ is used for nature’s greenery and ‘uaine’ is used for man-made green colour.

e.g. Pis ghlas, green peas

e.g. Líne uaine, green line (e.g. Referring to a rail line in the Metro or ‘Luas’ if you live in Dublin and use the light rail system)

Song snippets:

Is iomaí ógánach súilghlas ag tnúth lena pósadh,

there are many starry-eyed (gullible) youths longing to marry her    From An Chúlfhionn/ The Coolin

Súil na glasóige a chaitheamh ar dhuine, to cast sheep’s eyes at some one 

Is glas a shú, it is poor nourishment, it is of little benefit

(Lit. It’s juice is green)

ógánach glas, callow youth                                                                                  

Saighdiúirí glasa, raw troops 

Liath, grey

(Leonadh is) liathadh orthu! Bad cess to you!

In Irish you mix colours to get different shades of colour and meanings.

The short story ‘Siúracha’ uses the colour ‘liath’ in various ways over several pages:

…,Cé go raibh sí ag tabhairt liathshúil eaglach ár dtreo anois agus arís.    From  Í Siúd p.157

…, Although she cast a cold fearful glance in our direction now and again.

…,na súile móra liathghorma lán d’alltacht.  Ibid P.164

…, big light blue eyes full of amazement.

…agus craiceannn liathbhuí tarraicthe tharstu. Ribí scáinte liatha gruaige,… ibid p. 165

…, and sallow skin stretched over them (referring to her bones). Strands of thinning grey hair…

Banaltra óg, buidéal mór liathchorca aici agus olla cadáis.  ibid p.166

A young nurse, carrying a big lilac bottle and cotton wool.

Translations that can leave you wide-eyed

in Amongst Women John McGahern describes his character named ‘Rose’ as having ‘large grey eyes’. He mentions those ‘large grey eyes’ twice on page 24:

Firstly, McGahern tells us … her large grey eyes were intelligent.

In the Irish translation the ‘grey’ colour of her eyes is ignored and we get:  

 bhí clisteacht ina suile móra leathana, (her large wide eyes were intelligent)

Further on McGahern again refers to those eyes:

…except for the friendliness of her large grey eyes.

The Irish translator gets a second bite at the cherry and gets both the size and the colour of the eyes this time:   

…Murach na súile móra liatha a bhí lán le cairdeas aici.     

                                                                                             From Idir Mhná p.42 and  Amongst Women p.24

In fairness, I give another example of a good translation dealing with colour taken from the same book:

‘Michael had become her favourite’ is rendered into Irish as ‘Bhí Micheál ina bhuachaillín bán aici faoi seo.’

And if you felt annoyed by any of the above you might like this colourful phrase:

Ar bhiorán buí bhuailfinn é, for two pins I’d strike him 

Bhuel, seo duit é! (Well, there you have it! ) There’s a lot more to colour than meets the eye.

Colourful Conversation 'As Gaeilge'

Here are a few colourful conversational titbits that could prove useful if you're ever stuck for a word while engaged in the rare art of speaking 'as Gaeilge' to another human being lost in the Connemara wilderness.

In English we can concede that there are two sides to a story but in Irish we use 'fishy' metaphoric language:

Tá dhá thaobh ar an mbád. There are two sides to the boat
Thug sé an eang leis. He got clear away
(Lit. He took the (fishing) net with him)
“Ní hé an té a rinne an bád a rinne an teach.” The guy who made the boat didn't make the house.

And if you're surprised by that then...
Níl guth agam ort, I don’t blame you

Difficulties abound in speaking Irish so repeat the next lines till someone in your household tells you to...  Éist do bhéal! Be quiet!
Ní thig liom guth a chur ar, I can’t say/pronounce it.
                  (voice)
Níl a fhios agam go barainneach. I don’t know exactly.( very useful)
Christmas stocking fillers follow:
Mo dhearmad! By the way! I forgot!
Mó sa mhó, more and more
Measa sa measa, worse and worse
Mó sa chách, most of all
Faoi nó thairis, more or less, thereabouts

Tá mí-shásta leis. It’s awkward to do. 

Agus cogar ...
Ní dhéanfaidh sé spuaic ar do theanga, it won’t do you any harm to say it. (Lit.) It won’t make a blister on your tongue.

But you might stop repeating Irish phrases out loud because:

Níl an iomarca de maith agat, too much of it is not good for you

And although Irish might not blister your tongue it could incite annoyance in others, so learn this phrase to avoid danger:
“Tá ardú ag teacht air,”  
He is getting agitated,

And when you hear these sort of  phrases it's time to act:

Borráiste caca! Load of shite!

Cuir caol ort féin! make yourself scarce!

As you make your escape (agus tú ag tabhairt an eang leat) you might mutter under your breath:

Ní beag a bhfuil ráite, (there is) enough said
Tá a gha ionam. He has it in for me.
        (Spear, dart)
Sutach! brat

Tá seachrán beag air. He’s a bit gone in the head

You might feel disappointed that instead of hearing compliments (e.g. Tá blas agus dath ar a chuid cainte, his speech is clear and colourful.)

You hear instead:
Tá  struip siúil faoi, he is travelling fast

Níl lámh ná cos air, he can do nothing right

Ní fiú seilog é! It’s not worth a damn.
         (Spit)
But others might be more willing to listen to your attempts at speaking 'as Gaeilge' even if you have a blas Béarla rather than the more coveted native Irish accent or  blas Gaeilge. 

Bhí sise ag tabhairt córas dó, She was giving him encouragement, urging him on.

But who cares about peoples opinions; you express indifference to them in Irish mar seo:

Ní cás orm iad. They are of no concern to me.

An inner voice reminds you of the following:

Ní de do mháthair a chuaigh tú mar sin! Céad slán di!
You didn’t take after your mother then! God help her

Níl gean na gnaoi agat ar 'inner voices' and you exclaim ('as Gaeilge' no less!):

Ná bí i do dhuine seafóideach! Don’t be silly!

Ba beag an lua…It would be the rare time…

that you would exclaim in Irish because there are too many Púca na n-adharc, a bugbear in doing so. 

However, is bheag leat an chontúirt go minic, you think little of danger at times.

And for some unknown reason you think of the phrase:

Is ionann an cás an t-éag is an bás. It amounts to the same thing ‘deceased’ and ‘dead’.
Thinking in Irish gets gloomy as another phrase pops into  your head:

Is orm a bhí an crann, I was the unfortunate one (to attempt Irish?) and then you brighten up thinking of all the great phrases in Irish that refer to trees:

Crann clis, penis
(Yes! Irish speakers have them too)

Ar mo chrann atá sé, it’s my turn

An lá a gcuirfidh tú crann air, whatever day you choose,

Dul as do chrann, to fly into a rage

I'm sure there are more phrases with 'crann' but I'll heed the advice that you can..
Dul chun seanbhróg le rud. To go too far with something 

(lit. go to an old shoe with something)

Sin agat é, there you have it

Hope you find the odd 'focal spraoi' (humourous word) in the  above text.

Ní chuireann tharat é sin a dhéanamh, I wouldn’t put it passed you to do so.

And keep in mind that our ancestors never talked in Irish behind anyone's back they talked behind their heads as the following phrase proves:

Ag caint orm ar chúl mo chinn, talking behind my back

                                 (from ceann, head)

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona daoibh! 
Happy St. Patrick's Day To You All!

Bain taitneamh as an lá. Enjoy the day ...and don't be... Bheith sáite sa luaith (ashes), stick-in-the-mud, sit-by-the-fire

Here are a few unusual words of advise in Irish.

On Paddy's Day don't...

Bó a dhéanamh duit féin, to make a beast of yourself.

And if someone is making a 'cow' (Bó) of themselves, let it not be at your expense...

Ná lig do chnámh leis an madra, don’t be imposed upon.

(Literally: Don't leave your bone with the dog.)

When your friend has had one too many you can offer the following explanation in perfect Irish:

Tá se éirithe amach ón gceart, he has gone off his rocker 

Dhúil sé an chíoch bhradach, he inherited his bad qualities from his mother. (Dic.)

(He was suckled at the breast of a thieving hussy. JM)

In your attempt to say all that in perfect Irish you might hear some other wise ass 'Gaelgoire' say...

Cac sé ar na  huibheacha, he made a mess of it  (Lit. He shit on the eggs.)

But you can have the last word with...

Nífidh uisce é, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. (Lit. Water will wash it away)

For more fun Irish phrases click on link to post below.

Is é do lá fómhar é,* It’s your lucky day! 

Rud saor in aisce/Free Stuff

Type in any of these Irish Phrases on the free app at www.abair.ie and hear how a maschine posing as a ‘cainteoir ó dhúchas’ (native speaker) might utter the above ‘cúpla focal’. 

You can also download the recording of the phrases entered for repeated listenings on your computer or mobile phone.

The Islandman ....'bosh and bunk' or 'a masterly translation'?


*  'A greater parcel of bosh and bunk than Flower's Islandman has rarely been imposed on the unsuspecting public.' Flann O'Brien

'Dr Flower is the ideal interpreter...a masterly translation' Professor D.A. Binchy

When I first set out to read 'An t-Oileánach' my objective was to improve my reading and comprehension skills in Irish. I thought I could speed up that process by comparing 'An t-Oileánach' page by page with 'The Islandman', a translation of the book into English by Robin Flower.  But having trained as a translator I found myself more and more critiquing the translation. I revisited a textbook I studied as an undergraduate called Approaches To Translation by Newmark and took note of the following key points to see how the translators of 'An t-Oileánach' dealt with these issues in attempting to translate an Irish 'masterpiece' or 'classic' for an English readership.

In 'Approaches To Translation' Newmark states:

1. The translator  has to assist his reader...not funk the issue by rendering it 'correctly'. p.128

2. The translator must not use a word or phrase that sounds intuitively unnatural or artificial to him. p.129

3. Equivalent-effect principle    ...Thus if the SL (*) author deviates widely from the collocational, lexical, syntactic, metrical, prosodic, semantic norms of his own language, one would expect the TL text to do likewise, and to have the flavour of a translation. p.133

4. Figurative language only becomes meaningful, if it is recreated in the metaphors of the target language and its culture, or, if this is not possible, reduced to its sense.  p.45
metaphors ...view with scepticism. p.89

Assisting The Reader

1. The translator  has to assist his reader...not funk the issue by rendering it 'correctly'.

While I am mainly concerned here with critiquing Robin Flower's translation 'The Islandman', for the purpose of comparison, I have chosen a short excerpt from the original 'An t-Oileánach' and assess how Robin Flower in  'The Islandman' and Barrister & Sowby in  'The Islander' translate this same excerpt. Then I suggest how I might render the same passage, told in the original as a humorous anecdote.

Translating Humour

The Irish pride themselves on their great wit (after all, Oscar Wilde and G.B.Shaw, both Irishmen, are world famous for quotable gems of  wit ). But I doubt that anyone in Ireland, or Dingle or anywhere in the world would fall around the place laughing at a man politely greeting a woman on entering a shop. And it beggars belief that the words  'Good day! Mrs. Atkins' should be described as the 'quip that caused the greatest fun there'd been in Dingle since the Famine'.
The people of Dingle can't have been that hard up for a laugh that a common greeting sent them into hysterics of laughter to the extent that they 'drop stone-dead'! Surely, something has been lost in translation?

Here is the original text:

Craobh de chuallacht strainséartha a b'ea an tigh mór seo, le muintir Atkins, a raibh gach sórt á dhíol ann. Tigh bréa ornáideach a b'ea é. Bhí deilbh mná ar chathaoir idir an dá chuntúirt ann, toirt aon mhná tuaithe inti agus a haghaidh ar an ndoras.
Ar dhul thar doras isteach do mo dhuine gan chiall, bain de a hata ag beannú don bhean.
'Dia is Muire duit, a mháistreás Atkins!' ar seisean.
Sin é an carúl is mó a bhain sult amach i nDaingean Uí Chúise ó bhí an drochshaol ann.
Ní raibh fear ó aon aird istigh ná gur thit fuar marbh le snaidhmeanna gáirí, fir oibre an tí agus huachtaráin chomh maith, ar chloisint chainte an fhir bhaoith dóibh. Dá mbeadh dealramh an iomarca dí air, cad é an tábhacht cad a déarfadh nó a dhéanfadh a léithéid, ach is air ná raibh sé.
 'An t-Oileánach'
 Helicon p.77


Flower's Translation
The big shop was a branch of a company from another part-Atkins's- selling all sorts of goods.
It was a fine handsome shop. There was a model of a woman standing on a chair between the two counters facing the doorway, as bulky as any woman of the countryside.  When my man was coming through the door, he swept off his hat in greeting to the woman!
'Good day! Mrs. Atkins,' says he.
Ever since the days of the great famine no speech has caused so much laughter in Dingle as that. There wasn't a man from anywhere in the shop that didn't drop stone-dead, every one of them, writhing with laughter, shopmen and masters alike, when they heard what the fool said. If there had been the faintest trace of too much drink on him, none of them would have given a thought to what a man in that state said or did; but he showed no sign of it.
 'The Islandman'   p.70


Barrister & Sowbys' Translation
The store was a branch of a foreign firm, where there was every sort of thing on sale.
It was a fine ornate store with a statuesque woman on a chair sitting between the two counters on either side, facing the door. She had the appearance of a countrywoman. When he went through the door the eejit took off his hat to greet the woman.
Good day! Mrs. Atkins
That quip caused the greatest fun there'd been in Dingle since the Famine. There wasn't a person from anywhere in there that didn't drop cold dead in stitches of laughter. So did the shop workers and bosses as well, hearing the talk of this silly man. If he had given the slightest appearance of being drunk, no one would have bothered about whatever he had to say or do, but there wasnt the slightest sign that he had taken any drink at all.
'The Islander'


Both of these translations failed to assist the reader because the translators got lost in a fog of translating words and ignored a key asset to any would-be translator., i.e. common sense.
If someone tells you a supposed joke or 'funny' story that fails to amuse you in the least, a common response would be to ask the question 'What's so funny about that?' Humour is a funny thing, get one word wrong or rush the punch-line and the joke falls flat. Both translators got caught out in translating the words 'deilbh mná', words which were crucial to get right if the incident was to be considered at all humorous. Another great asset to a translator is a good dictionary and Ó Dónaill's Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla provides excellent definitions and a wealth of contextual examples of usage.

According to Ó Dónaill 'deilbh' can mean:
1. frame, figure; shape, appearance.
As an example of usage he gives, 'Is brea an deilbh fir atá air', he is a fine figure of a man
2. weaving: Warp
3. = Dealbh
Now what interests here is the third meaning, so off we go again in search of further clarification and meanings. 'Dealbh', in turn, means  'statue'; an example given is dealbh chinn, bhrád, bust, head

Flower renders 'deilbh mná' as 'a model of a woman', and has her 'standing on a chair' and then describes her as 'bulky as any woman of the countryside' and confirms that it is definitely  a woman we are talking about here by 'correctly' rendering 'ag beannú don bhean' as 'in greeting to the woman!'


Barrister & Sowby render 'deilbh mná' as 'a statuesque woman' and have her 'on a chair'. Now comes an awkward grammatically incorrect sentence construction. The placement of 'sitting' after 'chair' implies the 'chair' and not the woman was doing the 'sitting' and also 'the counters on either side' begs the question- either side of what? But the real issue here is, that, just like Flower, they confirm that the story involves an actual person- a woman and not a statue or shop mannequin : 'She had the appearance of a countrywoman. ... the eejit took off his hat to greet the woman.'

If we translate 'deilbh mná' as 'a statue of a woman' and do not get sucked into translating 'correctly'
'ag beannú don bhean' as 'in greeting to the woman!' there is a chance we might get the humour of the author. Tomás Ó Criomhthain is a storyteller, not a writer, and in his book he does not necessarily dot every  'i' and cross every 't' in talking about his life. He assumed that it was clear that this story was about his brother-in-law saying hello to 'a statue of a woman' (deilbh mná),  He did not think it was necessary to  repeat 'deilbh mná' in the phrase 'ag beannú don bhean' to emphasize that point. What other 'woman' would he be talking about if not the 'deilbh mná'? But the story makes no sense and is devoid of humour if the reader is left in any doubt as to whether the author means 'a statue of a woman' or  'a woman'- an actual person.

Point 2.  Figurative language only becomes meaningful, if it is recreated in the metaphors of the target language and its culture, or, if this is not possible, reduced to its sense.

drop stone-dead, writhing with laughter

There are certain collocations that we associate instinctively with laughter and if we examine these two phrases there is something decidedly odd about them. Both phrases are connected with fear and painful experiences rather than laughter. If I had to make up a sentence with 'drop stone-dead', the first one that springs to mind is:

e.g. He dropped stone-dead with fright

If set as a multiple-choice question on correct word collocation which phrase would you choose?

a)writhing with laughter
or
b)writhing with pain


The phrase in the original Irish text is 'thit fuar marbh le snaidhmeanna gáirí'

So can we follow Newmark's advice and recreate in English find a metaphor or phrase that strikes us as similar in sentiment to the original. Yes! We have the phrase 'nearly died laughing'.

And we also have 'stitches of laughter' corresponding to 'snaidhmeanna gáirí'
'Thit' is past tense of the verb 'to fall', so we could say 'fall about in stitches of laughter'

Flower ignored all of these options and created unnatural phrases that broke another rule set down by Newmark; i.e. The translator must not use a word or phrase that sounds intuitively unnatural or artificial to him.

Barrister & Sowby went for a literal word-for-word translation of  'thit fuar marbh le snaidhmeanna gáirí' with 'drop cold dead in stitches of laughter'. Once again you have 'unnatural' sounding phrases.

The Principle of Equivalent-Effect: Syntax and Grammar

I remember seeing the simple sentence 'Yes, mother, I have three' translated into seventeen Indo-European languages  to show at a basic level their similarities  in syntax and lexicon.
Irish was not on that list, not out of prejudice but because all of those languages belong to Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) languages whereas Irish belongs to a tiny minority of languages in the world that use the structure Verb-Subject-Object (VSO). Other reasons for not including Irish are:

'Yes' -  no one-to-one corresponding word
'have'- no one-to-one corresponding verb
'three' - In Irish you have to know if 'three' refers to people or objects
'mother' - you must use 'a' before 'máthar' in the vocative case in Irish

It is obvious from this simple example that the unique characteristics of the Irish language will challenge even the best of translators. If the translator is to achieve the goal of 'equivalent-effect'  s/he must not be lured into rendering slavishly the syntax, lexicon, figurative language, or punctuation used in the original Irish. If the author of the original text uses grammatically correct plain ordinary language then the translator must do likewise .

What's wrong with this sentence from Flower's translation?
Ever since the days of the great famine no speech has caused so much laughter in Dingle as that.

'Ever since'... and a negative subject, in this case 'no speech' are not usually lumped together like this in standard English.

Change a couple of words and the sentence begins to appear more like English:

Not since the days of the great famine has a speech caused so much laughter in Dingle as that.

Another odd thing is the use of the word 'speech' to translate 'carúl'.

Even if you don't know Irish,  you do know that 'Good day! Mrs. Atkins' is hardly a 'speech'.

Barrister & Sowby do better at translating this sentence, though they could have referred to 'Good day! Mrs. Atkins'  as 'That greeting' rather than 'That quip'.

Componential analysis is an essential tool of the translator. If a mechanic were asked to take  the engine parts of one car and fit them into a completely different model of car you would expect him to take into account the  different dimensions and construction features of the new model. Likewise, the translator must take into account all the semantic elements of the original and reassemble them in the translation with due regard to the syntax and semantic norms of the language S/he is translating into.
The golden rule in translation is; 'always translate into your mother language'.   Of course, it is essential that the translator understands the foreign text but good accurate creative translation comes more from being a master of one's own mother tongue rather than the foreign tongue.
The three example translations above deal with the same information but show marked differences in style in translating that information for an English readership.


I have used an excerpt from Barrister & Sowbys'  'The Islander' to show how the same material in the original can be translated in different ways. However, in the following section I am solely critiquing Robin Flower's translation called 'The Islandman' to determine if it is, indeed, 'bosh and bunk' or 'a masterly translation'.

'Étude' syndrome 
What puzzles me is why Robin Flower, an Oxford scholar, chose to write such botched and blatantly incorrect English all the way through 'The Islandman'?  To try to find an answer to that question let's look at what happens in the translation process. The minute you decide to translate something you face what I call the 'Étude' syndrome or translation exposure of the warts of the original text.
Languages in themselves can be seductive and fascinating. In the film 'A Fish Called Wanda'  the character played by Jamie Lee Curtis is turned on by anything John Cleese mutters in her ear in Russian. The content didn't matter, it was the foreign 'exotic' sound of the language that proved so 'sexy' and seductive to her. But suppose our character wants to know what Cleese is saying? Now the translation process begins and the emphasis changes completely as the content assumes importance and comes under scrutiny. Translation strips the 'exotic' out of 'Étude' and reduces it to a plain boring 'Study'. However, even though I now know what 'Étude' means, it still remains more interesting and appealing than its counterpart 'Study'. I would definitely choose to call my musical composition an 'Étude' rather than a bland 'Study'.
Likewise, Flower faced the dilemma translators know all too well, namely, how do you get the 'exotic' nature of the original back into the translated text? Maybe the Oxford scholar thought he could spice up his translation by literally grafting Irish words, phrases , metaphors  and syntax onto grammatically incorrect English in a vein attempt to dispel a sense of the ordinary (translating what the author had for breakfast) or even banal (translating the many references to fish market prices) in the original that is totally exposed in the translation process. Perhaps the motive for his mad grammar was to grab the attention of the reader; a bit like the greengrocer in Bristol who deliberately stuck ungrammatical signs in his window as a ploy to get people into his shop. While they were pointing out the error of his way with words, he hoped they would spot something to buy. Certainly, Flower was not happy with the 'shortcomings' of standard idiomatic English. In his foreword, he admits that, 'The constant charm of Irish idiom, which is so delightful in the original, must necessarily be lost' and adds that 'it seemed best to adopt a plain, straightforward style, aiming at the language of ordinary men who narrate the common experiences of their life frankly and without cultivated mannerism.' However, Flower's stated aims for how he would tackle the translation are at odds with the translation he actually produced.

Flower concocted an ideolect that at times ruined the flow of the narrative and severely tested the comprehension skills of the most ardent reader. It puts his sanity into question if he thought that he was rendering 'the forthright, colloquial simplicity of the original' in 'plain' English when he wrote the following gibberish:

'When once he opened his mouth, the poet had a jut on his jaw to send his voice out.' p.87
'She dressed him up and down' p.73
We rubbed through the season and the fine weather with them, p.154 p165
 I must leave them now to rub along together till my story brings me back to them again. p.64

According to Professor A. Titley the 'voice' of the author of 'An t-Oileánach' 'is a voice that cuts through all the crap' and he also states that 'the shapes that are being thrown in this book are very simple, and obvious even unto the guileless mind.' Flower's mindset seems to have had more in common with the 'guileless mind' of the translator of The Binjiang Scenic Area Tour Notice who sets out the following rules for tourists:

3. Do not damage or rubbing the inscription.
4. No spitting and no pissing at public. The pet is not allowed to bring in.


Equivalent-effect principle
If we rephrase the quote about 'equivalent-effect' and apply it specifically to the translation into English of 'An t-Oileánach' we could say:

Given that the author of 'An t-Oileánach' does not deviate widely from the collocational, lexical, syntactic, metrical, prosodic, semantic norms of the Irish language, one would expect that the English text would not do so either, and would not have the flavour of a translation.

The following examples taken from 'The Islandman' give a 'flavour' of just how widely Robin Flower's translation deviates from standard English usage. 

for I was a man grown p.34
It wasn't in my strength to haul in the breadth of my nail or an inch of the net. p.237
When I had come home I must go out of doors again to find out if my relations were safe at home; p.227
I purposed to break in half of it that year...p.167
every night that came fine..p.166
in the upshot, p.220
full to the chin p89
I bolted it and a hunk of bread, and out of the door I went. p89 p.96
They pitched on me to go home p. 88
They were a wretched pair, not that I'm throwing it up against them
his business was to get the fine flower of the speech. p224

You could write a thesis on the  grammatical errors in the following sentence:

The year after he left us fish was to be had plentifully every night they could go after them. p.225

And try following this order:

'Out with them back again,' said they.226

But maybe it is that he's sickening for something,' said I p.216

Yes, the poor reader is 'sickening' for something to make sense in this book.

'How came that? said I p.216

Objects have a mind of their own and are capable of moving about by themselves:

Soon I saw two pots for tea coming to the edge of the ashes, p.210
There wasn't an oar or a canoe in the creek to go look for us. p.185
There was one Dunquin boat that never stirred  hand or foot to interfere. p.8 p.19

The morning was beginning to peer down, p178

Spot the foreigner:

a) the dark of morning till the dark of night p.172
 or
b) dawn to dusk

and so it fell out, (rud a thit amach) p.65 p.72
that there was  'the three-legged woman' p. 60
a fact that would give anybody 'a stitch in the heart' p.69

And talking about body parts:

'Have you got any hands since? says he. 
'What the hell is it to you whether I have them or not? says the ancient mariner p.202

(hands i.e 'crew')

The women whose husbands were in her began a long, soft, musical lament...p.153

No, this is not about group sex on the Blasket island, in 'her' refers to in 'the boat'.

Have you ever been 'broad awake' and up at
'the dapple of day'? p.182


He was a tall spare man,...p.68
Just the thing for a lonely woman


This is only a small random sample of the language used by Flower to translate  'the forthright, colloquial simplicity of the original'. Every page of the 'Islandman' provides its fair share of similar nuggets of strange, weird English. There were rich pickings in 'The Islandman' for the witty Flann O'Brien and he lost no time in publishing a parody of the book called 'An Béal Bocht' translated as 'The Poor Mouth'.

Flann O'Brien was also forthright in his condemnation of  Flower's translation. In his review of the book he declares : 'Mr Brooks in his article refers to the translation of An t-Oileánach by the late Robin Flower as being 'a failure'. Alas, Mr Brooks excels in charity, a charge never made at my own door. A greater parcel of bosh and bunk than Flower's Islandman has rarely been imposed on the unsuspecting public.'

Professor Seán Ó Coileáin in his preface to Barristers and Sowbys' translation of An t-Oileánach rejects Flann O'Brien's 'bosh and bunk' view,  and is 'more inclined to agree with the 'far more complimentary'  assessment of Flower's translation by the distinguished scholar Professor D.A. Binchy who claims : 'Dr Flower is the ideal interpreter...a masterly translation in which the sensitiveness of the poet and the accuracy of the scholar are blended in perfect harmony. (Studies, December 1934)'

Professor A. Titley also wants 'to be fair' to Dr. Flower, the Oxford scholar, and mainly comments on  Flower's introduction to 'The Islandman', where Flowers sets out the method of translation he intends to follow. He concludes that as far as avoiding Hiberno-English goes, Flowers 'largely succeeds, although some echoes and turnings and stray wisps of Irish slip through the net.'

Unlike Flann O'Brien, who is not afraid to call a spade a spade, all of theses distinguished Professors seem to excel 'in charity' toward Dr. Flower's translation. But is there not a wiff of the 'emperor's new clothes' and academia closing ranks in all this uncritical 'charity'?

I am not a 'distinguished Professor', nor a scholar, but I do hold a B.A. in translation and I agree wholeheartedly with Flann O'Brien's assessment that Robin Flower's translation is 'bosh and bunk' that never should have got past a good editor. In Translation Theory classes, Robin Flower's book 'The Islandman' would make an excellent text book on how to fail as a translator.

Finally, I would like to say that although I used a small excerpt  from 'The Islander'  by Barrister & Sowby to compare different approaches to translation, I do not wish to imply that their translation of 'An t-Oileánach' suffers from the same faults as Robin Flower's translation. On the contrary, 'The Islander' is a very readable, accurate, and 'colloquial' translation of An t-Oileánach.



* In this case the SL (Source Language) is Irish and the TL (Target Language) is English.

* Quote from Flann O'Brien/Myles na gCopaleen/Brian O'Nolan, published in the Irish Times in his column called "Cruiskeen Lawn".