Cute Kindred Fan Art Kindred Never One Without the Other Tatto

So yous want to get a tattoo — in Scottish Gaelic. You want to laurels a family member, or your Scottish heritage, or yous just call up the Gaelic language is cool, but you don't speak Gaelic yourself. What should you practice?

If you lot've already designed your tattoo, and you know exactly what you want information technology to say, your first impulse will probably be to turn to the internet for a translation. Here in Part One I'll testify you why that'south not a practiced idea, and in Part Two, I'll give you some advice if you lot still really have your heart prepare on a Gaelic tattoo.

Now, how exercise you lot retrieve you're going to go a translation on the internet? Online translating services don't do Scottish Gaelic (withal). This is what happens when you're dealing with a "lesser-used" language. In that location just aren't that many of the states Gaelic speakers around, and so large companies tend not to cater to us with appurtenances and services. But even when online translating services practice offer Scottish Gaelic, beware. Google Translate fabricated a hash of Irish, and online translators generally don't work that well.

And then peradventure you lot find an online dictionary and try to practise the translation yourself. You lot will still end up with a Bad Gaelic Tattoo. For example:

"FREE DRUGS – AND I CAN'T SPELL" – a bad Gaelic tattoo translation

Although this particular tattoo was intended to be in Irish, I'll discuss it here considering bad Scottish Gaelic tattoos have the exact same issues.

The bearer of the tattoo believes that information technology says "DRUG FREE." The idea of a person declaring her/himself "drug gratuitous" is a specific American English language cultural concept. Information technology'due south a declaration that the person in question does not accept alcohol, nicotine, or recreational drugs that are illegal in the U.Southward. This orientation to drugs is a cultural phenomenon or movement known every bit "Straight Edge."

Apart from the problem that the cultural concept does not translate, this tattoo has fatal spelling and grammar problems. In Scottish Gaelic, "drug" is druga or droga and the plural, "drugs," is drugaichean. In Irish it's singular druga and plural drugaí. Gaelic words don't take apostrophes in the middle, and "-ail" is non a plural suffix. So "drug'ail" is not a Gaelic word.

When confronted with this information by blog commenters, the tattoo bearer insisted that her trusted friends who were raised Irish-speaking in Ireland had given her this translation. She said: "Fine; whatever. The people that I know say that I'yard right; the Irish-English dictionary says that I'm correct. But, go ahead guys. Tell me that my tattoo is wrong. Information technology doesn't thing. I'm happy with information technology." She stated that she had as well looked upward "drug" in an English-Irish dictionary and plant the discussion drugáil, and that the apostrophe was supposed to represent the fada (or srac in Scottish Gaelic) over the á.

Another commenter pointed out that in the dictionary where the tattoo bearer looked it upward, drugáil was defined equally a transitive verb, in the sense of "to drug (someone)." More precisely, it is a verbal noun which means "drugging." Additionally, apostrophes are not used every bit substitutes for accent marks in Irish or Gaelic (or in French or Spanish for that matter).

Beyond that, the describing word saor does hateful free, only information technology's not used in the same way equally "free" in English. If you wanted the sense of "free" that's in the English expression "drug-costless," the sense of being not under the control of drugs, or of drugs being absent-minded from 1's life or body, then information technology might make sense to use the expression gun ("without"). Except that gun likewise changes the start sound of the following discussion, if it's a consonant, and so that would make information technology literally "gun dhrugaichean," without drugs, except that in this case the n blocks lenition of homorganic t and d, so it's "gun drugaichean,"… but even that does non take the Straight Edge connotation of the English phrase "drug free."

Then the way this tattoo reads to a Gaelic speaker is either "FREE DRUGGING" or "FREE DRUGS" with a side helping of "I CAN'T DO Irish SPELLING OR GRAMMAR."

Afterwards multiple Irish gaelic speakers left comments pointing out that her tattoo was incorrect, the tattoo bearer finally stated: "It'south already on my back, right or wrong, and the sentiment is still at that place. I did research for two years before I got the tattoo, and no one ever told me information technology was wrong until after I got information technology. And so, fine. It all the same means the same thing to me that information technology ever did."

The end result is that an English-speaking woman paid a big sum of money to have broken $.25 of Irish inscribed beyond her back for others to see, but it simply means something in her own mind. To the fluent Irish gaelic speakers of the world, it's garbled nonsense.

This ex-U.S. paratrooper got a Scottish Gaelic tattoo to commemorate his multi-generational family tradition of airborne military service:

"Report to the People" instead of "Family Tradition" – A bad Gaelic tattoo translation

The tattoo was supposed to read "Family TRADITION" simply it's a train wreck. This is what happens when you try to look upward English words in a Gaelic dictionary and then string them together according to English grammar rules.

Beul-aithris means "oral tradition" and then perhaps this person thought that aithris just meant "tradition", simply aithris means "report," "account," "recitation," or "narration." For example, Aithris na Maidne (Morning Report) is the name of the BBC's Gaelic morning time radio news programme.

Dream can mean "people," "kindred," or "folk," just it's not the usual Scottish Gaelic word for family (which is teaghlach). "Á" means "out of" and then information technology'southward possible that they mistook this for "of" (which is de), while as well omitting the srac over the "á." Apart from the word being wrong, however, this grammatical construction (family unit tradition, that is, tradition of the family) would really require the genitive instance in Gaelic. The genitive case is a category that nouns fall into when they are used in expressions of possession, measure, or origin. In English we tin can apply either a possessive form or "of" to betoken this relationship, for instance: "Mary's glaze" or "the coat of Mary"; "a month's vacation," or "a calendar month of vacation." In Gaelic, nouns are modified in spelling and pronunciation when they are used in the genitive instance. In the literal Gaelic translation of an English phrase like "family unit tradition," in other words "tradition of the family unit," the word for family (teaghlach) would be written in the genitive example (in this case teaghlaich).

Even "dualchas teaghlaich" sounds a fleck odd however, because it's redundant. Ironically, the word dualchas solitary would have sufficed to convey the meaning he wanted.

So the way this tattoo reads to a Gaelic speaker is: "REPORT OUT OF THE PEOPLE (AND I DON'T KNOW GAELIC)"

Even when you think you know what your tattoo says, are you lot sure that the spelling and grammer are correct? This one was supposed to say "ALBA SAOR" — "Free SCOTLAND" (where "gratuitous" is an adjective, not an imperative verb). Instead a spelling mistake transforms "saor" into "soar" — an easy mistake to brand when neither you nor the tattoo artist knows Gaelic, and the English give-and-take "soar" is and so close in spelling.

"Soar Alba" instead of "Alba Shaor" (gratuitous Scotland) – a bad Gaelic tattoo translation

The placement and spelling of the adjective "saor" (free) are also issues. Again, Gaelic is not like English. In regard to adjective placement, information technology's more like French: almost of the adjectives go later on the noun, and a pocket-sized number are placed earlier the substantive. And similar French, adjectives change when they change feminine nouns. Saor goes after the noun, and it modifies Alba which is feminine, so information technology should exist "Alba shaor."

If "saor" is placed before the noun, it's an imperative verb, an society to "Complimentary!" or "Liberate!" as in, "Free Nelson Mandela." Simply the imperative in Gaelic comes in two versions, singular and plural, and this is the singular — an social club given to one person but, and someone familiar or lower in condition at that.

So it'south a lovely sentiment, but to a Gaelic speaker this tattoo looks like it says something like "DUDE, LIBARETE SCOTLAND! (AND I DON'T KNOW GAELIC)"

How most this one? Celtic knotwork + Gaelic = seems legit.

A misspelled Gaelic tattoo translation

But information technology'south non, because grammar. Gaelic is a Celtic linguistic communication and ane unique characteristic of the Celtic languages is something called initial consonant mutation. In Scottish Gaelic, depending on certain grammatical features of a sentence, the way that you pronounce the first consonant of a noun will often change. In this case, the possessive "mo" ("my") lenites the initial consonant of the substantive information technology modifies. In the Scottish Gaelic writing system this is indicated by placing an "h" after the initial consonant. Mo + seanair = Mo sheanair. Mo + gràdh = Mo ghràdh. This changes the pronunciation of the word differently according to which sound is being lenited. (If the noun starts with a vowel, so information technology's just m' instead of mo. Mo + anam = One thousand'anam.) A dictionary will not tell you lot these things.

Also, this tattoo text sounds a piddling weird, like the person's granddaddy is their lover.

What about this one? You can't go wrong with "I Love Yous", can y'all? Any reasonably diligent internet search can tell you that "I love you" = "Tha gaol agam ort" (literally 'love is at me on yous) in Gaelic. But:

"I Not Love You" – a bad Gaelic tattoo translation

The artist accidentally used a capital "C" instead of a "T" — not a Gaelic fault per se, just a common mistake in calligraphic font usage. But the result is hilariously bad Gaelic: the outset word looks like "Cha" instead of "Tha". "Cha" isn't grammatical here, but it instantly puts Gaelic speakers in mind of "Chan eil", equally in "Chan eil gaol agam ort," every bit in "I do not love y'all."

Then the way this tattoo reads to a Gaelic speaker is: "I Non Love You."

Thank goodness information technology's probably just Photoshopped, like the model'southward abs.

Anyway, yous become the picture. You might not want to rely on looking upwardly individual words in a dictionary and stringing them together, and at that place's no guarantee that your friends are correct, either. There's no guarantee that the Gaelic phrases yous find in books, or on Pinterest, or even for sale on jewelry, are correct either. The same goes for Irish, as this helpful article points out.

So you plough to the other affair that the net is proficient for: connecting with total strangers. You look for a discussion group on social media. Maybe you find a discussion board devoted to Scottish culture, or a Facebook grouping devoted to the Gaelic language. Yous mail service a query. Hither are some typical Gaelic tattoo requests on social media:

"What's 'three beautiful girls' in Gaelic?"

Gaelic tattoo request

"What's 'I am my honey, my honey is mine' in Gaelic?"

Gaelic tattoo asking

"What'southward 'male monarch' and 'queen' in Gaelic?"

Gaelic tattoo request

"What'due south 'I am not finished' in Gaelic? What's 'offset somewhere' in Gaelic?"

Gaelic tattoo request

"What are these 3 different phrases in Gaelic before my friend'due south tattoo date tomorrow?"

Gaelic tattoo asking

"What's 'Father until we see again may God hold you in the hollow of his mitt' in Gaelic?"

Gaelic tattoo request

"What's 'Dwelling is behind, the world is ahead' in Gaelic?"

Gaelic tattoo request

This kind of tattoo translation request gets several kinds of reactions in online forums:

ane) Well-significant attempts to requite you the translation y'all want, from people who are non qualified. There are a lot of adults learning Gaelic who are non nonetheless fluent in the linguistic communication or knowledgeable most the culture. With their help, if you are lucky, you may end upwards with a translation that is literally correct, only sounds awkward and weird. This may be because that matter you want your tattoo to say is not e'er actually said in Gaelic. Just because something can be translated does not mean that the results will actually make cultural sense, or carry the poetic connotations that you desire your tattoo to express. And if you are unlucky (or if you endeavor to utilise a lexicon yourself), as you tin can see to a higher place, all bets are off as far every bit vocabulary, spelling, and grammar.

2) Genuine translations from people who are fluent in Gaelic. Y'all've asked for assistance, and they feel obligated to give it, fifty-fifty though they may also propose yous that the accurate translation they gave yous doesn't audio quite right in Gaelic. If you're lucky, they might make an alternating suggestion which would be more than suitable.

iii) Frustration, sarcasm, or anger at yet. Another. Tattoo. Request. Fortunately for yous, virtually fluent Gaelic-English bilingual people are actually pretty nice about tattoo requests, fifty-fifty when they are frustrated. Probably 99% of them won't lead you off-target by giving you imitation translations that are actually declarations nigh the size of your genitals… but some may fantasize about doing then. Are you willing to accept that risk? Specially if yous plan to share photos of your tattoo online?

Hither's the thing: you will have no way of knowing whether you've been given a decent translation or not. That'due south a major risk to the integrity of your torso art.

Adjacent, consider the ideals of these requests. Kickoff, you lot desire something for nothing. Second, to be honest, you are wasting people'southward fourth dimension and effort on something that doesn't really help Gaelic. Can you imagine if you lot were at work, doing whatsoever job you practice, and people kept emailing yous or popping upwards in your social media feeds once or twice a mean solar day, every 24-hour interval, to ask you to aid them with the diction of their tattoo? That'southward basically what happens to a lot of people who piece of work in Gaelic language jobs. People are asking them for Gaelic translations of symbolic English phrases, for free, all. The. Time. How practice you say "Happy Birthday" in Gaelic? How do yous say "Merry Christmas" in Gaelic? How do you say "Yous shall not laissez passer!" in Gaelic? How practice y'all say "F off and die" in Gaelic?

What's the large deal, though? Y'all only want a tattoo. It will only take a total stranger, similar, a few minutes to translate "1 Ring to Dominion Them All" into Gaelic for you. And Gaelic is SO COOL.

But Gaelic is non like English. Information technology'south a minority language and culture that multiple governments have tried for many hundreds of years to stamp out. Its speakers accept been pressured and fifty-fifty forced to abandon it and digest to English language. Many were browbeaten in school for speaking Gaelic. It's amazing that Gaelic speakers are however keeping the linguistic communication and culture going. Gaelic is also what we call an "endangered" linguistic communication, because efforts to stamp it out have been so successful in the long run that the number of speakers is still decreasing, and the language is in smashing danger of disappearing altogether. The "absurd" factor comes in part from its rarity and double-edged romantic stereotypes of being ancient, natural, and poetic (= obsolete, animalistic, and good for nothing merely poesy).

Endless free tattoo translation requests from English speakers are like death past a thousand papercuts. They suck up the energy and goodwill of an endangered language customs and give nothing back.

A proliferation of bad Gaelic tattoos also weakens the language. How? Every bad chip of Gaelic that is put out there becomes an exemplar that other people may follow. It propagates mistakes (Soar Alba!), spreads ignorance, and makes the language more and more like a bad copy of English, and less and less like Gaelic. Change happens to every language whether people similar it or not, but when the direction of change is taking it into convergence with a juggernaut similar English, that's called language death.

This is the reality of an endangered language.

Having said all this, if y'all still have your centre admittedly set on getting a Gaelic tattoo, I will accept some concrete suggestions for y'all in my next web log mail service.

UPDATE: Xv hours after posting, I've already received a Gaelic tattoo translation request via email! I don't exercise Gaelic tattoo translation requests; to understand why, delight read this post again. Please do not mail tattoo translation requests in the comments or through electronic mail. Also, please read Part Ii of this post! Tapadh leibh.

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Source: https://gaelic.co/gaelic-tattoo/

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