Pronunciation

Irish pronunciation of some words varies from region to region, just as in other countries, such as Germany, France, and the United States. Ireland is small in size, compared to those countries, however, and the variations in the pronunciation in Ireland are less evident than in most countries in Europe.

If you are working with a fluent or native speaker, you have undoubtedly encountered some differences between our simplified pronunciation guide and the pronunciation of the speaker. Our pronunciation guide tries to give you a system which will be easy to apply, fairly uniform and consistent, and readily understood over as wide an area of Ireland as possible. It is not tied exclusively to any single region. From time to time, we will describe some of the regional variations in pronunciation.

There are three basic regions in Ireland, as far as the language is concerned: Munster, in the south; Connaught, in the west; and Ulster, in the north. One general rule on pronunciation difference among the three regions is that accent in a word tends to be toward the end of the word in Munster, toward the front in Ulster, and evenly distributed in Connaught.

For example, with "agam", on me, the Munster pronunciation is (uh-GUHM), and the Ulster pronunciation is (AH-guhm). In Connaught, the pronunciation is (ah-guhm), with a more even distribution of accent.

"Thank you" is pronounced (gu-ruh-MAH-huh-guht) in Munster and (gu-ruh-muh-HAH-guht) in Connaught.

Brief experience with pronunciation differences of this kind will make them readily understandable, just as they are in English. Whether you say (eye KANT) or (eye KAHNT) for "I can't", you will understand (ah KAYNT) from some speakers from the southern United States.

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