Irish Language - Blog Posts

Happy St Patrick’s Day to those of Irish descent and to all those who are Irish at heart! 🍻 Slaínte!!

And since we’re drinking & toasting today, I’d like to offer up my favorite toast, for weddings but it’s fitting for any occasion:

May you live as long as you want to

And want to as long as you live! 🥂

Celeste Irish translation, Build #3

Here it is! The first build of the translation with in-game dialogue! This was super rewarding to do, it's so nice to be writing actual dialogue than trying to make Irish work in game menu UI (that was surprisingly difficult lol) This build includes the full translation of Prologue and Chapter 1 along with some small clean-up work around some of the UI and the translation of the two post-game postcards. I'm aiming to at least have Chapters 2 and 3 done by next Sunday, but Chapter 3 has got a lot to it, so no promises! (I will try my best though dw) You can get the new build here! Hope you enjoy it, and feedback is always appreciated! 🩵

Celeste Irish translation, update #6

Big update! Small Post! I'm FINALLY done with all the UI stuff! At least to my knowledge I am. In short, I'm moving onto the dialogue now and it's looking pretty feasible for me to get out an update with at least one chapter translated by Sunday! I'm really gonna push myself to try and reach that goal lol. That's pretty much all I had to day, so I'll see y'all Sunday! :)

Celeste Irish translation, Build #2

I've gone and done it, I've actually held myself to a deadline for once. And with this achievement I bring a new build of my translation! This one's nothing too big, mostly just cleaning up the UI from the previous build. The good news is that, from here on out, 90% of the work is gonna be the actual in-game dialogue! With any luck, that could mean I should be able to get a translated chapter or two out in the next week or so. I'm still super passionate about this project, and I'm gonna dedicate myself to working on it more. But for now, please take this lil' build I've whipped up for the week. You can download the new build here!

Thank you all again for your patience. Stay safe, and have a good one 🩵

Celeste Irish translation, update #5

Surprise, I'm back again :) Sorry for disappearing again, it's just something I happen to do at times. The good news is that I'm finally getting my life back on track and am ready to actually do the stuff I wanna do, so here's to more of that! Anyhow, I'm just making this post to state a few things: 1. I finally have more time and the motivation to work on this project now, so expect things to puck up a little. 2. I will be releasing a new build every Sunday from here on out at around 1pm, Irish standard time. I mean that! This will most likely continue until I'm nearing the end of the project, in which I might take more time on the final few builds. 3. Newer builds will now feature a change-log. I should've probably been keeping track of that sooner. 4. Finally, thank you all for your patience, I know I'm not exactly working fast, and I hate making people wait; but it still means the world to me whenever someone likes or reblogs one of these silly lil' posts. Genuinely, thank you all so much. Just getting to make these posts always helps me to feel better. And that's all I gotta say. See y'all on the 13th :) 🩵

Celeste Irish translation, Build #1

It's about time I got something out, it's why I set that deadline after all! So I'm officially releasing the first build of the translation: Demo Version 1, today! It's not too much right now, just UI and menus with plenty of random English text still present to jump scare you, but now that I've got more time and motivation to work on this project the next few updates should come out quicker. You can download the translation here! Or at least I hope you can, this is a scheduled post and it'll be a while until I can check it again. So if it doesn't work, oopsies! And that's pretty much all I had to day, hope you check it out and lemme know what you think, provided you want me to know of course. Have a good one! 🩵

Celeste Irish translation, update #4

Howdy once again folks, been a while, huh? I'm aware that it's been a while since I've had anything to say in regards to my progress on this project, and, to be perfectly honest, it has been painfully slow. To try and keep it brief, life got real hectic for me shortly after starting the project. Between managing my social life, school stuff, immense mental health struggles and an overall lack of motivation, I haven't been able to work on this project as much as I would've liked. That aside, I'm doing much better now, and I'm determined to get something out sooner rather than later. So I'm giving myself a deadline. I'm going to be releasing whatever I've got done as a first build this Sunday, September 15th. I've got the time and I'm in the mental state to do so, and I'm pretty excited to finally get something out, even if it took a little while. All that being said, I'm gonna leave it here. Thanks for reading, take care of yourself, and if you choose to check it out, I hope you'll like it 🩵

Celeste Irish translation, update #3

Hey again folks! It's been almost a week since I last posted, but I'm glad to say that I'm feeling a lot better now and slowly getting back into my usual routine after gettin' real sick. That aside, now that I'm feeling better, I will be resuming work on the project! I wanted to provide a quick overview of how this entire thing is being done, so here it is:

Pretty simple stuff, all of the game's text is stored in a single text file in the game files. Everything near the top of the file is used for things such as menus and UI. The bottom half (With the dividing line) is where all the in-game dialogue is stored. Given how the file is formatted, I'll be doing all the non-dialogue stuff first, I also have no intention of making any texture changes, as they are not done in any other language (with the exception of Japanese in some places). Plus, I don't really have the technical know-how to get the game to swap textures depending on language :,) All that being said, I'm hoping to release something soon and I would like to gradually release more and more of the translation as I work on it for y'all to see where I'm at and potentially provide feedback! On the topic of feedback, I've also been thinking about opening an email for it when I release the first build, so that anyone more knowledgeable than me can correct my mistakes (which there will most definitely be!). The first build I put out is going to be a complete non-dialogue translation, pretty much everything in terms of menus and UI will be finished. After polishing that up a little, I'll move onto the dialogue. Anyways, that's all I had to say for this update, apologies for the long post and lack of stuff to show, I'm doing my best to get back into the swing of things and I hope you'll all enjoy what I put out. Stay safe and have a good one!

Hey again folks, just wanted to provide a lil' update on where I'm at, mostly in regards to my Irish translation of Celeste. Progress hasn't been as fast as I've been wanting it to be, I was hoping to have at least a translation of the game's UI done sometime around now, but the rate at which I can work has been severely hindered because:

I got really goddamn sick. I ran a test and came up positive for COVID, this is the first time I've ever had it and it is absolutely WHOOPING my ass. Because of this, I really don't have the energy nor mental capacity to be translating much of anything right now, so the project has been put on pause until I get better, alongside any art projects I had planned. Though rest assured that once I get better, I'll get right back to work and have something out for all you lovely peeps as soon as possible. To close off, here are some screenshots from the Minecraft world I've been playing to pass the time. I hope you're all feeling a lot better than I am right now, and I'll see you all again soon <3

Howdy folks! I got bored, and wanted a way to improve my Irish skills, so I decided to start TRANSlating the game Celeste into Irish!

I started the project yesterday (2nd of August as of writing) after discovering just how easy the game is to translate.

Right now, I've only got the opening text, main menu and base settings page complete. I'm gonna keep working on this whenever I can, and I'll provide updates along the way!

Additionally, I want to make it clear that I am not fluent in Irish (Pretty far from it tbh) and I started this project to help improve my skills while engaging with something I love. With that in mind, I can't guarantee that all the translations will be perfect and there'll probably be a good few mistakes around, I'm just doin' my best out here.

Finally, I might release a demo every now and again for anyone who's interested, if you wanna follow my progress, actually check out the translation if you know any Irish, or just go "hehe" at the funny words you can't pronounce or know the meaning of, I hope you'll enjoy it. I'm planning to release something when all the menus are translated and chapter one is complete.

Stay safe and have a good one!

Best holiday of the year. Bíodh lá maith agat

Certified Irish person here with my own tried and test resources for learning Irish! Disclaimer, I am not fluent but you could call me a lifelong learner.

General Info

I could say a lot here but I'll start with some general info. I encourage anyone interested to go and look up these things and learn more, you'll be well on your way if you do!

We refer to the Irish language either as Irish or as Gaeilge.

It's taught as a mandatory subject in schools in the Rep. of Ireland from primary all the way to secondary level. In my opinion however, while there are genuinely good teachers out there, the syllabus leads a lot to be desired, many are backing its reform. Most of us have a similar level of Irish unless we have an Irish speaking background or have put in a lot of effort.

Irish has a different alphabet to English, some letter combinations will sound different than expected to English speakers, e.g., bh is a 'v' sound. We also use accents called fadas: á, é, í, ó, ú. The YouTube Channel Gaeilge i mo chroí is great for these kinds of explanations (see below).

We have a unique sentence structure: verb, subject, object.

There are 11 irregular verbs. All others have a predictable structure.

There are special mutations known as séimhiú and urú, these create differences in words depending on the situation/sentence structure. For example, Dublin in Irish is 'Baile Átha Cliath,' but if I wanted to say I live in Dublin it's 'táim i mo cónaí i mBaile Átha Cliath.'

There are three different counting systems, you'll find a good explanation here. Once you've read this, there are plenty of YouTube videos that teach you each one.

We don't have proper words for yes and no. Positive and negative replies to questions will use the verb back at the question asker.

There are three primary dialects but we tend to understand each other alright most of the time!

Online Resources!

I promise you Irish isn't dead, there's a lot to get your teeth into!

Get used to how it sounds! TG4 is the name of our national Irish language TV station and the Irish is usually very clear. I'm partial to documentaries myself, I recommend Fíorscéal (general topics) and Domhan an Dúlra (nature). It's all available online but you'll likely need a VPN to access it. I can also recommend a Raidío na Life, a radio station based in Dublin. You can listen back to shows of your choice or listen live.

Bitesize Irish: They have short explanation and pronunciation videos on YouTube, interspersed with some culture. On their website they also have a free learning challenge called Gaeilge Gach Lá (Irish Everyday), they will email you every day with a small assignment for a calendar week and send you a newsletter every week thereafter. This is highly beginner friendly and mostly gets you used to the idea of daily practice and effort. For those who really want to get stuck in, they have some paid resources including connecting you with other learners so you can practice.

Gaeilge i mo chroí: A really great all-rounder of a YouTube channel. They explained some grammar rules that I'd never quite got my head around in school.

Úna-Minh Kavanagh: I cannot sing Úna's praises enough. I'm sure my knowledge of her only scratches the surface of her achievements but she's translated Among Us into Irish, she streams games in Irish (she's Yunitex on Twitch), she forages in Irish and she teaches you how to use existing online resources and communities in your learning journey. She really specialises in the "how" of learning the language today. She is also a published author and she speaks out against racism in Ireland.

Online dictionary: foclóir.ie

Similar resource to the above with more explanation and pronunciations in the three dialects for learners: teanglann.ie

Books:

Gaeilge gan Stró! by Éamonn Ó Dónaill at beginners level and Gramadach gan Stró by the same. These books helped me return to Irish as an adult and are geared towards adults.

These books and other physical resources can be bought from siopa.ie, which ships worldwide.

Courses:

Gaelchultúr, the publishers of Gaeilge gan Stró offer group online courses. There are others but this is one I've tried myself. They use Gaeilge gan Stró as their course book.

Well, this post was longer than I expected it to be but for any of you who decide to give Irish a go, go n-éirí libh!