XPost: alt.usage.english   
   From: kehoea@parhasard.net   
      
    Ar an seachtú lá is fiche de mí Iúil, scríobh Peter Moylan:   
      
    > [...] In my study of Irish I am struggling badly with spelling. That is   
    > because Irish spelling has so many silent letters. (That is why I never   
    > heard my grandfather say anything.) Some consonants are silent because of   
    > lenition or eclipsis. Some vowels are silent because of the rule "slender   
    > with slender, broad with broad" that inserts extra silent vowels to match   
    > the adjacent consonants. The end result is that the spoken word is a lot   
    > shorter than the written word.   
    >   
    > But, of course, familiarity matters. I can recognise the word "bhfuil",   
    > whose pronunciation is non-intuitive, because I've seen it so often. I   
    > am almost at the point where "mo mhathair" has an obvious spelling. So   
    > maybe I'll get there eventually.   
    >   
    > [Positive: I can now say "Tá penna m'aintín ar bhuró m'uncail", so maybe   
    > I'm making progress.]   
      
   Penna isn’t a word; did you mean peann? Next step; render « La plume de ma   
   tante est près de la chaise de ma tante. »   
      
   Having gone back to Irish after twenty years recently the spelling is fine,   
   there is rhyme and reason to it. You’ll get there I’m sure.   
      
   --   
   ‘As I sat looking up at the Guinness ad, I could never figure out /   
   How your man stayed up on the surfboard after fourteen pints of stout’   
   (C. Moore)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)