Irish Interpreter and Translator Services

An Irish interpreter must not only be adept with the language, but also with the topics to be discussed at your meeting. Language Direct has thousands of interpreters and translators in our team, who can cater to over 189 languages and are experts in their fields.

Irish Interpreter

Irish Gaelic: The Irish Language

Irish is native to and and official language in Ireland. The 2011 census showed that there are approximately 1.77 million native and L2 speakers of Irish in the country. However, Irish is considered a minority language in Ireland. English is another official language in the country and is spoken more than 90% of the population. It is also used as the major medium of communication in conducting business as well as in the government. Only 36% of its population use it and only 353,000 say they use it regularly. However, there are also Irish speakers in the US, Canada, Australia and all over the UK.

Irish is widely spoken in Gaeltacht, or districts where Irish is the vernacular spoken at home and the government recognizes the language as predominant. In recent years, Gaeltacht has seen a threat in the decline of the Irish language.

Hiring an Irish Interpreter

Given the small population of native Irish speakers, finding a qualified Irish interpreter or Irish translator (learn more about Irish to English translation) can be a challenge. See, it is not enough that one can speak the language. We have seen on many occasions how asking a bilingual friend or family member who is not a professional linguist to do the interpretation can lead to miscommunication. (Read about the pitfalls of asking bilingual friends or family to be translators here.)

An Irish interpreter, to successfully do his job, must understand the history that the country – and the language – has undergone. A good interpreter also knows that being familiar with the nuances of the culture and the language is key to providing highly accurate interpretations.

For example, here are some unique features of the Irish language that an Irish interpreter must definitely know:

There are no words for “yes” and “no” in Irish. To respond to a question, one must use verb forms. i.e.: They ate it. / They didn’t eat it.
The general word order is verb – subject – object.
There is a different set of words used for numbers when counting humans and non humans.
The beginning of the words can change depending on the words before and after it and other conditions that will determine whether the word is correct or not. . i.e. “woman” can either be “bean” (byan), “bhean” (vyan), or “mbean” (myan).
There are only 11 irregular verbs in Irish.

Hire the best Irish interpreter ; call Language Direct today.

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