Translation Ireland

Mick's and Paddy's Greenspeak on Barmbrack, Soda Bread and Yellaman

I am pleased to report that literary translators specialising in Irish literature have been presented with yet another useful dictionary to assist them with their enquiries concerning words, terms and phrases probably not found in ordinary English language dictionaries. The author's trademark-registered title, "Greenspeak", together with the general design, pleasing as it is, adds a certain folkloristic touch to the book. This, however, does not diminish its usefulness as a serious working tool for the literary translator.

While the blurb seems to single out people "parachuted onto the Emerald Isle" (that is to say, travellers, tourists and other invaders) as the book's intended target group, both the general reader and the specialist stand to benefit from its clear layout, its well-structured information and the thorough treatment of its headwords, including their apt sourcing and referencing. Under "soda bread", for example, Maura Laverty is quoted as claiming that "soda bread, as all the world knows, is the traditional bread of Ireland". I am afraid that all the world doesn't know all that much about soda bread. How often have I been asked by German colleagues what it might be made of, surely not of soda water? However, here we find the succinct explanation: "Home-made, traditional bread made with baking soda/powder. Bicarbonate of soda was imported after 1800, baking powder was discovered c. 1850." This still doesn't help with the German translation - is it "Sodabrot", "Natronbrot" or "mit doppeltkohlensaurem Natrium gebackenes Brot"? - but it's first step.

Indeed, so novel are some of the book's features that it moves beyond the parameters of a mere dictionary to encompass a glossary of scientific, cultural and historical terms and proper names. For although Greenspeak, with its 2000 entries, is less comprehensive than some of its rival publications, it offers Hibernophiles and "Hiberno-Anglophiles" (lovers of Hiberno-English) alike a number of helpful features absent from comparable dictionaries: an indispensable pronunciation guide for all Irish lemmata, noted in the International Phonetic Alphabet, a Subject Index, a People Index, an Index of Abbreviations and Acronyms and, yes, even photographs and other illustrations of many a headword described and defined in the text.

The Subject Index allows the reader, in addition to looking up individual words, to obtain an overview of entries grouped thematically. For instance, under "food" we find a list of food items that contains all major comestibles specific to Ireland, starting with "barmbrack" and ending with "yellaman". Anyone researching traditional Irish eating habits would find this an excellent starting point for a short essay. Or what are the terms of abuse applied to Irish people? From "Micks" and "Paddies" they are all assembled here (although "Taigues" are missing from the list).

It has been noted by some reviewers that other fairly common phrases originating in Ireland such as "cute hoor" are also absent, and it is to be hoped that a well-deserved second imprint will provide a more extensive list of Irishisms than the author - a veritable Sammon of knowledge - has been able to compile up to now, after more than ten years' work.

Hans-Christian Oeser