Reading and Comprehension - An Litir Bheag #248 - Paragraph 4
The text and recording for this programme can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/alba/foghlam/learngaelic/anlitirbheag/index.shtml?link=248
Read through the following paragraph several times, then listen to Ruairidh MacIlleathain read it (Time code: 1.35 - 2.22). Listen again and read along with him.
Chuir Friseal seachad ùine ann an "Dùthaich nan Innseanach". Bha na Cherokee sìtheil agus laghach dha. Lìon e bogsaichean de lusan. Agus thachair e ri fear Tòmas Bhaltair. Bha esan a' sgrìobhadh leabhar mòr mu lusan Charolina. Bha Friseal a' dol a dh'fhoillseachadh ann leabhair ann an Lunnain. Chaochail Bhaltair goirid mus do thòisich Friseal air an shlighe dhachaigh. Bha sin ann an seachd ceud deug, ochdad 's a h-ochd. (1788).
Fraser spend time in "Indian Country". The Cherokee were peaceful and pleasant to him. He filled boxes with plants. And he met with a man Thomas Walter. He (Walter) was writing a big book about the plants of Carolina. Fraser was going to publish the book in London. Walter died a short while before Fraser started on the way home. That was in 1788.
Points of interest
Tachair, a' tachairt means "happen, occur". It is used in two idiomatic phrases that mean "to meet". One of those phrases is used in the above paragraph. Tachair ri. Ruairidh MacIlleathain says of Iain Friseal ...
Thachair e ri fear Tòmas Bhaltair.
Tachair ri implies a sense of intention, of premeditation, but it also can mean to make the acquaintance with someone.
For example :
An do thachair thu ris a-riamh? = Did you ever meet him?
The second idiomatic phrase using the verb tachair, a' tachairt uses the preposition air and includes the idea of accidental meeting - "to happen upon".
An example:
Thachair mi air an-dè. = I happened to meet him yesterday. / I happened upon him yesterday.
In this paragraph, it says "Chaochail Bhaltair...", "Walter died..." rather than Bhàsaich Bhaltair ...". The verb bàsaich, a' bàsachadh is not used by some speakers when referring to humans, the euphemism "passed away" (caochail, a' caochaladh) is preferred, as it is here. According to my dictionary, caochail has the primary meaning of "change, alteration" but I seriously cannot recall ever seeing it used for anything other than to report a death.
Tomorrow - Back in England
Read through the following paragraph several times, then listen to Ruairidh MacIlleathain read it (Time code: 1.35 - 2.22). Listen again and read along with him.
Chuir Friseal seachad ùine ann an "Dùthaich nan Innseanach". Bha na Cherokee sìtheil agus laghach dha. Lìon e bogsaichean de lusan. Agus thachair e ri fear Tòmas Bhaltair. Bha esan a' sgrìobhadh leabhar mòr mu lusan Charolina. Bha Friseal a' dol a dh'fhoillseachadh ann leabhair ann an Lunnain. Chaochail Bhaltair goirid mus do thòisich Friseal air an shlighe dhachaigh. Bha sin ann an seachd ceud deug, ochdad 's a h-ochd. (1788).
Fraser spend time in "Indian Country". The Cherokee were peaceful and pleasant to him. He filled boxes with plants. And he met with a man Thomas Walter. He (Walter) was writing a big book about the plants of Carolina. Fraser was going to publish the book in London. Walter died a short while before Fraser started on the way home. That was in 1788.
Points of interest
Tachair, a' tachairt means "happen, occur". It is used in two idiomatic phrases that mean "to meet". One of those phrases is used in the above paragraph. Tachair ri. Ruairidh MacIlleathain says of Iain Friseal ...
Thachair e ri fear Tòmas Bhaltair.
Tachair ri implies a sense of intention, of premeditation, but it also can mean to make the acquaintance with someone.
For example :
An do thachair thu ris a-riamh? = Did you ever meet him?
The second idiomatic phrase using the verb tachair, a' tachairt uses the preposition air and includes the idea of accidental meeting - "to happen upon".
An example:
Thachair mi air an-dè. = I happened to meet him yesterday. / I happened upon him yesterday.
In this paragraph, it says "Chaochail Bhaltair...", "Walter died..." rather than Bhàsaich Bhaltair ...". The verb bàsaich, a' bàsachadh is not used by some speakers when referring to humans, the euphemism "passed away" (caochail, a' caochaladh) is preferred, as it is here. According to my dictionary, caochail has the primary meaning of "change, alteration" but I seriously cannot recall ever seeing it used for anything other than to report a death.
Tomorrow - Back in England