Sure weren't we all looking over our shoulders for fear of a sceilp of the dreaded caighdeán

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Bí cinnte de go nglacfaidh triúr le gach aistriúchán a thabharfar.
Be sure to get three in agreement with a translation given.

"as Béarla" is as standard as "i mBéarla". I don't know why they tend to teach more "as Béarla" than "i mBéarla", since most people say only "i mBéarla". But that's once again one of the mysteries of the CO.

According to what I read, in Munster Irish, people use "as Béarla" (as Gaelainn, etc) when talking about the spoken language, and "i mBéarla" (i nGaelainn...) when talking about the written language.

Do bhí sé 'caint as Gaelainn
Do bhí 'n leabhar seo scríofa i nGaelainn

I don't know if that rule is true in whole Munster.
Anyway, looks like 100% of the native Irish speakers use "i", and (some?) native speakers from Munster also use "as" when talking about the spoken language. So... what should be taught should be "i".



Ulster: Bhí mé 'labhairt i nGaeilic leis (I was speaking in Irish with him)
you can also say
Bhí mé 'labhairt Gaeilice leis (I was speaking Irish with him)

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

Ya in Munster we tend to use:

as Gaoluinn/ Gaelainn more than: i nGaelainn.

Although, you would hear i nGaoluinn from time to time as well.

Do bhí sé ag labhairt as Gaoluinn liom- it would also be more common to say ag labhairt rather than ag caint here as well.

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Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice

Bhí mé ag caint i mbéarla leis, agus ansin thosaigh sé ag labhairt Gaeilge.
... just a sample of what is natural sounding for me ...

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Bí cinnte de go nglacfaidh triúr le gach aistriúchán a thabharfar.
Be sure to get three in agreement with a translation given.

What about abair and ins? And what is most used, abair leat, labhair leat, ins dom?

'Abair leis' is 'say to him' ; 'inis dó' is 'tell him.

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