Just to add my two cents worth to the debate...

I have a very VERY basic knowledge of Irish and Scots pronunciation (I would not presume to say that I have a basic understanding of either language) but I love the languages' rhythms and I work very hard to recreate what I hear. I usually start by getting a recording AND the original gaelic words, then using both to write my own phonetic "translation" . If possible, I also find a native speaker to help me go over the words until I get the pronunciation right (that's how I learned "Taladh Criosda"). There aren't that many places to learn Scots in Australia, so I make do, and apologise to anyone I offend along the way... It's no different to what I do when I sing operatic arias in Italian or Bach cantatas in German, and in fact I've been told my pronunciation of gaelic is not too bad.

Hi there Alison - Mark and I won't be at St Albans this year - I've been too busy gestating. We're expecting our first on May 3. Nice of you to think of us though! Look out for some recordings from Tursacan in the not too distant future!

Cheers, -AC