Malcolm's point on the singing is well taken, even if I don't wholly agree with it for the same reason as Mark, who gets this mornings "coffee in the sinus" award for the gaeilge translation on Aloha. A couple of points:

I agree with the comment by George Seto with regard to the translations. Native English speakers will have a hard time because (if they are monoglots), they don't have as good an understanding of the shadings available in other languages, especially the Gaelic family of languages. Another problem they face in getting an understanding of the languages is based on the cultural differences. English is a very direct language. But Irish and Scots Gaelic (the Scots language is the only one that it is proper to use the term Gaelic as part of its name) are very indirect. For example there is no way "as gaeilige" (which is means "of the Irish language") to say "I am a man". It is one of the reasons why the Scots and the Irish are so eloquent in describing feelings and events in English. They had a direct language superimposed on a people used to describing all the things that made them sad, happy, mad, etc. instead of just saying I am pissed off, etc. And by the way, up until about the 17th century, Irish and Scots Gaelic were pretty much the same language.

I would absolutely recommend that if one is going to try and sing in either of these languages, that they at least get a basic understanding of that language. There are many good tutorials available online and in good bookstores. I don't believe you have to be fluent, but these songs have such wonderful subtleties to them that it is important to at least have a basic understanding in order to do them justice.

All the best,

Mick