There are three dialects of Irish: Connacht, Munster and Ulster; though there is blurring where the borders meet.

Mostly it's to do with *slight* differences in pronunciation - no greater than the difference between, say, a Northern Irish accent and the accent of someone from Cork, which seems huge to anyone Irish but almost indecipherable to Americans.

In very commonly used phrases like "How are you" there are also variations in these dialects, as there are in the English of the regions. (For instance, a Belfast person speaking English would be likely to greet a friend with "how's about ye?", whereas a Dubliner might say "how's it going?"; in Irish the northerner would say "Cad é mar atá tú?" and a Connacht person "Cén chaoi a bhfuil tú". Big deal. Once you've learned the basics of the language, all this kind of stuff is taken easily in your stride.)

Indeed, come to think of it, I was learning Mandarin a couple of years ago, and learned xie-xie for "thanks"; talking to a pal recently I was told "Dosyeh" was also commonly used. This is the kind of level of differences in Irish dialects.

Again, dialect differences in pronunciation - where someone from West Cork might say "thaw" for "tá", someone from Connemara would say it more like "taa", and someone from the North more like "tay" - hence all the people called "Shane" rather than "Shawn" in America - they're descendants of Northerners who pronounced the name Seán like that.

Anyway, the offer stands, Pavane; if you want a simple mp3 file or two on how to say the phrases you're looking for, send me your email address - email me at drnua at yahoo com - and I'll email you the files of the phrases you require.

I've now downloaded a program that allows me to record my voice as an mp3 file on my Mac, so it's easy enough. But no pressure - plenty of good advice from others here.

By the way, I assume that everyone here knows that Raidió na Gaeltachta is online (as is RTE Lyric FM if you like classical music and occasionally some traditional - they're currently playing a lot of the music referenced in Joyce's books, and have a Joyce music CD out) and RTE1 and 2. A google should lead you to any of them.