worshphm7

Does anyone have any suggestions about how to handle the new road signs without English?
We wont have to worry in Galway, but we will be in Dingle and Kenmare. We're leaving on May 10th.

Mucky

The signs are not the biggest problem.
It will however be when they change which side of the road they drive on, it will be staggered.
Monday Lorries change
Tuesday Cars change
Wednesday Motorbikes change.

Sorry I digress......

;-)

Muck

starrsville

Take a map with Gaelic place names.

worshphm7

Am I reading Mucky right? They are changing which side of the road they drive on? I havent read anything about that????

Edward2005

There are plenty of English road signs in sw Ireland. You will have no problem driving or navigating. And if you get lost, no biggie. Just pull over and they will be happy to give you directions.

flanneruk

Have I missed something?

Gaelic-only signs are restricted to the Gaeltachts aren't they? And when were Kenmare and Dingle last Gaeltachts? In fact, when was Gaelic (as we call it in English) last spoken in Kenmare?

azwurth

..believe I recently saw an article about this very topic; that the signs there were all being changed to Gaelic, under protest by many? Just a Canadian so, don't take my word for it..

starrsville

As of April 2nd.

Here's one article -
http://www.canadaeast.com/apps/pbcs....plate=printart

"On the breathtakingly beautiful Dingle penisula in northwest County Kerry, signs with English spellings were taken down weeks ago"

pastyp

What would you do if you visited any other country where the signs were in a different language, Spain, Italy???

SiobhanP

Trust me you will be fine and the whole country is not doing this. Most rural Irish speaking areas are not full of motorwqays and sode roads...usually one road in and one out. You will never get too lost.

worshphm7

Thanks everyone for your responses. Since the maps are usually written in English and now that the road signs are not I was concerned about getting lost.
We leave in 15 days....Yea!!!!!!!!!!

KateIP

Go to Borders or Barnes & Nobles, and look at the Michelin maps for Ireland. I believe the map has at least some of the town names in Irish. Also, once you get there, find some Discovery Ordnance maps for the areas you'll be, a bit expensive, but they have place names in Irish.

wojazz3

You can get the ordinance survey map for all of Ireland at most petrol stations. It's not terribly expensive.

Bill

marshacarlin

We're in Kenmare as we speak, been entirely in the SW of Ireland for the past 5 days, Doolin, Feakle, Kensale, Mizen Head, (Do the lighthouse!) etc and we've had no problems. just SLOW DOWN (or calming ahead as they say) at the crossings and have a navigator who can read the signs....all have been in both languages and we've been on the most out-of-the way roads. We've had 5 days of sun so I wish you the same good luck.......it's been as wonderful as all on this forum said it would be.
Enjoy!

Marycang

Barnes and Nobles have the Irish Ordance Maps. Names in both Irish and English. Not that expensive.
We go to Ireland for 1 week after 3 weeks in Italy. My husband is Italian/American and I am Irish/American. Guess who won that toss?

BostonTerriers

We just got back from Ireland two weeks ago and strictly did the SW area -- Kenmare, Dingle. No problems whatsoever reading the maps or the roadsigns -- very easy -- in fact, we didn't really find a sign that didn't have the English version as well. By the way, The Lodge in Kenmare was awesome and The Greenmount in Dingle was beautiful. Have a great time and don't worry about reading signs -- just worry about the narrow roads -- stay left, look right! Hope you have a great time.

Patrick

I have no idea how to pronounce nor do I know the meaning of Glwyfkcclizklrytisjvc.
But if I were looking for a town called Glwyfkcclizklrytisjvc, and I saw a road sign that said Glwyfkcclizklrytisjvc, I'd probably turn and go that way, without worrying about knowing the language.

JJBhoy

LOL Patrick,

The problem is that if the town is known as Glwyfkcclizklrytisjvc in English it would quite possibly be called Hmxzglddmjalmszujtkwd in Irish!

Anyway, isn't Glwyfkcclizklrytisjvc in Molvania?

Have to go now as my spell-checker has just just exploded.

Jim

edhodge

Double check me on this but I believe that when I printed off directions from Viamichelin.com, the town names were in Gaelic. That was last year. We had issues with trying to use road numbers so if we couldn't find something by the directions given by viamichelin, we just looked for the town name.

Cronen

I drove all around Ireland several years ago and did see signs in Gaelic. I know when I was a kid I was told it was a dead language, like Latin. In Ireland, my cousin told me that it was being revived (the news progams were spoken in Gaelic). However, people speak English, so if your not sure, ask someone. Also, there really are so few roads in that area with so few options of where to go, it would be hard to get lost. Dingle is really just one road. Just watch out for the round abouts (really confusing) and being American I had trouble with knowing which was the right side of the road. Most people drive kind of in the middle because a lot of the roads are narrow. Do watch curves, as I tended to drift off the to the wrong side of the road going around them. You'll have a great time, it is an easy country to drive in.