Speak Irish Now (Irish Edition)
Had it not been for the Celtic Revival that accompanied Ireland's fi ght for independence in the early 20th century, the language would have probably died out by now.
Learning the Irish language (Gaeilge)
Today, a quarter of the population claim they speak it regularly. I have always suspected this figure and to test its accuracy I decided to travel around the country speaking only Irish to see how I would get on. I chose Dublin as a starting point, confident in the knowledge that in a city of 1. I went first to the Ordnance Survey Office to get a map of the country. As a semi-state organisation it has a duty to provide certain services in Irish. I replied in Irish. I tried explaining once again what I was looking for. I really needed a map for the journey ahead; it would be hard enough to get by without having to ask for directions constantly.
I tried addressing the man one last time, using the simplest schoolroom Irish that he must have learned during the 10 years of compulsory Irish that every schoolchild undergoes, but he covered his ears, and I was left with no choice but to leave.
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It was not a good start. Although it was still early I decided I needed a drink and headed to an elegant Victorian bar off Grafton Street. I tried simplifying the order - although how much simpler can you make, "I'd like a drink, please"? I have managed to get drinks in bars from Cameroon to Kazakhstan without any problem; if I had been speaking any other language I doubt it would have been an issue.
Speak Irish Now
I tried pointing at what I wanted - the taps were lined up along the bar - but I made the mistake of talking as I pointed. I thought it safer to get one of the customers to translate for me, but they stared resolutely into their pints when I turned to them. Eventually, one young lad, taking pity on me, advised me to go to a cafe on Kildare Street.
The city's Victorian plumbing was struggling to cope with the July heat and the place stank of sewage. I could not help thinking it was a sort of ghetto, a sanctuary for a beleaguered minority. I knew the journey was going to prove difficult, just not this difficult. What I had not factored for was the animosity. Part of it, I felt, stemmed from guilt - we feel inadequate that we cannot speak our own language.
I decided to contact a talk radio show in Dublin to ask the listeners what they thought. A few phoned to say that they had no idea what I was talking about. I asked in Irish, over and over again. Are you speaking the Irish?
This in turn made me feel guilty: She then bribed me as a child with sweets and treats to go on speaking it when I realised that none of my friends did. In fact, I had almost discarded it, regarding it as a dead weight around my neck, until TG4, the Irish-language television station, was set up in and I started making travel documentaries for it.
After the radio show, I decided to visit the tourist office which, presumably, was used to dealing with different languages. The man at the counter looked at me quizzically when I inquired about a city tour. I was beginning to hate this moment - the point at which the fear and frustration spread across their faces. They were just trying to get through the day, after all. They did not need to be confronted by an unbending foot soldier of the Irish Taliban. I explained what I was trying to do.
I asked if there was any other language I could use and they pointed to a list of seven flags on the wall. To be honest, I could speak five of them but I had promised myself not to, not unless it was absolutely necessary. Eventually they located a charming young woman who spoke perfect Irish and was able to tell me everything I needed to know, but she was terribly nervous, believing her vocabulary to be inadequate.
It was not; it was wonderful. It is an odd tendency that people often have an erroneous view of their ability to speak Irish, either over- or underestimating their ability - possibly a convoluted psychological legacy of the stigma attached from days when it was a sign of poverty and backwardness. Well in Irish we very merrily change the beginning. This is something common in other Celtic languages and adds to a nice flow between words.
So, for those of you who don't know, my name is actually Brendan Benny is my nickname. However, thanks to the magic of initial mutations we can change the start of words in many situations! This would be the vocative case for the linguists out there. This strange use of spelling and the other examples mentioned above may seem offputting, but it's actually quite helpful believe it or not! You see, we keep the letter of the original base word e. I'm told that Welsh in the same language family operates more phonetically despite the same initial mutation situation and I'd personally miss my original letters for recognition!
However, despite the huge differences, like in some other languages , words are formed logically using prefixes, suffixes and combinations of roots. A lot of Irish words do this so after you have some basic vocabulary it isn't that bad to recognise more complicated words and very quickly build up your base of vocabulary. And then sometimes we just separate the words in an easy way. Exit is simply bealach amach way out.
Also, because of the initial mutations mentioned above, capital letters upper case can occur as the second or third letter in a word! The best part of all, is that Irish speakers are generally always happy to help! Whether in Ireland or abroad, there are usually some books in major libraries on learning Irish. But even if you aren't in Ireland, the possibilities of being exposed to Irish are endless! As I've mentioned before you can use meetup. You can also change the language of your computer and software to be entirely in Irish!
Speak Irish Now
Then of course there are lots of sites online to help you practice your Irish. Here is a small sample:. The audio has some typical phrases that you can repeat. Gramadach na Gaeilge — An extremely in-depth look at Irish grammar. Perhaps more interesting to linguists due to how extremely detailed it gets! Irish Gaelic Translator forum — Get an almost instantaneous answer from a native or fluent speaker of the language on simple questions and short translations. This forum is very active and will be a great help! RnaG — Ireland's main Irish language radio station that you can listen to live.
This is the best way to hear what the language actually sounds like! Tg4 — Ireland's Irish language TV station. What's better than listening to the radio in Irish? Watching TV shows originally in Irish! There are many more categories, but the site is navigated entirely in Irish of course.
See a Problem?
Irish dictionary — free online dictionary. Not good for basic words, but gives declensions and plurals for a lot of words; for intermediate and higher level learners. You can also check out a video I made about my experience in the Gaeltacht. The course I took was given by Oideas Gael in Donegal and takes place regularly every year for all levels. My Irish is far from perfect my accent is definitely not as lovely as so many others that you would hear , but you can see some videos I've made entirely in Irish most with subtitles on my Irish videoblog.
I don't update it regularly, and you can see a somewhat silly video about the Irish language. You can watch it in both English and Irish here ].