Our Bitey way of making a connection with your Irish heritage is the regular immersion of the Irish language. Use any means at your disposal. If it comes down to telling your dog to “Suí síos!”, then so be it.
But let’s flip that, and see if it can get you thinking in positive ways.
How NOT to learn Irish Gaelic:
- Be sure to never hear the Irish language spoken. Stay away from Raidió na Gaeltachta during your day. Don’t install the Irish Radioplayer app to listen to it, you have more interesting apps to play with.
- Promise yourself you’ll study the language for two hours on Sunday. (Don’t worry, you’ll never get around to it.)
- Read your Facebook feed when you’re bored. And be sure not to join Facebook groups for Irish learners. Don’t post stuff about Ireland and the Irish language on your own Facebook wall, nobody else is interested in it.
- Be sure to never write down new words you come across.
- Don’t plan that trip to Ireland, it’s too expensive anyway. If you travel to Ireland despite that, don’t bother to say “Slán!” to the bar man. What’s the point?
- Convince yourself it’s not worth attending an Irish Gaelic immersion weekend, or local classes. “Everybody else” will be more advanced than you. And you don’t have the time to go anyway.
- Forget your ancestry. Who cares where you came from? You’re unique, just like everybody else.
- Don’t order any t-shirts with the Irish language written on them. What if someone happens to see it and asks you “Conas atá tú?“. You’ll be stuck for words.
- Don’t limit the time you want to learn the Irish language to five minutes a day. What could you learn in five minutes? A new word? What’s the point in that?
Do you have more tips on how to NOT learn to speak Irish? Leave your reply below this blog post.
I recognize that command — telling the dog to sit … how is it pronounced?? I want to sign up for the bitesized classes; I have been listening to the CDs from Pimsleur, which teaches a different dialect, but is engaging on road trips. I love speaking Irish, particularly to annoying telephone solicitors who sometimes ask if I speak English!
Hi Barbara,
Let me find that out for you and we will post the answer here.
That it so funny that you are using Irish Gaelic to confuse the telephone solicitors and at the same time you are practising the language.
I personally sound like a child over the phone, so they always ask if parents are at home and I usually respond that no one older is at home 🙂
You can sign up to one of our subscription plans at the following page: http://bitesize.irish/signup/
Le meas,
Ana.
That is so funny that you speak to the phone solicitors in Irish!! I’ve got to try that! 😀
Haha 🙂
“Suí síos” is pronounced like:
/See shee-oss/
If you want to become a member of our program and private Facebook community, here’s the link to do that:
http://bitesize.irish/signup/
You might also like our album “Learn Irish with Eoin” since you enjoy audio programs:
http://bitesize.irish/album/