Remember Your Motivation to Learn Irish Gaelic?

Ever wondered why it was easier to learn things when you were in school and why you’re not capable of doing it at the same cadence now? It’s all about motivation and passion. If when you were younger you had to learn because that’s what your parents said, when you’re all grown up, you want to learn to improve yourself or to satisfy your hunger for knowledge.

A lot of people sign up for online courses but fail to complete them although the lessons are easy to understand. What can you do to improve this?

It’s quite simple. The trick is to stay motivated and always remember your motivation’s point of origin. What convinced you to make the first step? When you’re trying to improve yourself by learning a new language such as Irish Gaelic but you don’t see the progress you’d hoped for, remember that spark that drove you here in the first place. 

But, don’t take our words for granted. Read the story of Patricia Ortiz from Syracuse, New York, the USA who is a member of our Irish learning community. Patricia learned to speak Irish and even featured our language in her published novel. She has some great insight for those who can’t seem to stay motivated enough.

Where do you live, and what do you like about it?

I live in Syracuse, New York, in the USA. I like Syracuse because it’s a city, big enough to have the conveniences of a metropolitan area without having all the problems of a big city. (I once lived in Brooklyn, but my place of birth and my early years was Seneca Falls, New York, a rather rural area. I loved Seneca Falls, but Brooklyn was too, too big.

Syracuse has more employment opportunities and social services than Seneca Falls had.

What was the inspiration for learning Irish Gaelic?

It all started when I was writing a novel which had as one of its main characters a gentleman of Irish parentage. I started doing historical research and discovered that I had a deep sympathy for the Irish people. I found similarities to our own American history. During my research, I learned about the language and the fact that many of the Irish people don’t even speak it anymore. I thought that this was too bad and felt that more people should be learning it.

I had learned Spanish in order to communicate with my Spanish-speaking husband, and I had taken French, Greek, and Latin in college. My motivation was that I had always found it relatively easy to learn languages, and I felt it was a shame that the number of Irish Gaelic-speaking people had dwindled. Let’s prevent it from dwindling more and if possible, increase the number of those people who could speak it.

As far as I know, I have no Irish ancestry directly although my mom does have an Irish aunt. I haven’t checked my ancestry thoroughly. If there is Irish there, I’m glad. If not, I’ll adopt some.

How do you use Irish Gaelic?

Right now I use it very little. In the novel which I have published (To Buy Us A Star, available at Amazon), I have my character of Irish descent’s mother, speaking it to a friend of hers. I’d love to have the chance to use it more, such as corresponding with someone. I am learning from the “Bite-sized” lessons, taking notes, and reviewing often. I have disadvantages in that the screen reader makes it hard to hear the pronunciations by the Irish speaker. When I try to listen, the screen reader knocks me way back to the beginning of the lesson so that it takes me much longer to find my place each time if I’m going to listen to each sentence by the Irish speaker. I have all but given up on trying to listen.

I had thought of ordering some audio lessons, but I haven’t had the money. Reading the lessons, I can pretty much understand what I’m reading, and the written pronunciations help some, but it’s certainly not the same as hearing the words pronounced correctly. I am getting some help in learning the language from these lessons, certainly more than I found anywhere else, but I’m not getting all I’d like to.

If I could hear the pronunciation, and if I could communicate with someone who would speak or even write to me, I’d be doing better and using the language more.

What advice would I give to a total beginner of Irish Gaelic?

First, I would advise the beginner to be motivated and to keep remembering why you were motivated. Since you’re going at your own pace, other matters may crowd in on you. For example, I have had two books published and am working on a third. I also have a large family, and family matters do happen. I find that I have to make time to study the language and to keep to that time.

I get the lessons in on my time, but I also have to take the time to study and review. It’s not the easiest language to learn, but it can be done. For instance, I’m thinking that right about now would be a good time for me to take some time to review some of the earlier lessons to make sure I haven’t forgotten what I learned back then.

Motivation and effort are the key words here.

You too can learn to speak Irish Gaelic using the Bitesize method. If you still have some doubts about learning the Irish language, take a free trial. Remember your motivation to improve yourself and go for it!

Learn to speak Irish! Sign up for Bitesize Irish Gaelic.