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Listen to Eoin discuss listener questions and emails around the Irish language (Irish Gaelic) in Ireland. If you feel that deep connection for Ireland, and plan on visiting, or have visited, then you’ll learn about seeking the Irish language out.
What you’ll hear
- Whether you’ll be understood in the Gaeltacht regions if you learn standardized Irish
- How media has changed native speakers’ exposure to different accents and dialects
- How common is the Irish language in Ireland?
- Is there a Leinster Irish dialect?
- Eoin’s rant on why perfectionism is not a practical goal for speaking Irish
Mentioned in this episode
- Gaeltacht regions – those regions that are historically marked as places in Ireland where Irish is the main community language (but those borders don’t always match reality). Eoin speaks about urban Irish.
- Bitesize Irish Gaelic online lessons
- Slea Head Farm (no longer operating)
- Meetup.com
- Conradh na Gaeilge for cafés and bookstores
- TG4 television and Raidió na Gaeltachta radio
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The show comes out each fortnight on Thursdays at 8am EST. Thanks for listening. We’d love to hear from you about the episode. Just leave a comment below.
Eoin
9 thoughts on “Will I understand people in the Gaeltacht regions of Ireland? (Ep. 5)”
GRMA! After this podcast, and because of what Benny the Irish Polyglot did when he blogged about Gaeilge (similar t-léine) … bhuel… rinne mé seo inniú.
http://www.cafepress.com/mf/83694081/foghlaimeoir-learner_tshirt?shop=dfwgaelicleague
Haha, I love it. I tweeted it out.
Eóin, a chara,
There are many places in Dublin where you can use whatever Irish you have. There are so many, you could almost use Irish each day. You just have to do some research and arrange your schedule so you can attend some of these activities/places during the week.
Here is a short list:
– Club Chonradh na Gaeilge 6 Sr. Fhearchair, BÁC 2 ( gach luan 8H30 i.n. )
– Ciorcal Díospóireachta Café Fixx ( gach coicíos ar an Mháirt)
– TCD An Chéadaoin san Bhutrach – http://www.tcd.ie/gaeloifig/en/
– BEWLEY’S @ 6! Café Bewley’s, Sráid Grafton
– Ionad Buail Isteach – Siopa Connolly Books 43 Sr. Essex Thoir Gach Aoine 1-2:15 i.n. ( tae/caifé saor in aisce )
– An Siopa Leabhar, 6 Sráid Fhearchair, Dublin 2.
– In Dublin City University (DCU) in the Caféteria there is a table set aside for Irish speakers.
– Dé Domhnaigh: Aifreann as Gaeilge: 10.00 am – Sráid na SeanEaglaise (Na Caipisínigh)
other Irish Masses listed here: http://www.catholicireland.net/aifrinn-as-gaeilge-in-ard-deoise-bhaile-atha-cliath/
– List of other activities in BÁC are in this Newsletter:
http://www.ionad.org/nuachtlitir/nl_2013_earr/nl_2013_earr.pdf
Le meas,
Gearóid
Fantastic – thanks for providing links. I hope someone will get use out of that info, even if they’re just passing through Dublin for a few days.
i look forward to ordering my pionta of guinness. i’ll try it when i’m in ireland next. in west ireland i guess
Do try it 🙂
Eoin dear,
thanks for the interesting answers. I agree – in my longer stay in Ireland I haven’t heard it spoken once – just on the radio.
But now there is a linguistic complaint –
languages like irish do not get simpler, they tend to be more isolating. You might think that the isolating type is the easiest one, because english a good example of this language type.
I was very fortunate to learn russian – a very flective language with 6 nominal cases. It was only last week when I entered my class and told my students: “Friends, today we do syntax!” As they all could remember very well the painful syntax lessons in english, the reaction was load groaning and moaning. But russian syntax is easy – the only rule is – do just what you feel like!
So I always say – the mountain of each language that you have to climb is just as high as the mountains of the all other lanuages in the world. English starts easy but you cannot imagine the loads of vocabulary, the stiff syntax, the specialties of idiomatic speech and so on …
A second point where I do not really agree: I can not see that irish is benefiting from english. English is more like an airtight blanket over the little irish fire. It will simple “bearlachas” it a away in a distant future, when there is not a witty language regulation.
Sorry (ranting is infectious) 😎
Michi
Hi Michi,
nice to hear your views.
> A second point where I do not really agree: I can not see that irish is benefiting from english.
I would try to rephrase, in that case. I don’t see “good” or “bad” that words of one language travel from one language to another. I would definitely argue, though, that a language that is **changing** probably has a better chance to survive than one that is not. That “change” could come from a lot of sources, including pressure from other languages.
This is perfectly true for healthy languages like german or russian, italian or dutch. But there is a definite threat that irish will change to death, because there is no monolingual speaker left. It would be interesting how other minor languages face the problem of a very invasive lingua franca.
Michi