While I was in Ireland last month I went to an interesting talk by Michael McCaughan at which he launched his book, Coming Home: One man’s return to the Irish Language.
I have just finished reading the book, and found it very interesting. Although he had to study Irish in school, like everybody else in Ireland, he wasn’t able to speak the language after finishing school. While working as a journalist in South America, he was often asked about the Irish language when people found out he was from Ireland, and he became ashamed that he couldn’t speak it, apart from odd phrases. He became determind to master Irish, and wrote the book about his Irish learning adventures, and also about the history and current state of the language.
He discusses the challenges of learning a minority language, including finding people to talk to, and pursuading native speakers to speak Irish to you, even though it is often easier them to switch to English, unless you’re very fluent. He talks about the growth of Irish in Northern Ireland in both Catholic and Protestant communities, where there is a real hunger for the language. People there don’t let minor things like lack of funds or official permission stop them from setting up schools, radio stations and other things.
If you have any interest in the Irish language and/or Ireland, this book is worth reading.
A friend of mine has a similar story: she grew up in Wales but had no interest in learning Welsh at school. After learning school, she went travelling in Eastern Europe, and was often asked about Wales and the Welsh language when people found out where she was from. She became determined to learn Welsh, and in less then a year, during which time she studied Welsh everyday, and shared a flat with native Welsh speakers, she was more or less fluent. She won the Welsh Learner of the Year competition in 2008, and went on to do a degree in Celtic Studies at Aberystwyth University.
In order to appreciate your own language and culture, is it necessary to spend time in other countries?
Interesting. Can you tell me more about that?
There are thriving communities of Irish speakers in Belfast and other parts of Northern Ireland. There are also Irish-medium schools, and many Irish courses for adults, Irish conversation circles, Irish language culture events, and so on.
On the Shaw’s Road (Bóthar Seoighe) in Belfast, for example, five Irish-speaking families got together to build an Irish-speaking community in the 1969. In 1971 they set up the first Irish medium school in Northern Ireland, which was officially recognised in 1985, and now has 350 students (there were just 9 at first).
An Irish language radio station, Raidió Fáilte, a culture centre (Cultúrlann), and an Irish language newspaper, An Lá, were also started in Belfast.
There is also the Gaeltacht Quarter, centred around the Falls Road in West Belfast, where there are a number of Irish-medium schools, colleges and other institutions.
Here’s a video about Shaw’s Road (in Irish, with English subtitles):
Bóthar Seoighe: Ag Fíorú na Físe thar Caoga Bliain from Northern Visions NvTv on Vimeo.
To appreciate home one must depart and return to see it with fresh eyes seems to be a theme of literature. I’m thinking of Herman Hesse here. However, others such as Joyce and Becket were keen to depart (Ireland) never to return! Dylan Thomas was something else with regard to Wales!