Inspired by a post on bloglikeit's blog (not real name obviously). I thought I might start a post on the Irish language. In Ireland, all students, except those who are exempt due to either being from somewhere outside the country or issues like dyslexia, learn Irish from Junior Infants right through to their final year of secondary school. That's 14 years. Yet the majority of students leave not even near fluent, save for those with a talent for languages, those who attended an Irish speaking school, or those who live in the Gaeltacht areas. The way it is taught turns students off. We don't use it in general conversation, though it is on all roadsigns and the news is given in Irish after the usual edition etc., yet it is given huge priority in our exams over languages we would use like French. The pressure caused by insisting on it being one of the core subjects we are examined on for our finals means we get no enjoyment, especially as they force the culture of it into the lessons, which, being Irish anyway, we don't need. However, having been out of school a good number of years now, I have noticed myself feeling more of a need to be even semi-fluent and a lot of my friends feel similar. It is no longer just a boring school subject, now it is a part of my heritage.
I think a lot of people feel let down when they get older by the way it is treated in schools.
Most people probably know more than they realise but just haven't enough practice using it to feel competent. There are several phrases which are almost like running jokes because they are pretty much guaranteed to turn up in any student's essay whether in first year or you final Leaving Cert exams. These include the use of phrases such as "I like...", "I prefer...", "I hate...", "I was sad" or "I was very sad" if you're feeling particularly clever. Then you will find some contrived way to include phrases such as "He ran like the wind" or "The clouds were in the sky". The majority of essays will be written in the past tense because that's the easiest one to remember, and at all costs students will avoid having a character say that they "would do" something.

Here are some of the standard phrases we learn when little.

“Rith mé ar nós na gaoithe” - I ran like the wind.
“Ta scamallach sa spéir” - The clouds are in the sky.
“Is maith liom cáca milis” - I like cake.
“Is fearr liom an sceallóga prátaí” - I prefer chips.
“Bhi an fearg orm” - I was very angry. Most essays end this way.

Most essays end up being about someone who went to school, saw clouds in the sky, liked cake all day, went home, had chips for dinner and then went to bed angry for no apparent reason.

It’s hard to explain how to pronounce Irish words. An important thing to understand is the ‘fada’. This is similar to the accents and graves in French. The word ‘fada’ means long, and it is a dash found over vowels, indicating that you should draw out the sound of the vowel. So the word ‘cáca’ without the fada would be pronounced “cah-cah” but as it does have a fada it is pronounced “cawcaw”. Sounds like a mad bird screaming basically.

Pronunciation also depends on the dialect (Munster, Ulster, Connacht, Leinster). Prepositional pronouns come at the end. This is the sort of thing that makes people completely unfamiliar with the language so confused - most of the sentences are constructed with the words out of order, by English standards anyway. For instance, if you want to say that someone possesses something you use one of the following - agam, agat, aige, aici, againn, agaibh, acu - I, you, he, she, we, you, they. To say "I have a book", you say "Tá leabhar agam" which translates directly as "There is a book at me". Now you know where people get that idea of the Irish being poetic. None of our sentences are constructed logically! A 'h' is also added after the first letter of many words if it's plural, or else there is an 'í' or and 'aí' at the end of the word.

Now for some basic phrases and that's the end of todays (and probably any other) lesson!

MoonBunny is ainm dom - MoonBunny is my name - MB is (hiss the 's', don't pronounce it like a 'z') annum dumb.

Dia duit - Hello (literally God be with you) - Dee-ah gwit (slur the t at the end of a word by pushing your tongue gently at the bottom of your front teeth)

Conas atá tú? - How are you? - Cun-us ataw too

Tá mé go maith - I am fine (literally I am doing well) - Taw may guh moh (or 'my' depending on dialect)

Go raibh maith agat - Thank you (literally Thanks be with you) - Guh rev moh a-gut (remember to slur the t!!)

Tá failte romhat - You are welcome - Taw faultcha row-at (slur the 'at')

Slan leat - Goodbye - slawn lat

Is breá leat - I love you - Is (hiss the s) braw lat

Maith thú - Well done - Mah who

Sláinte - Cheers - Slawncha

Sin sin - That's it - Shin shin

Le do thoile - Please - Leh duh hullay

Gabh mo leithscéal - Excuse me - Gah muh lehsch-gale

Más é do thoil é - Please - Maws (remember the s is always quite clipped)ay duh hull ay

Actually the last phrase reminds me of the most commonly used phrase by students - "Lig amach mé, más é do thoil é?" - "Can I go out please?" which means can you leave the classroom to go to the loo please!!! If it's urgent you will need to be able to call 'Múinteoir!!Múinteoir!!" - Mween-ture Mweenture - "Teacher, teacher!!"