"Níor mhór an Béarla a ruaigeadh as saol na hÉireann agus an Ghaeilge a chur i réim ina áit.” – “English must be driven out of Irish life and Irish instated in its stead. - Éamon de Valera
If you understood the headline of this piece, you have Irish. Tá Gaeilge agat! Even if they are the only two words you recognise or understand, you have Irish. Irish is the first language of this little island of ours and we should be inherently proud of that. We are a little nation that has been subjugated and colonised in the past and our native tongue, even though we do speak it, has played second fiddle to that of the tongue of our colonisers. That sentence even as I write it, sounds provocative. It is provocative. It is also undeniably true. Unfortunately, due to a concoction of a litany of errors in its teaching and due in part to our Government’s failure to provide adequate funding, the language, despite being taught to each of us for over a decade in school, people still claim not to have it and it seems to hide in any nook or cranny it can.
The reason I sat down to write this piece on the Irish language was a simple as this, in Costa as I ordered my Americano, the barista actually said to me “ar mhaith leat bainne?” he actually asked me that. I’m not sure if he presumed I had Irish or if he was chancing his arm. The warmth I felt when I heard those words in my ears was short lived as I soon felt disappointed by how shocked I was to hear them. I shouldn’t be shocked. A polite man spoke Irish to me, an Irish man, in Ireland. What is shocking about that? The answer should be absolutely nothing. Then why was I shocked? And why am I writing this article about it? Billy is the Barista’s name by the way, I spoke to him about his Irish and he told me he was a non-national and he had a friend that was from the Gaeltacht, this friend had taught him some words. Billy asked me to teach him a few more. So I did. He told me he finds pronunciation of the words difficult, so I wrote a two sentences down on a sheet of paper phonetically for him. Conas atá tú? and Go raibh maith agat. Two phrases which I felt would be useful in his profession.
It’s a shame in my view that it isn’t spoken more. We do have the language. Even though many people will say they “haven’t a word of it” they do. You read the headline and you understood it. You might not be able to hold a conversation. And that is ok, but you do have it. Whatever Irish you have I would urge you to speak it. I understand historically the teaching of the language might have left a sour taste in the mouths of relatives, or even your own experiences of the language being taught in school might not be so positive. However, I would argue that such experiences are not the fault of the language, the culpability lies in the hands of the methods of teaching.
Alan Titley is quoted as saying:
“The final act of language change is always the result of a long series of blows and thumps and softenings-up. We got it in the neck so often that the words fell out of our throats. We presumed that the job of getting them back would be quite easy.”
This brief but poignant statement can be interpreted in two ways. The ‘long series of blows and thumps’ can be seen to be dealt by the hands of British oppressors such as they Black and Tans and Auxilliaries who shot people on the spot for speaking as Gaeilge. Or in more recent memory and parlance these ‘blows’ can be seen to be dealt by the hand of our own teachers, who were notorious for chastising students who found the language difficult to interpret. This was not helped by a lash of a cane on the knuckles, I hope you’ll agree.
My point here is that, in Ireland we do speak Irish. Some have bits, some have bits and pieces and some have a lot. Some are conversational and some are fluent. We have varying degrees of Irish but we certainly do have it.
If all you have in your vocabulary is Go raibh maith agat, then I would plead with you to use that when you are handed a cup of coffee, or when a kind cashier hands you your change. If you can say Dia dhuit in place of hello, then please do. If you have it in you, to utter Conas atá tú? instead of how are you, then spit it out. You’ll feel better that you have made an effort and have contributed to keeping the language alive.
Because guys it really is as simple as this, if the language is not spoken, it will die. Eoin MacNeill is quoted as saying;
“There can be no greater delusion than to imagine that a language can be kept alive alone by teaching. A language can have no real life unless it lives in the lives of the people.”
The Irish language in Ireland at times can be a bit like where’s Wally, sometimes it’s difficult to find, but if you squint your eyes and search hard enough, you will find it.
So if you have it, push your chest out, stick your head in the air and let everyone else know you have it!
Please find below some handy phrases to help you along:
Tá Gaeilge agam. – I have Irish.
Conas atá tú? – How are you?
Tá me go maith, go raibh maith agat. – I am good, thank you.
Tá cúpla focal Gaeilge agam. – I have a couple of words of Irish.
Tá me ag foghlaim Gaeilge. – I am learning Irish.
Tá an ghrian ag taitneamh. – The sun is shining.
Nach bhfuil an aimsir go hálainn? – Isn’t the weather gorgeous?
Tá se ag cur baistí. – It is raining.
Nach bhfuil an aimsir go dona? – Isn’t the weather bad?
Slán. – Goodbye.
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