Language Issues

Coming to Ireland, I did not really expect to have language issues. I knew that "Irish as a foreign language" was one of our classes, but I did not really know how commonly it is used, and assumed everyone spoke English. Although Gaelic, or Irish, used to be the main language spoken by the Irish, that is no longer the case. Despite this fact, it is the Irish National Language, and is the first official language of Ireland before English, and there has recently been a push to revive the Irish Language especially in the primary schools. We learned in our class that students will actually get in trouble if they speak English in class instead of Gaelic. Despite Ireland's efforts to revive the language, English is still predominately spoken across Ireland.

The language itself is incredibly difficult. Unlike Spanish (the only other foreign language I have ever taken a class on) sounding out the words will get you nowhere. For example, "Dia dhuit" is definitely not pronounced however you just read it in your head. The pronunciation is actually "gia hwich." So when I make my notes in our Gaelic Language class, I write down the word how it is spelled, and then I write down how I would pronounce it so when I look at it later, I am not completely confused.

Although the language is complicated, almost everyone I have ran into speaks English, so I have not really run into problems communicating with people. Some accents are really thick and can be harder to understand, but I am getting more used to it after awhile. The only real difficulty I have faced with language issues in Ireland is that their signs are always written in Gaelic, and only sometimes include the English translation as well. For the most part, I don't have too many troubles with the language and I have a new found respect for anyone who can speak Gaelic.

A sign for a St. Patrick's Day Parade in Spiddal