Unsurprisingly, Irish is one of the languages that is hard to learn. It has its own set of rules that can confuse the average person. However, with a honest desire and persevering effort, a day will come when you can learn it and use it with a respectable amount of proficiency.
Irish has a reputation for being difficult to learn, but as an English speaker you will find that Irish uses the same Latin alphabet as English.
Is Irish spelling easier than English? Actually, for the most part, Irish spelling is quite easy. Once you know the rules and have an understanding of the sounds most of the spelling is straightforward.
The decline of the Irish language was the result of two factors: the Great Irish Potato Famine and the repeal of Penal Laws. The Potato Famine led to a decline in the Irish-speaking population. The repeal of Penal Law made Catholics interested in learning English as a way to get ahead in life.
The official status of the Irish language has remained high in the Republic of Ireland from foundation. This reflects the dominance of the language in Irish cultural and social history until the nineteenth century and its role in Irish cultural identity. In 2022, strong recognition was added in Northern Ireland also.
In the whole world, there are an estimated 1.2 million speakers of the Irish language. Of this number, only about 170,000 speak it as a first language.
'To extinguish their sinister traditions and customs' – the historic bans on the legal use of the Irish and Welsh languages. A medieval Welsh judge. It was only in the 16th century that the Welsh language was banned from use in court.
Irish people are very friendly.
They love to chat and are likely to approach you and make contact in any context, in a pub, waiting at the bus stop, when you are out for a walk. If they sense that you are open for a chat, they will talk to you.
It is believed that Irish remained the majority tongue as late as 1800 but became a minority language during the 19th century. It is an important part of Irish nationalist identity, marking a cultural distance between Irish people and the English.
The Irish language gives you an insight into the Irish way of thinking. The very way that you express yourself in Irish is different to in English (just to add to your challenges!). For example, you don't say “I'm hungry,” in Irish. Rather, you say, literally, “Hunger is on me.” (Tá ocras orm. /Taw uk-ross ur-rum.
The traditional Irish alphabet (áibítir) consists of 18 letters: ⟨a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, u⟩. It does not contain ⟨j, k, q, v, w, x, y, z⟩, although they are used in scientific terminology and modern loanwords/words of foreign origin.
Junior Cycle – age 12 to 15 (approximately) Senior Cycle - age 16 to 18 (approximately)
Irish is a Celtic language (as English is a Germanic language, French a Romance language, and so on). This means that it is a member of the Celtic family of languages. Its “sister” languages are Scottish, Gaelic, and Manx (Isle of Man); its more distant “cousins” are Welsh, Breton, and Cornish.
Finally, the Irish English speakers in this study appeared to have relatively higher speech rates than most of the English dialects reported in previous studies. KEYWORDS: Speaking rate. articulation rate.
That is to say, Irish people incorporated in their way of speaking English diverse characteristics of the Gaelic language, modifying the way of pronouncing several words, the way of its use and even the grammatical structure of sentences. It all helps to make the Irish accent often more difficult to be understood.
Jury's Inn surveyed over 1000 people to discover which Irish accents they find irresistible. A massive 37% admitted that it's the musical tones of Donegal that they just can't get enough of. Coming just behind Donegal to claim second place is Cork.
"The so-called Irish temperament is a mixture of flaming ego, hot temper, stubbornness, great personal charm and warmth, and a wit that shines through adversity.
What is the most famous Irish blessing? “May the road rise up to meet you” is one of the most famous Irish blessings.
There is evidence that in 2021, according to new data released by the language app Duolingo, Irish is the fastest growing language, with over 1 million people actively learning Irish every week on it. It is also the number one language being learned in Ireland.
Did you know? English and Irish (Gaeilge) are the official languages in the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland is where you'll hear the soft strains of Ullans (Ulster-Scots). You'll find Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) areas predominantly along the west coast, where Irish is widely spoken.
In the Parliament of the United Kingdom (2022)
The Bill passed in the House of Commons with its third reading on 26 October. On 6 December, the Act received royal assent, meaning that Irish would become an official language in Northern Ireland once the relevant provisions are brought into force.
There are no words in Irish for “yes” and “no”. In the present tense, there are two different ways of answering yes, as there are two different types of question structures. The first type begins with the Irish word “an” and is followed by a noun.
The results show that an impressive 58% of those surveyed found the Irish accent attractive. On the flip side, only 13% of respondents said they found it unattractive.