I bought an Irish Dictionary. Now what?

I couldn't resist buying an Irish dictionary in a gift shop on the road from Galway to Clifden, in the Connemara Region of Ireland.   My husband, Wayne, and I were on an unforgettable road

trip in Ireland, and our spirits were soaring.

The clerk at checkout looked at my purchase and said, ""Ah, you'll have to come back in a couple of years and tell me how you are doing with Irish." How many such dictionaries had he sold to enthusiastic tourists with similar high hopes of learning to speak Irish?  

I told him I had already been studying Irish for about two years on a regular basis.  Granted, the study is on my favorite online language learning program, Duolingo, for probably less than fifteen minutes a day (I study other languages as well), but I wanted him to know that I was well aware of the complexities of the Irish language.

The sheep outside the gift shop paid no attention to us as we hopped in our rental car, stored our purchases,  and headed to Clifden.

Now I am back home in the States with my Irish dictionary joining other foreign language dictionaries between the bookends on my desk.  Will this new addition help me make progress in Irish?  Hope springs eternal in the language learner's heart.

I wish I could honestly say that I am going to examine in detail the dictionary section on phonetics (pronunciation).  Even with a degree in Linguistics, the charts with Irish letters, IPA symbols, Irish examples, and nearest English equivalents look formidable.  But since the Irish sound system has proven elusive to me so far, maybe I should take a closer look at the charts and learn a few sounds a day.  That's doable, right?

The Irish-English, English-Irish word entries look more promising. 30,000 words are included, many with usage examples.  The entries also include a phonetic pronunciation guide.  Ah, that phonetic chart I was dissing in the paragraph above may be useful after all.

At the back of the dictionary are tables for regular and irregular verbs, sure to strike fear into the hearts of language learners.  I can still remember being required to conjugate pages and pages of Spanish verbs in my very traditional high school language class.  Through the years, I have come to believe that verbs are best learned in context, not in verb tables. But I suppose having verb tables readily available can serve as a useful reference.

As I picked up the Irish dictionary for the first time the very straightforward lists of geographical names and languages caught my eye.  Búdaipeist, Iostanbúl, Lucsamburg were all comforting by their familiarity.  And it was fun to identify the languages I study—Spáinnis, Portaingéilis, Fraincis, Iodáilis (Italian), Rómáinis (Romanian), Breatnais (Welsh) and Gaeilge (Irish).

And finally, perhaps best of all, the dictionary lists four useful web sites as linguistic resources, one which promises "full pronunciation guide with sound files."  I can certainly use those!

Despite my moaning and groaning, being a beginning Irish language learner has been an exciting challenge.  I'll probably never be able to strike up a friendly conversation in a pub with an Irish speaker, 

but just experiencing a language very different from English, my native language, has been satisfying. 

I hope in several years, when we return to Ireland, that my Foclóir Póca (Irish Dictionary) is well-thumbed and annotated with my notes in the margins.  And maybe I can return to that gift shop and dazzle the clerk with a short conversation in Irish.  Wouldn't he be surprised?

Language Adventures in Ireland

Travel is at the top of my list of exciting adventures.  My husband, Wayne, and I just returned from fifteen days of travel in Ireland. I am still feeling the glow that comes from living in a new culture, viewing unforgettable scenery, and meeting all manner of people. 

Irish landscape

But, linguistic nerd that I am, the language experiences I had in Ireland are the ones that inevitably bring a smile to my face.  

I don't speak Irish (Gaelic) yet, so I am a bit reluctant to mention that Irish is one of the languages I study every day on my favorite online language learning platform, Duolingo,  But I still believe that knowing a little Irish helped me enjoy our trip even more. 

Immediately upon arrival in Dublin, I noticed that public signs were bilingual, Irish and English. As we drove up the Wild Atlantic Way (west coast),  I entertained myself looking for words I recognized and trying to pronounce the Irish names.  

Road sign in Ireland

So that's where the names of many Irish towns come from!  They are the original Celtic names pronounced and spelled in English.  And with the help of my Irish dictionary, which I bought in a bookstore on the road from Galway to Clifden, I was able to hypothesize about the original meanings of several towns.  Doire (Derry) means oak wood, grove, or thicket. Dun means fort, haven, or residence.  Gall means foreigner. Could Dún na nGall mean residence of the foreigner? 

The status of the Irish language in Ireland intrigued me.  It is an official language, along with English. I met a teacher who taught Irish to middle school students and a high school teacher who explained that Irish is a compulsory subject in public schools and that she had studied it for many years.  I got the impression that the Irish regard the Irish language as part of their cultural inheritance.

Not all of my language adventures were in Irish, however.  Irish English provided noteworthy vocabulary.  Garda is what a policeman is called in Ireland.  ( I already knew that from the Netflix series. Jack Taylor, filmed in Galway.)  All of the guidebooks mention the word for fun, or a good time, craic, and I saw pubs advertising craic along with drinks and food. And we already knew petrol, chips and crisps (three essentials of life) from visits to the United Kingdom.

It was perhaps the conversation of the Irish themselves, though, that I cherish.  The taxi driver who took us to the airport at 4:00 am and shared information about himself and his family, saying that he always slows down his speech rate for visitors to his country.  Another gentleman in a cafe guessed from my accent that I was Canadian!  I was pleased that my Texas accent wasn't too noticeable.

Soccer game in Galway

And then there was the gentleman at a soccer match, sitting behind me, who expressed his displeasure with the game, when necessary, by saying "Sugar!"   I was charmed.  I found that if I needed to strike up a conversation in Ireland, remarking on the weather, past, present, or future, always got a response.

I am convinced that my interest in Ireland was sparked many years ago by a handsome bartender in an Irish bar in Glasgow, Scotland.  Wayne had sent me up to the bar to ask if they had any non-alcoholic beer. The bartender said, "No, darlin', we don't have anything like that." Funny how one conversation that send you down a new road in life.  And I am very happy that road led us to Ireland.

My favorite mode of transportation

So many languages; so little time

With approximately 4000-6000 (or maybe even more) languages in the world, how does an enthusiastic language learner choose a language to focus on?  The reasons for choosing a language are highly individual.  Some are practical choices.  Others are emotionally charged.  And still others are pure whimsy.

First are the language choices made by your head.  You need formal credits for a degree requirement in high school or college, for example.

 

Your language decision is based on which language offers you the best opportunity to complete a course of study.  Or you are training for a career for which a second language is required or useful, such as international business, translation, or language instruction.

 

Which language to choose may be decided for you based on future job opportunities. Lists of the most important world languages differ, but the following languages show up consistently: (in alphabetical order)  Arabic, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.   

A second category of language choices involves an emotional attachment.

You want to learn the language of your ancestors  Or you have a friend or significant other who speaks another language. Your decision may be motivated by doing a student abroad program in another country or a brief overseas visit.  You may be planning to travel to Italy and rent a villa, or vacation in the Dominican Republic.  Beloved songs, poetry, and literature can also lead a learner to choose a certain language.

 

You may be a fan of a foreign sports figure, such as a soccer player, mixed martial arts fighter, or a motorcycle racer who inspires you to study their native language.

The last category of language choice is my favorite - whimsy.  Choosing a language on a lark.

Maybe you like the way it sounds   (I definitely get a pleasant feeling when hearing Portuguese on my Duolingo program.)  You have always wanted to learn X language, but you can't really put your finger on why.  You consider studying a language as entertainment rather than a chore. Why study X language?  Because it is there, like Mt. Everest. 

So why have you personally chosen a certain foreign language?  My Italian instructor observed recently, "You have to love a language in order to learn it well." Having a love affair with another language sounds like a great way to increase the endorphins in our brains that make living a wonderful experience. 

      

Learning Multiple Languages—Help or Hindrance?

I have always believed that you can't be too thin, too rich, or know too many languages.  So it was a shock to me recently when my Italian instructor advised me otherwise.  Here is what happened.

It was the first day of Italian class, a mixed level class, so the instructor asked how many of us were Italian language beginners.  I raised my hand and added that I already spoke Spanish and Portuguese, which I thought would move me out of the novice category.  Imagine my surprise when she said, "Forget everything you know about those languages for this class." What??? Not only was my ego bruised, but I think she was dead wrong!

One of the reasons I chose to enroll in Italian class is that Italian is a member of the Romance family of languages, that is, languages derived from Latin.

Italian was the only major Romance language that I haven't studied yet. Surely I had somewhat of a head start with this new language?

The first challenge was to attune my ear to three of the unique sounds of Italian.  One of the main sound differences between Italian and Spanish is the Italian "c" in "ce" and "ci," which is pronounced like the English "ch" sound. In Spanish, the same "c" has an English "s" sound. For example, the word "cena" (supper) means "supper" in both languages, but the beginning sound is slightly different. Try saying it!  Not hard, just hard to remember at times.  Also, Italian "s" between vowels is an English "z" sound, which is different from Spanish, but the same as Portuguese.  Try saying "casa" in Italian.

Another major sound difference in Italian and Spanish is the frequent use of double consonants in Italian, which require a longer sound.  My cat, Bitsy, is a "gata" in Spanish, but in Italian, she is a "gatta."  I think those double consonants give Italian a special rhythm.  But the other Italian consonants and vowels are familiar to me from other Romance languages. (I'm contrasting my struggles to understand and speak Irish Gaelic, which I have been studying for about two years now!)

On to Italian vocabulary. Over 80% of words in Italian and Spanish are similar.  What a blessing.  I should be able to read and at least make a good guess at the majority of Italian words right now.  If you know Spanish, see if you can guess the meaning of these Italian words:  uno, spagnola, amico, macchina, musica, farmacia, contenta, importante, bene, casa.  (Uno, española, amigo, máquina, música, farmacia, contenta, importante, bien, casa.)  Fàcile, no?

My enthusiasm  may diminish when I hit Italian morphology and syntax (in other words, GRAMMAR). Italian has three possible words for "the" before masculine nouns — "il," "lo," and "l'," depending on the following sound.  Spanish has basically one word— "el."  Italian words change from singular to plural by changing the ending vowel sounds, for example, "il libro" (the book), "i libri" (the books).  Spanish makes plurals by adding "s" or "es." Italian verbs follow a typical verb paradigm for conjugation, but of course the endings for each subject must be memorized.

So does studying multiple languages act as a help or hindrance in language acquisition?  I  vote for help.  But I can see that I am going to have to assign a portion of my brain solely to Italian so that I won't mix up the Romance languages.

Maybe I'll just dream about renting a villa in the Italian countryside to enjoy with friends and family, and Italian will find a permanent place in my soul.

Preparing my ears for a trip to Ireland

Six weeks from now, I will be in Dublin, Ireland with my husband, Wayne, beginning a two-week tour of our own devising.  The long weekend we spent in Dublin several years ago only whetted our appetites for more.  Wayne fell in love with Eggs Benedict at Wynn's Hotel in central Dublin, and I fell in love with Irish English, so pleasing to the ear.

For this trip, I wanted to prepare myself a little better linguistically.  Google provided multiple sites with lists of Irish vocabulary and expressions.  Many were slang expressions, which we probably won't be hearing or using, but I wanted to focus on a few useful terms to help in our travels around Ireland.

As I read through the lists, I was surprised to find expressions I had heard growing up in a family with Southern roots.  These expressions didn't sound foreign to me at all!

"This dinner is taking ages."  (a long time)
"rare as hen's teeth" (very hard to find)
"doing the washing" (laundry)
"Who all's there?"  (Who is present?)
"conked out" (car stalls or stops suddenly)
"poormouthing" (lamenting lack of money when you actually have plenty)
"belly up" (unsuccessful)

Other Irish English words and expressions were familiar from our travels to the United Kingdom.  All I needed was a review.  We will be renting a car in Ireland, so  "boot" (trunk) and "petrol" (gasoline) are good words to remember.  Potato chips are "crisps," and French fries are "chips."  (An essential food group!)  A fish and chips shop is a "chipper" or a "chippie."    I will need to take a "jumper" (sweater) for the chillier Irish May weather. A"Yank" is an American, from anywhere in the U.S.

Eventually though, I began discovering Irish-English terms that are new to me and that will be useful on our trip.  Very important, of course, is how to locate the restrooms.  In Ireland, one says "toilet" or "jacks."  The doors are marked "fir jacks" (men) and "ban jacks" (women). And let's hope we don't have anything but pleasant relations with the "garda" or "guards" ( Irish policemen).

I'll have to remember that "dinner" refers to "lunch" when making plans for meals.  And that "mineral" is another word for "soft drink."   Also, "sambo" is a sandwich.  If I am in a store, the shopkeeper may greet me with "now."  And I may need to recognize a slang word for euro, "yoyo."  I understand that "cat' may be used to describe something bad or terrible, which I will take great exception to out of respect for Bitsy, our house cat, and her five feral cousins outdoors. Finally, if a lodging is described as "homely," I will know that it is homey and cozy, not ugly!

Finally,  two words kept coming up in every Irish language site I visited, "sláinte" and "craic."  The first is a toast, "to your health," and the second refers to fun or good times.  I found several different pronunciations for "sláinte," so I plan to listen very closely to fellow patrons on pub visits.

The pronunciation of "craic" is close enough to English "crack" to give unsuspecting tourists a start.

Needless to say, I'll be doing field work on Irish English and taking copious linguistic notes to write a follow up blog in May.  That is, if I can find time amongst all the "craic"  I hope to have in Ireland.

Why is language learning so slow?

Have you ever started language study with great enthusiasm and then dropped it?  I'll bet most of us have, with resulting guilt feelings .  Starting on the journey to learn a new language is one of my life's greatest pleasures.  I dream of a new system of communication, a fascinating vocabulary, and even the possibility of traveling to an unknown country.  But it doesn't take long for euphoria to disappear and reality to set in.

I recently enrolled in a once a week, twelve-week Italian class at a local learning institute.

Italian wasn't on my bucket list of languages to learn, but it was the only foreign language course offered this term.  Having a solid background in other Romance languages, I hoped that Italian would come fairly easily and that I could make quick progress.  Wrong!

Today's class is mid-way in the course, a good time to take stock in what I have learned in the Italian language so far. 

 I am becoming acquainted with the Italian sound system.  It took a while to remember that "ce" and "ci" require a beginning sound like "church."  Similarly, "g' takes on the beginning sound of  "judge" before "e" and "i."  Italian has double consonants that have a longer sound than a single consonant (compare Italian for "cup," tazza  with Spanish tasa).  The rhythm and intonation of Italian are also starting to become distinctive to me.

The structure of Italian gives me a comfortable feeling. It is an SVO (subject, verb, object) language, with verbs requiring agreement with subjects and adjectives requiring agreement with nouns. I'm sure some idiosyncratic grammatical features will pop up with time, but they will be intriguing rather than incomprehensible.  I can read simple Italian already.  

The vocabulary of Italian is proving to be more elusive than I would have imagined.  I forgot to take into account the confusion that studying several Romance languages at the same time may bring.  Am I saying a word in Italian, or is it Spanish or Portuguese or even French?  My Italian language study has not progressed enough to say with confidence!

And can I understand spoken Italian?  Not very much!  My husband, Wayne, and I were watching an old WWII movie recently where the action took place in Italy.  A Walk in the Sun was the title. Quite a bit of Italian was spoken (with no subtitles), and I know Wayne expected me to be able to translate.  All I could understand was a random word or two. (I guess I should have lied and made up a credible translation!)

Language acquisition is a relic in the modern world of lightning fast knowledge through technology. So much of the world comes to us so quickly.  We expect language learning to happen overnight. After all, if we need to know how to do almost anything, can't we just google it? 

Barring the unlikely circumstances that I will be spending a year in Italy or becoming best friends with a chatty Italian, I had better resign myself to the slow road to Italian.  Maybe I should stop worrying and just enjoy the journey?

First Steps in Romanian

I am such a sucker for new language offerings on Duolingo, my favorite online language learning program.  Romanian is the latest language that has caught my attention and set me daydreaming about a different country and a new culture.

A quick Internet search located the country of Romania in Eastern Europe.

24 million people speak Romanian as a native language and four million more as a second language. Romanian is the only Romance language currently spoken in an area where Slavic languages dominate. The European Union lists Romanian as one of its official languages.  And if this were not enough enticement, the infamous Dracula is a product of Romanian folk legends. (I may not be reading these!)

Dracula's Castle?

First, a word to naysayers who are not quite as addicted to language study as I am.  Why Romanian, they may ask?  The appeal for me was that Romanian is one of the principal Romance languages (along with Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish). I practice four of them (minus Catalan) on a daily basis on Duolingo.  The lure of learning a new language for which I have somewhat of a head start was too much to resist.

In the introductory Romanian lessons, I looked for familiar vocabulary words.  Hmm.  Not as familiar as I would have preferred!  The word for juice, suc reminded me of suco  in Portuguese; the word for bread, păine, looked like pain in French; cafea (coffee) was close to English; femeie (woman) looks like female in English.  Many of the other words, bărbat (man), băiat (boy) and copil (child) will require more attention. 

I am making baby steps in Romanian at present, perhaps because the beta version currently available on Duolingo is only a web version.  The other languages I study can be done on the fly with the Duolingo app on a mobile device.. 

But I have started using a comparison/contrast technique to determine how to say "a, "an" and "the" in Romanian. You may be smiling at the elementary nature of this grammar point.  But the ability to use indefinite and definite articles is a common starting point in language learning.  (After all, is the meaning of "an apple" the same as "the apple"?)

Here are some patterns I discovered:

un copil - a child
copilul - the child

o cafea - a coffee
cafeaua - the coffee

un măr - an apple
marul - the apple

un băiat - a boy
băiatul - the boy

o femeie - a woman
femeia - the woman


So what can I hypothesize from these few examples?

-The translations for a, an in Romanian are un and o, perhaps un for masculine nouns and o for feminine nouns?

-The definite article (the) in Romanian appears in a surprising position - attached to the end of the noun as a suffix.

- The definite article suffix takes several forms:  -ul; -a; and -ua.

- Sometimes the letter "a" carries a diacritic and is written ă.  Does the diacritic indicate a change in pronunciation or some other feature?

I have more questions than answers at this point. 

Are Romanian nouns classified by gender, and if so, are the genders masculine and feminine as in other Romance languages? What is the determining factor in the form of the definite article?  I have discovered three up to now. What's with the "ă"?  (It took me a while to locate the symbol to type. Now I want to know more about it.) 

The Romanian language has an intrinsic appeal for me.  Who knows why?  Some languages do, and others don't.  I'm looking forward to making many more discoveries in Romanian as my fifth Romance language.