Irish language has arrived on Duolingo!

Duolingo Irish Program

Okay.  I know what some of you are thinking.  Why did I do a little happy dance when I saw that Duolingo has begun offering Irish language study?  At first glance, it may seem to be a rather silly way to spend my leisure time.  But offhand, I can think of three good reasons to include Irish in my list of languages to keep up with.

Reason No. 1. Challenge.    Irish is a VSO language.  This means that in a typical Irish sentence, the verb comes first, the subject next, and the object last.  The languages I am acquainted with, English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French,  all place the verb in a different position, the middle position.  They are known as SVO languages, and the SVO  language pattern is seared into my brain.  

The majority of the world's languages are either SOV or SVO languages, so the VSO pattern of Irish will be something very new to me.

 "I see him" is going to become "See I him",  translated into Irish vocabulary.  It will be great brain training to make myself think of the action word first in Irish. And it is harder than you may imagine (I failed miserably several years ago trying to learn another VSO language, Scottish Gaelic).  I hope to create some new brain synapses with a new way of thinking.

Reason No. 2.  A New Language Family.    Up to now, I have only explored two of the world's language families, Germanic, the origin of English, and Latin, the origin of French, Portuguese and Spanish. Irish is a Celtic language with ties to Scottish Gaelic and Manx, as well as Welsh, Cornish and Breton.  Can you find the Celtic branch on the tree?

   

Reason No. 3  Cultural Ties.  Vague family stories have led me to believe that at least some of my ancestors were Scots-Irish who migrated from Scotland to Northern Ireland in the 1600's and moved on to America in the 1700's. Since I have no further details, I am free to create romantic stories in my mind, all of which are probably far from realistic.  But I can dream of castles, sea waves crashing, and green as far as the eye can see, can't I?  I have always felt a pull towards the British Isles.  Could it be something in my genes?   

Ireland

I'll try to keep those romantic images in my mind as Duolingo is taking me through the sometimes painful babysteps of acquiring a new language.