Learning Irish just because

Several months ago, I started learning Irish (or Irish Gaelic) on Duolingo.  It is one of four languages I practice daily on either the laptop, the iPad, or the iPhone ( Yes, I am a certified language nerd).

The other languages I work on, Spanish, Portuguese, and French, are ones I studied at school, so I am really just reviewing and expanding language knowledge.  What I needed was the challenge of learning a language from absolute scratch.

So, why did I choose Irish, you may well ask?  It was an intuitive decision, but maybe I can explain what drew me to choose Irish from that seductive list of languages offered by Duolingo.

First, let me say that practicality did not enter into my Irish decision.  Many language learners have job opportunities, family ties, cultural interests, or significant others that lead them to select one language over others.  I have only a  family story about the vague possibility of Scots-Irish ancestors and a four-day trip to Dublin, Ireland planned in the spring.  The possibility that I may actually speak to or understand an Irish speaker in The Temple Bar hovers between slim and none (as we say in West Texas).

But there is a certain romance in learning an ancient language that was first written down in 4th century A.D. The Irish language has served a population that has lived through centuries of often turbulent history.

Irish was on a downward spiral brought about by political and economic factors until the Gaelic Revival of the 1890's.  It is now on an upward spiral in this century, and who doesn't love an underdog that has a chance of surviving?

And then there is the soft, lyrical sound of spoken Irish.  Ah, so pleasing to the ear. Here is a two minute Youtube video of the President of Ireland giving a St. Patrick's Day message in 2008. Just let the beautiful sounds wash over you.

Yet another draw to Irish was the challenge of a new grammar.  Irish is what is identified as a VSO language, meaning that the verb usually is placed at the beginning of the sentence, followed by the subject and then by the object. For example, Caithim an hata means "I wear a hat," but the literal translation is "Wear I hat."   English, my native language, is a SVO language, so my brain is used to looking for the subject in first position in a sentence. It's good brain training to make oneself think in a different way.  (Have you ever heard the recommendation to brush your teeth with the opposite hand or take a new route to work?  Same idea!)

Another challenge is matching the sounds of Irish to the written word.  And this is truly a challenge for me!  Who would think that Irish for plural you, sibh, sounds like [ʃɪvʲ]?  I'm constantly losing challenges on Duolingo exercises that give me an Irish audio clip and ask me to write or translate it.  I often find myself talking back to the program and saying "Whaaaaaaat?"

When I work on a more familiar language, I sometimes daydream, or let myself get distracted by the cat, the beautiful weather, or my next household duty, but when I am studying Irish, it requires my full concentration.

And isn't a short escape from everyday life a true pleasure?