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