If you ever go across the sea to Ireland……..
Galway Bay lies on the west coast of Ireland, at itβs mouth, facing the Atlantic Ocean are the three Aran Islands.
That’s me Kevin Moloney overlooking the coast – it is rugged and spellbinding!
This is the most pure of Irish countryside you could find.
So pure, in fact, English is not even the first language. They speak Irish here.
And thatβs no joke – Irish or otherwise. Irish is, in fact, the oldest of all European languages and though itβs been threatened with extinction over the centuries, itβs now enjoying a strong revival.
On the Aran Islands and in the very west of the mainland Republic, Irish is spoken freely and each summer, a college established on Inis Mor is packed with young students, all keen to learn the language.
If you speak Irish here you are very fΓ‘ilte (welcome) in the west………but even if you donβt, Irish hospitality insists youβre more than welcome anyway!
Listening to a conversation in Irish is like listening to a Martian speak – donβt worry, Iβve never spoken to a Martian β well not recently anyway, with Irish resembling nothing Iβve heard before.
Although itβs guttural like Germanic languages, there are no hints in it that allow you to pick up on a single word.
Itβs not Latin based either and bears no resemblance to English, plus……….often there is no translation from Irish to English at all.
Irish is also spoken with passion and speed, an outsider has no hope and here in the far west, the faster they speak, the more Irish the conversation becomes.
And like Polish, the configuration of letters in a word gives no clue as to itβs pronunciation making it one of the most difficult languages to learn.
Let me give you an example.
BΓodh lΓ‘ maith agat (pronounced: beeβuk law moh ugut or something like that!) means βHave a good dayβ.
Personally, I think saying βhave a good dayβ is much easier but then again Iβm not Irish.
Being an ancient language, some of the quirks of Irish make it impossible to resist and helps to understand English-Irish phrases like βTop of the morning to youβ.
Anyone with an Irish grandmother knows the extent of Irish sayings, no matter how spurious they may be. βDe rΓ©a chΓ©ile a thogtar na caisleΓ‘inβ of course, translates to βIt takes time to make sand castlesβ β something we all should know.
But Irish isnβt just a language that is whipped out every time someone wants to employ a cute adage, it is an everyday working and living language with a long deep past but has a growing lexicon to keep it modern and relevant.
I donβt know Irish for βCan you please remove the USB stick from the computer next to the PS2 so I can download from Limewire to my iPodβ but Iβm sure it exists.
Anyway, Go dtΓ go gcasfaimΓd arΓs – Until we meet again.
CaomhΓ‘n
A Report by Kevin Moloney, international travel writer and Travel Mole correspondant – on location in Ireland – brought to you by Emirates, Aer Lingus, Driveaway Holidays and Tourism Ireland.
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