Darach Ó Séaghdha has been putting the fun back into the Irish language by translating words into English in a humorous, thought-provoking way, and deftly using Twitter to expand his audience. He now continues the exercise in a new book, Motherfoclóir, in which he also reflects on the role the Irish language played in his own life. ℘℘℘ The people of Ireland have a strange … [Read more...] about Motherfoclóir: A New Kind of Irish Language Revival
Irish Language
Census Reports on Love and Language
The results of the Republic of Ireland’s most recent census, conducted April 24, 2016, were released April 6. The census, which occurs every five years, requires everyone on Irish soil to submit a thorough account of their personal information for the production of updated national statistics. First produced in 1821, the census tracks the changes in Ireland’s population … [Read more...] about Census Reports on Love and Language
Mother Teanga
The Irish language has roots stretching back at least 5,000 years and shares words with Sanskrit, the ancient classical language of India. Almost all of us can speak a little Irish and often do. Words like “galore” and “brogue,” for example, or “smithereens” have all passed directly from Irish into English, often with little change to their original pronunciation. So the … [Read more...] about Mother Teanga
A Guide to Pronouncing
Irish Names
In January, actress Saoirse Ronan stopped by the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. She was there to promote her movie Brooklyn, but the conversation moved into Ronan teaching Colbert (whose ancestry is 15/16 Irish) both how to speak with an Irish accent and how to pronounce traditional Irish names – something that has no doubt been a problem since at least the eighth century, … [Read more...] about A Guide to Pronouncing
Irish Names
Awards to U.S. Students to Study Irish Language
The Ireland-U.S. Commission for Educational Exchange recently awarded 61 U.S. citizens the chance to study the Irish language in the Gaeltacht regions of Ireland this summer including places such as Galway, Derry, and Kerry. It marked the first ever group of 20 U.S. secondary school students to receive the Gaeltacht Summer Award, with 41 undergraduate, postgraduate, and … [Read more...] about Awards to U.S. Students to Study Irish Language