News
Scéal Gaeilge ó Sheachtain na Gaeilge
Jenny Keane, Project Officer at UCC Academy has recently returned to learning to increase her conversational Irish language skills.
Jenny what led you to enhance your Irish language skills?
I struggled with Irish in school and found it really difficult, so I never made much of an effort with it. Now as an adult it feels important to have at least some understanding of my native language.
A couple of years ago myself and my husband went to a wedding in Ballyferriter (Baile an Fheirtéaraigh), which is a Gaeltacht and we were embarrassed to realise we were the only ones out of our friends who didn’t have fluent, or close enough to fluent, Irish. Of course, by the end of the night we were ordering as Gaeilge!
Since then, I tried Duolingo on and off but decided in the last year to make a proper go of learning the language.
How are you learning your Irish?
I’m doing a conversational Irish night class in UCC. We don’t really have homework; we have a few optional exercises to complete but there’s no pressure.
There’s a small enough group of us in the class, about 12. It’s a conversational class so we all got to know each other fairly quickly, since a big part of the class is asking each other “Conas atá tú?” each week.
Outside of class I listen to podcasts like “How to Gael” and even have a group chat with some friends where we only speak Irish – which helps keep up the practise between classes!
Do you think interest in the Irish language is increasing?
Definitely, I feel like I’m seeing Irish everywhere now – but maybe that’s just because I’m looking for it too! I think artists like Kneecap have really helped push it into the mainstream though – so hopefully we will have more Irish artists following their example and using the bit of Gaeilge in their music, films etc.
What is your favourite word in Irish and what does it mean?
I think my favourite is piseog. It can mean spell or charm but is most commonly used to describe a superstition “Ah that’s only a piseog!”.
Go raibh maith agat Jenny. Maith thú agus ádh mór ar do chuid scileanna Gaeilge a fheabhsú tuilleadh. Táthar ag súil an bhliain seo chugainn, go gcuirfimid an t-agallamh seo i gcrích go hiomlán i nGaeilge.
Translation: Thank you Jenny. Well done and good luck further improving your Irish language skills. Hopefully next year, we will complete this interview completely in Irish.