Tuning into the Irish Language
Author Felicity Hayes-McCoy’s love of the Irish language is entwined with her love of the Dingle Gaeltacht. She explains how the language flavours her life and home, and how you can taste it on your own visit to Ireland.
Felicity at her book launch
A few weeks ago I spent a noisy night leaning on the top of a piano struggling to sign books. It was my own book launch, a night of music, stories, crowds and craic, held in Murphy’s pub in Ballyferriter, eleven miles back west of Dingle town. Fiddlers jostled with flute players, pints were downed, songs were sung, and we all ate a helluva lot of smoked salmon. At one point, in a brief moment of calm, I looked across the room and saw my commissioning editor who’d flown in that afternoon from London on her first visit to Ireland. Perched on a bar stool, she was holding court among a vast, cheerful crowd of drinkers who were apparently battering an argument to death. She was clearly having a wonderful time. But she was also looking mildly shell-shocked. Because no-one in the crowd around her was speaking a word of English.
She’d known in advance of course. So she was fine. But as I looked across the room I remembered her reaction when I first pitched her a book about crossing the Conor Pass at seventeen and falling for the place, its traditions and the Irish language. ‘There’s an Irish language?’ ‘Yes.’ Pause. ‘Not just an Irish accent?’ ‘No.’ ‘An actual Irish language?’ ‘Yes’. Long pause. ‘Wow’.
View from the House on an Irish Hillside
It’s not an unusual reaction. Despite all those bilingual signposts, visitors to Ireland often come and go without noticing we have our own language. But we do. Here in Ireland it’s called Irish, never Gaelic. It was once spoken throughout the whole country. And along the western coastline, in rural areas called Gaeltachtaí, it’s the language of everyday life.
I grew up in Dublin, spoke English and loved books. I went on to study literature and now I write plays and books myself. But my first childhood memories are rooted in a world in which people shared their experiences without writing things down. The roots of that world can still be tapped in places like , where my granny’s people came from. And in western . And at the end of the , where I live now. In these remote, beautiful areas, ideas, skills, beliefs and traditions have been passed on across thousands of years in the Irish language. It’s a living oral tradition preserving a Celtic culture once shared across all of Europe.
The ‘rí rá agus ruaille buaille’ at Felicity’s book launch
For my editor on the night of my book launch, sudden immersion in the Irish language was fine. (Having read my book, she was well prepared!) But if you’re looking for less full-on exposure, you can sit in a corner and hear Irish spoken by the locals in most Gaeltacht pubs. Or tune your car radio to Raidió na Gaeltachta anywhere in the country and hear traditional tunes and songs presented in the soft, musical language to which they belong. Or switch on TG4, the Irish language television station, in your hotel room or B&B, and watch programmes with English subtitles. You can even sign up for a language course and enhance your experience of Ireland’s stunning western seaboard by tapping into its ancient Celtic past. Or checkout one of the online sites like Bitesize Irish before you get here, just to give yourself a flavour of what to expect.
House on an Irish Hillside by Felicity Hayes-McCoy
Whatever way you choose to encounter it, there’s a deeper, richer experience of Irishness to be had all around you if you feel like tuning in.
The House on an Irish Hillside is Felicity Hayes-McCoy’s memoir of her personal relationship with the Dingle Peninsula. It features in RTÉ Nationwide show on 20 August – watch online via RTÉ Player (Felicity’s part starts at 7.32)
For more, read our guide on the languages of Ireland, including Northern Ireland’s Ullans.
Want to learn more.
I, too, want to know more!
Certainly true that there’s a deeper experience when you tune into the Irish language.
To hear it spoken in the community, the best chance I’ve had was to listen to the men at the bar, in An Chistin in An Cheathrú Rua (Connemara) or O’Flaherty’s in Dingle/Daingean Uí Chúis.
Moreover, as soon as I set foot in the Gaeltacht, be it Kerry, Galway, Donegal or elsewhere, there’s a real atmosphere to be felt. There’s something pretty powerful about it. It’s something about the people, along with the landscape they (you) live in. Thanks for sharing, and I hope the book launch is going very well.
It’s a magical, musical sound, to be certain. I’m trying to learn it, which is difficult in West Virginia! Next month I’m going to a weekend language immersion course in San Francisco, and Bitesize Irish has helped a lot. Some day I will live there, that’s my dream.
Hi Eoin,
I think you’re right. The the inherited culture of the people combined with the remarkable landscape of Ireland’s western seaboard produces a powerful sense of heightened awareness. I suppose it’s that – among other things – that I was trying to explore and convey in my book.
It’s had a brilliant reception, thanks. Including a lovely increase in response after the RTÉ ‘Nationwide’ programme went out on Monday.
I’m so enjoying the online dimension, which I hadn’t properly anticipated – Amazon reviews, discussions, and all sorts of input from readers on the book’s Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TheHouseOnAnIrishHillsideByFelicityHayesMcCoy
My favourite’s been from visitors to, and emigrants from, Ireland – especially the Dingle Peninsula – all across the world. It’s incredible the way the internet draws people together.
Glad you enjoyed this blog piece – and thanks again to Discover Ireland for inviting it. Best, Felicity.
I read this article several weeks ago and two things resulted: I bought the book, and purchased a year’s-worth of lessons from Bitesize Irish Gaelic.
The House on an Irish Hillside is a wonderful book! It’s a book to be savored slowly. There’s so much there; I didn’t want to miss anything. I plan to read it again after I’ve completed more lessons in my Irish course. (Eoin, your explanation of Irish pronunciation has been such a help!)
I’ve a long way to go to achieve fluency, but simply knowing how to pronounce the many Irish words in this book makes it that much more enjoyable!
Thanks to both of you, Felicity and Eoin, for showing us a part of Ireland that so many are unfamiliar with. Felicity, with each chapter of your book, and Eoin, with each new lesson, I’ve felt more connected to my Casey’s (Ó Cathasaigh) that lived in Kerry before the Hunger. How I wish they had never left! Both of you, though, have brought Ireland closer to me as a result of your work.
Go raibh céad míle maith agaibh,
Brian
Dear Brian,
The guys at Discover Ireland have let me know about your kind comment. I can’t tell you how touched I am that you posted it. It’s a joy to know that this article and my book have encouraged you to learn Irish, and that taking that decision has made you feel more connected to your Kerry roots. And it’s brilliant that, because of the internet, you can learn through sites like Bitesize Irish, which I became aware of online myself a while ago and greatly admire. Go neirí leat! (Agus leo!)
I hope that one day you may visit the Dingle Peninsula and experience it for yourself. In the meantime, if you’re on Facebook, do checkout http://www.facebook.com/TheHouseOnAnIrishHillsideByFelicityHayesMcCoy, the book’s page. Lots of photos of Corca Dhuibhne and a chance to connect with other readers who share your response to Ireland, Kerry and – in many cases – their own Irish roots.
Dia leat arís,
Felicity
Ever since living with an Irish house mate I have been fascinated with Celtic culture and traditions. The Irish language is riddled with so much culture and beauty. Am happy to see it rebirthed and explored!