How I Went From Hating The Irish Language To Wishing I Was Able To Speak It.

Like most Irish people, I’m a monolingual English speaker. That’s broadly how it is across the country. Within Europe, Ireland is a weird outlier in that way. Before I developed severe travel anxiety, I visited Germany, France, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, Iceland, Italy and Norway, and there, people who speak both their native language and English is quite common. But in Ireland, we just speak English. Not all of us, many people speak both English and Irish, and there are people who, whether because they were born in another country or because they have a passion for language learning, speak English and another language. But broadly, we’re monolingual English. So how did that happen?

Well, it comes back to everyone’s favourite G word. Genocide!

6 Reasons Why The Irish Language Declined

Now, I love a lot of British things, I’m a huge Doctor Who fan, I love prog rock, which arguably began in Britain, and like many British people, I have a severe addiction to tea, I’m drinking it right now in fact. But, didn’t the British Empire do a few woopsie daisies! Like the time they forgot to feed us, resulting in a disproportionate number of Irish speakers starving to death. Whoops!

But at least Tony Blair apologized for the famine a few years back.

https://www.irishpost.com/history/on-this-day-in-1997-prime-minister-tony-blair-apologises-on-behalf-of-britain-for-irish-potato-famine-213605

So, oppressed people of the world, take heart! Your suffering won’t be in vain, because 150 years from now, you’ll get an apology. HURRAY!!!!

So that’s a quick summary of how we became monolingual English speakers. When the British Empire landed here, they were like, “I say old chap, these Irish, they keep using phrases like “Cén Fáth” and “An bhfuil cad agam dul amach” and I don’t like it, it, gives me a rash is what it does!” “Don’t worry old boy, after this, potato famine that isn’t our fault, all of the Irish speakers will be dead, and those that remain will speak English as well as the Queen herself.” “Oh Jolly Good old chap, Jolly good!”

This video from 1985, the year of my birth, is both beautiful and sad, in it a monolingual Irish speaker is interviewed. Being a monolingual Irish speaker was quite rare, even in 1985, showing the steep decline in the language.

There’s a part of me that mourns what has been lost. No, I don’t think it would be better if we were all monolingual Irish, but imagine the possibilities if we spoke both Irish and English, we would still have our own language, a completely unique way of speaking, but with English, we would also be able to converse with ease with many people from all over the world. Although of course, it’s important to point out that English is spoken so widely because of the dominance of the British Empire, it’s not like one day everyone just decided that English would be the best one to form a lingua franca!

But wait, didn’t I start by saying that I used to hate the Irish language? Yes, that’s true, so let’s talk about that.

I remember starting primary school, when I was four years old, and would soon be five. My understanding of it was, I have to go some place now, for a few hours a day, don’t know why. And we were taught that if we wanted to use the bathroom, we were meant to say, “An bhfuil cad agam dul amach.” (Can I go outside. The Irish word for “toilet” was deemed too complicated for five years old.) And we were taught that our teacher was to be addressed as “múiniteoir”, Irish for teacher. So that was my first experience of Irish. In a place, and I didn’t know why I had to be there, and I was told, I had to use different words, for reasons that were never explained.

And that first year of school was hell. Because of some differences I have in my fine motor skills, where some tasks are harder and some tasks are easier, I was unable to hold my pencil, or to put on my coat. And the teacher used just scream at me at the top of her lungs. That was my first introduction to the Irish language, in an environment where I was dehumanized for being different. If I had been taught any language in that environment, whether it be French, Italian, or Russian, I would have learned to hate that language too. If I had been taught about music, or astronomy, or wildlife, all things I love now, in that environment I would have learned to hate them too.

So that was my experience of Irish. For fourteen years in the school system, I had to learn this language in an environment where I was deeply unhappy. To me Irish was, not a beautiful, rich language that has existed long before I was born, it was simply, “Learn this, or you’ll get in trouble.” That was my relationship with the Irish language, until I turned 18 and I left school.

Now, at a glacial pace, my attitude to the Irish language will change, now that I was out of school, my hatred for the language would not be continuously reinforced.

I remember hearing a song, and realizing, Irish didn’t have to be this thing that was forced on you by a broken school system, and realizing that Irish could be fun, it could be joyful, it could be uplifting. It was this song:

Soon enough I bought several of Kíla’s albums and saw them play live many times. Most of their songs are in Irish. They play a really interesting fusion of styles, taking inspiration from many folk styles from all over the world. And I think this element of it helped me break out of my negative feelings towards the Irish language. I think a part of me thought, why can’t we embrace all of the cultures of the world, instead of focusing on Irish culture? But Kíla’s music showed me that there was no need for the two things to be mutually exclusive. We can be interested in the cultures of the world and still be interested in Irish. After all, isn’t Irish just as much a part of the world as French or Polish or Japanese?

So, Kíla pretty much killed my hatred of the Irish language, single handedly. But for a while afterwards, I was still, for want of a better way of putting it, skeptical of the Irish language. Certain attitudes from people who were enthusiastic about the Irish language just seemed, really bad and regressive.

I remember looking at some internet forum, and reading somebody going on some rant about people using the phrase, “Tá sorry orm.”, describing these kind of phrases as a “cancer”. Now, I don’t mind if something really bad, like racism, is described as a cancer, but comparing using an English word or two as you speak Irish to, an abnormal cell growth disease that is extremely dangerous? Yeah, that seems all kind of wrong.

It took me years to realize why this attitude really annoyed me. This attitude of, if you speak Irish and throw in an English word here and there, you are doing something that is deeply wrong.

And it’s because, it’s exactly backwards.

Living, breathing languages, invariably interact and borrow from neighbouring languages. You’re not killing the Irish language by bringing in some English phrases, or phrases from other languages, you’re helping the language to become an even bigger part of the daily life of our country as opposed to just some historical relic that’s locked away somewhere.

The phrase “et cetera” is Latin, the phrase “democracy” is ancient Greek. Damn it, why is English importing all these foreign words, it’s time to return to the original Anglo-Saxon!

Nū, þæt is betere. Endelice wē sprecath riht Englisċ, wiðutan ænig þāra foren worda þæt hæfdon forædd and forðfōn þæs Englisċ sprǣce. Nō foren sprǣce her, þis is riht Englisċ!

So you see my point, take the loan words and borrowed phrases out of English, and you can’t understand it. Living, breathing languages borrow from other languages all the time, it’s just the way of it.

But this “language purism” that I dislike so much, isn’t the fault of the Irish language itself. The fact that some people advocate for Irish in a really bad way, doesn’t mean there’s anything bad about Irish.

So, a few years after this, I would make an attempt to learn Irish. This would be after disastrous attempts to learn German, French, Polish and Icelandic. I know how that looks, after attempting to learn 3, easier by comparison languages, why would you try and take on Icelandic? It’s because I’m kind of obsessed with Iceland. I visited there in 2009, and I’ve had a fascination with the place ever since, and if I hadn’t developed severe travel anxiety I reckon I’d have visited the country many more times.

But after all these failed attempts at learning languages, I decided, why not try the one I was taught in school? Surely, despite the bad ways I was taught, 14 years of learning will be enough, so that I can get to the point when I can be conversational in it?

The answer is, no. 14 years of being taught badly, is still being taught badly. So there you have it, still monolingual English! It also seems to be the case that, I just can’t seem to hyper focus on language learning. With music or wildlife, I go into an almost trance like state, and by the time I come out of it, I’m telling you about some new tuning system or about sedge warblers imitating blue tits. But with languages, I just can’t seem to trigger that hyper focus, so learning every verb, every noun, every adjective, happened at a glacial pace, and my impatience got the better of me.

I remember when Opeth released one of their best albums, In Cauda Venenum. Here’s a song off that album:

This is one of my favourite albums, and it’s entirely in Swedish. There’s also an English language version, but Mikael Åkerfeldt, lead singer, guitarist, and main songwriter of Opeth has stated that the Swedish version is the definitive version. And this got me thinking. A reality could have been possible where I could release albums in both English and Irish. I’d love to release an album in Irish in fact, because I feel the Irish language would complement the sound of prog rock in a really deep way.

So, why don’t I go back to trying to learn Irish? I’ve stated earlier that it’s hard without being able to hyperfocus on it, but why don’t I try to push through? I think what it comes down to is, too much to do, and not enough hours in the day. My music and my interest in wildlife take up pretty much all of my time. Writing an album in English takes forever, let alone trying to write it in a different language! But, there is a way, quite recently, where I feel I have connected with the Irish language, and that’s through birds. I realized that the Irish language has some really beautiful words for our birdlife, so before long I developed an interest in learning the Irish words for Irish birds, that rhymes! Here are some examples.

Meantán Mór= Great Tit

Spideog = Robin

Coir Réisc = Heron

Clamhán = Buzzard

Druid = Starling

Lon Dubh = Blackbird

I think Irish words for our native bird life are absolutely beautiful. Becoming a birder has made my life richer in so many ways, and I think another lovely thing it has given me is a way to connect to the Irish language.

But something happened recently, that I think every language needs if it is to stay alive. I think every language needs, a moment, or an event, that has the establishment clutching their pearls, in a panic, screaming, “Won’t somebody PLEASE think of the children!”

And that moment is called, Kneecap!

This is one of my favourite Kneecap songs, and it’s in both English and Irish:

To me, Kneecap are the moment that the Irish language needed. And I’ll explain why.

English language music has had plenty of moments where it had people who were behind the times hiding behind the couch. Whether it be Black Sabbath, The Sex Pistols, or Eminem, the English language has has plenty of that. I thought it was about time the Irish language got some of that too.

A lot of really popular Irish music, is basically cover versions of really popular English pop songs but sung in Irish. But I think the Irish language needed something more. I think it needed newly written music (granted, that already existed, with groups such as Kíla as already described) but I think what the Irish language needed was a group that had real principles and conviction. The kind of group that would oppose the mass slaughter of a people, consequences by damned. Kneecap’s manager, Daniel Lambert, talks about it here:

Because Kneecap supports Palestine, there was a deliberate attempt by the British establishment to twist statements they had previously made and characterize them as villains. All because they wanted to do the right thing in the face of the horrific mass butchery that is going on in Gaza. And seeing the stand they made, I’ve never wished I spoke the Irish language more than I do now. I wish I’d always experienced Irish as a force for good in the world, instead of experiencing it as something that was taught by a teacher who screamed her head off at me because of my disability. I wish, from a really young age, I’d experienced Irish in a more positive context.

I’m 39 years old. I will continue to learn the names of Irish birds in the Irish language, but sadly, I don’t know will I ever be able to get conversational, let alone fluent in Irish, and that’s a shame. But I have great hope that young people in Ireland will not have the same experience. Sure, they will learn it in school, and, I don’t know what schools are like now, maybe they still teach it badly, but they will also be hearing Irish from Kneecap, and hopefully in their wake, another few Irish language bands who gives zero fucks about the powers that be will spring up. And this has me really optimistic for the Irish language. In this way, my hope is that the Irish language can become the new punk rock, that it can become badass, that it can become a way of giving the finger to the politicians of this country and of Britain who don’t give a shit about us.

And what comes next is what I’m really enthusiastic about. I can’t wait for the pearl clutching, status quo loving parents to cry, “Oh no, isn’t it terrible, our little Johnny is trying to learn Irish!”

Fuck yeah, that’s the future for the Irish language that I want!