Teanga In The Night

“My Irish is not perfect,” admits Craig Doyle who, along with Bernard Dunne, is an ambassador for this year’s Seachtain
na Gaeilge.

Not having perfect Irish is pretty much in keeping with the ethos of the festival. Seachtain na Gaeilge is a chance for everyone to practise their cúpla focail, whether they are beginners or fluent speakers.
Like many people, the television and radio presenter was taught Irish at school, but without much success.
“I don’t know if we learnt Irish, I think we subconsciously took some on board as we yawned our way through the classes. Let’s be honest – the way we were taught had nothing to do with being a 17 year old. Peig Sayers! We all wanted to learn French or Spanish because they seemed to be a bit more exciting. I envy the way the kids are taught now. It’s more relevant to their lives. I look at kids now. They are proud of being able to speak Irish.”
“It’s the one subject that I failed at school,” Dunne confesses ruefully. “I lived in America for a couple of years. I decided to start learning it. I bought myself the learning disks. It’s hard by yourself. If you have someone else to help you practice, you learn so much easier.”
As his children have become adept with Irish, Doyle has been taking lessons with a neighbour to improve his command of the language. “I do find myself speaking a lot more of it in the house with the kids. They’re much brighter than me!”
Like Doyle, former boxing champion Bernard Dunne speaks Irish at home to the children. “I’ve a passion for it,” he says. “My two kids are going to naíonra at the moment and are enrolled in gaelscoil for next year. I really enjoy the language.”
The Dublin Dynamo has been taking lessons in Irish for a few years now.
“About two years ago I met up with an old schoolteacher of mine. She offered to give me lessons and I haven’t looked back since.”
Like Doyle, having children spurred Dunne on to learning Irish.
“I want to be able to talk to my kids. I’m far from fluent! It’s not about that – it’s about not being afraid to speak the language.”
Lack of confidence is a problem, Doyle agrees. “We’re worried about being judged.”
“I think sometimes people can be a bit inconsiderate about how people say things, and maybe correct them too much” says Dunne. “If you let people experiment and say things, at least the language is being used.”
Having ambassadors for Seachtain na Gaeilge who love the language, but who are not language purists, means everyone can get involved and practise their Irish without fear of being made to feel foolish, notes Doyle.
“One of the reasons I was happy to be an ambassador for Seachtain na Gaeilge is that it has always been gaeilgeoirs that have been involved before. There’s a perception that they’re quite tough on policing the language – if you get a bit of grammar wrong they’ll pick you up on it. That does happen. I remember when Glen Hansard, who is my favourite musician of all time, won the Oscar he said ‘go raibh maith agat’ and the next day in the papers there were gaeilgeoirs slagging him off for not saying it correctly. I just thought – here’s a guy on an international stage speaking a bit of Irish, just give him a break! There has been a culture of that.”
For many years Irish may have been regarded as the preserve of those living in the gaeltacht, but that has certainly changed.
“In harder times you tend to feel stronger about your country,” muses Doyle. “Speaking Irish makes you feel closer to your country and your nationality.”
“It’s part of being Irish,” says Dunne. “If you are a proud Irishman you should have some inclination towards the language, even if it’s just being able to say dia duit or slán. If people can start there and move on, that’s great!”
“The best thing for me about Seachtain na Gaeilge is that it’s not about being fluent, it’s about wanting to have some sort of involvement. Even if you can’t speak any Irish, you can come and listen to Irish music. It’s not exclusively for Irish people. There are plenty of people from other countries who want to enjoy the culture or learn the language because it’s part of being here.”
For immigrants or those without any previous experience of the language, Irish may look very daunting.
“I suppose so,” says Doyle. “Most European languages are Latin-based. Irish is another world. If you are new to it I can imagine it’s kind of terrifying. But what Des Bishop did was show that anyone can learn it – ‘Oh right! It’s manageable.’ He did really well.”
“How I’m learning now is so different to how I learnt at school,” says Dunne. “It’s not about learning a poem or doing an essay, it’s about speaking the language and being at ease with it.”
“Speaking is much easier than writing,” agrees Doyle. “Most of us want to learn it to have conversations as Gaeilge. I’ll probably never need to fill in a form in Irish. I know the purists may be a bit upset about this, but I’m not too concerned about perfecting written Irish. For me it’s about chatting”
“I was in Gloucestershire last week at this tiny little station. The woman working there was from Limerick and we spoke Irish to each other. I was with Richard Phillips, the chef, and he said ‘Oh that’s so cool!’ He’s right – it is cool to speak Irish!”
There is another excellent benefit of having a bit of Irish, Doyle notes.
“I like being abroad and being able to speak Irish. If you’re out somewhere you can slag someone off behind their back when they are sitting beside you – it’s like a secret code!” he laughs.
If that’s not a good reason to practise your Irish, I don’t know what is!

Seachtain na Gaeilge runs from 5 -17 March 2011. See www.snag.ie for more information.