Neither Seachtain na Gaelige nor St. Patrick’s Day are what they promise time wise. Seachtain na Gaelige is actually 2 weeks long (5th – 17th March this year) and St. Patrick’s Day festivities have been turned into a St. Patrick’s Festivals around the country.
Seachtain na Gaelige is, simply put, a celebration of Irishness through the [...]
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There’s been a nice selection of Irish language films in the past few years.
Oideas-gael.com sell a DVD with of a whole range of Irish short films.
Yu Ming is Ainm Dom
A favourite of mine is Yu Ming is Ainm Dom. It’s about a Chinese guy who learns the language and then tries to use it when [...]
The Irish language has a few toasts or blessings that people have found endearing for generations. Actually, the language has a very rich tradition of proverbs, many of them witty and funny.
We’ll start with some simple Irish language toasts.
The 17th of March is a day of international celebration of Irishness. At least, that it what it has come to be.
St Patrick arrived in Ireland when the Irish themselves were not yet renowned for travelling the globe. He is now one of the patron saints of Ireland, and his day of celebration is shared [...]
Irish language radio has come quite a long way since the “old days”. Once confined to a few radio hours a day, there are some cool Irish language radio programs to listen to these days. What’s more, with podcasts or simple MP3 downloads you can catch archived shows without having to listen in to the [...]
Let me tell you a secret!
Irish Gaelic is not called Irish Gaelic by Irish people in Ireland.
It’s nice that we could get that out of the way. So if you’re looking for another name for the Irish language, you can begin with “Irish“. Many Americans have said that this sounds unnatural to them, but it [...]
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The Origins of the Irish Language
The Irish language, also known as Irish Gaelic, or simply “Irish” in Ireland, is a member of the Goidelic group of the Celtic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. The language is categorised into three periods: Old Irish (7th–9th century A.D.), Middle Irish (10th–16th century), and Modern Irish (since the 16th century). (Lehman, An Introduction to [...]
As you may or may not know, there are three main Irish language dialects:
* Munster dialect (south of Ireland, such as counties Kerry, Cork and Waterford)
* Connacht dialect (Connemara Gaeltacht and Aran Islands in the west of Ireland – both in County Galway, and County Mayo)
* Ulster dialect (north of Ireland, such as Donegal and [...]