Learn to Speak Irish

While not one of the world's most widely spoken languages, Irish is still spoken by almost a half million people in some capacity. Although not a language heard often outside of Ireland, the language is important symbolically in the Irish state. In fact, although English is also widely spoken in Ireland, Irish does enjoy constitutional status as the first language of the Republic of Ireland. Irish is also an officially recognized language by the European Union. Today, students in Ireland are obligated to take the language, meaning that while only about a half a million people speak the language on a daily basis, about 1.6 million people are competent Irish speakers.

Irish is a Celtic and Gaelic language, which including Scottish and Manx is spoken from Ireland south into the Brittany region in France and evolved from the same ancestral language centuries ago. Today the language is mostly spoken on a daily basis in the Irish Gaeltacht regions of the country. In order to encourage Irish youth to continue to learn and speak Irish, there are many summer colleges located in these regions of Ireland where students are expected to live wit Irish speaking families and become fluent in the language. For English speakers, the most difficult part about learning Irish is the verb subject object the pronunciations of some consonants. As the language was first written using an alphabet other than the Latin one, some of the pronunciations have been oddly effected as a result.

While it is unlikely you will find Irish being taught in community colleges or universities here in the U.S., there are a few different ways you can learn the language. There are a few different intensive language programs offered in Ireland that can help teach you the basics of the language fairly quickly. Paired with immersion and speaking the language regularly, a short term program like this could be worth more than a year in a regular classroom. Also, unlike some of the other major European languages, it may be difficult to find a private tutor of conversational groups here in the states--making a trip to Ireland almost necessary. However, another cheaper option is by purchasing an instructional program like Rosetta Stone, which will not only help you learn the grammar and vocabulary basics, but will also help you with pronunciation.