The Irish Language (Gaelic)

This video is all about the Irish language (Gaelic), including its history and development as well as some of its key features.

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Special thanks to Patrick (Youtube channel: Patchy Gaelic) for his audio samples, feedback, and extraordinary helpfulness during the holiday period!

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Some sources used in researching this video:

Chapter: “Irish” by Dónall P. Ó Baoill. “The Celtic Languages”, edited by Martin J. Ball and Nicole Müller.

“Colloquial Irish” by Thomas Ihde, Máire Ní Neachtain, Roslyn Blyn-LaDrew, and John Gillen.

“Irish Grammar You Really Need to Know: Teach Yourself” by Éamonn Ó Dónaill.
“From Sounds to Structures: Beyond the Veil of Maya” by Roberto Petrosino, Pietro Cerrone, Harry van der Hulst. Page 129-132.

Music: “I Cannot Forget You Yet” by The Brothers Records.
“Brooklyn Cool” by Magic In The Other.

[Langfocus]

Hi, everyone! I hope you like the video.


(Disclosure: The above link is an affiliate link, so Langfocus gets a small referral fee - at no extra cost to you)

[kingofcelts]

I'm Irish and have always been surprised at your in-depth analysis of Languages. This one is close to my heart and you have not disappointed! Well done...

[kyjflkd]

So I’ve seen this short film about a Chinese guy who decided to go to Ireland and studied “Irish”. He became very fluent in Gaelic but without knowing a word in English. It was really interesting when he arrived in Ireland and tries to speak Gaelic to people. The film “Yu Ming Is Ainm Dom”.

[Ida-xepg]

This is a quote i found on Duolingo

"There are more ppl learning Irish on Duolingo than there are native speakers"
-Duo

[neamhdhlisteanach]

Irish is such a beautiful and mysterious language. I love learning it and I wish it was never replaced by English

[thebomb]

I'm an Irish man who moved to London at 11 and so didn't learn too much Irish but thanks to Duolingo and books I've taught myself.
Let's keep this beautiful ancient language alive! 🇮🇪

[MayonnaiseVenusaur]

I will never complain about French again.

[adhamhmacconchobhair]

English: Strawberry
Irish: Juice of the land
English: Dictionary
Irish: Words
English: Library
Irish: Place with Books
English: Hospital
Ulster Irish: Place with the patients

[irishmuscle]

Native Irish speaker here.First off, love these videos, so much work put into them 👌
Just a quick correction, gasúr means “child” (of any sex) and not “boy” .

[ministr]

I'm Russian and I'm learning Irish.
The most important thing I can say about the language is that it is a really exotic language, even though it belongs to Indo-European language family.
What makes Irish language exotic? Well, several unique phenomena such as lenition and eclipsis, which are nowhere else to be found outside in other European languages except the other Celtic languages.
It is definitely hard to get used to non-standard VSO system, since again, no other European languages use such system, but standard SVO only. Irish has three cases, but in comparison to Russian or other Eastern European languages (excluding obviously Finno-Ugric languages), the cases are really simply constructed.
However, the prepositions give another challenge in making a great number of new words depending on the personal pronoun you use. Besides that, the basic verbs such as have, know, want, can, live, sleep, etc. are all built by using "bí" and prepositions with pronouns, which makes it hard to master, especially when it comes to making complex sentences or imperative forms.
The video missed one more interesting aspect of Irish, such as no universal words of "yes" and "no": if you wish to say yes or no, you have to look straight to the context, because these words are linked to the tense and the verb you use.
For example: An raibh tú sa bhaile inniu? (were you at home today?) - bhí (yes/I was); ní raibh (no/I wasn't) - Past tense, verb "to be";
An bhfuil tú go maith? (are you well?) - tá (yes/I am), níl (no/I'm not) - Present tense, verb "to be";
An ndúnann tú an doras? (do you close the door?)
- dúnaim (yes/I close); ní dhúnaim (no/I don't close) - Present tense, verb "to close".
The most challenging things I faced were:
1. The words order (Verb-Subject-Object);
2. Prepositions and the verb constructions that use them (have, know, want, can, live, sleep, etc.);
3. Pronounciation and writing (just like in English, there is a good number of exceptions when one letter combination is pronounced differently depending on the word, plus the generally long words that end up being pronounced shortly).
Other than that, it is a very interesting language to learn, and the more foreigners learn it, the more motivation it gives to the native Irish to return to their mother tongue. I sincerely hope Irish will be once again widely spoken everywhere across Ireland and all the population will get decent fluency in it.
Paul, thank you very much for the video.
P.S. Can't wait to practice Gaeilge this summer in Ireland :) Feicfidh mé go luath sibh, a chairde! :)

[DrGlynnWix]

I have lived in Ireland for over 3 years now, and this was so helpful! No Irish people I know could explain any of the spelling features so simply. I live in Dublin, so I only know one person who is a fluent Irish speaker. Everyone else can barely say, "hello, my name is..."

I would also note that the Irish Famine was man made and partly used by the British to "solve the Irish problem". There are official documents publicly available that reveal this. Ireland was a net exporter of food during the Famine.

[vyktorzhuravlev]

Dia daoibh ! I am Russian and I love Celtic languages, especially Irish - Connacht dialect. Complex grammar, an abundance of soft consonants - heaven for the Russian throat and mind :))

[Leafie]

Speaking as an Irish person who has a fierce love for the language and recognising my bias, it's so much easier than French (the other language I did for the Leaving). There's a lot of rules, but not too many exceptions (and only 11 irregular verbs)! Plus a lot of the "complicated rules" are much more straightforward when you take the grammatical gender of a word into account. The biggest hurdle for learners in my experience is the phonology - it's difficult to see "teach" and not think "ah yes, like the verb in English", once you can switch to Not reading with English pronunciation spelling conventions and pronouncing words you've never seen before! And for any new learners, or those considering learning, no one is expecting you to know all the grammar immediately right off the bat!

[sineamhac]

I was born in the Conamara Gaeltacht and grew up with fluent Irish. Later, when I moved into the city, my English was so poor I had to go for extra lessons outside of school just to catch up with my class mates who spoke Irish like aliens to me.

If I had advice for anyone learning it would be to just go for it, your pronunciation will almost certainly be wrong and you'll definitely mess up the grammar, but Irish people are forgiving and the locals will greatly appreciate it if you make the effort. You'll pick up the nuances along the way and it won't seem so bad or confusing.

[helloimj]

"It would be so cool to learn Irish." *Watches Langfocus* "It would be so cool to learn Portuguese."

[bam]

Learner of Irish: The overpowering resentement towards this language amongst my class mates in school (Dublin)combined with the absolute disastrous teaching methodolgy(the dreaded 'projector' and foaming-mouthed múinteoirs) has done a lot of damage to the language's image and has left a deep sore in the psyches of a lot of people, not to mention being associated with second gen Connaght speaker civil servants D4 kids called Fionn Mac C. Having a global language as your first tongue doesn't argue the case much better either when growing up in 80s recession hit Ireland. That said, thanks to the internet and TG4, having studied languages abroad and sufficiently distanced myself from these hangups, I have regained my interest in Irish and hope to get better over the next few years. Also, ironically perhaps, this is one of the best produced videos on Irish I've seen on Youtube. Go raibh maith agat agus is breá liom an video!

[Gaeisok]

How did this learn more about my language for a single video than I learned during my 14 years in school? I don’t know how you found this information or how long it took you, but you’re a genius and I cannot compliment this video enough

[unaizuriarrain]

Preserve your gaellic heritage and keep learning Irish . Happy New Year from the Basque Country !

[meandmybobbygee]

People: ugh French words wtf
Irish people: *maniacal laughter*

[johnnycoleman]

I'm currently brushing up on my Irish my son will be going to an irish school also I'm gunna make sure this language has a lifeline at all times..it'll be a generational thing, and I might even adapt it for everyday family speech while only using english as a secondary or in public with non Irish speakers🇮🇪🇮🇪