Association of Celtic Students of Ireland and Britain

Bho Gàidhilg go Gaeilge: Having one helps the other, sort of Jeff W. Justice Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies The University of Edinburgh While the Celtic languages are my passion and current research priority, they are not the first that I learned. I took Castilian Spanish for several years during my secondary education, and I became fairly fluent in it. Then the Internet became generally accessible, and I found myself scouring Spanish-language news sources, but also occasionally reading items in Portuguese and finding that – with a modicum of help from a dictionary – that I could read it as well, despite having never had any formal coursework in it. I still pick up only bits here and there when I hear European or Brazilian Portuguese, but I have still have few problems reading it. (I became fluent in French later on, and that also helped, but that’s a story for another day.)   Having prior experience learning any new language made easier for me the task of learning

Hi! My name is Freya and I'm a Celtic student and I am dyslexic. I want to share some tips and software that I have found helpful while learning different Celtic languages. In my degree I've been able to take courses in modern Scottish Gaelic and Old Irish but I think my coping strategies should work just as well in any language. I've been learning languages since I was very wee so some of this advice is more about attitudes to language learning than things you can do, and of course it should go without saying that this is what has worked for me so it might not work for everyone! Hopefully these tips will be useful to everyone not just disabled students. My first bit of advice is nothing particularly new: use the language you are learning as much as possible. For me this means finding ways to speak Gaelic as much as possible because I find speaking the easiest way to use language (when I don't have brain-fog!). Try to find a way of using language that is low resistance

            I am writing this article as a way to procrastinate many things: editing a chapter draft of my PhD, working on a conference paper, writing an abstract for yet another Call for Papers, learning new vocabulary, doing homework for various classes, reading articles. And that’s just the academic things! The main reason why I am procrastinating today is that I am honestly not motivated. I am tired just thinking about everything coming up this year, and since I think I am not the only one feeling that way, I thought I would list some things that I use to make myself feel more confident, less anxious, and more enthusiastic about doing some work. Whether you are doing a PhD, Masters or undergraduate degree, I hope this list helps. If not, at least you’ll have wasted a few minutes of your day procrastinating: you’re welcome.       First things first. You will hear and read it everywhere, which makes it annoying, but it is true: you will have so much more energy for everything if yo