Learning Irish
Learning Irish (Image created using wordart.com) When I started learning Irish, I didn’t think much about the new words that my primary school teacher was giving a four-year-old me in Dublin: ceapaire meant sandwich, madra meant dog, leabhar meant book. It was only later that the words came to mean so much more. Before starting secondary school, I attended a summer camp in Dublin that involved Irish classes and sports through Irish. As a teenager, this transformed into trips to the Gaeltacht, and I spent many summer months immersed in the language in Connemara. Throughout university, I was making friends through Irish at my university’s Irish-language society, working through Irish during breaks, and living through Irish in the university’s Irish-language accommodation. As well as the employment opportunities that I have enjoyed from learning Irish, the language has brought me friendships, a sense of community and a commitment to linguistic diversity. Learning the language has