Original Welcome to An Gaeilgeoir

The following is the text of the welcoming article from the November, 1998 issue of An Gaeilgeoir.

When Denis Clarke, the founder of Gaeltacht Minnesota, first began teaching Irish in St. Paul, he observed, “Some people had no concept of what a language is. Some treated it like a cipher, looking up each word in a sentence and matching it. Others thought they would learn by being in contact with a teacher, picking it up like you would pick up a cold. But there were some who had a talent for languages.”

To be sure, people may vary in their talent for languages. Some seem to have the ear to pick up accents. Some master grammatical forms quickly, while others struggle.

It is also true, on the other hand, that students differ widely in their approach to learning a language. We might rephrase Denis's remark above, "Some people had no concept of how to learn a language." In other words, whatever other differences in ability among his students, some of them were probably better at getting the most out their materials and their classes. An Gaeilgeoir is focused on these second kinds of differences, differences in how efficiently and effectively students use their opportunities.

Some students think it is mostly will power, that if they try really hard, they will learn the words and master the forms. To use a phrase so common in business today, we recommend working smarter, not harder. We want to help you learn more, and use more of what you learn, no matter how much time you have to devote to your study of Irish. In our view, whatever you have to work with—whatever reading material, textbooks, audio materials, classes, or instructors—you can make progress with those materials, if you get everything you can out of them.

It is no surprise that students of Irish are often unfamiliar with language study methods. Many of us came to the language through our heritage or cultural interests, and may not have studied a language before. A large number of Irish students are adults, and even older adults, who have not formally studied any subject in some time. And most of us get limited class time, and have to teach ourselves much of the Irish we use.

All of that means, simply, that a vast number of Irish students are working out their study methods either by trial and error, or based on assumptions about how languages should be learned. In this newsletter we will share ideas from instructors and students, ideas that have been helpful to the people who have used them. These methods may seem obvious, or they may be entirely new to you. But familiar or not, simple techniques, enhanced awareness of how you study Irish, and perhaps some subtle shifts in your attitude toward the whole process can have a powerful impact not only on how well you learn the language, but on how much you enjoy yourself as you do it.

So fáilte romhat, welcome, to our first issue of An Gaeilgeoir. We congratulate you on your efforts to explore the Irish language. And we thank you for letting us accompany you on your journey. After all, as the proverb says,

Giorraíonn beirt bóthar.

We will be with you on that road to better Irish.

Go n-éirí an bóthar leat!

Comments and questions are welcome via e-mail

(our e-mail address, broken down to reduce spam from 'spambots', is info at gaelminn dot org)