Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Breandán de Gallaí and Aoife Ní GhloinnScoil Scairte
These native Irish speakers share how Ireland's ancient language and their homeland of Co Donegal have impacted their identity.
Annemarie Ní Churreáin (poet & editor), Aoife Ní Ghloinn (Director of the Centre for Irish Language, Maynooth University), and Breandán de Gallaí (Former lead in Riverdance, choreographer, lecturer) are some of the guides you will find in the upcoming award-winning online Irish language course "Scoil Scairte: Donegal" beginning October 3, 2024.
"Over 9 weeks we will gather a host of Donegal artists and culture-makers to offer a living, breathing experience of the Irish culture. As a Scoil Scairte guide, it’s my hope that we can bring language learners on a journey of reconnection with native perspectives and knowledge," explains Annemarie.
How has your relationship with the Irish language developed over the years?
Aoife: "I grew up in Co Carlow but our family home has always been my mother’s birthplace of Arranmore Island off the coast of Donegal. My parents are both Irish speakers and intended to raise their children with the language, but it proved difficult to do that when we were surrounded by English in school and social circles. Reluctant to ‘force’ Irish on us, English became the dominant language of our home.
"I have a very clear memory of the moment I realized the loss involved in that generational language shift. I was 9 years old, standing outside our house in Arranmore while my mother chatted to a neighbor. The neighbor spoke to me in Irish and I looked blankly back at her. I still remember the way she looked at my mother in disbelief that she was not raising her children with her native tongue. I understood at that moment that I was supposed to speak Irish and made it my mission to master it in the years ahead."
Breandán: "The Irish language has been very central in my life and I’m grateful that I had it as a first language because it has opened doors for me. I hung around with a group of friends who would have valued it, we felt it was part of our identity coming from Gweedore in Co Donegal. We spoke Irish to each other, we didn’t just speak it at school, it was a living language of every person. We saw it as 'our' language and as time went on that relationship became stronger."
How has your connection to Donegal impacted your art?
Annemarie: "Donegal is a landscape flanked on one side by the Atlantic waves and on the other by a border with Northern Ireland. I grew up in the Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking community) under the shadows of the Errigal Mountain.
"When you live in a small, Gaeltacht community, you’re part of a thriving eco-system of folklore, mythology, ritual, and song. My first exposure to language as craft was through the voices of fishermen, islanders, and people working on the bog. Poetry has always been for me an extension of the place I come from and its living culture."
What do you think is the biggest misconception about the Irish language?
Breandán: "Many more people speak Irish than people realize, yes it is declining in the Gaeltacht which is unfortunate but it’s really growing in urban areas, people aren’t ashamed of speaking it.
"There's also an unnecessary economic value placed on the Irish language - 'what use is it to you' - we are not units of economic wealth, we're not here just to work and everything we learn helps us to be better workers. When all of those things are dispelled what we have left is art and culture, those are the things that make us human."
Aoife: "I think the greatest misconception about the Irish language is that language learning is a journey with a final destination. Unlike the road to Donegal, it is an ongoing life-long journey. Even native or fluent speakers make mistakes and struggle to find the right words sometimes. We are all learners and there is no need to feel self-conscious when we hit a few bumps in the road."