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Coming Home: One man's return to the Irish Language
'Some part of me believed I would become a more complete person if I spoke Irish, more in tune with my roots, my identity, my very being.''A hugely enjoyable linguistic travelogue that is also a sort of love full of passion, lightness, but, also, commitment. McCaughan's engaging prose is a joy to read. Discover the Sex Pistols' connection with Cúil Aodha and many another startling fact about the Irish language. This journey towards a homecoming will touch many hearts.' Joseph O'ConnorThis is the story of Michael McCaughan's journey around Ireland and the Irish language. From a surreal start involving dedicated listening to Raidió na Gaeltachta's death notices, to rediscovering the soul of the language through immersing himself in Phil Lynott's music – all without becoming a Gaelbore – Coming Home will make you want to follow in his footsteps and strike out in search of the grá.
276 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 10, 2017
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December 16, 2017
It's been 20 years since I spent time learning Irish, so my awareness of the place of Irish in the world is that much outdated. This book was a revelation. Even aside from his very commonsense recommendations for how to go about working on language study, he runs all over the island talking to people about Irish and looking into how people are learning it.
Irish is making tremendous strides in the north, across sectarian lines, as talented organizers and educators set up language schools and evangelize for the Irishness of the language, and the Irishness of both catholic and protestant Irish people.
In the south, Irish also seems to be doing better, pretty much in spite of the schools and government. Despite tremendous lip service, it is extraordinarily difficult to try to speak Irish to any government official or employee, or on a hurling/football pitch, or at public occasions, without being insulted. How strange! The only thing that seems to come of this is that years later, people who come to an understanding of the role of the language in history, and want to speak it, can recall to mind some of what they learned in school, which gives them a leg up as well as lots of people around them to turn to. And there seem to be a lot of people trying to learn as adults despite the discouragement they find all around them.
His thoughts about students of Irish visiting the Gaeltachts, and the perceptive comments from Peadar Ó Riada about the differences between fully fluent and native speakers, were thought provoking.
All in all it makes me want to get back what fluency I had, but unlike McCaughan I don't have the luxury of just turning to almost anyone I meet anywhere and trying a few words, because nobody here understands. Is mór an trua sin. At least I own the dictionaries.
Irish is making tremendous strides in the north, across sectarian lines, as talented organizers and educators set up language schools and evangelize for the Irishness of the language, and the Irishness of both catholic and protestant Irish people.
In the south, Irish also seems to be doing better, pretty much in spite of the schools and government. Despite tremendous lip service, it is extraordinarily difficult to try to speak Irish to any government official or employee, or on a hurling/football pitch, or at public occasions, without being insulted. How strange! The only thing that seems to come of this is that years later, people who come to an understanding of the role of the language in history, and want to speak it, can recall to mind some of what they learned in school, which gives them a leg up as well as lots of people around them to turn to. And there seem to be a lot of people trying to learn as adults despite the discouragement they find all around them.
His thoughts about students of Irish visiting the Gaeltachts, and the perceptive comments from Peadar Ó Riada about the differences between fully fluent and native speakers, were thought provoking.
All in all it makes me want to get back what fluency I had, but unlike McCaughan I don't have the luxury of just turning to almost anyone I meet anywhere and trying a few words, because nobody here understands. Is mór an trua sin. At least I own the dictionaries.
November 27, 2019
Recently, I was asked to write a narrative of a key moment in my career as a foreign language teacher, for an academic publication. To assist me in this, the editor supplied me with models of narratives written by learners about their experiences. Coming Home: One Man´s Return to the Irish Language appears to fall within this category, as Michael McCaughan retells his passionate, but conflicted, relationship with “an Ghaeilge”.
Paradoxically, like many other Irish people, McCaughan finds himself learning his national language as if it were a foreign language, that is to say, from scratch and via the school system, initially. Although this is simply the result of a language shift and, subsequently, a series of flawed linguistic policies in his country, some Irish people appear to feel guilty if they do not manage to become competent. According to McCaughan, this is one of the reasons why Irish learners seem to be forever apologising. They are awed by native speakers, and embarrassed when they have to admit that they only have “an cúpla focal”, only a little bit of Irish. For some of these learners, it is as if they were failing in a patriotic duty, or allowing their cultural identity to get dented.
On the other side of the debate, there are others who, unapologetically, refuse to attempt to become fluent in Irish, like journalist Rosita Boland. She is adamant that this is not to the detriment of her attachment to the nation: “I like even less having my national identity pinned to a language I never use and cannot speak. (…) Am I any less an Irish citizen if I choose to disassociate myself from our “ordained national language”, and state that the English language is actually the one in which I feel at home expressing myself?” (p. 108). Rosita Boland suggests that the Irish language has become a kind of religion for some of the most enthusiastic speakers, learners and activists, like the “Gaelbores” McCaughan also refers to, satirized at an early stage by Flann O´Brien in the novel An Béal Bocht. According to the true Gaels in this story, “we must always discuss the question of the Gaelic revival and the question of Gaelicism. There is no use in having Gaelic, if we converse in it on non-Gaelic topics” (cit. in McCaughan, 2017, p. 54).
The first chapters of Coming Home are devoted to the individual experiences of McCaughan as a learner after he grows determined to become fluent in what he describes as “a fever”. Mostly, McCaughan analyses his use of the services of the Irish-language national radio station, RnaG, which helps him to practise listening comprehension but also connects him to the rhythms of life in the small rural communities of the Gaeltacht. He also describes the various teaching methods used in the different language schools he attends over the summer, from a relaxed approach to the more structured use of worksheets and Powerpoint presentations. There are many tips for the Irish language learner: CDs of music and language sounds (e.g. “Gugalái Gug”); well-established dictionaries; and text-to-speech tools such as abair.ie. Information is given about dialects and official tests, for instance, Teastas Eorpachna Gaeilge (TEG) at Maynooth. Michael McCaughan completed a degree in Spanish at university and he believes strongly that “anyone can learn Irish” (McCaughan, 2017, p. 37), or, for that matter, any other language: “I am convinced that a personal interest is more important than innate talent when it comes to learning a language. That interest requires a system adapted to your lifestyle and temperament if it is to work. It takes time to find it but once you have it, in whatever form, you have started the journey” (McCaughan, 2017, p. 37).
Michael McCaughan implies that in the Republic of Ireland there is a gentrified teaching industry catering for adult learners who may feel guilty or inadequate, and appear to be stuck at a beginner or intermediate level, starting, dropping out, and restarting. This is precisely the cycle that McCaughan is trying to break. On the other hand, the situation of the Irish language in Northern Ireland is very different, and the chapters devoted to this topic are extremely interesting. The key point McCaughan makes is that the promotion of the Irish language in Northern Ireland is a grassroots movement, led by volunteers working in small communities.
Naturally, McCaughan covers the Irish classes of the Jailtacht, that is to say, the Long Kesh prison, at the time of the Troubles. Notably, a few loyalist prisoners also took Irish lessons, for example, William Plum Smith: “Smith learned about Irish history and began learning Irish. The IRA prisoners offered him safe passage into the Republic ‘cage’ for classes but the authorities refused. Undeterred, Smith sat by the fence and learned his Irish from an IRA member instructing him from the other side” (McCaughan, 2017, p. 185).
Nowadays, there are informal inexpensive Irish language classes and activities not only in Catholic West Belfast, but also in East Belfast, an area “identical to its Republican counterparts in viewing the language as a vocation, an activity that needs to happen regardless of money” (McCaughan, 2017, p. 177). The interest of the Protestant community in the Irish language is in itself part of the Irish heritage, as exemplified by the large numbers of Protestants who enrolled in the Gaelic League since its creation. Remarkably, the Irish language services in East Belfast, Turas, benefit from funding from the Ulster Defence Association club for old boys, Charter NI (McCaughan, 2017, p. 180). Likewise the Irish language centre in West Belfast, Cultúrlann McAdam ÓFiaich, according to its website, is named after two eminent advocates of the Irish language, the former, McAdam, being a Presbyterian businessman from the nineteenth-century (Cultúrlann McAdam ÓFiaich, 2019). In the context of the Good Friday Agreement, all these Irish lessons and outreach activities are a powerful peace resource that breaks down barriers and fosters understanding between communities that had been brought up to view each other as “the other” (McCaughan, 2017, p. 178).
Users of Duolingo may be already aware that there are more Irish learners in their platform than there are native-speakers of the language in the whole world. Michael McCaughan interviews several of these non-Irish learners: Aki, who taught Irish myth at a university in Japan; Matthew, who had started learning Irish in New York; and Rachael, a Canadian who had decided to learn all the languages present in her family background. McCaughan remarks that all of them were very surprised at the way some Irish people dismiss the Irish language: “The attitudes of some Irish people surprised them all. A taxi driver in Dublin laughed out loud when Matthew informed him he was on his way to an Irish language programme in Connemara. ‘Why would you want to do that?’, he said, incredulous. ‘Why not learn a worthwhile language?’ ”(McCaughan, 2017, p. 133).
While there are pragmatic reasons for learning languages, there is also this powerful fever that, inexplicably, takes possession of you and propels you forwards. This fever can stem from a desire to connect with a lost ancestral past, or with a fascinating foreign culture. It can only be fortunate that it is a contagious condition, fostering larger and larger communities of learners.
References:
Cultúrlann McAdam ÓFiaich (2019) This History of Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich [online]. Available at https://www.culturlann.ie/en/about-us... (Accessed 27 November 2019)
McCaughan, Michael (2017) Coming Home: One Man’s Return to the Irish Language, Dublin, Gill Books
Resources:
Cultúrlann McAdam ÓFiaich: https://www.culturlann.ie/en
Turas: https://www.ebm.org.uk/turas/
Paradoxically, like many other Irish people, McCaughan finds himself learning his national language as if it were a foreign language, that is to say, from scratch and via the school system, initially. Although this is simply the result of a language shift and, subsequently, a series of flawed linguistic policies in his country, some Irish people appear to feel guilty if they do not manage to become competent. According to McCaughan, this is one of the reasons why Irish learners seem to be forever apologising. They are awed by native speakers, and embarrassed when they have to admit that they only have “an cúpla focal”, only a little bit of Irish. For some of these learners, it is as if they were failing in a patriotic duty, or allowing their cultural identity to get dented.
On the other side of the debate, there are others who, unapologetically, refuse to attempt to become fluent in Irish, like journalist Rosita Boland. She is adamant that this is not to the detriment of her attachment to the nation: “I like even less having my national identity pinned to a language I never use and cannot speak. (…) Am I any less an Irish citizen if I choose to disassociate myself from our “ordained national language”, and state that the English language is actually the one in which I feel at home expressing myself?” (p. 108). Rosita Boland suggests that the Irish language has become a kind of religion for some of the most enthusiastic speakers, learners and activists, like the “Gaelbores” McCaughan also refers to, satirized at an early stage by Flann O´Brien in the novel An Béal Bocht. According to the true Gaels in this story, “we must always discuss the question of the Gaelic revival and the question of Gaelicism. There is no use in having Gaelic, if we converse in it on non-Gaelic topics” (cit. in McCaughan, 2017, p. 54).
The first chapters of Coming Home are devoted to the individual experiences of McCaughan as a learner after he grows determined to become fluent in what he describes as “a fever”. Mostly, McCaughan analyses his use of the services of the Irish-language national radio station, RnaG, which helps him to practise listening comprehension but also connects him to the rhythms of life in the small rural communities of the Gaeltacht. He also describes the various teaching methods used in the different language schools he attends over the summer, from a relaxed approach to the more structured use of worksheets and Powerpoint presentations. There are many tips for the Irish language learner: CDs of music and language sounds (e.g. “Gugalái Gug”); well-established dictionaries; and text-to-speech tools such as abair.ie. Information is given about dialects and official tests, for instance, Teastas Eorpachna Gaeilge (TEG) at Maynooth. Michael McCaughan completed a degree in Spanish at university and he believes strongly that “anyone can learn Irish” (McCaughan, 2017, p. 37), or, for that matter, any other language: “I am convinced that a personal interest is more important than innate talent when it comes to learning a language. That interest requires a system adapted to your lifestyle and temperament if it is to work. It takes time to find it but once you have it, in whatever form, you have started the journey” (McCaughan, 2017, p. 37).
Michael McCaughan implies that in the Republic of Ireland there is a gentrified teaching industry catering for adult learners who may feel guilty or inadequate, and appear to be stuck at a beginner or intermediate level, starting, dropping out, and restarting. This is precisely the cycle that McCaughan is trying to break. On the other hand, the situation of the Irish language in Northern Ireland is very different, and the chapters devoted to this topic are extremely interesting. The key point McCaughan makes is that the promotion of the Irish language in Northern Ireland is a grassroots movement, led by volunteers working in small communities.
Naturally, McCaughan covers the Irish classes of the Jailtacht, that is to say, the Long Kesh prison, at the time of the Troubles. Notably, a few loyalist prisoners also took Irish lessons, for example, William Plum Smith: “Smith learned about Irish history and began learning Irish. The IRA prisoners offered him safe passage into the Republic ‘cage’ for classes but the authorities refused. Undeterred, Smith sat by the fence and learned his Irish from an IRA member instructing him from the other side” (McCaughan, 2017, p. 185).
Nowadays, there are informal inexpensive Irish language classes and activities not only in Catholic West Belfast, but also in East Belfast, an area “identical to its Republican counterparts in viewing the language as a vocation, an activity that needs to happen regardless of money” (McCaughan, 2017, p. 177). The interest of the Protestant community in the Irish language is in itself part of the Irish heritage, as exemplified by the large numbers of Protestants who enrolled in the Gaelic League since its creation. Remarkably, the Irish language services in East Belfast, Turas, benefit from funding from the Ulster Defence Association club for old boys, Charter NI (McCaughan, 2017, p. 180). Likewise the Irish language centre in West Belfast, Cultúrlann McAdam ÓFiaich, according to its website, is named after two eminent advocates of the Irish language, the former, McAdam, being a Presbyterian businessman from the nineteenth-century (Cultúrlann McAdam ÓFiaich, 2019). In the context of the Good Friday Agreement, all these Irish lessons and outreach activities are a powerful peace resource that breaks down barriers and fosters understanding between communities that had been brought up to view each other as “the other” (McCaughan, 2017, p. 178).
Users of Duolingo may be already aware that there are more Irish learners in their platform than there are native-speakers of the language in the whole world. Michael McCaughan interviews several of these non-Irish learners: Aki, who taught Irish myth at a university in Japan; Matthew, who had started learning Irish in New York; and Rachael, a Canadian who had decided to learn all the languages present in her family background. McCaughan remarks that all of them were very surprised at the way some Irish people dismiss the Irish language: “The attitudes of some Irish people surprised them all. A taxi driver in Dublin laughed out loud when Matthew informed him he was on his way to an Irish language programme in Connemara. ‘Why would you want to do that?’, he said, incredulous. ‘Why not learn a worthwhile language?’ ”(McCaughan, 2017, p. 133).
While there are pragmatic reasons for learning languages, there is also this powerful fever that, inexplicably, takes possession of you and propels you forwards. This fever can stem from a desire to connect with a lost ancestral past, or with a fascinating foreign culture. It can only be fortunate that it is a contagious condition, fostering larger and larger communities of learners.
References:
Cultúrlann McAdam ÓFiaich (2019) This History of Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich [online]. Available at https://www.culturlann.ie/en/about-us... (Accessed 27 November 2019)
McCaughan, Michael (2017) Coming Home: One Man’s Return to the Irish Language, Dublin, Gill Books
Resources:
Cultúrlann McAdam ÓFiaich: https://www.culturlann.ie/en
Turas: https://www.ebm.org.uk/turas/
July 20, 2025
I have to regard this memoir much as I regard these comments that I write. They are the personal record of my engagement with the book at hand, no more, no less. So what I say doesn't mean anything towards your decision whether or not to find and read a particular book. That said, I was alternately engaged and . . . excluded from McCaughan's account of his journey. McCaughan's own experiences learning Irish alternate with a portrait of how Irish language teaching has evolved over time since Independence and what the attitudes are now (not that good -- completely hypocritical on the part of the government.). Ironically the strongest Irish speaking communities today are in Northern Ireland.
Overall though I felt . . . pushed out and irrelevant as a no more than 'a cupla focal' (literally 'a few words') Irish learner, and hopelessly so due to age and constraints. Therefore doomed to be someone learning Irish but with no ability to converse or understand much beyond basics. Nor am I Irish beyond perhaps a pinky toe from Dal Riada days when Northern Ireland and Western Scotland were one and the same with a bit of water between. I do have many deep and complex associations with Ireland from my childhood and fell in love with the music decades ago and play harp and concertina. I also faithfully learn the music in the 'old way' by listening and learning, not from sheet music but from a particular musicians, in person whenever possible. My interest in learning Irish grew out of the singing, especially the sean-nos, but I was overwhelmed last summer when I took a class at an Irish music festival week in the Catskills with a singer/harper so far out of my league that I was utterly lost.
I've moved along very slowly in duolingo for three and a half years, have listened to folks on you-tube and the radio, keep a vocabulary list . . . I don't even know why I'm doing this or what my ultimate ambition is. To understand the songs? I guess? McCaughan has also struggled with this issue, why learn a language not that many speak--that even in Ireland today is still regarded as a somewhat frivolous pastime (which I find shocking and depressing)? I have encountered Irish indifference and the general (and mistaken) lumping of Irish music into the 'folk' category so I should know better. I love the music and love the feel of the words in my mouth and find something marvelous about the layers of meaning in the language itself. Go figure. I'll keep on with it because the language like the music both haunt and fill me with joy. ***1/2
Overall though I felt . . . pushed out and irrelevant as a no more than 'a cupla focal' (literally 'a few words') Irish learner, and hopelessly so due to age and constraints. Therefore doomed to be someone learning Irish but with no ability to converse or understand much beyond basics. Nor am I Irish beyond perhaps a pinky toe from Dal Riada days when Northern Ireland and Western Scotland were one and the same with a bit of water between. I do have many deep and complex associations with Ireland from my childhood and fell in love with the music decades ago and play harp and concertina. I also faithfully learn the music in the 'old way' by listening and learning, not from sheet music but from a particular musicians, in person whenever possible. My interest in learning Irish grew out of the singing, especially the sean-nos, but I was overwhelmed last summer when I took a class at an Irish music festival week in the Catskills with a singer/harper so far out of my league that I was utterly lost.
I've moved along very slowly in duolingo for three and a half years, have listened to folks on you-tube and the radio, keep a vocabulary list . . . I don't even know why I'm doing this or what my ultimate ambition is. To understand the songs? I guess? McCaughan has also struggled with this issue, why learn a language not that many speak--that even in Ireland today is still regarded as a somewhat frivolous pastime (which I find shocking and depressing)? I have encountered Irish indifference and the general (and mistaken) lumping of Irish music into the 'folk' category so I should know better. I love the music and love the feel of the words in my mouth and find something marvelous about the layers of meaning in the language itself. Go figure. I'll keep on with it because the language like the music both haunt and fill me with joy. ***1/2
March 21, 2019
Interesting but not great, at least not for me. I'm sure if I were Irish or had some previous knowledge of the Irish language, it would have been an easier and more rewarding read for me. There's a great deal of Irish vocabulary throughout, which the author clearly expects that you're going to be familiar with it, probably from taking Irish classes in school or from being a member of Irish culture. I'm not really the intended audience for this book.
The author describes his methods and motivations for wanting to improve his Irish skills, having studied it in school as a child but without having achieved fluency. His point is pretty simple: use the language. Nothing new there, but his obvious enjoyment of the language shines through. There is a lot of musing about why Irish tends to have a bad reputation among the Irish people, whether that's fair, and what, if anything, can be done about it. He describes various options he availed himself of to immerse himself in Irish as much as possible, including travel to various places in Ireland and Northern Ireland (where, it turns out, people are making headway on removing staunchly held beliefs that Irish is only for republicans/Catholics, not loyalists/Protestants).
I was trying hard not to compare this to Motherfoclóir: Dispatches from a Not So Dead Language the whole time I was reading it. They're not the same other than being about Irish, really, but I kept making the comparison in my head. (Motherfoclóir is much more about Irish words and expressions, while this is about the author's personal journey to improve his Irish skills.) Truth be told, I enjoyed this less than Motherfoclóir simply because there's less in this book about the actual language itself.
The author describes his methods and motivations for wanting to improve his Irish skills, having studied it in school as a child but without having achieved fluency. His point is pretty simple: use the language. Nothing new there, but his obvious enjoyment of the language shines through. There is a lot of musing about why Irish tends to have a bad reputation among the Irish people, whether that's fair, and what, if anything, can be done about it. He describes various options he availed himself of to immerse himself in Irish as much as possible, including travel to various places in Ireland and Northern Ireland (where, it turns out, people are making headway on removing staunchly held beliefs that Irish is only for republicans/Catholics, not loyalists/Protestants).
I was trying hard not to compare this to Motherfoclóir: Dispatches from a Not So Dead Language the whole time I was reading it. They're not the same other than being about Irish, really, but I kept making the comparison in my head. (Motherfoclóir is much more about Irish words and expressions, while this is about the author's personal journey to improve his Irish skills.) Truth be told, I enjoyed this less than Motherfoclóir simply because there's less in this book about the actual language itself.
July 22, 2017
I bought and read this book while on vacation in Ireland because it was recommended by a friend. I like travel literature, am a huge language nerd, and knew nothing about Irish, so I thought it might be fun vacation read. McCaughan did not disappoint! He's an engaging writer and storyteller. Not only did I learn a lot about Irish people's relationship to and struggles with their language, but I also got a lot out of the book in terms of Irish history and contemporary society/politics. It was fascinating to have this insight and read about the Gaeltacht while actually traveling through it. Now I want to return to Ireland for a summer course in Irish.
Incidentally, McCaughan's books is also helpful for those looking for Irish language-learning recommendations and resources, such as important/seminal books (especially good for those of us not raised in the Irish school system who are completely green/uninitiated), radio stations/programs, some music, phonetics training, and language programs. For people looking for effective language learning strategies (for any language), I'd also recommend Gabriel Wyner's "Fluent Forever". McCaughan had some good suggestions for learning Irish specifically, but the book is more a memoir than handbook on language acquisition.
The only reason I didn't give it a higher rating was because there were some chapters I felt could have been left out or incorporated into others. This is mostly personal preference and a function of the fact that I'm used to more defined structures in non-fiction writing (in scholarly writing, for example). To be fair, that's not McCaughan's style, and if there were more structure, it surely would have seemed out of place.
Incidentally, McCaughan's books is also helpful for those looking for Irish language-learning recommendations and resources, such as important/seminal books (especially good for those of us not raised in the Irish school system who are completely green/uninitiated), radio stations/programs, some music, phonetics training, and language programs. For people looking for effective language learning strategies (for any language), I'd also recommend Gabriel Wyner's "Fluent Forever". McCaughan had some good suggestions for learning Irish specifically, but the book is more a memoir than handbook on language acquisition.
The only reason I didn't give it a higher rating was because there were some chapters I felt could have been left out or incorporated into others. This is mostly personal preference and a function of the fact that I'm used to more defined structures in non-fiction writing (in scholarly writing, for example). To be fair, that's not McCaughan's style, and if there were more structure, it surely would have seemed out of place.
September 12, 2023
Machnamh suntasach faoin teanga atá ann, agus ní raibh an leabhar róchosúil le leabhra eile faoin nGaeilge a léigh mé riamh. Léigh mé "Motherfoclóir" le Darach Ó Séaghdha tamall ó shin, agus measaim go raibh sé níos dírithe ar an teanga féin ná "Coming Home". Scríobhtar méid níos mó faoin nasc idir muintir na hÉireann agus a teanga i CH, agus cheap mé go raibh an machnamh faoi seo spéisiúil. Iriseoir ab ea an t-údar, agus tá sé sin le feiceáil sna agallaimh a déantar ar fud an leabhair, agus cuireann na hagallaimh sin dearcthaí éagsúla agus suimiúla leis an leabhar. Tríd is tríd, léamh suimiúil.
There is interesting reflection about the language in this book, and it wasn't too similar to other books I've previously read about the Irish language. I read "Motherfoclóir" by Darach Ó Séaghdha a while back, and I think that it was much more focused on the language itself than "Coming Home". More is written about the link between Ireland and its language in CH, and I thought that the reflections about this were interesting. The author was a journalist, and this can be seen in the interviews he does throughout the book. These interviews add different and interesting outlooks to the book. Overall, interesting read.
There is interesting reflection about the language in this book, and it wasn't too similar to other books I've previously read about the Irish language. I read "Motherfoclóir" by Darach Ó Séaghdha a while back, and I think that it was much more focused on the language itself than "Coming Home". More is written about the link between Ireland and its language in CH, and I thought that the reflections about this were interesting. The author was a journalist, and this can be seen in the interviews he does throughout the book. These interviews add different and interesting outlooks to the book. Overall, interesting read.
April 2, 2017
It's an odd but satisfying mixture - part personal odyssey, part history of the language, part survey of the contemporary scene. Above all, I think that anyone engaged in the joyful struggle to learn this language will find it encouraging and inspirational - especially those of us who were rugadh agus tógadh in Ireland, and feel that we're struggling to learn our own language!
Highly recommended to anyone with even the slightest interest in the Irish language.
Highly recommended to anyone with even the slightest interest in the Irish language.
January 3, 2026
This is an interesting one. It reads like a history book, a memoir, and a how-to language learning guide all wrapped up in one. It was difficult to get into at the beginning since it read so much like a history textbook and it dove right into the author’s life at age 50 instead of setting up some background and context for how he got to where he was that motivated him to come back to Irish after decades of psychological blocks. He also acknowledges the number of hours that an Irish person is exposed to the language throughout their early life and how it should technically lead to some training or proficiency in the language, but highlights this again as a failure of the institutions to properly teach it to generations. That all the summer Irish schools and the exams and state requirements are a farce.
It resonates with everything I’ve ever heard any Irish person say about their relationship with their endangered language, and the book tracks and highlights the government’s failure, since it was established in 1922 to properly put the structures in place to ensure their nation’s citizens could learn their language meaningfully, instead of just enforcing it on everyone in a very broken, egocentric kind of way. You don’t make everyone learn it because you need to set yourselves apart from the colonizer; you learn it to truly reclaim your identity and the years of oppression you were subjected to.
It resonates with everything I’ve ever heard any Irish person say about their relationship with their endangered language, and the book tracks and highlights the government’s failure, since it was established in 1922 to properly put the structures in place to ensure their nation’s citizens could learn their language meaningfully, instead of just enforcing it on everyone in a very broken, egocentric kind of way. You don’t make everyone learn it because you need to set yourselves apart from the colonizer; you learn it to truly reclaim your identity and the years of oppression you were subjected to.
September 13, 2017
Bought this book following a talk by the author at Dundalk's Book Day this year.
As I was reading it while travelling the West, it felt quite interesting to live through his exploration while road-triping among the Gaeltacht of Donegal and seeing some of the schools he was writing about. Part personal journey through the lerning, part snapshot of what it means to be speaking the language and the difference between the different ways of handling the revival, I found it easy to read, accessible and quite informative. I've even added a couple of words to the one I already knew. So here's to that!
As I was reading it while travelling the West, it felt quite interesting to live through his exploration while road-triping among the Gaeltacht of Donegal and seeing some of the schools he was writing about. Part personal journey through the lerning, part snapshot of what it means to be speaking the language and the difference between the different ways of handling the revival, I found it easy to read, accessible and quite informative. I've even added a couple of words to the one I already knew. So here's to that!
August 11, 2019
A bit of a love letter to the Irish language, McCaughan does a wonderful job setting out his personal journey and interspersing it with historical information of how/when/why the Irish language stopped being spoken regularly.
He doesn't shy away from the multitudes of people who have varying feelings, positive and negative, towards the language, and he lays out historical context for the conflicted feelings many Irish people have towards Irish.
He doesn't shy away from the multitudes of people who have varying feelings, positive and negative, towards the language, and he lays out historical context for the conflicted feelings many Irish people have towards Irish.
April 29, 2020
I really enjoyed this book and would give 4.5 stars if available. The author’s journey with the Irish language and the people, organizations and communities who speak and champion the language reveals much about identity, resilience and the long term effects of colonialism. I loved learning about the places and people at the heart of teaching and inspiring others to embrace the Irish language.
November 10, 2024
This book was definitely written for an Irish audience, so as an American there were a number of references and name drops I didn’t get even despite having experience living in Ireland. That being said it was still interesting and I felt like a learned a lot, maybe even more so than an Irish reader since I had to look things up as I read hahaha.
May 19, 2020
As an overseas Irish language language learner who travels to Ireland frequently to study, there’s a lot I could relate to in this book. I was a bit shocked to read stories of my friends that were included. I guess it’s a small world.
October 16, 2020
Entertaining book about a man’s journey to reclaim Irish. It’s also about the history of the language, its near death, fossilisation and rebirth. Lots of intriguing anecdotes and interviews make it a good read. Would recommend.
December 31, 2021
2.5 stars. McCaughan has a tendency to skip around, introduce examples which seem only tangenitally related, and not finish his thoughts. I enjoyed the firsthand insight into the Irish revival movement and the stories from various people about their experiences with the language.
January 18, 2019
Inspirational book for those people, like me, who say that can't learn languages.
April 2, 2020
3.5. Informative and often inspiring. Could have used a good edit in places but does give a good sense of the Irish language community.
October 28, 2021
Bhain mé an-sult as. Thug sé inspioráid eile dom snas a chuir ar mo chuid Gaeilge.
May 18, 2020
I wanted to really love this book, because it seems to jaunty and breezy. I would give it a 2.5 if I could. I stuck with it and I generally don't bother with books I really dislike but I kept asking myself why. I think it's because there are enough pockets of interesting facts and anecdotes. It can be very hard to follow at times though, as it operates conceptually to the extreme. I feel like I'm bouncing around inside the head of someone disorganized who doesn't think chronologically in the slightest. I also kept feeling throughout the book like there were critical parts of the language history and culture that I was missing. Overall, though, it was a fine read - McCaughan does really well with incorporating interviews with Irish language speakers and learners into his text. I wish there had been a pronunciation guide scattered throughout the book though. It sometimes felt like he was exemplifying some of the reasons that he himself didn't like learning Irish as a kid in the writing of the book. However, I like books with a strong atmosphere and this certainly was atmospheric of Ireland.
July 25, 2018
Pleasurable and inspiring read for anyone studying another language (I'm learning German). Also lots to learn about Ireland, its history and culture. The author proves the point that it's never too late to learn a new language and shows the way for anyone who wants to follow his steps. A great guide for someone trying to learn Irish and a great inspiration for people trying to learn any other language as well.
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