Dia Duit. Micheál is ainm dom. Is as Béal Feirste mé. Time was, plenty of us could get that far in Irish and genuinely feel proud, especially if you didn't grow up in the 26. In fact, I'm still quite proud that I can get that far.
Even those who went through the Irish education system tended to have a love/hate relationship with our national language, bred through having to read Peig Sayers books, which were more likely to teach you how to survive on Blasket Island than any Irish.
Now, you've got Kneecap rapping as gaeilge and Irish, believe it or not, is the fastest growing language on Duolingo. The language learning app released numbers last week that showed as many as 1 million people learning Irish with them, making it the 16th most popular language overall for those who have English as a first language.
According to Duolingo's Noah Higgs, the growth is not just people in Ireland who want to keep up their skills or refresh them, but our huge diaspora around the world reconnecting with the language of our culture and history.
I can give you a first hand knowledge of this, as I'm one of them: I'm 31 and haven't taken the language seriously since I was a teenager and picked up Irish again on Duolingo during lockdown.
In truth, it's a bit of a nightmare: Irish doesn't really do well in working out pronunciations based on spelling, as we all know, so using a predominantly text-based method learning makes life a little harder. But there is a part of me that loves to do it, especially because you do feel like you're getting a lot better. I don't have any opportunities to chat with other learners right now, so that wee bird has been my saviour. Sure, I'm still terrible, but getting better (slowly) all the time.
So let's say go raibh mo agut to Duolingo and comhghairdeas to everyone who stuck at it through lockdown. Keep it up, and the next time we can all descend on Donegal and Connemara, we'll be a lot better.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Ireland