If you ever go across the sea to Ireland……..

Galway Bay lies on the west coast of Ireland, at it’s mouth, facing the Atlantic Ocean are the three Aran Islands.

That’s me Kevin Moloney overlooking the coast – it is rugged and spellbinding!

This is the most pure of Irish countryside you could find.

So pure, in fact, English is not even the first language. They speak Irish here.

And that’s no joke – Irish or otherwise. Irish is, in fact, the oldest of all European languages and though it’s been threatened with extinction over the centuries, it’s now enjoying a strong revival.

On the Aran Islands and in the very west of the mainland Republic, Irish is spoken freely and each summer, a college established on Inis Mor is packed with young students, all keen to learn the language.

If you speak Irish here you are very fáilte (welcome) in the west………but even if you don’t, Irish hospitality insists you’re more than welcome anyway!

Listening to a conversation in Irish is like listening to a Martian speak – don’t worry, I’ve never spoken to a Martian – well not recently anyway, with Irish resembling nothing I’ve heard before.

Although it’s guttural like Germanic languages, there are no hints in it that allow you to pick up on a single word.

It’s not Latin based either and bears no resemblance to English, plus……….often there is no translation from Irish to English at all.

Irish is also spoken with passion and speed, an outsider has no hope and here in the far west, the faster they speak, the more Irish the conversation becomes.

And like Polish, the configuration of letters in a word gives no clue as to it’s pronunciation making it one of the most difficult languages to learn.

Let me give you an example.

Bíodh lá maith agat (pronounced: bee–uk law moh ugut or something like that!) means “Have a good day”.

Personally, I think saying “have a good day” is much easier but then again I’m not Irish.

Being an ancient language, some of the quirks of Irish make it impossible to resist and helps to understand English-Irish phrases like “Top of the morning to you”.

Anyone with an Irish grandmother knows the extent of Irish sayings, no matter how spurious they may be. “De réa chéile a thogtar na caisleáin” of course, translates to “It takes time to make sand castles” – something we all should know.

But Irish isn’t just a language that is whipped out every time someone wants to employ a cute adage, it is an everyday working and living language with a long deep past but has a growing lexicon to keep it modern and relevant.

I don’t know Irish for “Can you please remove the USB stick from the computer next to the PS2 so I can download from Limewire to my iPod” but I’m sure it exists.

Anyway, Go dtí go gcasfaimíd arís – Until we meet again.

Caomhán

A Report by Kevin Moloney, international travel writer and Travel Mole correspondant – on location in Ireland – brought to you by Emirates, Aer Lingus, Driveaway Holidays and Tourism Ireland.