Fáilte chuig an dara heagrán nuachtlitir seo.
Tá súil againn uilig gur bhain sibh sult as Lá Fhéile Pádraig!
Beidh cúpla seachtain eile de ranganna againn, ach beidh muid ag glacadh coicíse saor ó na ranganna don Cháisc i mbliana. Druidfear Turas as an 11ú lá dheag de mhí Aibreáin agus osclófar arís é ar an 28ú de mhí Aibreáin.
Seachtain na Gaeilge
Bhí cúpla seachtain ghnoitheach ag an Fhoireann le linn Sheachtain na Gaeilge i mbliana. Rinne muid cainteanna in Turas, ar an Ómaigh, ar an Bhaile Mheánach, in Ard Mhacha agus rinne muid dhá chaint i gCeanada (ar Zoom)! Is maith linn a bheith ag dul amach go háiteanna eile taobh amuigh d’oirthear Bhéal Feirste chun labhairt faoi obair Turas agus chun tuilleadh daoine a spreagadh i dtreo na Gaeilge.
Ar ndóigh, bhí dhá imeacht againn in Turas chun ceiliúradh a dhéanamh ar Sheachtain na Gaeilge. Rinne muid Oíche Scannáin agus d’amharc muid ar ‘An Cailín Ciúin’. Bhí scaifte breá i láthair don scannán agus is ceart a rá go raibh níos mó ná duine nó beirt ag caoineadh ag deireadh an scannáin sin. An mhaidin ina dhiaidh sin, rinne Stiofán trí cheardlann ar bhriathra ns Gaeilge ar líne, agus is dócha go raibh cúpla duine ag caoineadh ar dhóigh eile ag deireadh na gceardlann sin!
Blaschúrsa Gaeilge
Mar chuid de ‘Festival of Learning’ beidh Ollscoil Uladh ag déanamh blaschúrsa Gaeilge do ghlantosaitheoirí. Beidh an Dr Gearóid Ó Domagáin i mbun an ranga seo. Is múinteoir den scoth é agus mholfainn d’achan duine freastal ar an chúrsa seo! Má tá aithne agat ar dhuine ar bith nach bhfuil Gaeilge aige ach ar mhaith leis giota beag Gaeilge a fhoghlaim, bheadh an cúrsa seo fóirsteanach fosta.
Mo chéad turas chun na Gaeltachta
Is minic a chuirtear ceist orm faoin Ghaeltacht. ‘An féidir le daoine fásta dul?’, ‘An mbeidh cead agam Béarla a labhairt?’, ‘An bhfuil na mná tí scanrúil?’. Shíl mé go mbeadh sé maith cur síos a thabhairt daoibh ar mo chéad turas chun na Gaeltachta agus ar an tionchar a d’imir sí ar mo chuid Gaeilge féin.
Mar is eol do chuid agaibh anois, níor thosaigh mé ag foghlaim Gaeilge go raibh mé naoi mbliana déag d’aois nuair a bhí mé i mo chéad bhliain in Ollscoil na Ríona. Chuala mé faoin Ghaeltacht ach le fírinne, shíl me gur bhain sé le daltaí scoile amháin ach chonaic mé go raibh cúrsaí ann do dhaoine fásta i nGleann Cholm Cille agus coláiste eile ar an Bhun Bheag.
Chuaigh mé chuig Oideas Gael ar feadh seachtaine ag tús an tsamhraidh agus chuaigh mé isteach chuig an mheánrang, áit ar bhuail mé le neart Meiríceannach a bhí in Éirinn chun staidéar a dhéanamh ar an Ghaeilge. Bhí lúcháir orm nuair a fuair mé amach do dtagann daoine ó achan chearn den domhan chun Gaeilge a fhoghlaim agus go bhfuil an Ghaeilge féin á foghlaim agus á labhairt go hidirnáisiúnta.
Go traidisiúnta in Éirinn, ba leis na fir a talamh agus ba leis na mná an teach, rud a chiallaíonn gurb í bean an tí an duine is tábhachtaí agus tú ag fanacht i lóistín sa Ghaeltacht. Bhí an t-ádh orm mar bhí bean tí den scoth agamsa. Bhí seomra do mo chuid féin agam agus rinneadh bricfeasta friochta dom achan mhaidin, rud a chuidigh leis an phóit ón oíche aréir!
Bhí fear ann darb ainm Martin i mo rang. D’éirigh mé measartha cairdiúil agus bhí a fhios agam go raibh a bhean chéile sa rang is airde. Ag deireadh an chúrsa bhí mé ag labhairt leis faoin phost a bhí aige agus chuir sé in iúl dom go raibh air éirí as a phost nuair a ceapadh a bhean chéile (Mary) ina ról. D’iarr mé ar cén ról a bhí i ndiaidh seachtain a chaitheamh le hIar-Uachtarán na hÉireann is ní raibh chú dá laghad agam. Nach mise a bhí aineolach!
Ag deireadh an chúrsa, bhí mo chuid Gaeilge ag preabadh i mo chloigeann. Don chéad uair bhí Gaeilge agam agus briseadh an teorainn labhartha sin agus bhí mé in ann abairtí (a bhí lán le meancóga is dócha) a chur le chéile dom chéad uair.
An molfá an Ghaeltacht? Mholfainn cinnte. D’fhoghlaim mé níos mó Gaeilge taobh istigh de thrí seachtaine ná a d’fhoghlaim mé sa bhliain roimhe agus níos tábhachtaí arís, chaith mé am ag cleachtadh mo chuid Gaeilge agus ag éisteacht le cainteoirí eile Gaeilge.
Stiofán Carson
English
Welcome to the second edition of this newsletter.
We hope you all enjoyed St. Patrick’s Day!
We will have a few more weeks of classes, but we will be taking two weeks off for Easter this year. Turas will close on the 11th of April and will reopen on the 28th April.
The week of Irish
The Team has a busy few weeks during Seachtain na Gaeilge this year. We gave talks in Turas, Omagh, Ballymena, Armagh, and we gave two talks in Canada (on Zoom)! We love going out to other places outside of east Belfast to talk about the work of Turas an to encourage more people to engage with the Irish language.
Of course, we have two events in Turas to celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge. We had a Movie Night and watched ‘An Cailín Ciúin’. There was a great turnout for the film and it’s fair to say that more than one person was crying at the end of that film. The following morning, Stiofán conducted three workshops on Irish language verbs online, and there were probably a few people crying in a different way at the end of those workshops!
Irish language taster course
As part of the ‘Festival of Learning’, Ulster University will be doing an Irish language taster course for complete beginners. Dr. Gearóid Ó Domagáin will be taking this class. He is an excellent teacher and I would recommend to everyone to go to this course. If you know anyone who doesn’t have Irish but would like to learn a little bit, this course would be suitable for them as well.
My first trip to the Gaeltacht
I am often asked about the Gaeltacht. ‘Can adults go?’, ‘Will I be allowed to speak English?’, ‘Are the mná tí scary?’. I thought it wold be good to tell you about my first trip to the Gaeltacht and the impact it had on my own Irish.
Aw some of you now know, I didn’t start learning Irish until I was nineteen when I was in my first year at Queen’s University. I had heard about the Gaeltacht but honestly, I thought it was only for school students but I saw there were courses for adults! One college in Glen Cholm Cille and another college in Bunbeg.
I went to Oideas Gael for a week at the beginning of the summer and I joined the intermediate class, where I met a lot of Americans who were in Ireland to study Irish. I was delighted when I found out that people come from all over the world to learn Irish and that Irish itself is being learned and spoken internationally.
Traditionally in Irish, the men owned the land and the women owned the house, which means that the landlady is the most important person when you are staying in accommodation in the Gaeltacht. I was lucky because I had an excellent landlady. I had my own room and was made a fried breakfast every morning, which helped with the nausea from the night before!
There was a guy called Martin in my class. I became quite friendly with him and I knew that his wife was in the senior class. At the end of the course I was talking to him about his job and he informed me that he had to resign when his wife (Mary) was appointed to his role. I asked what role she had. He looked at me for a few seconds and then said that she had been appointed President of Ireland. I had just spent a week with the former President of Ireland and I had no clue. I was the one who was ignorant!
By the end of the course, my Irish was bouncing around my head. For the first time, I had Irish, that speech barrier was broke. and I was able to put sentences (which were probably full of mistakes) together for the first time.
Would you recommend the Gaeltacht? I definitely would. I learned more Irish in three weeks than I had learned in the previous year and more importantly, I spent time practicing my Irish and listening to other Irish speakers.
Stiofán Carson