FROM THE EARLY days of learning your bhun from your barr, to memorising the dreaded Sraith Pictiúr for your Leaving Cert, our relationship with the Irish language after school varies greatly. 

In some cases, the journey can spark a lifelong love of the language while for others it’s viewed as more of a hassle than a pleasure. Whatever your experience of learning Irish, the language has always been a part of our culture – but how we use it is changing.

For one, it is now an official language of the European Union ending a nearly 15-year derogation that limited how much of the bloc’s material was translated into Irish. Bad news for those who argue the Irish language is redundant beyond our borders.

A 20-year strategy for the language is also in full swing focussing on key areas of action including education, the Gaeltacht, the family, the media, technology and the economy but will that be enough to incentivise non-Irish speakers?

Did leaving the classroom change your perspective and fluency of the language? Maybe you grew up speaking as Gaeilge at home and never lost your love of the mother tongue? Or you might not care about it at all after spending so long with it in school.  

Whatever your view of the language now, we want to know how our relationship with it has evolved, be it for better or worse.

Let us know in the comments below or reach out to us on Facebook or Whatsapp. We’ll use your responses to guide our output on this topic. 

As part of The Good Information Project, at the future of the Irish language at home and abroad, and whether current initiatives are enough to help the language thrive or nearly survive.

This work is also co-funded by Journal Media and a grant programme from the European Parliament. Any opinions or conclusions expressed in this work is the author’s own. The European Parliament has no involvement in nor responsibility for the editorial content published by the project. For more information, see here.