Seachtain na Gaeilge is now over for another year but this year RTE actually featured a tv program I enjoyed. Níos Gaelaí was a four part series which followed 4 immigrants to Ireland as they learned to speak Irish and learn about Irish culture through cooking, sport, music and dancing. The show was presented by Bob Kelly who was engaging and jumped from Irish to English with ease while keeping the conversation going.
The last episode on Arainn was wonderful to watch. The scenery there is so stark and barren but the local populace were friendly and full of fun. Witness dancing at the cross roads! Predictably enough they ended up at Dun Aonghus but drinking champagne near those cliffs? Gulp!
I felt Bob Kelly preached a little too much at the end about the importance of keeping the language alive but it was humbling to hear these new Irish speaking as Gaeilge. I for one would love to labhair cupla focail in my daily interactions with strangers and friends.
Ni raibh clu da laghad agam go raibh se seachtain na Gaeilge. Ni raibh puc ar an telifis!
mmm, dodgy Irish. I can speak it fluently but my spelling…eh!