****ENTRIES NOW CLOSED****
CONGRATS TO OUR WINNER, COMMENTER #3: CRYSTAL B.!!
Whenever I post here or on Facebook about how we live our everyday lives through the medium of the Irish language, I always get loads of response. There’s a massive connection and draw for Americans to all things Irish. And the Irish language is no different. For some, they have no idea a language other than English is spoken here.
However, if you’ve ever listened to an Enya album, you’ve heard it and probably didn’t even realize it! (As a teenager I thought it was Latin! Ha!) Irish shows up in film after Hollywood film. In fact, there are some phrases in Irish uttered from the fox in Mary Poppins!
Granted, it is not the everyday language everywhere in the country. There are pockets around the country that are a bit like language reservations. It’s in these areas that Irish is the first language of most, with many children speaking little to no English before entering school.
We have invested a total of six years so far learning this beautiful language and we absolutely love it. Our kiddos are completely fluent, and we are fairly so. And I absolutely love introducing people to this lyrical, beautiful language.
So, imagine my excitement when I heard about an online company called Bitesize Irish Gaelic! They do online Irish lessons, with real, native speakers! How cool is that??
What’s more, they realize not everyone is in a place to sign up for a monthly subscription of lessons, so they have decided to create an album- “Learn Irish With Eoin” – that will teach you Irish to the point where you can hold a basic conversation. The album, which explains the concept to you in English, is created by Eoin (pronounced like Owen) who is a native Irish speaker and is fluent in the Irish (Gaelic) language.
The album is just over 16 hours long and includes lessons such as: 
- Greetings and Introductions
- Your First Conversation
- Counting From 1 to 10
- Greeting an Acquaintance
- Countries and Nationalities
What I love about this album idea is that you can do the lessons when it suits you, where it suits you! The album is available on iTunes and is download-only which means you can listen to it absolutely anywhere.
Now the really exciting part!!
Bitesize Irish Gaelic have given me a copy of the album to giveaway to one of you awesome readers!! So if you’re interested in learning your ancestors’ native tongue, or just want to learn the beautiful Irish (Gaelic) language, be sure to enter!
Simply leave a comment below telling me what you would most love to learn in/about the Irish language!
You can earn more entries by sharing this giveaway on Twitter and Facebook. You will get one entry for each share (once for Twitter, once for Facebook). Be sure to come back and leave separate comments letting me know how you shared!
Entries will remain open until midnight EST, Tuesday, January 8.
Comments 31
Jen, I remember you reaching me and I would love to learn the language well enough to come back. Rachelle and I have talke about it many times.
Thanks!
Crystal
Wow! How neat. I would love to learn a new language (or just the basics). I love most things Irish (I don’t know ALL things Irish and we named our son Declan before everyone else started to). If we ever do visit, would love to impress them w/some skill. (Arrogant?) or at least let them know I tried:) I also need a new challenge for the new year. I hope I win:) Be blessed:)
Shared on Facebook.
Tweeted it!
Like many Americans, I have always had a fascination with Irish culture – including Gaelic and music. My interest was further peaked after reading “How the Irish Saved Civilization.” I would like to learn greetings in Irish Gaelic (I know how to say “Bore da” in Welsh but not a lick of anything in Irish Gaelic).
I did RT on Twitter and shared on FB
shared it on fb
I think my love for the Irish language began with Enya when I realized what I was hearing. I fell in love with it’s beauty in song. Ever since through one method or another I’ve been trying to learn it. It’s very slow since I am mother to 4 children and always have at least ten other things I should be doing.
The other night after some time barely able to think about it, I had reason to pick up my wee irish dictionary. Just seeing the words gave me a thrill! Soo, can I say, you name it, I want to learn it?
I plan to visit Ireland again, more than one and I would love to be able to speak with the locals in their native tongue. I know that speaks volumes to people.
I would love to learn any amount! My girls have learned some basic numbers and greetings from their Irish dance instructor and we dream of being able to go over and visit my husband’s cousins in England & Ireland someday.
I’ve shared on Facebook. 🙂
I would love to learn it, and speak it when I return to Ireland… someday! 😉
My father is from Dublin so I would love this and also to introduce it to my kids. 🙂 I would love to learn all of this – esp greetings.
I tweeted
I shared on FB as well.
Thank you for sharing this information with us. My interest lies in a novel I’ve written based on my own family’s Irish roots. My son & I are both enthralled with our heritage and the Gaeilge language.
I fell in love with Ireland as a little girl, and pick up the accent quick even now. I’d love to go back, but how much more amazing of an experience if I can also speak it. Thanks for a chance to win, but also letting me know about these resources!
I would love to be able to say a few words in Irish when my neices and nephew visit next May!
Best of luck to all, hope the album finds a happy home.
My 1st grader asked if we could learn gaelic in school this year 😉 this would be perfect.
Tweeted
Shared on FB
Is family exempt? If not, I’d love to be able to talk to my nieces and nephew in Gaelic.
Author
The winner is chosen by a random number generator, so I suppose family is eligible. 🙂
Shared on FB
I would love to learn some Irish. I speak Creole, a mixture of french and spanish that is spoken in the country of Haiti (and random pockets around the globe… some in Africa, France, America, etc… where Haitian natives have formed colonies.)
But there is just something about Irish. It’s more lyrical, I guess, and I love that about it. 🙂
I would love to learn a bit of the Irish language because I want to spend some time in County Donegal and I think they would be surprised if I could speak a bit and understand even more. I would desire to use that as a springboard to learn more.
I would love to learn it, because my husband grew up in Spiddal and attended an Irish speaking school. He is fluent, but a bit out of practice, and we would like to teach it to our daughter who is 18 months old. Which means mom needs to get on board and start learning it :)! This would be an excellent opportunity! Thank you for sharing it. P.S- Our daughter got Ba Bog from one of her Uncle’s for Christmas- and she loves it :).
P.S I shared on FB! 🙂
I would love to learn Irish! We lived in Furbo, Galway for 18 months. My children learned to speak it in school but I never did. It is a beautiful language.
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