Auckland Irish Society reboots language lessons

Aucklanders once again have the opportunity to brush up on their Irish skills or learn the language from scratch.

Last year the Auckland Irish Society hosted its first Irish language class but a week later, Covid-19 health advisories on gatherings forced the cancellation of the class and the week after that, the country went into Level 4 lockdown.

Tonight lessons at the central Auckland club begin again.

Joe Carolan, a local Gaeilgeoir (Irish speaker) from the Cooley Peninsula near the Irish border, led the classes last year.

He says he came to love Irish through family and friends in the community he grew up. While he says his Irish is rusty, he still incorporates it into his life in Auckland.

"I do use a bit with my kids like brionglóidí suaimhneach duit (beautiful dreams to you), oíche mhaith (goodnight), or tar liom sa (come to me). Just some of the basic everyday things I think most people want to learn.

"We had a gathering of about 40 to 50 people last year that was hugely successful and I think it’s great that it's restarting so people have a chance to learn our language.

"Last year, we were planning to use [the app] Duolingo together as a resource to give people basic conversational skills. I just hope that there are resources in the form of maybe a syllabus for people to get the help they need to learn our language."

Irish, or Irish Gaelic, is the primary official language of the Republic of Ireland, with English being second. It is also a recognised minority language in the United Kingdom.

Often called just Gaelic, Irish is actually part of the Gaelic family of languages along with Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, and Breton.

Much like with te reo Māori in New Zealand, the 19^th century saw an effort by the British authorities to remove Irish from the education system.

Couple this with urbanisation and emigration and the result was a rapid decline for the Irish language, with English taking its place.. During the Great Famine of the late 1840s, Ireland lost millions of Irish speakers to starvation.

In the decades after, millions more emigrated across the globe to escape poverty and war in Ireland. Many Irish-New Zealanders are descended from Irish speakers who lost the language as their children and grandchildren assimilated into Pakeha society.

In Ireland, the vast majority of life is conducted in English. Even though it is compulsory subject in Irish schools, only about 73,000 people (1.7% of the Irish population) claimed to use it day to day, with most living in the remote Gaeltacht (Irish Speaking) regions of rural Ireland.

When asked about the state of Irish in New Zealand, Mr Carolan said: ‘We have huge support networks for Gaelic Games, Irish Dancing, and St Patrick’s Day and it would be great to see similar support for those in the Irish diaspora who want to learn their native language."

The first Irish Language session will be held on Wednesday May 5 at the Auckland Irish Society clubrooms on Rocky Nook Avenue in Mount Albert. It will start at 7pm and is an open event.