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Profs & Pints: Intro to Gaelic

The Bier Baron Tavern
Washington, DC

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Profs & Pints: Intro to Gaelic

Profs and Pints presents: Intro to Gaelic, with Jennifer ORiordan, native of Cork and former assistant director of Irish Studies and Irish language instructor at Catholic University.

The Irish language is Irelands most fragile natural resource and an unbroken link to its past. Called An Ghaeilge or simply Irish within Ireland, and Gaelic beyond the islands borders, it is the oldest written vernacular north of the Alps. Its taught to all Irish schoolchildren from the ages of five to eighteen, and about 40 percent of the Republic of Irelands population can speak it, with large percentages using it as their first language in the Irish-speaking regions known as Gaeltachtaí. Its importance is emphasized with the saying Tír gan teanga tír gan anam---a country without a language is a country without a soul.

No matter what shenanigans you have gotten into on Saint Patricks Day, you can get your soul back by taking an introductory Gaelic class from Professor Jennifer ORiordan. You wont find any better way to gain an insight into Ireland, its people, and its culture. She will start by discussing the origins and use of the language and Irish words you did not know you knew, such as whiskey, galore, brogue, smithereens, and Baltimore. Shell then give you tips on basic pronunciation: Why is Saoirse Ronans name pronounced Seersha? Why dont the Irish pronounce the th like the rest of the English speaking world?

From there Professor ORiordan will tackle questions such as why the Irish are always talking about craic: Hows the craic, whats the craic, did you have good craic? What is craic anyway?

Then shell launch into teaching a selection of Gaelic greetings and useful phrases. Well end the evening like all good Irish evenings end, with a song.

Come gain an appreciation of why Gaelic is experiencing a revival not only in Ireland, but all over the world, and now ranks among the ten most popular languages offered by the language app Duolingo. Beir bua!