Practicing your cúpla focal in New York City
There’s a GAA pitch located in the Bronx in New York, called Gaelic Park, and if you are interested in practicing your cúpla focal in the Big Apple, it’s a great place to start.
Caoimhe Nic Giollarnáith, an Irish language lecturer at Lehman College, and previously a lecturer at Manhattan College (who own Gaelic Park), regularly brought her students to matches there to immerse them in the Irish language.
“Gaelic Park is where all the matches would be happening, and there’s a big Irish tradition in that part of New York. A lot of my students’ parents or grandparents would be Irish, and they might have originally met at Gaelic Park. When I was teaching there, I would bring students to hurling matches and they’d hear Irish being spoken all around. It was great as an immersion event,” she says.
Plentiful opportunities to speak Irish in New York
While great tradition is found in the GAA across the globe, there are plenty of avenues to explore to brush up on your Irish language skills across New York.
“I organise pop-up Gaeltachts [Irish language speaking areas] and I find I will meet native speakers at those, people who went to Gaelscoils [Irish language schools], or just people who want to re-engage with the language. And that's kind of how they start off. Recently I taught at an immersion weekend, where we try to recreate a Gaeltacht course, in upstate New York. It was run by Daltaí na Gaeilge with generous support from the Fulbright Commission, Ireland.
I taught workshops for two days and there were 90 attendees for the weekend… But people also can go to a screening of An Cailín Ciúin, or attend plays as Gaeilge [Irish]. I co-directed an Off Broadway play before Christmas, through Irish. People start going to these kinds of things and they realise that there are lots of opportunities to use the language,” she says.
A diverse group of Irish language students
Nic Giollarnáith was raised bilingually in Ireland, and completed her entire education through Irish. She now teaches Irish in various guises across New York, from the immersion weekends to shorter courses in the city, as well as her lecturing work in Irish language literature and film studies.
She works with a diverse range of people looking to learn the language, from Irish people looking to brush up, to Irish Americans looking to connect to their heritage, to people with no connection to Ireland but who have perhaps encountered An Cailín Ciúin or Kneecap or some element of Irish language culture that has sparked their interest.
“Duolingo has really helped put the language on the map as well, even a lot of non-Irish would have been introduced to the language that way. Some will go into it literally just want to brush up on their cúpla focal [few words] and use it, and then find that they are really getting into, they’re progressing pretty rapidly.
They end up more motivated than they may have thought they would be. And they find that they're trying to use it as often as they can, just to make sure that it kind of sticks with them and it's not just a thing where they're going to the class once a week and using it for an hour and that’s it.”
Motivation to learn abroad
Why does she think there’s such a grá [love] for the language abroad? “When we're talking about Irish people engaging with the language abroad, it's really helpful to them that they're not at home. They don't feel as much pressure, and they're not as scared to make mistakes because they're seen as the real Irish person, the authentic speaker. They’re often at an advantage most of the time, depending on the class they’re with,” she explains.
“Now it's cool to speak Irish. When I was growing up, I didn't feel like it was cool to speak Irish. Maybe some people did, but I personally didn't. I think attitudes are definitely changing, and more generations are engaging with it now, and looking at things differently. Even just looking at TikTok, the amount of influencers on it using the Irish language, some who aren't Irish, I think that's helped,” she adds.
Approaching learning Gaeilge in New York
With seasonal courses available from organisations like the Irish Arts Centre and the New York Irish Centre, it’s worth exploring lessons if your curiosity about the language has peaked in recent times.
However, even if you’re not ready to take a class, Nic Giollarnáith highly encourages finding a pop-up Gaeltacht where you can test out your rusty Gaeilge, or even to seek out short films as Gaeilge that you can watch at home to train your ear. Just start using your Irish, and don’t let being abroad be an excuse, is her advice.
“In order to be fluent in any language, including English, you have to make a million mistakes, so you might as well start making them sooner rather than later, and just dive in. Use whatever cúpla focal you have. If you make a mistake, you’ll have an opportunity to learn.
I am surrounded by native Irish speakers, even in America. Because of social media and technology, you are able to go to ciorcal comhrá or pop up gaeltachts, in person or online, and use the language. You don't have to go to Ireland to use your Gaeilge, which is great,” she says.
Check out Caoimhe Nic Giollarnáith's upcoming Irish classes and courses on her website, and follow Caoimhe on X for Irish happenings in New York.