To begin, think about Barry Fitzgerald.
The Quiet Man is a fairly good place to start, but suffers from the handicap of having been made in Ireland by an Irish director, and so, the English is too close to English. Think of one of Fitzgerald's earlier films. Maybe one where he plays a drunken priest, or even his memorable appearance in an early Johnny Weissmuller "Tarzan" movie, with the Oirish accent going full blast.
As Irish has receded, stage-Oirish grammar has dated. Thing is though, it did capture the way Irish is spoken. So, recapture those rhythms. Step one in speaking Irish, is to speak English the way you speak Irish.
Once you can do that, we'll slowly phase in Irish words in place of English ones. The progression should go from English to Gaelglish to Béarlish to Béarlge to Gaeilge, and shouldn't take more than a couple of decades. For now, do your best Mickaleen Óg impression, try to start every sentence with a main verb, and start placing adjectives after rather before the noun.
--
Gearóid Mac Cuinneagáin
Tá m'aerbhád lán d'eascanna
[ Home ] [ Next Lesson ]