“Enorme richiesta” di corsi di lingua irlandese man mano che gli studenti adulti ritornano a scuola decenni dopo

Theres a market for adult gaeltacht get aways for all the 00s teens that couldnt afford to go during the recession

Ya see, this is what happens when you make something interesting and allow people to CHOOSE to do something rather than forcing them to do something and then making them sit exams on it!

EDIT – not wishing to give this a depressing “I hated Irish at school” vibe – more an optimistic “this CAN work at school” vibe.

It will be interesting to see if this results in higher traffic to the Irish language versions of gov & public service web sites. For years those sites have been bilingual (to greater or lesser quality) and for years everyone has completely ignored them and conducted their business through English, making the investment futile. That money would have been better spent sponsoring these classes than going the if-you-build-it-they-will-come route.

One really poignant thing I noted was that the Irish that was drilled into me so hard I’ll always remember it were either commands (suigh sios/seas suas) or asking for permission (an bhfuil cead agam). It’s taught in a totally authoritarian manner. It felt like a victory of free will to not learn it, rather than actually try. I don’t know if anyone will relate to this, but I always perceived my Irish teachers as enemies and was never motivated to work with them.