I have an English friend who showed up at our Irish conversation group last week. He never learned Irish before, and he wanted to sit in with the group and try to learn some Irish by listening to us talk. There are two problems with this. First of all, I don't think it's possible for him to learn a language this way. Unless he joins a class or does some self-study, anything we say in Irish will be gibberish to him.

But the main problem on the night was that everyone started speaking English. My English friend was even saying "Carry on speaking Irish, pretend I'm not here” but that didn't happen. I tried to steer the conversation back to Irish, but people were translating what I said for the Englishman (instead of answering me) and after a while, I just gave up. I felt like the whole night was a waste of time, because I didn't get to practice my conversation skills, and I don't think my friend really learned anything either.

Any ideas how to handle situations like this in the future? This is the first time we had someone who spoke no Irish at all (usually newcomers have at least a few phrases from school).

_________________
Táim ag foghlaim fós. Fáilte roimh gach aon cheartúchán.

It is easy to see how it all came about, but it is pointless to have a ciocal comhrá that is predominantly English - you can have that any time anywhere!

I would seek out Irish language classes for beginners; real beginners - not the ones who have spent 14 or 15 years learning it in school and claim to know nothing. I would present him with the information and explain the problem. I think it is great that he is interested and it will be great when he has enough Irish to turn up at the ciocal comhrá to listen and for people not to feel compelled to translate everything.

I would also talk to the others in the group and explain that you were frustrated and so they must have been too. It is understandable that they wished to be polite, but it defeats the purpose of the gathering and presumably your friend must have realised this and felt awkward too.

What I have just recently realised about the ciorcal comhrá meetings is that random people turn up at random ones. It is brilliant; it is like an AA meeting or support group. Nobody looks out of place for turning up on their own and just chatting to strangers. Very cool!

_________________

If it's possible to contact the other members of the group outside of your meeting time, I'd say initiate some discussion on this. I don't see any harm if a person with no Irish wants to sit in (just listening passively to the language, without also studying it, won't teach him Irish...but if he does decide to begin studying it, that kind of thing can be really good for him), but it does no one any favors if the group stops speaking Irish, or constantly stops to translate. HE clearly wanted you all to carry on in Irish, which demonstrates respect on his part.

It's easy to fall into this kind of behavior if everyone isn't isn't on the same page as to how to handle it. Discussing it before the next meeting is definitely the best course.

Redwolf

Thanks for your comments, ladies.


I've looked into this before, and there's nothing of that kind in our area.



You're both right about this, I should be talking about this with the group instead of whinging on the internet I could phone everyone individually, but I think I'll wait for the next meeting and discuss it as a group.


I can definitely see the benefit of hearing the sounds and rhythm of the language if he decides to study the language later.

_________________
Táim ag foghlaim fós. Fáilte roimh gach aon cheartúchán.