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Coming Home: One man's return to the Irish Language

Michael McCaughan

4.12 · Rating details · 74 ratings · 16 reviews

‘Some part of me believed I would become a more complete person if I spoke Irish, more in tune with my roots, my identity, my very being.’

‘A hugely enjoyable linguistic travelogue that is also a sort of love story: full of passion, lightness, but, also, commitment. McCaughan’s engaging prose is a joy to read. Discover the Sex Pistols’ connection with Cúil Aodha and man

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Kindle Edition, 272 pages

Published March 10th 2017 by Gill Books

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Dec 12, 2017 Caroline rated it it was amazing

It's been 20 years since I spent time learning Irish, so my awareness of the place of Irish in the world is that much outdated. This book was a revelation. Even aside from his very commonsense recommendations for how to go about working on language study, he runs all over the island talking to people about Irish and looking into how people are learning it.
Irish is making tremendous strides in the north, across sectarian lines, as talented organizers and educators set up language schools and evan ...more

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Sep 06, 2017 Timothy O'Connor rated it really liked it

This was an inspiring read for me as I have been working at learning Irish on my own for 3 years now and sometimes wonder why I carry on. The author provides some great examples from his own lifelong journey to learn Irish and made it feel very accessible. I haven't read too many books about learning languages so I don't have anything with which to compare this, but it meant a great deal to me and has inspired me to carry on. ...more

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Dec 13, 2018 Caoimhín rated it really liked it

Shelves: languages

Enjoyable read with some very useful insights into the current state of Irish language education while giving glimpses of hope to anyone who would like the language to remain alive.

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Nov 27, 2019 Laura rated it it was amazing

Recently, I was asked to write a narrative of a key moment in my career as a foreign language teacher, for an academic publication. To assist me in this, the editor supplied me with models of narratives written by learners about their experiences. Coming Home: One Man´s Return to the Irish Language appears to fall within this category, as Michael McCaughan retells his passionate, but conflicted, relationship with “an Ghaeilge”.
Paradoxically, like many other Irish people, McCaughan finds himself Recently, I was asked to write a narrative of a key moment in my career as a foreign language teacher, for an academic publication. To assist me in this, the editor supplied me with models of narratives written by learners about their experiences. Coming Home: One Man´s Return to the Irish Language appears to fall within this category, as Michael McCaughan retells his passionate, but conflicted, relationship with “an Ghaeilge”.
Paradoxically, like many other Irish people, McCaughan finds himself learning his national language as if it were a foreign language, that is to say, from scratch and via the school system, initially. Although this is simply the result of a language shift and, subsequently, a series of flawed linguistic policies in his country, some Irish people appear to feel guilty if they do not manage to become competent. According to McCaughan, this is one of the reasons why Irish learners seem to be forever apologising. They are awed by native speakers, and embarrassed when they have to admit that they only have “an cúpla focal”, only a little bit of Irish. For some of these learners, it is as if they were failing in a patriotic duty, or allowing their cultural identity to get dented.
On the other side of the debate, there are others who, unapologetically, refuse to attempt to become fluent in Irish, like journalist Rosita Boland. She is adamant that this is not to the detriment of her attachment to the nation: “I like even less having my national identity pinned to a language I never use and cannot speak. (…) Am I any less an Irish citizen if I choose to disassociate myself from our “ordained national language”, and state that the English language is actually the one in which I feel at home expressing myself?” (p. 108). Rosita Boland suggests that the Irish language has become a kind of religion for some of the most enthusiastic speakers, learners and activists, like the “Gaelbores” McCaughan also refers to, satirized at an early stage by Flann O´Brien in the novel An Béal Bocht. According to the true Gaels in this story, “we must always discuss the question of the Gaelic revival and the question of Gaelicism. There is no use in having Gaelic, if we converse in it on non-Gaelic topics” (cit. in McCaughan, 2017, p. 54).
The first chapters of Coming Home are devoted to the individual experiences of McCaughan as a learner after he grows determined to become fluent in what he describes as “a fever”. Mostly, McCaughan analyses his use of the services of the Irish-language national radio station, RnaG, which helps him to practise listening comprehension but also connects him to the rhythms of life in the small rural communities of the Gaeltacht. He also describes the various teaching methods used in the different language schools he attends over the summer, from a relaxed approach to the more structured use of worksheets and Powerpoint presentations. There are many tips for the Irish language learner: CDs of music and language sounds (e.g. “Gugalái Gug”); well-established dictionaries; and text-to-speech tools such as abair.ie. Information is given about dialects and official tests, for instance, Teastas Eorpachna Gaeilge (TEG) at Maynooth. Michael McCaughan completed a degree in Spanish at university and he believes strongly that “anyone can learn Irish” (McCaughan, 2017, p. 37), or, for that matter, any other language: “I am convinced that a personal interest is more important than innate talent when it comes to learning a language. That interest requires a system adapted to your lifestyle and temperament if it is to work. It takes time to find it but once you have it, in whatever form, you have started the journey” (McCaughan, 2017, p. 37).
Michael McCaughan implies that in the Republic of Ireland there is a gentrified teaching industry catering for adult learners who may feel guilty or inadequate, and appear to be stuck at a beginner or intermediate level, starting, dropping out, and restarting. This is precisely the cycle that McCaughan is trying to break. On the other hand, the situation of the Irish language in Northern Ireland is very different, and the chapters devoted to this topic are extremely interesting. The key point McCaughan makes is that the promotion of the Irish language in Northern Ireland is a grassroots movement, led by volunteers working in small communities.
Naturally, McCaughan covers the Irish classes of the Jailtacht, that is to say, the Long Kesh prison, at the time of the Troubles. Notably, a few loyalist prisoners also took Irish lessons, for example, William Plum Smith: “Smith learned about Irish history and began learning Irish. The IRA prisoners offered him safe passage into the Republic ‘cage’ for classes but the authorities refused. Undeterred, Smith sat by the fence and learned his Irish from an IRA member instructing him from the other side” (McCaughan, 2017, p. 185).
Nowadays, there are informal inexpensive Irish language classes and activities not only in Catholic West Belfast, but also in East Belfast, an area “identical to its Republican counterparts in viewing the language as a vocation, an activity that needs to happen regardless of money” (McCaughan, 2017, p. 177). The interest of the Protestant community in the Irish language is in itself part of the Irish heritage, as exemplified by the large numbers of Protestants who enrolled in the Gaelic League since its creation. Remarkably, the Irish language services in East Belfast, Turas, benefit from funding from the Ulster Defence Association club for old boys, Charter NI (McCaughan, 2017, p. 180). Likewise the Irish language centre in West Belfast, Cultúrlann McAdam ÓFiaich, according to its website, is named after two eminent advocates of the Irish language, the former, McAdam, being a Presbyterian businessman from the nineteenth-century (Cultúrlann McAdam ÓFiaich, 2019). In the context of the Good Friday Agreement, all these Irish lessons and outreach activities are a powerful peace resource that breaks down barriers and fosters understanding between communities that had been brought up to view each other as “the other” (McCaughan, 2017, p. 178).
Users of Duolingo may be already aware that there are more Irish learners in their platform than there are native-speakers of the language in the whole world. Michael McCaughan interviews several of these non-Irish learners: Aki, who taught Irish myth at a university in Japan; Matthew, who had started learning Irish in New York; and Rachael, a Canadian who had decided to learn all the languages present in her family background. McCaughan remarks that all of them were very surprised at the way some Irish people dismiss the Irish language: “The attitudes of some Irish people surprised them all. A taxi driver in Dublin laughed out loud when Matthew informed him he was on his way to an Irish language programme in Connemara. ‘Why would you want to do that?’, he said, incredulous. ‘Why not learn a worthwhile language?’ ”(McCaughan, 2017, p. 133).
While there are pragmatic reasons for learning languages, there is also this powerful fever that, inexplicably, takes possession of you and propels you forwards. This fever can stem from a desire to connect with a lost ancestral past, or with a fascinating foreign culture. It can only be fortunate that it is a contagious condition, fostering larger and larger communities of learners.

References:
Cultúrlann McAdam ÓFiaich (2019) This History of Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich [online]. Available at https://www.culturlann.ie/en/about-us... (Accessed 27 November 2019)
McCaughan, Michael (2017) Coming Home: One Man’s Return to the Irish Language, Dublin, Gill Books

Resources:
Cultúrlann McAdam ÓFiaich: https://www.culturlann.ie/en
Turas: https://www.ebm.org.uk/turas/ ...more

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Jul 22, 2017 Mike rated it liked it

Shelves: catalog

I bought and read this book while on vacation in Ireland because it was recommended by a friend. I like travel literature, am a huge language nerd, and knew nothing about Irish, so I thought it might be fun vacation read. McCaughan did not disappoint! He's an engaging writer and storyteller. Not only did I learn a lot about Irish people's relationship to and struggles with their language, but I also got a lot out of the book in terms of Irish history and contemporary society/politics. It was fas ...more

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Apr 02, 2017 John rated it it was amazing

It's an odd but satisfying mixture - part personal odyssey, part history of the language, part survey of the contemporary scene. Above all, I think that anyone engaged in the joyful struggle to learn this language will find it encouraging and inspirational - especially those of us who were rugadh agus tógadh in Ireland, and feel that we're struggling to learn our own language!

Highly recommended to anyone with even the slightest interest in the Irish language. ...more

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Mar 20, 2019 Linda rated it liked it

Shelves: _global_reads, biographic, european, irish, language, language_learning, memoir, nonfiction

Interesting but not great, at least not for me. I'm sure if I were Irish or had some previous knowledge of the Irish language, it would have been an easier and more rewarding read for me. There's a great deal of Irish vocabulary throughout, which the author clearly expects that you're going to be familiar with it, probably from taking Irish classes in school or from being a member of Irish culture. I'm not really the intended audience for this book.

The author describes his methods and motivation ...more

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Sep 13, 2017 Isabel rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2017

Bought this book following a talk by the author at Dundalk's Book Day this year.
As I was reading it while travelling the West, it felt quite interesting to live through his exploration while road-triping among the Gaeltacht of Donegal and seeing some of the schools he was writing about. Part personal journey through the lerning, part snapshot of what it means to be speaking the language and the difference between the different ways of handling the revival, I found it easy to read, accessible an ...more

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Aug 11, 2019 NinjaK rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adult-life, nonfiction

A bit of a love letter to the Irish language, McCaughan does a wonderful job setting out his personal journey and interspersing it with historical information of how/when/why the Irish language stopped being spoken regularly.

He doesn't shy away from the multitudes of people who have varying feelings, positive and negative, towards the language, and he lays out historical context for the conflicted feelings many Irish people have towards Irish. ...more

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Apr 28, 2020 Molly Dougherty rated it really liked it

I really enjoyed this book and would give 4.5 stars if available. The author’s journey with the Irish language and the people, organizations and communities who speak and champion the language reveals much about identity, resilience and the long term effects of colonialism. I loved learning about the places and people at the heart of teaching and inspiring others to embrace the Irish language.

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May 19, 2020 Dathúil rated it it was amazing

As an overseas Irish language language learner who travels to Ireland frequently to study, there’s a lot I could relate to in this book. I was a bit shocked to read stories of my friends that were included. I guess it’s a small world.

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Oct 16, 2020 Christine Best rated it really liked it

Entertaining book about a man’s journey to reclaim Irish. It’s also about the history of the language, its near death, fossilisation and rebirth. Lots of intriguing anecdotes and interviews make it a good read. Would recommend.

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Apr 02, 2020 Ann Marie rated it liked it

3.5. Informative and often inspiring. Could have used a good edit in places but does give a good sense of the Irish language community.

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Jan 18, 2019 Brian Richards rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Inspirational book for those people, like me, who say that can't learn languages. ...more

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Apr 06, 2020 Kaitlyn Golden rated it it was ok

I wanted to really love this book, because it seems to jaunty and breezy. I would give it a 2.5 if I could. I stuck with it and I generally don't bother with books I really dislike but I kept asking myself why. I think it's because there are enough pockets of interesting facts and anecdotes. It can be very hard to follow at times though, as it operates conceptually to the extreme. I feel like I'm bouncing around inside the head of someone disorganized who doesn't think chronologically in the sli ...more

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Jan 13, 2018 Vítor rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: irlanda, biografia, historia-e-geografia, favorites, lingua

Pleasurable and inspiring read for anyone studying another language (I'm learning German). Also lots to learn about Ireland, its history and culture. The author proves the point that it's never too late to learn a new language and shows the way for anyone who wants to follow his steps. A great guide for someone trying to learn Irish and a great inspiration for people trying to learn any other language as well. ...more

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