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Does anyone have tips for learning Irish
Main Post:
I am Irish-American (about 60% Irish or more) and currently live in America. Problem is, is that my family is moving back to Ireland after escaping during the troubles because my family literally lived in Belfast (My family is from Co. Kerry and when we move we’re going back to Kerry) and Belfast was the worst city to be in next to Derry during the troubles. Now since it has been a while since my family has lived in Ireland, I had only one family member fluent in Irish Gaelic but he sadly passed away in 2021 before he could teach anyone in my family. Since I live in the US, it isn’t that common to run into people whom are willing to teach me Irish, let alone even speak Irish. So I was wondering if anyone had any good advice for someone to learn Irish if they don’t live in Ireland.
Edit- many people are asking what state or timezone I live in the US because there are many things that I might not be able to do depending on my timezone. So the timezone I live in is EDT(Eastern Daylight Time)
Top Comment: Cartoons on TG4 are a great source for improving Irish as well as their regular programmes e.g. Ros na Rún.
Are the Irish very friendly or really closed ?
Main Post:
I often hear extremely opposite opinions when it comes to how easy / difficult it is to make friends in Ireland.
Some foreigners say that mostly the Irish people is very friendly on a superficial level, but that it’s almost impossible to have true friends if you move there at an adult age. (Isn’t it the same as in other EU countries? In Portugal for example people are very nice but also usually have friendship circles coming from childhood, making it difficult for foreigners to “break in”)
While others, even people from very open cultures such as Latin (Spanish and Brazilians that I know for ex)say that they love Ireland, were able to make friends and sometimes even get married with Irish women / men etc. I heard from a Brazilian that he regretted moving away from Ireland for that very reason, as he felt that no other country that he knew had the same friendship / social life possibilities.
What’s your opinion as an expat, or as an Irish person ?
Top Comment: I moved to Dublin from another part of Ireland so I found it very easy to connect with different nationalities through work and become friends. I think the fact that I knew next to nobody in Dublin really helped, I had no established childhood friend group to fall back on. I’m marrying a Brazilian in a few months. One thing many of the people I met said was I was their only Irish friend.