Adventures with English in Ireland

I'm going to Ireland?

taken from loveniamh.wordpress.com

When I found out that I would be relocating yet again to a different country, the nomad in me couldn’t help but anticipate the excitement and wonder of experiencing yet another new place with a great new mix of people, smells, sounds, and energy. However, I must admit that Ireland had never been on my list of prospective countries to live in, or really even visit. For one, they speak English(!) and as a well-known language-learning addict, what’s the point of going to a new place if there isn’t another language to learn? I know there is Irish Celtic, but unfortunately unless you find yourself in the Gaeltacht, the Irish speaking region of Ireland, which is very small and isolated, everyone speaks English and most prefer it to Irish.

Despite this, I didn’t want to underestimate Ireland and what it might have in store for me, because even though they speak English, or so I thought, I knew the culture still could hold many surprises. In fact I have been both pleasantly and miserably surprised at times by this country, but I definitely found myself surprised in one way that I never expected.

The wonderful world of British English

I knew that the Irish speak English, and that they have an Irish accent (I’m a regular Dick Tracey, I know). Then there’s the obvious: words like “center” now have a seemingly more prestigious spelling such as, “centre.” Additionally, I have to remember that words such as, “organization” must now be spelled with an “s” and not a “z." Of course, let’s not forget that a “u” suddenly appears in words for no apparent reason, like “colour” and “favourite” and “neighbour”. 

All of these small changes though, I was expecting to be surrounded by during my stay in Ireland after teaching British English in Russia last semester. What I wasn’t expecting, was to on a daily basis be learning such new and yet basic vocabulary and phrases in English that I had never heard before in my life. Something like telling time, asking directions, asking for someone to pick something up at the grocery might reveal such language that now has me questioning how well I really speak English (Isn’t this my native language?)

English is a foreign language

Indeed, I often feel like a second language learner in Ireland, sometimes needing to hear these new words in context multiple times. I must ask for examples of how to use these new phrases or words before I gain the confidence to try them out on my own.

Two examples from this week include:

“In the race last weekend it was absolutely Baltic and not many people came out.”

"X" marks the spot and the location
of the Baltic Sea. The Baltics
commonly refers to the countries of
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

I learned that the use of the adjective “Baltic” does not only refer to region abound the Baltic Sea and the countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, but also is used to express when it is f*ing freezing outside. It made me wonder why the Irish didn’t just go all the way and say “arctic” or “antarctic” but I guess describing the weather as such would be too extreme a hyperbole. Since windswept snow dunes don’t regularly appear here, perhaps it’s just an image no one can reconcile themselves with…though on a personal note, I would far prefer snow to the freezing temperature rain with its sustained winds at 20mph that just leaves a human with no hope of staying dry or warm. At least with snow I stand a chance, as proven by the clothes I bought when I was in Russia that were both warmer than anything I’d ever found in the US and way more stylish.

“Saturday week I have another race”

This one had me responding with a really confused and disturbed face to roommate, “come again? What?” and needing many examples from him in order to fully understand that his construction wasn’t a mistake or laziness, but rather an actually utilized construction in the English language. It took me a few examples on his end and creating a couple of made up sentences on my end to fully grasp how it is naturally used in context.

Honestly, I don’t think this phrase sounds like English, and I can guarantee that if my students said this in class last semester in Tula that I would have corrected them. While I stand that it just sounds off, it does in fact make some sense. This construction implies that something will occur a week from the day stated before it. This way you don’t have to worry about confusing “next Saturday” and have to clarify if that implies the upcoming Saturday (the next Saturday to arrive), but rather you know it means the 2^ndSaturday from now. You can also say, “yesterday week”, “tomorrow week” and so on…pretty cool eh?

I have a lot to learn

Well, this is just the tip of the iceberg to give you a small taste of this language that I once thought I knew pretty well, but have learned since arriving in Ireland that this is not the case. In Ireland as in Russia, for instance when I first started to understand the ladies at the checkout register at the grocery store…I am learning to understand and to navigate, myself, this new found vocabulary of the Irish English…and what a pleasant and fun adventure it is providing!