It's hard to remember how a complete newbie feels when they take up a language, so I decided to embark on a journey myself to revisit the joys and frustrations of a new language learner. Since I already knew some Italian, I thought it was unfair to continue it for the experiment. I had just a bit of Hebrew skills, so that was a good option. Lately, I've been entertaining an idea of French, a language I don't speak at all. However, my final choice was a bit of an odd-ball. I gave in to the herd instinct. Impressed by the quality of work done by the volunteers on duolingo.com, I have taken up Irish Gaelic (or Gaeilge, as it is in Irish).
After 10 days I can spell words that sound way shorter than they are written, like buachaill (boy) or Muircheartaigh (Moriarty, though I didn't pick it up in the course). I think I have a bit of an Irish accent when I speak English. I've listened to some podcasts and even watched a soap on TG4. So far so good.
My major concern is pronunciation. Not only sounds change depending on other sounds in the word, also spelling and pronunciation change depending on the sound preceding the word. Grammar is a bit different, like first goes the verb and then the subject and then the adjective, but it's not a big deal. Pronunciation is, but that's what makes it so much fun. The language is very musical and flows like a song.
On a bit different note, there is absolutely no rhyme or reason in taking up Irish. However, I've always been curious about Ireland and it's a great opportunity to learn about the country, the people, their culture and history. Also, it's going to be the litmus paper for people's reaction to my learning Irish. Like, before, when someone learned that I was studying Hebrew and reacted like, "Why? Everyone speaks Russian in Israel!" I knew that I was dealing with someone a bit ignorant, closed-minded and maybe prejudicial. So, if you look for a practical purpose in language-learning and think that most of the world languages could be substituted by English, we're probably not going to be friends.
