Last week we looked at the Philippines as a place where you can improve your English-speaking skills! This week in part 5 of our continuing series, we will again look at what it might look like to learn English in Ireland!
More specifically, this country is called the Republic of Ireland, considering the nation is independent from the UK. Irish English is also known as Hiberno-English, which refers to the set of English dialects natively written and spoken in Ireland. English originally came over to Ireland when the Normans invaded. By the 19th century, English was the most spoken language. The official language of Ireland is Irish, which is most closely related to Gaelic. This makes the accents in Ireland different from the variety of English languages spoken in the United Kingdom.
The English colonized Ireland in the 15th century, which led to political and cultural divisiveness throughout the rest of its history. This colonization led to a push for more English culture, forcing the Irish to steer away from their Gaelic culture and customs. Though Irish is still the official language of the Republic, only a small percentage of rural areas in Ireland speak it. Due to the conquest of Ireland, English became an official language of the country. Ireland’s linguistic and cultural changes were experienced by many other countries where English is an official language due to England’s conquests.
In the Irish accent, the vowels are softer, the consonants are hardened, and “g’s” are not typically pronounced in words. The Irish accent is very rhotic due to its hard pronunciation of “R’s.”
The school year runs from September to June, with many breaks in between such as a mid-term break in October, Christmas Break, a February Mid-term break and Easter.
Ireland is a great place to learn English, as it will allow you to explore Ireland’s landscape. Universities all over offer English classes for Business English and School Groups. Ireland is home to many European headquarters for international companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, etc. Travel companies that have visited Ireland say it is one of the friendliest countries and a large portion of their population (about 40%) is under 25, making it a youthful and lively place to be!
Next Week: South Africa!
Need to catch up on our blog series? Take a look at these countries previously mentioned:
