Lonely Planet's new pocket guide to Irish language & culture is an essential read for anyone looking to learn more about life, language and history in the Emerald Isle
When a guidebook publisher like Lonely Planet publishes a language guide, it's not usually very exciting. Language guides are pretty similar, and the kind of book you stuff in your luggage alongside your favourite guidebook – and then never use because everyone speaks English anyway. But their new book, Irish Language and Culture, is different. Very different.
Irish Language and Culture isn't a language book and it isn't a guidebook, but you'll learn more about Ireland the Irish than from either of those. The book is about Irish life, as it's lived today – Irish families, Irish sport, religion, slang, eating and (of course) drinking, cussing, regional differences, politics, history that's relevant and even a bit on dating too.
The best bits of the book are probably unquotable here – some of the hilarious Irish expressions you might hear, and what they mean. The Irish language is wonderful for poetic everyday speech, in expressions like 'he's fit to mind mice at a crossroads', or 'he has an eye like a stinkin' eel'. As for 'he has a neck like a jockey's....' Well, you'll have to buy the book to read the rest of that one.
And Irish Language and Culture is a book you'd be recommended to buy, if you're thinking of going to Ireland, have been to Ireland, or just have an interest in the place. In fact even if you don't, it's an entertaining read – and you'll probably end up wanting to go anyway.
Irish history isn't ignored, but it's explained in a way that makes you understand its relevance to today. There's a section on the various Paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland, and the leading Irish political figures you'll hear about, from King Billy to Gerry Adams.
The bluntness of the Irish use of language is something that can surprise you, if you're not expecting it. If you're at all puritanical about swearing, then either don't visit Ireland or read this book to warn you beforehand what to expect. Irish expressions are littered with words that wouldn't be heard in polite company in other countries, but they're said openly and usually used for their vigour rather than to give offence.
Irish food and drink is well-covered too. If somebody asks you 'do you want to go for some sambos', you'll need to know they mean sandwiches, and if you agree to a few scoops, you're not going to get an ice-cream. There's something on every page of this little pocket book's 256 pages to either entertain or educate you. It's just what it says on the cover: Great craic!
Irish Language and Culture is published by Lonely Planet at £4.99 in the UK and $8.99 in the USA
The copyright of the article Irish Language and Culture Guide in Ireland Travel is owned by Mike Gerrard. Permission to republish Irish Language and Culture Guide in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
Wow! Mike, Cathy, Colin and Karen...what an amazing number of articles from
one of my favorite garden countries! I'd like to draw your readers'
attention to my series of five articles about "Killruddery Estate and
Gardens" which best begin with <a
href="http://garden-styles.suite101.com/article.cfm/killruddery_garden
s">"Killruddery Gardens"</a>. Links to the other
four articles are found in this overview article. <b>Killruddery</b> Gardens are neighbor to
<b>Powercourt</b> which Colin mentions in his Wicklow Day Trip
article. They are, however, comfortable, intimate and very enlightening
for anyone with even a passing interest in Irish history and what this
meant to garden history. I love these gardens and found it very hard to
leave after a visit of several hours. Georgene
Mar 23, 2007 10:46 PM
Mike Gerrard :
Thanks, Georgene. I hope people do read the pieces. I've visited
Powerscourt and loved it. Ireland has some fabulous gardens. Maybe you
could do a short round-up article with links to all your Irish gardens
pieces and post it in the travel section?
Mar 24, 2007 10:15 AM
Georgene A. Bramlage :
Sure Mike...Will put it on my to-do list.
Would be nice either
this summer, or for next St. Pat's Day.
Georgene
May 17, 2007 3:39 PM
Cricket :
I am very disappointed and embarrassed by this booklet. It is not, as
its title suggests, a guide on Irish culture as the majority of what is
referred to as culture is, in actual fact, mostly slang and (regional)
urban social mores.
To add insult to injury, the language is a
bungled furball of confusion. Irish is not the English language with an
Irish cultural inflection! The Irish language is a swift and sweet tongue
with much beauty - a facet just as swiftly set aside with its very brief
references to greetings and a small, stop gap vocabulary.
Granted, English is the second official language of Ireland with the
majority of its populace speaking it. However, if Lonely Planet wanted to
write a book about this then they should have labelled it "English
language and culture in Ireland" or something like that to indicate
the true nature of its contents.
Apart from its grossly
inaccurate leaning, the book is also very light on in all areas of the
traditional LP format. For example, when one compares this to the (much
heftier) French counterpart, one can easily see that Lonely Planet must've
been in a slow news day when it coughed up this pathetic rubbish.
May 18, 2007 6:55 AM
Mike Gerrard :
I think you're being very unfair on the book. It's only a pocket-sized
book, and is 256 pages. You say it isn't really to do with culture, yet
there are 22 pages on food and drink, 16 pages on sport, and 48 pages on
what it calls 'Lifestyle and society', covering such subjects as politics,
current affairs, education, technology, money, religion etc etc. Another 24
pages deal with entertainment - the pub, music, dancing, festivals and
movies, theatre and TV.
By my reckoning, that's almost half the
book given over to culture, and as the title is Language and Culture, to
have the other half given over to language is reasonable. The chapter on
Slang is only 20 pages out of 256.
In terms of the content, on
the very first page of his introduction, the authors say 'the Irish are
masters of the English language'. They make it quite clear over many pages
that, as you say, Irish is not English with a cultural inflection. It is
not a book about Gaelic, it is a book about Irish English (as opposed to
English English). I think the book deals with it thoroughly, and it's
unfair to criticise it for not being to the traditional LP format, when
that isn't what the book is about.
I'm glad you made your
points, as others might agree with you, but I certainly don't agree that it
is 'pathetic rubbish'.
Mar 21, 2007
