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It's a very odd sensation, trying to relearn a half-forgotten language on very short notice after going nearly ten years without speaking a word of it. I'm planning to apply for another job, and if I make it past the initial aptitude tests, there will be a mandatory Irish oral exam as part of the interview phase. The last time I spoke Irish was for my Leaving Cert Irish exam, nine years ago. Well, barring the odd phrase here or there, and the placenames needed for archaeology. That's ... quite a long time ago, and it really, really, REALLY shows. I can't remember how to conjugate my verbs, I can't remember future tenses at all, my vocabulary is utterly shot to shit.
At the same time, though, while I've been wandering in circles in the back yard with an Irish dictionary and a notebook balanced on my arm (I think better while walking), muttering furiously to myself, I've been finding really odd fragments of things coming back to me. Not the words, as such, but things like the shapes of sentences, and phrases that you have to say a specific way, and fragments of whole passages that remind me that, yes, things are said arseways in Irish, and that really odd word doesn't exactly mean 'when' but it's how you say 'when I was', and ... Things like that, you know? I'm filling in vocabulary around half-remembered sentences, and trying to figure out who I can bribe for their first year school book so I can remember what the hell the future tense of that verb was, and trying to remember how to spell in Irish so I can look up that odd word I know belongs in that sentence but don't remember why. It's an interesting experience.
I don't really know why they want Irish for this job anyway (it's a library job), or what kind of conversation they're expecting in the interview. We're not in a Gaeltacht area, so conversational Irish is probably pretty thin on the ground around here. Although, actually, even with what little remnants I've got, I could probably order a book in Irish as it stands. "Ba mhaith liom leabhair airithe, máis é do thoil é. 'Cormac mac Raois' is ainm an udar, agus 'Battle Below Giltspur' is ainm an leabhar. An bhfuil an rud seo agaibh, ceapann tú?" ("I want a particular book, please. 'Cormac mac Raois' is the author's name, and the book is called 'Battle Below Giltspur'. Do ye have that one, do you think?")(spelling optional, I'm working on that). I'm not entirely sure that's what they'll be looking for, though.
Ah well. I've got to have my application accepted at all first, and then get past the aptitude tests, before mo chuid gaeilge is even an issue. I have about a month to get myself together. I think I can probably remember and cobble together enough to do a job interview as gaeilge in that time? Or I'll try, at least.
I feel so much like I'm back at school right now. Doing my Irish homework all over again. Heh. I thought I'd escaped that already, but here we are. Sin an sceal.
At the same time, though, while I've been wandering in circles in the back yard with an Irish dictionary and a notebook balanced on my arm (I think better while walking), muttering furiously to myself, I've been finding really odd fragments of things coming back to me. Not the words, as such, but things like the shapes of sentences, and phrases that you have to say a specific way, and fragments of whole passages that remind me that, yes, things are said arseways in Irish, and that really odd word doesn't exactly mean 'when' but it's how you say 'when I was', and ... Things like that, you know? I'm filling in vocabulary around half-remembered sentences, and trying to figure out who I can bribe for their first year school book so I can remember what the hell the future tense of that verb was, and trying to remember how to spell in Irish so I can look up that odd word I know belongs in that sentence but don't remember why. It's an interesting experience.
I don't really know why they want Irish for this job anyway (it's a library job), or what kind of conversation they're expecting in the interview. We're not in a Gaeltacht area, so conversational Irish is probably pretty thin on the ground around here. Although, actually, even with what little remnants I've got, I could probably order a book in Irish as it stands. "Ba mhaith liom leabhair airithe, máis é do thoil é. 'Cormac mac Raois' is ainm an udar, agus 'Battle Below Giltspur' is ainm an leabhar. An bhfuil an rud seo agaibh, ceapann tú?" ("I want a particular book, please. 'Cormac mac Raois' is the author's name, and the book is called 'Battle Below Giltspur'. Do ye have that one, do you think?")(spelling optional, I'm working on that). I'm not entirely sure that's what they'll be looking for, though.
Ah well. I've got to have my application accepted at all first, and then get past the aptitude tests, before mo chuid gaeilge is even an issue. I have about a month to get myself together. I think I can probably remember and cobble together enough to do a job interview as gaeilge in that time? Or I'll try, at least.
I feel so much like I'm back at school right now. Doing my Irish homework all over again. Heh. I thought I'd escaped that already, but here we are. Sin an sceal.
