Tearmann Teanga 

Dord an dúchais

Working Document

AN INVITATION

To co-create a new experience of the Irish language

through connection & community

Cé mise, cé tusa, cá bhfuil muid  ag dul ?

tá an teanga á mhuscailt, tá na síolta le cur…

If you went to school in Ireland you probably have plenty of Irish vocabulary –  words to dance with, even if clumsily …

You may want to dance – that‘s where the joy is –

but you cannot dance alone.

In census 2016, upwards of one and three quarter of a million Irish people claimed to speak the Irish language – yet fewer than three quarters of a million speak the language on a daily basis.

Cén fáth ?

Why is this?

Lack of confidence, lack of support and lack of opportunity.

Easpa muinín, easpa tacaíocht agus fíor-féidearachtaí in easnamh..

Seo linn an smaoineamh:

Tearmann Teanga (sanctuary of language ) :

Is féidir linn teacht le chéile le cumhacht na teicneolaíochta – ó fud fad an domhain chun an Ghaeilge a labhairt. Leis an gcomhtéacs nua seo beidh spraoí, beidh léargás agus beidh cumhacht nua don teanga. Táim ag smaoineamh ar muintir Thóraí, muintir Árainn, ag smaoineamh ar na teaghlaigh uilig ar fud an domhain atá ag iarraidh clann a tógáil le Gaeilge. Is féidir comhphobal a cruthú, comhrá a roinnt agus fuinneamh úr nua a ghiniú do saol na Gaeilge.

Let us engage the power of technology to connect Irish speakers and learners worldwide, expanding perceptions and serving the needs of a Global Gaeltacht. Language lives through human connection and shared experience. We build community through fun Global Gaeltacht gatherings, serve your wellbeing through yoga and meditation as Gaeilge, and provide inspiration through unique online events. We facilitate deep connection to nourish a global community committed to the radical act of speaking the language of Ireland.

An féidir leat cabhair a thabhairt dom é seo a fhorbairt ?

is an online platform serving the needs of a Global Gaeltacht

Le tuilleadh eolas a fháil faoin tionscnamh seo, agus an céad cruinniú eile

den Gaeltacht ar Líne, an féidir leat an suirbhé seo a líoniú le do thoil?

To support this initiative, please take a moment to fill in this survey

Cén fáth “Tearmann Teanga“?

Más féidir an stair agus an radharc mhór a choiméad i gcuimhne agus muid ag teacht le chéile le caint as Gaeilge – is féidir comhrá níos doimhne a bheith againn. Fós, é sin ráite – an dúshlán atá ós ár gcomhair ná conas is féidir linn freastal ar gach leibhéal chumas na Gaeilge ? Agus tacaíocht a thabhairt, le dea-mhian don té atá ag foghlaim ?

Má tá muid sa cheann amháin ( tionchar an gcórás oideachais faraor ) – bíonn baol ann a bheith cruaigh agus dian orainn féin agus ar daoine eile atá ag foghlaim teanga na Gaeilge. Más féidir linn a bheith sa chorp , sin le rá, go mbeidh an feasacht againn ar ár gcríothe, ar an dtalamh, ag smaoineamh ar an domhain mhór atá á roinnt againn, an t-aer céanna  á ánáil againn. Más féidir linn an dea-mhian a cothú go mbeidh seans againn am a caitheamh go taitneamhach spraoimhar,  beidh na mbealaigh nua atá ar fáil dúinn níos soiléir.

Is féidir na foinsí teicneolaíochta cabhair mhór a thabhairt dúinn ar an mbealach seo.

Ag dul i dtaithí ar an saol nua le chéile.

Reflections in English

Tearmann Teanga offers the concept of “sanctuary“- of a safe space. Language lives through human connection and shared experience.  While honouring the connection to place and the land of Ireland we can also feel part of a Global Gaeltacht and share connection, conversation, inspiration and solidarity.

Each month a special aoi cainteoir – can share their expertise and deepen this theme of reclaiming the Irish language, culture and heritage within the context of growing awareness, honouring the land and moving towards wholeness, head, hands and heart.

For many, encounters through the Irish education system brought negative experiences with the language. Irish became a dead “thing“ existing as something to be owned, known, measured, recorded and fixed as a standard. To create a sanctuary for the language of Irish, this “tearmann teanga“, is to acknowledge that our encounters with this uniquely intimate resonant field of possibility known as the Irish language, ask to be mediated with humanity, grace, celebration and endless good humour.

What happens as we bring the sensitive experience of inter-subjectivity and inter-being to our encounters with this language? In the online space there are new skills to be learned, new ways of relating, new forms of encounter.

Beginning each session with a minutes silence we can witness one another on the screen and become simply present to one another- guided activities, group work and shared experiences then help to build connection and allow us to dance in our own unknowing as we come to encounter and learn, to co-create an experience. Together.

As we acknowledge the trauma that has been suffered historically by the people of Ireland and take responsibility for a shared collective healing journey – the culture, songs, stories and a unique perspective indigenous to the Irish language experience become our allies.

To reclaim a language is to no longer be a victim. Such emotions as arise around this topic of the loss of language and our relationship to it simply point to the need for this deeper quality of trust, a gentle holding of space and a commitment to wellbeing and joy.

Now is the time for healing, and becoming whole. Reclaiming those parts of ourselves that we may not yet know – becoming fully present,  no longer running to addiction, to madness, to .. “sure tis grand“ (denial).

This is a heroes journey.

Acknowledging the imbalance that has developed and is manifest in the multiple crises of today’s world we can create a path of balance and remedy. In a world that has been dominated by a dysfunctional narrative that puts the creative and nurturing capacities in second place, we can pave the way to save the heroine of our story as embodied through those associated capacities for nurturing, reflection, receptivity, intuition and sensitivity in nature.

Biologist Tomás Mac Síomóin has written about how trauma passes down from one generation to another ( epigenetics ) and observes how these  experiences of suicide, alcoholism and addiction in Irish society point to our shared colonial past. It is observed that native american cultures also suffer these issues. Thus, as we come together through and in the sanctuary of language, through conscious presence, we are stepping into a space with potential for deep healing.

Reclaiming the Irish language is not a job of the head or intellect alone but requires deep heart. It is not about isolated toil but coming together to reweave the cloak of the ancients and so to renew the face of the earth.

When we own our story, we stand with the root of our own culture in authority, with that which gives us depth as a people upon a particular land. To honour the Irish language is to move towards cultural diversity which in turn gestures towards improved biodiversity, we move towards identity with the land of Ireland, with ancestors whose lives were lived in and through the Irish language.

We stand, in this time of upheaval with all the worlds indigenous peoples whose languages are being lost, who have been oppressed, who are struggling; as we, as the first nation to be colonised – take steps and show a new way. To stand with and in the language within this framing of healing and radical cultural sovereignty  is to gain ground – to kindle the fire of heart and hearth. In the depth of memory lies our true foundations. There is no wisdom and no promise, no wonder and no delight in the homogenised world or the monoglot word. Let us reclaim a vision of wholeness, of diversity, of subtlety and deep feeling – of joy and celebration.

Here is a spirit that cannot be broken..

These are the words that are yet to be spoken.

Seo tionscnamh sóisialta á bhunú le freastal ar comhphobal na Gaeilge :agus foghlaimeoirí Gaeilge ar fud an domhain.