Encouraging Someone Else

Fluorescence

Dia dhuibh!

Ba mhaith liom beith a chaint as Gaeilge go líofa ach i láthair na huaire, nílim ábalta (I'm not saying that in a "Poor me" kinda way, I just haven't dedicated any time to it since I left school 8 years ago). So apologies for a mostly English post

I have more of a theoretical question. My grandmother recently expressed an interest in learning Irish. In her schooling years in the 30s, Irish was not really taught (her parents did not learn it at all), and she knows only a smattering of sayings. I encouraged her to try Duolingo (she's very tech-savvy ) and she was using it for about a week before she decided to quit. She's become discouraged because nothing is spelled how she remembers, the voice narrating the lines is extremely difficult to parse (I personally can't hear the difference between Feicim and Ithim in their dialect) and the program seems to be unfortunately quite picky in what it will accept as a correct translation (for example, if asked to translate "Dia is Muire Duit" and she wrote God and Mary to you, it would be marked wrong as it would only accept "Hello").

The thing is, she's now given up entirely, feels it's beyond her talent and sure she's nobody to be speaking it with anyway. I've suggested conversation classes and to forget about reading and writing for now (sacrilege?) and she still seems a bit put off by the idea. I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations on how to gently encourage her not to give up without coming across as pushy? I was thinking of maybe signing us both up to a group for beginners and using the language together, but none that I could find are on at a time that I am free for the next few months


Should I maybe just let it go or is there a way that I can encourage her to continue? All opinions welcome

An gal gréine

Dia is Muire duit.

There are informal coffee mornings around the country where those interested, mostly pensioners, meet and speak the language informally.
Try 'Maidin Caife' and see if there is one in your area.

Ádh mór.

Fluorescence

I'll look into that, thanks