Language and music are strange bedfellows. A huge factor in our continental cousins’ proficiency in English comes from their consumption of English-language pop culture, especially pop music. However, while English speakers frequently enjoy music in other languages (Sigur Rós, Clannad, that Despacito song), the sung language can be taken merely as another instrument rather than as a piece of meaningful writing. This week Darach is joined by Fergal Moloney and MC Muipéad from critically acclaimed...
Dec 01, 2017•37 min
Mayo mirthmaker Clare Cullen, better known as Clisare, is the Queen of Irish YouTube. With a staying power not typical in the viral age, she has been delighting her thousands of loyal followers since 2012 with videos such as Stuff Irish Girls Say, the Irish Bucket List and Irish vs. British makeup. She has also produced some cracking Irish language content and tells Darach and Clodagh all about it in this week’s episode. --- Contact the show at https://twitter.com/motherfocloir or email us at mo...
Nov 24, 2017•36 min
One of the most recent Irish words to enter common parlance is Aisling – a sensible girl from outside Dublin with an aversion to notions. While the origin of other words based on names are lost in the mists of time, we can trace this one to a popular Facebook group, Oh My God What A Complete Aisling. The creators of this group, Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen, have written a book of the same name and were kind enough to pop into HeadStuff to chat to Darach and Éimear about it. They also discuss h...
Nov 17, 2017•33 min
After a ten episode absence, Louth Legend Siún Ní Dhuinn is back at her Motherfoclóir desk in HeadStuff studios. She tells Darach and Clodagh all about As An Nua (her bilingual feminist fashion blog) and Beo Ar Éigean – BAE for short – her fab RTÉ Irish language podcast. There’s laughs, chats, poetry and the occasional burn. --- Contact the show at https://twitter.com/motherfocloir or email us at motherfocloir@headstuff.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 10, 2017•33 min
As former British colonies with lots of green on their flags, where St. Patrick is the patron saint and where Guinness is hugely popular, Nigeria and Ireland are countries with plenty in common. In this week’s episode, Ola Majekodunmi talks to Darach and Gearóidín about being a Gaeilgeoir of Nigerian heritage, her favourite words in Irish and Yoruba and much more. You can catch Ola’s show, Seinnliosta an tSathairn on Raidió Na Life every Saturday from 4-5pm. --- Contact the show at https://twitt...
Nov 03, 2017•23 min
It’s the spookiest night of the year, so what better time to share some eerie Irish words? Darach, Ola, Gearóidín and Peadar discuss the ancient roots of Samhain, the mysteries of brack and monkey nuts… and discuss regional traditions on this, the Motherfoclóir Spooky Halloween Special! If you’re listening with the smallies, be aware that there’s a few cuss words in today’s episode. --- Contact the show at https://twitter.com/motherfocloir or email us at motherfocloir@headstuff.org. Learn more a...
Oct 27, 2017•32 min
National anthems – and the manner in which people observe them – are controversial (linguistically and politically) most of the time, but especially so in 2017\. Amhrán na bhFiann is the Irish National Anthem and the world’s best-known Irish language text, even though it was originally written in English. In this week’s episode, Darach chats with Peadar, Gearóidín and Ola about the history of this absolute banger and compare it to the anthems of other countries. --- Contact the show at https://t...
Oct 20, 2017•37 min
Regular listeners will be acquainted with team Motherfoclóir member Gearóidín McEvoy by now – ex-translator, constitution buff, Lawyers for Choice volunteer, minority language rights champion, Scandi-phile, Laois woman. What you may not know is that Gearóidín is one of the thousands of Irish people with dyslexia. In this episode, she tells Darach all about dyslexia and Irish, school-life and how Irish was the first language that didn’t try to trick her. --- Contact the show at https://twitter.co...
Oct 13, 2017•21 min
Neal Ó Riain is the boy across the road who your Mam compares you to. He literally has a PhD in Astrophysics, a fine job in London and – of course – fluent Irish. However, Neal is sweeter than his native Carlow’s sugar refineries, and gave the world @antainbot (The best bot on Twitter) and Aireamhan, a coding language based on Irish. He tells Darach and Gearóidín all about it on today’s episode, and they chat about language issues in science too. --- Contact the show at https://twitter.com/mothe...
Oct 06, 2017•28 min
Pop-Up Gaeltacht is PUG for short. The Irish for a pug is smutmhadra. The Irish for smut is salachar, which is an anagram of “ah rascal”. Darach goes down a wormhole with Peadar Ó Caomhánaigh, one half of the duo behind Pop-Up Gaeltacht. They discuss safe spaces, Gaeltacht bangers, getting the wear, euphonic phonemes and the global pug phenomenon. --- Contact the show at https://twitter.com/motherfocloir or email us at motherfocloir@headstuff.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphon...
Sep 29, 2017•46 min
The letter A (and her saucy sister, Á) are the subject of today’s episode, a pronunciation masterclass with Darach, Peadar, Éimear and Ola . We’ll be meeting cats, boats, cakes, bad weather, terrible puns and showing you where a fada makes all the difference. --- Contact the show at https://twitter.com/motherfocloir or email us at motherfocloir@headstuff.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 22, 2017•18 min
The Irish for Passport is pas, which can also mean an episode in time or a fit (of rage or madness, for example). This week Darach is joined by journalist Naomi O’Leary, who has written extensively about EU matters and co-presents “The Irish Passport” podcast. They chat about Ireland and Europe, the politics of language, national identity after Brexit and the joys of multilingualism. --- Contact the show at https://twitter.com/motherfocloir or email us at motherfocloir@headstuff.org. Learn more ...
Sep 15, 2017•32 min
The power of words touches all our lives, never more urgently than when those words form laws. In the first of an ongoing series, Darach talks to Eimear (Brehon Badass) and Gearóidín (Constitution Connoisseur) about how differently an area of law is treated in old and modern Ireland. Is it all progress? * * * Contact the show at https://twitter.com/motherfocloir or email us at motherfocloir@headstuff.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 08, 2017•21 min
Surnames, a relatively recent invention, are done differently from language to language. In Irish, conventions exist to include gender and marital status identifiers in female surnames, but choices are still available. Darach talks (but mostly listens) to Siún, Éimear and Gearóidín about how this quirk of the language and how it dovetails with attitudes to Irish names – and women’s names – in general. --- Contact the show at https://twitter.com/motherfocloir or email us at motherfocloir@headstuf...
Sep 01, 2017•21 min
The computers are coming after our jobs – are translators next? It’s a piece of technology straight out of science fiction – a website tool that translates text between any two of a range of languages (many of them less widely spoken than Irish). However, Google Translate is the bane of many Irish teachers’ lives. In this episode, Darach chats to Gearóidín, Peadar and Siún about the do’s and don’ts of using this feature. --- Contact the show at https://twitter.com/motherfocloir or email us at mo...
Aug 25, 2017•26 min
The People Vs. The Letter V The traditional Irish alphabet had 18 letters, but in the 20th century, there was a gradual thawing of attitudes to the other eight, such as V. However, a very vocal vanguard view V as a villainous visitor to the vernacular vocabulary. In this episode, Darach is joined by Gearóidín, Peadar and Siún and they discuss the controversial letter. It’s a tale of political intrigue (and quacking ducks). --- Contact the show at https://twitter.com/motherfocloir or email us at ...
Aug 18, 2017•26 min
Behind the wall of grammar homework lies the amazing world of the Irish language, and Darach (that @theirishfor guy) wants to take you there. With a crack team of the internet’s soundest Irish speakers, Darach will explore topics like differences between the Irish and English versions of the Constitution, silent letters, Gaeilge and technology, how new words get added to the dictionary and which old words have fallen out. It’s an all slammer, no grammar half hour. Learn more about your ad choice...
Aug 16, 2017•3 min
