--- title: Caitríona Weafer description: Interview with Caitríona Weafer on love.irish. Works with Conradh na Gaeilge (The Gaelic League) in Los Angeles to promote Gaelic languages and cultures canonical_url: md_url: last_updated: 2025-03-19T17:31:21Z --- # Caitríona Weafer Works with Conradh na Gaeilge (The Gaelic League) in Los Angeles to promote Gaelic languages and cultures Caitríona Weafer works with Conradh na Gaeilge (The Gaelic League) in Los Angeles. The League strives to promote Gaelic languages and cultures in the greater Los Angeles area and beyond. Her belief is that we can create our own **Gaeltachts** _(Irish-speaking areas)_ and get in touch with Gaelic culture wherever we are in the world. ## Related resources - [Conradh na Gaeilge's website](https://cnag.ie/en/) ## Questions & answers **Q: What is your favorite Irish word or phrase?** **A: _Faoiseamh_ which means "relief"** I imagine the sound as I say it or even think it—a gentle exhaled breath that takes stress away. I think of it as magic that restores calm, energy, and a positive outlook. **Q: You run a website about Irish language and culture. Can you tell me more about that?** Our website is http://gaelicla.com and is the website of Conradh na Gaeilge, Craobh na nAingeal. I also have more websites and blogs. On this site, you can access the [translations of a lot of the TG Lurgan songs](http://lurganlyrics.blogspot.com/). On this blog, you’ll get [opinions on everything under the sun](https://ancroiait.wordpress.com/). It’s a personal blog. On another blog site, you can find out about [Conradh na Gaeilge’s Immersion Weekend in LA](https://lagaeilge.wordpress.com). We have Facebook Pages for Céilí Rua dance and for Gaelic Hiking, Meet-up sites, Instagram, etc. etc. etc. Here are some [blogs other people have in Irish](https://ancroiait.wordpress.com/2014/08/25/308-blaganna-as-gaeilge). My plans are to write whatever I find interesting on my own blog, to maintain the branch's website, and to edit and streamline information as we go along. We are still learning and our many activities throughout the year means we do not have as much time for this as we wish. We are currently working on making our own learning materials and publishing books and materials for learning Irish. **Q: What are some ways we can promote Gaelic languages?** **A: By good example from the top. By the government meeting linguistic rights. By local campaigns to ensure the languages are heard naturally in their own areas.** Politicians who represent the people should know the language of their country. and use it. Replace the Dáil prayer with an Irish phrase of the day and grow the language there that way. That is not a difficult requirement seeing as most politicians already completed courses in Irish in school. A commissioner should ensure that the language is in use in the government and that all have access to government services in the local Gaelic language. Wales does far better than us on this. Eliminate shame. The barrier for most at home is regaining a sense of pride in the language after years of psychological repression. Groups that build up people's pride and overcome prejudice against the language need to spread wider into every community. Just as The Tidy Towns transformed the country when I was young, so too can local groups bring back a sense of the joy of speaking our own language in public. **Comhghairdeas** _(kudos)_ goes to Kildare and Belfast and so many other places where the language was thought to be gone, but local people have brought Irish to the streets there again. This is the key point. We must involve shops, restaurants, everywhere people go, so they can speak their language anywhere and know that it is welcomed. If each GAA hall in the country was used as a venue for speaking Irish naturally together (like how Jimmy's Hall was used to enlighten people), there would be Irish openly heard all over Ireland again. **Q: What are some initiatives or upcoming events you’re excited about?** Events? The Irish Immersion Weekend, the fairs, the Ford Theater event... Our biggest event of the year is the DSG (Deireadh Seachtaine Gaeltachta), the Irish Immersion Weekend. This year it runs from May 31 to June 2 and people will be able to stay on campus at Otis College of Art near LA airport. People can learn the language, music, art, sport (hurling), and more through Irish at this beautiful venue all weekend long. We also will be a site for TEG Irish exams this year for the first time. I am SO excited about that! People can register [here](https://lagaeilge.wordpress.com/) for the Immersion Weekend and [here](https://secure.teg.ie/foirm/application.htm) for the TEG test. At the Irish Fair in LA we have Irish language competitions in Storytelling, Singing, and Poetry in Irish as well as dancing and **tae agus comhrá** _(tea and conversation.)_ We workclosely with the newly revived LA branch of Comhaltas on this. It’s called Ceol na nAingeal. I’m so proud of this as Comhaltas was originally founded in my home town of Mullingar. **Q: What's the easiest/best way to weave Irish into our every day life?** Just speak it. Even if you are only talking to the dog. Twitter is great because you can start with something as simple as Conas atá tú? (How are you?) thrown out to the wide world and you don't have to worry if you got the pronunciation wrong. Kevin Scannell has done so much for Irish. I believe indigenous tweets may be his greatest contribution to saving indigenous languages. * A list of Twitter profiles that tweet in minority languages - [indigenoustweets.com/ga/](http://indigenoustweets.com/ga/) * If you have speakers near you, start using phrases: [ancroiait.wordpress.com/2015/05/31/417-grow-gaeilge-by-degrees/](https://ancroiait.wordpress.com/2015/05/31/417-grow-gaeilge-by-degrees/) Maria (student in California) recommends making shopping lists in Irish and studying from [Quizlet](https://quizlet.com/class/2303186/). When you say ‘Thank you’, say ‘Thank you’ followed by ‘Go raibh maith agat’ until people get used to it and then leave the ‘Thank you’ out and just say ‘Go raibh maith agat’. Use it for other phrases too like **Seo duit** _(Here you are)_. **Q: Where can I find good resources (websites, classes) to learn Irish?** [Some good links here](https://ancroiait.wordpress.com/151-nasclann/) here to explore (various levels) and [here](https://ancroiait.wordpress.com/ceachtanna/) for beginners and here for courses. Some options here: [Irish 101](https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/irish-language) (free) [Duolingo](https://duolingo.com) (free), Conradh na Gaeilge Courses (check each branch - [LA info here](https://www.gaelicla.com/blank-6)), go to [Irish Immersion weekends](http://www.daltai.com/events/) if you are abroad, or to the Gaeltacht if you are at home. Learn [pop songs in Irish](http://lurganlyrics.blogspot.com/). **Q: Irish on Duolingo has been a huge success with millions reported to be now learning the language.** There are talks about adding **Gàidhlig** _(Scottish)_ and **Cymraeg** _(Welsh)_ on there as well. What are other initiatives we can take to bring Irish and other Celtic languages online? Duolingo, a central study center for Gaelic languages, and a standard, easy to use all-in-one dictionary. Firstly, let us help with the Duolingo project for **Gàidhlig** _(Scottish)_. Then Manx. Other possible initiatives? Study each others' languages and share ideas. I would love to see a place similar to SMO (school on the Isle of Skye) being set up in the center of Ireland as a source for studies in Gaelic languages. We have been too isolated from one another for too long. It is time to work together. It could also be a think tank and artists’ retreat so more books would get written there, learning materials published there, and the cultures taught and shared there. Lectures and more collaboration within the three Gaelic languages (Irish, Scottish, and Manx) could take place there also. It’s a dream of mine. An artists’ retreat, a hostel, a cultural center: produce plays and shows there. 
Collaborations already happen often in Dublin but a center in the center of Ireland could anchor the activities and give them a venue and permanence. Near Uisneach and the birthplace of Comhaltas, I think that would be an ideal venue in the heart of the country. We need to ensure that the language is used throughout the country, not just in remote regions or in big towns and cities. We need to support each other. I also would like to see one standard style of a dictionary (such as [http://wordreference.com/](http://wordreference.com/)) available for all the Gaelic languages. That would help. **Q: Can you tell me more about what Conradh na Gaeilge is doing to promote Irish and other Gaelic languages?** All they can possibly do! I do not think any other organization has done more for the language and culture. I love the way it encourages all organizations to work together. It publishes materials for teaching the language to children and makes them available free online (Cultúr Club), it runs training courses for teachers, it sells books in Irish, it helps organize lectures, it runs competitions, campaigns, parties, concerts etc. etc. etc. so much I could not say it all here. Please visit [cnag.ie/ga/](https://cnag.ie/ga/). I am so pleased our LA branch plays a small role in this amazing organization. It is not just about what happens in Ireland. CnaG (Conradh na Gaeilge) invites people from other Gaelic languages to share their experience and advice re: preserving and promoting the languages. They support our activities and are there to answer questions, to encourage us, and to get us what we need to get the job done. Is aoibhinn linn iad. We love them. We were proud to be honored by the city of LA this year for our contributions to the Irish community. **Q: I’ve noticed there is a particular focus on initiatives aimed at promoting Irish inside of Ireland. How can we make sure to include the global diaspora?** Our branch was set up by Conradh na Gaeilge in Ireland. There is a huge support system for us back home. We gain from all they have learned from what they did at home. Kudos to Síne at Cultúr Club who is helping to set up schools teaching in Irish in Hong Kong, and other countries. This is an exciting new development. Cuan and others from Conradh na Gaeilge visit other countries regularly and work with other groups such as Fulbright scholars and Glucksman Ireland House as well as with embassies and consulates around the world to ensure the Irish (and all who wish to learn) are connected and have the tools they need to help our language flourish. Sin é. Our language is a reflection of us and of the wisdom of all who went before us. It is a treasure not to be lost. It gives us meaning and dignity and hope wherever we are in the world. Ar aghaidh linn le chéile. **Q: How did you learn Irish?** **A: The language was real. It was part of everything.** How? By picking up what my parents said, by studying in school, and by interacting with Irish speakers. Though I didn't know it at the time, I realize now I had a mixture of Irish and English in our everyday conversation at home from my earliest days. My father would call me his **gearrchaile** _(little girl - short witch!)_. My mother would ask me if I wanted **bainne** _(milk)_ for porridge or **airgead** _(money)_ for school. Sentences were often a mixture of Irish and English. I was not even aware of this until I went to school and looked up words in an English dictionary only to realize words like bainne weren't there. I was surprised. Our teachers had to fix problems in English, such as our tendency to say and write ‘does be’ and ‘do be’. These were influenced by Irish grammar constructions. I learned Irish in school in a formal way. Almost everyone did and they still do. It wasn't always immersive teaching but we liked the subject. When I was eleven years old, I was sent on a scholarship for three months to Leitir Móir in Connemara, Ireland. That was an adventure at an early age and that is when I truly fell in love with the language and culture. In Connemara, the language was real. It was part of everything. It was not suppressed outside of class or just for exams, or only to be used within school walls. I felt what it really was to speak Irish as a living language: richer and fascinating and wonderful. There was saoirse (freedom) in it. Suddenly, it made sense on a far deeper level. It was a window to a new dimension where I had a better sense of who I was and where I belonged. In the years that followed, I returned to Connemara often. Now, as I live in California, I learn from others online. I learn from people I teach who give me new perspectives on how they learn. I learn from Twitter, and from reading books in Irish for fun. My work with Conradh na Gaeilge ([gaelicla.com](https://gaelicla.com)) means I am constantly learning something new about Irish so I can pass on the language to others. My students and many others in the US inspire me with their love of the language and their generosity in their willingness to share it too. We have so many heroes here in the LA branch of Conradh na Gaeilge. _Read the full interview at https://love.irish/interviews/caitriona-weafer_ ## More information - [Search love.irish for Irish & Celtic records (codex, library, collections, events, people, topics)]() - [Full markdown index of the site, every page (handy to browse, share, or hand to AI)]() - [Love.irish home]() --- Source: https://love.irish/interviews/caitriona-weafer Made with ❤️ from love.irish – learn Irish (Gaeilge) through community, resources and a little adventure.