Learning all the modern Celtic languages

[smmg]

To have even a basic A2 level in all the Celtic languages would be a dream to me. I want to be C1/C2 in Welsh and at least B2 in Irish and Cornish (I'd like to do the Grade 4 Cornish exam eventually which is B2/C1), but I'd really like to be able to have a basic working knowledge in the other three. At least enough to write in them on my website and to have simple conversations in them.

At this point I've studied Welsh, Irish, Cornish, and Breton, although my Breton is super rusty. But I can't decide whether I'd like to do Scottish Gaelic or Manx next. Manx is the one that seems more interesting to me, but Scottish Gaelic is the one that my university teaches. Plus I'd quite like to do that Scottish Gaelic class because it covers history and culture too I think 🤔

I'll definitely come back to Breton in the future, probably once I'm more at an intermediate stage with my Cornish. Revisiting Cornish has made me realise how much I'd missed doing Breton, but part of me kind of wishes I hadn't done Breton in my first year at university just because I was in a weird place mentally and I don't think I got as much out of it then as I could now. I can always come back to Breton though, and I definitely will. I'd probably be allowed to sit in on the Breton class anyway, even though I already did it.

Comments

[heleninwales]

Manx would be interesting from the angle of how it's being successfully revived. When I visited the Isle of Man in my teens back in the 1960s, it was pretty much considered dead. Yet now it's taught in schools. But Scottish Gaelic is also interesting, especially if the course includes history and culture.

[smmg]

That's the issue - they're both interesting, but I think I'm going to do Scottish Gaelic first.