Céad míle fáilte! Have you forgotten all the Irish you learned in school? I found that it never stuck unless there was some interesting context, which is why Irish 101, Dublin City University's first MOOC (massive open online course), is quite appealing. This is not rote learning, it is discovery of the Irish language through our culture and customs.

Irish 101 is hosted on the Open University’s online education platform FutureLearn and, as with most MOOCs, free. It kicked off on January 29th so you can still join in. You can expect to learn Irish language greetings and blessings (and curses!) as well as exploring the language by way of its association with music, sport and ancient Irish mythology.

And you’re not only learning some modern Irish, there is also a component on Ogham and the origins of the Irish alphabet. We can only hope some Boston Irish bros take this course and make the world a better place with less badly spelled Ogham and Celtic font tattoos.

[ https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/irish-languageOpens in new window ]