Other the years I have made an attempt to learn many languages with varying degrees of success or lack thereof.

Põhja Eesti keel

(Northern-Estonian) / CEFR A2, Language 4 / 15 months

Uralic > Finno-Ugric > Finno-Lappic > Baltic-Finnic > Estonian

Estonian is a Finno-Ugric language spoken mostly in Estonia. It does not form part of the Indo-European family of languages and as such is not related to the state languages of Estonia's neighbouring countries of Sweden, Russia or Latvia. Estonian is most closely related to Southern-Estonian and Finnish and much less closely to Hungarian.

I learned my first phrases and words of Estonian in 2005 whilst talking over MSN to an Estonian girl with whom I would later fall in love. I visited Estonia on holidays in April 2006 and again in April 2007. Though I bought my first course-book in Estonian: E nagu Eesti: Eesti keele õpik algajaile (E for Estonia: Estonian Language Course for Beginners) by Helve Ahi and Mall Pesti during my first trip to Estonia it wasn't really until January 2007 when I bought Colloquial Estonian by Christopher Moseley from a language shop in Dublin that I really got stuck into my Estonian language studies. Now I live in Estonia and make use of the language everyday. I've never been to a language class but I try to use and learn as much as I can in its natural environment. Currently I am reading an excellent source for Estonian grammar: Estonian Textbook: Grammar, Exercises & Conversation by Juhan Tuldava.

Standarddeutsch

(Standard German) / CEFR A1, Language 5

Indo-European > Germanic > West Germanic > German

I had my first taste of German in primary school, when I was 10, when I took German for an hour a week after school. The class was taught by a native living in Ireland and I took it for all of 4th and 5th class (Grades 4 and 5). Needless to say, I didn't learn much apart from the basic words and phrases but it was fun nonetheless. I didn't continue German after that and it was wasn't until I was 16 that I took an interest in the language again when I started a relationship with a Saxon girl on the internet in 2001. My competence in the language improved slowly and by 2004 I was able to read and write short letters and poetry in the language with the help of a dictionary. However my ability to speak the language lagged far behind that of my reading and writing. This was because I never had much experience engaging in conversations in the language.

In the academic year of 2005/6 I took a university course in spoken German. This coupled with using the language with and hearing the language spoken by natives in La Maison Bleue, where I lived in Lille, greatly improved my German. However, since I started learning Estonian my German has slipped and I don't get a chance to practise or use it any more. I hope however in the future, when I have gotten to a level I am happy with in Estonian, Welsh and Scottish Gaelic, that I return to my studies in German. I would love to be able to read the newspapers in German, watch TV and films, and use the language for travel and conversations with native speakers.

Esperanto 

(Esperanto) / CEFR A1, Language 6

Esperanto is a constructed-language which purpose is as an International Auxillary Language.

I first heard about Esperanto in discussions relating to the language question in Europe and the protection and promotion of minority and lesser used languages. I learned the language online, for a few months during my ERASMUS year abroad in France, using Lernu.net and Kurso de Esperanto. I enjoyed learning the language and I was able to converse using it (with the help of my English and French). However due to lack of practise and people to talk with I have lost most of knowledge in Esperanto. I currently have no plans to start re-learning the language, at least in the near future.

Cymraeg

(Welsh)

Indo-European > Celtic > Insular Celtic > Brythonic > Welsh

Welsh is a Brythonic Celtic language related closely to Cornish and Breton and less closely to the Gaelic Celtic languages of Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx.

I first became interested in Welsh during a scouting trip to Wales in 2001 but I never seriously tried to learn the language. Fast forward  seven years and I am now slowly and casually working my way through the internet's Clic Clic Cymraeg course and dipping in and out of LexiCelt. I hope to some day to be able to able to write, read, and converse in the language on a variety of everyday topics.

Other Languages

In the past I have made various attempts (without much success) to learn Castilian Spanish, Italian, Finnish, Swedish, Scottish Gaelic and Icelandic on my own. I only have a few very basic and simple phrases in each. During my 9 months living in Damascus, Syria I also had a few hours learning basic Arabic and I used the language on the streets and in the shops but I have since forgotten everything.

In the future I hope to be able to read, write, speak and understand the three Celtic language of Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and Breton alongside my current Irish. I would really like to specialise in the Celtic languages and the Finno-Baltic languages in my professional career in linguistics. I would also like to pick up some Romanian, Catalan, Portugeuse, Norwegian, Latin, Old Irish, Old English (Anglo-Saxon), Hebrew, Russian and Czech along with taking up again the languages above that I failed to learn much of the first time round.

© Colm Doyle 2008 / Last Updated: 23/03/08