Fáilte Isteach ~ Welcome Here!

Dia leat! Hi!

Finghin Mac Cárthaigh is ainm dom ~ My name is Finghin Mac Cárthaigh

(Finghin > /Fineen/)

I’m the creator of The Language Question ~ Ceist na Teangan.

The Language Question ~ Ceist na Teangan is a podcast, newsletter, and community holding open a door for you to the Irish language, its literature, culture, and history, particularly if you are someone who is curious about it but perhaps not yet able to access all of that yourself in the language directly. Here, based on my experience of learning and re-engaging with the language over the last decade or so, I will provide you with:

- Your guide to the best strategies and tips for learning the Irish language effectively as a self-motivated learner; what works and what doesn’t.

- An accessible and enjoyable means of immersing in and connecting with the Irish language while you develop your own proficiency with the language itself.

- A deeper understanding of why all of this matters, and is so meaningful and worthy of your time and effort, by connecting you with the culture, history, art and literature of the Irish language, its people and places as you learn in ways it isn’t otherwise yet possible for you without a deeper knowledge of the language itself.

If you want to specifically learn the Irish language as an adult, I’ve got some interesting and valuable learning resources for you based on my own personal experience as an adult learner.

Subscribe now and I’ll provide you with a link to your resources in your welcome email.

Oh, and if you’d like to know a little more about where I’m coming from and why I created The Language Question ~ Ceist na Teangan, here’s a bit more detail for you:

I’m from west Cork in the south west of Ireland where I grew up in the 1970s and 80s and live to this day. I am from an English speaking part of the country and went through the English language based Irish education system where I learned Irish as just another, albeit compulsory, school subject. I hated Irish growing up and only retained the subject as you needed (and still need) it to get into the National University of Ireland.

I did my Leaving Certificate (the final secondary level exam in Ireland for admission to university) for the first time in 1990 and scraped by with a C at the Lower (then called Pass) Level.

I experienced something of a Damascene moment in relation to the language in my forties and went back to study it properly. I re-sat my Leaving Certificate in Irish in 2020 and got a H1 (the highest mark possible). Since then, I have gone back to college to study Modern Irish at my alma mater of University College Cork (UCC). I graduated with a Higher Diploma in Modern Irish with First Class Honours in 2022. I went on to study at Master’s degree level in UCC where I successfully completed an MA in Modern Irish in late 2025 and I am currently awaiting on the official conferring in March 2026.

As an exclusively self-learner up to completion of the Leaving Certificate in 2020 and an ongoing avid-self learner in addition to the university taught modules I have completed since, I think I’ve been through almost every learning system and resource currently out there for learning Irish as an adult and my aim here is to share whatever I can from that experience that I hope may be of benefit to you as a fellow learner and lover of the Irish language.

So whether you are just starting out or have already begun your language learning journey, I hope to share experiences, content, and resources that will be interesting and enjoyable for you and should help you along the way.

To begin, I have some very special resources that I will share with you in your welcome email when you subscribe here now:

These are resources I discovered through my own experience of re-learning the language over the last decade. Things that I would love to have discovered earlier in my journey and that I’d like to share with you now to move your learning forward faster.

They include recommendations for online dictionaries, grammar checkers, courses, books, and more that cater to learners at all levels; along with an extensive video guide of some of the most powerful free online tools for learners out there.

With the support of these resources and your own dedication to learning, you will be well on your way.

To get your free copy of those valuable learning resources; along with my e-book “21 reflections on the Irish language for anyone curious about their relationship with it and its role in our identity”; and my five-part video guide to two of the most powerful, free, online tools that there are for Irish language learners please join me here in the community and subscribe below.

Beir bua agus beannacht,

Finghin

(Finghin > Fuaimnítear: Finín ~ Pronouned: Fineen)

P.S. I’m just starting out here as of March 2026, so I haven’t gotten a feel for frequency and so on yet, and that is likely to evolve and settle as this project finds its feet. For now, I plan to release a new podcast episode on the first and third Tuesday of every month, with a regular Saturday newsletter. The promise that I make to you by subscribing here is that I’ll send you interesting and valuable information and reflections on the Irish language, its literature, culture, and history to help you on whatever your aims are whether they include becoming a speaker and reader of the language, and just to deepen your love and appreciation of an Gaeilge.

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