Dia daoibh, a chairde,
Táim ag foghlaim an Ghaeilge: Teanga mo mhuintir. (I am learning Irish: The language of my ancestors.)
B’fhéidir go scríobhfaidh mé níos mó as Gaeilge níos déanaí… ach anois, ba mhaith liom a rá go bhfuil sé an-tábhachtach teanga do mhuintir a fhoglaim, a labhairt, agus a scríobh. (I might write more in Irish later… but for now, I’d like to say it’s very important to learn and speak and write the language of your people.)
Níl mo Ghaeilge foirfe, ach agus mé ag foglaim, ag labhairt, agus ag scríobh, táim ag déanamh naisc le mo mhuintir romham. (My Irish isn’t perfect, but while I’m learning, speaking, and writing it, I’m making connections with the people that came before me.)
Postscript: Of course my writing and editing services continue to be available in English! But I hope this might be food for thought for anyone who thinks they don’t have an ancestral language to go back to, or to bring forward into the future with you. Big chunks of my family history are and will forever remain a mystery to me, but I didn’t have to go back all that far to find where some of the strands of shared history were broken or left behind. It’s an honor to pick up one of those strands and carry it with me as I move through life.