“I tell everyone that I meet that they should take an Irish language course,” said Rae Moors, a senior Irish language and literature major.
In the first program of its kind in North America, Notre Dame Irish majors learn the indigenous language of Ireland and engage with a wide range of literature, from medieval sagas to contemporary poetry and prose. “There are so many angles you can take while studying Ireland,” said Moors. “Ireland really is different from every other place just in the history of what they’ve faced and how they have had to deal with it.”
During her sophomore year, Moors interned at the National Folklore Collection at University College Dublin with support from the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies. She then practiced her Irish in Gleann Cholm Cille, County Donegal, with a grant from the Summer Language Abroad program sponsored by the Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures. Moors appreciated these opportunities to advance her fluency because “the sort of immersion that you need to truly learn a language is something that you can’t experience in America.”
“The experiences I’ve had in the department have been really valuable,” said Moors. “Everyone should take Irish!”
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Originally published by at al.nd.edu on November 21, 2014.