Hello,
Siobhán Ní Chiabháin is my name.
I‘m originally from Co. Kerry,
outside Daingean Uí Chúis,
Muiríoch, next to Baile na nGall.
I live in New York
but I didn’t come straight
from the Kingdom (Kerry) to New York.
I spent five years in Dublin.
I went to university there.
And then I moved to Belfast
and spent nine years there.
And I’ve been in New York
for a year and a half.
{So}, I was born and raised outside
Daingean and {yeah},
I spoke Irish at home,
{y’know just} with Mum and Dad,
and Nan and everyone, and the neighbours
and {y’know} that’s the way it is
at home {y’know} and…
Probably we’d speak English
and Irish, a mix…{so y’know}
“Bhíos ag CYCLEáil ar mo BHICYCLE”
{y‘know} it makes sense at home
but {actually} if you think
of the…{I suppose}…the language and y’know
if you’re thinking of the words {y‘know}
“Bhíos ag rothaíocht ar mo rothar” [all Irish words]
{Anyway}, I went to an all-Irish school,
I went to Maolchéadar School and…
that’s…{I suppose an elementary school}
this one was…elementary school and
I attended Toirbheart High School
in Daingean, an all-Irish school again
and there I took (?)…I did the
junior cert…sorry…the leaving certificate
all through Irish as well, {so}
I did Maths, French through Irish,
History, and there wasn’t…for History
as well I had to, I wanted to
do History through Irish,
but there weren’t many books
in Irish, {so} I had to translate
everything…but that took…
I wasn’t very good at studying, {y’know}
I preferred going out,
going to the nightclubs and things like that
but {y’know} probably that gave…
{y’know}, I was focussed, I had to {like}
write these essays,
write the translation,
{so} it helped me a lot.
I moved to Dublin when I was
doing…I did um…
Art in Mass Media
at DIT in Dublin.
There was a little Irish…
there was kind of…not {much} it was included each year.
And {y’know} I learnt a lot
more about the media
and Irish in the media,
about “Poitín” by Bob Quinn,
I probably hadn’t ever heard of it…
I was too young…I wasn’t born until
1982
and “Poitín” was on the air
in 1979 or
something like that. {So}, things
I was unfamiliar with…{y’know}
when I’m at home, you don’t
talk about Irish or that sort of thing,
you talk about things in general
in Irish and {y’know} that gladdens
my heart, I love being
{just…just} talking in the language
I was brought up in…um and {y‘know}…
it’s…{y’know} I was lucky
that I was, that I got the…{y’know}
when I was in Belfast
I found people who
had an interest and a passion
for Irish.
I was working in the media
with Irish.
Um…TG4, I spent some time with the BBC
as well, working as a freelancer (?)
for independent companies and
I was able to work
for those companies but (also) doing
…um…producing programs for the BBC, for TG4
for RTÉ. I was working in radio
as well, for the BBC, Raidió Fáilte,
Raidió na Life, Raidió na Gaeltachta.
{So}, I know [laugh] a lot of people
in the media with Irish
and I love that,
I love meeting people.
I’ve been here in New York for a year
and a half now and…
I love meeting people,
people here who are {y’know} interested
in speaking Irish, they’re interested
not just in speaking Irish
to…as an academic language or something
but as a language that is still…
that is…this language is
alive and strong and I’m so proud
that I speak it. I’m not saying
that I’m {y’know}…that everything’s
{perfect} or anything, but {y’know}
I like it, so that‘s that.
That’s my story.
Thanks very much.
Subtitles by the Amara.org community