A chairde, I often hear people saying "I'd like to be fluent in a year". And I often then hear people saying "I'm giving up because I don't have time".

I think this is a problem of false expectations, plus undervaluing the small actions that you can take every day that does make a difference. In other words, it's an internal conversation you can change.

I came across a scientifically-backed mental strategy called WOOP to help this, and made a resource for those wanting to learn the Irish language.

Here's WOOP My Irish Language:

https://www.bitesize.irish/blog/woop/

Eoin

What the WOOP people say: Instead of using positive thinking (imagining success), people learn better by:

1. specifying a wish
2. specifiying an outcome
3. imagining the obstacles
4. forming a plan

And they say the core question is "What is it that holds you back from fulfilling your wish?"

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Pages I made:
(These are unfortunately offline for the near future, but they'll be back!)

• Teaching Young Kids Irish (It's just my notes, a work in progress.)
• CD transcript and translations for the book Learning Irish

Sin é! That's it.

It's hard for us to admit that what's holding us back from speaking Irish is how we think.

On that page, there's a link to a podcast interview with the author of woop. It's fascinating how far she digs with the interviewer, to fínd his actual inner Obstacle.

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Take the free email course Irish for Beginners by Bitesize Irish.