Modern Irish with French TSM?

snorp

Hi there,
Looking for any advice from those who have done/know anyone who has done this TSM combination.

1.What is the Irish department like in Trinity?

2. I know French requires a period of study in France but if you study French with Irish can you still go to France on erasmus for 3rd year? (Asking this as it would not be possible to study Irish subjects in France)

3. Has anyone out there done this combination or know of someone who has done it? Do they regret not taking up a new language eg Spanish, Italian etc.

I love Irish but trying to decide whether to stick with it or if I'd have more opportunities in the future if I took a new language like Spanish or Italian up.

Thanks!

djcervi

snorp wrote: »

Hi there,
Looking for any advice from those who have done/know anyone who has done this TSM combination.

1.What is the Irish department like in Trinity?

2. I know French requires a period of study in France but if you study French with Irish can you still go to France on erasmus for 3rd year? (Asking this as it would not be possible to study Irish subjects in France)

3. Has anyone out there done this combination or know of someone who has done it? Do they regret not taking up a new language eg Spanish, Italian etc.

I love Irish but trying to decide whether to stick with it or if I'd have more opportunities in the future if I took a new language like Spanish or Italian up.

Thanks!

Hey! I'm in my third year of TSM French and Spanish, so I can attempt to answer your questions.

1. I don't study Irish, but I know people who study it with either French or Spanish. They seem to be a close knit class, which seems nice in comparison to the big numbers in TSM French/ Spanish (well in my year anyway). Having said that, you'll get to know people. People I know seem to like Irish. They do come out with a great fluency in the language. At the same time, some people I know are minoring in it as it can be a disorganised department.

2. As far as I know, you cannot do Erasmus if you study Irish. At a push, you might be able to do an Erasmus in Scotland. At the same time, it's quite common (in Modern Language subjects anyway) that people defer a year of studies to live in the countries of their languages. It's possible to do the likes of Au-Pairing and English Language Assistant programs (where you help the English teacher conduct classes) in Secondary/ Primary Schools, etc.

3. Yes, I've met people who took up a language from scratch as a beginner and have enjoyed it enough to major in it. I've also met people who have taken up a new language and have decided to major in the language they did in the LC, etc. It depends. I know somebody who took up Spanish as a beginner, did the Scholarship exams (got the scholarship in them!) and has majored in Spanish. He studied TSM Irish and Spanish.

If you do love Irish, I'd say you should consider studying it. I think if you have the mind and dedication, you can always learn more languages. Apart from the four languages I already know, I do hope to learn more. If I've learnt one important lesson in College, it's to study something that interests you. At the same time, if you feel that you could benefit careerwise from another language, go for it! But maybe it might be worth, for curiousity's sake, linking into something like gradireland.com. I think there's a pamphlet which discusses what people have done with Irish.

Best of luck with your choice!

languagenerd

snorp wrote: »

2. I know French requires a period of study in France but if you study French with Irish can you still go to France on erasmus for 3rd year? (Asking this as it would not be possible to study Irish subjects in France)

Hey, I also do French and Spanish, so I can't give you much more info that the poster above ^ but I just wanted to point out that:

(i) French requires that you spend time in France, not that you study there. You have to spend a minimum of 8 weeks there before your final exams in French, but it doesn't necessarily have to be studying. It can be working, doing a summer language course or just plain tourism. And it doesn't even have to be France, it just has to be a French-speaking country (I spent part of mine in Belgium instead).

(ii) Most people do not do an Erasmus in 3rd year of TSM. The way TSM language courses are structured, you do your final exams in one subject in 3rd year, and, generally, you can't do those abroad. If you want to do a full year Erasmus, you go in 2nd year. (I know several people who went away for 2nd year, but only two who did full year Erasmus in 3rd year, and that was only with special agreement from the departments and one of them had to drop their other subject a year early). French, in most cases, only allows one-semester Erasmus in 3rd year. I don't know if it's possible with Irish, I'm afraid.

Good luck either way

snorp

Thanks so much for your replies so far. I really appreciate it!

Did you know before you did the course that most people don't do Erasmus? And what made you decide not to do it?

From what I've heard from people I know studying arts in UCD for example, there was a real difference evident in French/Spanish ability between those that did Erasmus and those that didn't by the time they came back for fourth year.

Finally, what kind of careers would most of the students in your class be considering at this stage?

lfqnic

Just to weigh in on the Irish department - I think they're great. Really small (only four full time lecturers between early and modern) but they're all helpful and lovely in their own way. You'd definitely want to have a good standard of Irish coming in, or it can spiral quickly - everything is done through Irish and you'll be expected to write sensibly and accurately. They do have a reputation for being a bit disorganised but personally I've never really had any problems because of that, and they more than make up for it by genuinely caring about their students a lot. One of the teachers is a bit prickly in first year but is a great lecturer and secretly a dote.
Really it depends on how good your Irish is, how hard you're willing to work, and how much you think you'll enjoy studying poetry, literature, myths, béaloideas etc etc. Ádh mór