It’s surprising how much you can learn without a textbook. All you need are your two feet and some target language. And in Ireland, where public signage is bilingual Irish and English, you get a little extra help, too.

As a Scottish Gaelic learner, it’s particularly interesting wandering around the streets, spotting all the cognates and otherwise. If your Celtic language entry point is Gàidhlig rather than Gaeilge, it can seem strangely familiar and disconcerting at the same time.

Irish out and about

Take the street sign below. The Irish sráid for street doesn’t pose any issues for a Gaelic speaker. Just watch out for that strach which goes the other way in Gaelic sràid! The an Chláraigh shouldn’t look too strange either – that’s the genitive case (the Irish is literally something like street of the Clare), and it works similarly in both languages.

Next, we have Marine Drive – and another genitive, mara (of the sea), which is the same in Gaelic.

Next, something you’ll see a lot in built-up areas – crios mall, or slow zone. Crios is literally a belt or strip of something, but doubles for zone or area in both Gaelic and Irish. Mall for slow exists in both languages, too, but you’re more likely to come across slaodach for slow as a Scottish Gaelic learner (literally something like ‘dragging’).

An Irish roadside in Dublin.

Here’s mall again – but with a little extra. The go is an adverbial particle in Irish – as is gu in Scottish Gaelic – turning slow into slowly. It’s a bit of a false friend, as you would be forgiven for thinking this meant something like go slow!

You’ll come across the days of the week in plenty of road signage in Ireland, particularly in parking areas. Here we have Monday and Friday in their ‘bare’ forms, Luan and Aoine. These are the same in Gaelic, too, although as a learner you’ll more likely find them with the Di- prefix for ‘day’: Diluain and Dihaoine.

Those days pop up again here, but with two handy verbs – íoc (pay) and taispeáin (show) for pay and display! Scottish Gaelic opts for a different loanword for pay, paigh(eadh), but shares that word for show – it’s taisbean(adh) in Gàidhlig.

The Irish ceadúnais for permit has a nice equivalent in Scottish Gaelic, too – it’s cead, which you’ll find in words like cead-siubhail (passport).

So next time you’re out and about in Ireland, keep your eyes peeled. Every sign is a little language lesson in miniature. For Gaelic speakers, it’s an especially rare treat – a chance to spot the deep-rooted connections between two kindred languages.