Irish

The Irish language finds its roots in the ancient Gaelic languages spoken in Ireland thousands of years ago. Over time, the spoken language evolved through Middle Language and eventually closer to a contemporary iteration of Irish, also known as Irish Gaelic.

Irish faced challenges during English colonization of Ireland, as English was imposed as the dominant language of the land. Although there have been several revival and promotion efforts, English became the predominant language in the region. Although Irish is considered an official language of now liberated Ireland, it is not as widely spoken in day-to-day interactions as English. Still, there is a particular mark of culture and pride held with the Irish language.

Languages are, unfortunately, more complicated than just different sets of words used to describe some universal collection of ideas. Languages form from their own contexts in order to describe phenomena specific to that context. This means that different languages that form in different contexts might have tricky translations between each other—if appropriate translations exist at all.

These nuances are what make quality translations so difficult. It is not enough to know the direct translations for the words of a message, but it is also important to understand the culturally relevant concepts required to communicate certain ideas in the target language. This is cultural understanding. Having a good sense of cultural understanding in both languages can make the difference between choppy, incoherent translations and truly high-quality ones.