Language of love

Irish Gaelic is as foreign as Japanese to most people and sounds about as romantic as German.

"I don't know how much you can turn someone on by speaking Gaelic," said Jeff "Mac" McCafferty, 49, of Swisshelm Park, who has spent six years trying to master the language.

That hasn't stopped some Pittsburghers from learning the relatively obscure language. Some want to connect with their Irish heritage. Others study one of the world's oldest languages because of their interest in the culture.

"A lot of the students take the course for personal reasons because they've heard it in music or seen it written down through their relatives," said Marie Young, 29, who teaches five courses at the University of Pittsburgh's Less-Commonly Taught Languages Center. About 50 students are enrolled.

"Many of them want to go to Ireland and be able to order that drink in a bar in Irish, or talk to that old man," Young said.

Irish Gaelic -- referred to simply as Irish -- is spoken regularly by about 300,000 of Ireland's 4 million people. Less than half -- 40 percent -- of the country's population say they're competent in the language. The Irish alphabet has 18 letters similar to those in English, and nine other letters are consonant combinations, which sound like vowels.

Amy Boots, 22, a language major at Duquesne University, took an eight-week introductory course at the Ireland Institute of Pittsburgh. She said one of the most difficult things about Irish is pronunciation.

"There are lots of little rules," said Boots of Regent Square. "If you mess up, you sound ridiculous. It takes work, but I really love it." Boots is also taking Spanish, Japanese and German.

Meg Pusateri, 21, is headed for medical school, but her interest in Irish culture led her to Young's course and eventually to sign up for study abroad in Ireland, she said. That and, "I like to pretend I'm Irish," she said.

"Learning it has been difficult," said Pusateri of Oakland, who is in a level-four Irish class. "We're reading a novel in Irish, and the five of us (in class) can read it and understand better than we can speak it ourselves."

Young, who grew up in Dublin, said Irish is a required subject at many high schools and universities in Ireland, and that is increasing as the language resurges within the country.

"Ireland had a huge change with the influx of non-nationals," Young said. "A lot of Irish people are looking at their own identity, and a lot of them are going back and learning the language."

McCafferty, a history teacher at Pittsburgh's High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, and Carrick High School's track and football coach, said he wanted to speak Irish because "no one else can."

"Culturally, I think it's an important thing," he said. "The Irish have done a good job in recognizing the importance of a language to a culture."