Member Profile: Ani Kazancioglu

My adventure with learning Irish began last year, in October 2022, from my home here in Istanbul, Turkey. I loved it right from the beginning, and I look forward to continuing!

I spent one year learning Irish with online sources. I began by studying some Irish ‘amhráin’ (songs). I don’t always remember all of the lyrics, but the ‘cúrfa’ (chorus) usually sticks in my mind. Then I discovered the online Irish community at Let’s Learn Irish, and I signed up for the monthly Free Workshop. That’s where I had my first experience of having an Irish conversation, in August 2023. After that one hour of having the chance to speak Irish, I decided to join the A0 Introductory course.

Our teacher did great work by combining the grammar and conversation. As a language learner, and as a language teacher, I know how important it is to be able to talk right from the beginning. Turkish is a phonetic language; it is read how it’s written. In class each week, my Irish teacher read the words and sentences again and again. That helped me to improve my reading skills. Songs are helpful to learn vocabulary. Grammar is required as well, of course, but the most important thing is to force yourself to speak! With my classes at Let’s Learn Irish, I had all of this. I had the chance to learn the grammar and practice it in a useful conversation, and at the end of the course, I sang a nice song!

I look forward to continue learning Irish as much as I can. As a student from Turkey, I feel right at home here – my city is even mentioned in one of the homework exercises – and I am so grateful for this community!