Russia have exited the World Cup in a fairly limp manner, falling foul of Fabio Capello’s often Trappatoni-esque football. My own Russian conquest has continued on at a steady pace and will hopefully continue to do so. The alphabet is still my main focus and it is so crucial to any hopes that I have of ever being able to hold a conversation. Once I have it mastered reading will naturally be a lot easier and I have always found that I learn a language much better through absorption rather than direct study.

What that means is that I can do as many grammar exercises as I like but I will always gain more from reading a few newspaper articles or a short book. We all possess the innate capacity to learn languages without the use of textbooks or teachers. This capacity fades the older we get but I still believe that immersion in a language is the only way to learn one. As such I am concentrating on learning the letters. If anyone knows of a Russian version of Letterland, please let me know.

Some people are lucky to be immersed in several languages from birth. Where I work I meet a lot of tourists. A large portion of them are bilingual or even trilingual due to where they come from. I have met Swiss who are comfortable speaking in Italian, German or English, Belgians who switch between French, Flemish and Dutch. Even Canadians who can swap instantly between French and English. Our location on this very green rock in the Atlantic Ocean has placed us at a huge disadvantage in relation to languages. We could perhaps have had two but our neighbours didn’t help out with that too much and now our education system is doing a very successful job of putting off whole generations from ever wanting to immerse themselves in Gaeilge.

There really should be a rethink on just how much we are benefiting from keeping Irish obligatory in schools. The curriculum should definitely be changed and perhaps a CAO points incentive included similar to the one that is currently being used to entice students into doing higher level maths. A range of European languages should also be introduced in primary schools in order to take advantage of that capacity that the young mind has to absord multiple languages at once. For myself it can be disheartening when I meet a nine year old who already speaks three languages and is rapidly advancing on his fourth. Nothing to do with him having outrageous intelligence more so due to the power of the young human brain.

Today also marks the first day off that the world has had from the World Cup and I can assure you that there is no link between that and the appearance of this blog. Happily I can say that the tournament has surpassed all expectations and in the most literary of terms is: the best thing ever. I suppose I would have to mention Luis Suarez. To those that would crucify him I would ask them to think how they see players like Zidane, Cantona and Roy Keane. Do they spew the same vitriol towards them? I am in no way excusing Suarez, I genuinely feel that he is just a bit nuts. Normal people don’t bite other people whilst being watched by millions all over the planet. Is biting someone worse than kicking a fan, or ending a career or even a headbutting? Granted it may be weirder, but is it worse? Can we idolize those other players and demonize Suarez at the same time?