Shopping on the island is limited. There are two small shops offering general provisions, a small craft shop attached to the post office and a factory shop where you can purchase high quality knitwear that is made on the island.

The working language of the island is Irish. Some of the older islanders speak no English so don't think they're rude or aloof when they can't give you directions. They are very friendly but appear very shy. The basic expressions are easily learned and I would recommend that visitors have the courtesy to make the effort and learn them.

Dia dhuit (gee-a gwit) Hello (lit. God be with you)

Tá an lá go deas (thaw on law guh jass) it's a nice day (common expression)

Tá an aimsir go done (thaw on I'm sure guh dunna) the weather is bad (an even more common expression)

Le do thoil (lead uh hull) please

Go raibh maith agat (guh reve my a gut) thank you

A NOTE ON THE IRISH LANGUAGE

The Irish language is the oldest written language spoken in Europe today. Manuscrips from the 8th century include translations of biblical and other religious texts into the language. This makes it's written form 400 years older than German, French or Spanish.

The language and it's antecedants were spoken widely throughout Europe in the Celtic age. Place names on the continent still bear remarkable similarities to older names such as Donau (the German for the Danube) comes from Donn Abhann and means "the Brown River", Madrid in Spain could link to Magh Droichead - "the ridge on the plain" the Belgian Ardennes from Ard Beann (high hills) and many other examples can be furnished. The arrival of the Aryan tribes from the east pushed the Celtic cultures further west and today the communities of Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Brittany, Cornwall, The Isle of Mann and Galicia are the only remnants of this great civilisation. The languages face an uphill battle to maintain their existence from the dominant languages of the countries in which they are to be found. Galician as a pure language is now unspoken as a dialect of Spanish replaced the original tongue some time ago. Cornish has fewer than 50 fluent speakers as English took hold. Breton and Welsh have undergone significant revival and Welsh in particular is largely spoken. Scots Gaelic and Irish were almost obliterated in the 19th century but Irish is experiencing a renaissance at the moment. There are approximately 1.7 million who claim to be proficient in the language but the Gaeltacht areas (traditionally areas in the west of the country) are in decline.

Inis Meain is remarkably healthy as a Gaeltacht area. The island is a pure sanctuary of an ancient culture and to walk among its people is to touch the roots of European civilisation. Many visitors come solely to practice their language skills in an authentic setting, others come to sit surrounded by the language of bards, artists, poets, legislators, musicians, authors, saints and scholars!