Panu Petteri Höglund is a Finland-based translator and linguist who has been studying the Irish language from the comfort of his home country for nearly 16 years.
Between 1998-1999, however, he studied in Ireland – perfecting his knowledge of this nation’s mother tongue to become one of the very few Irish language experts abroad.
In late 2003, he surprised when he revealed his level of Irish and supported the demand for official status of the language in the European Union. His actions were not well received by some Irish people: Höglund was branded a traitor and accused of doing disservice to the language.
“Honestly, you guys had better think twice before you add your signature to anything that this guy puts forward, regardless of the merit of the cause,” read one crypic online comment. “He is doing the Irish cause a great disservice by promoting it and associating it with his name and his opinion. You don’t need self-appointed leaders like this.”
Höglund is not surprised about the reaction. “It is obvious [being non-Irish that] my ideas of how to promote Irish might arouse criticism,” he says. “That’s a good thing, because if people have other, better ideas they are welcome to debate and realise them.
“If other people are convinced they have better ideas, I think they should put them into practice. If their ideas are better than mine, I think it is a good thing.”
The Finnish linguist says he is “very unhappy” that the Irish language and its literature are “deemed boring and old-fashioned by many people who have never made a serious attempt to read it”.
He has written a volume of prose in Irish to help prove the critics wrong. “The title is Sciorrfhocail, which means ‘slips of the tongue’. I don’t think sales are much to write home about yet, but I have had feedback from young Irish people who have liked the book, and that’s the important thing.”
Asked what attracted him to the Irish language in the first place, Höglund – who speaks over 10 languages – says it was the description of Ireland in the 1960s. “This used to be a very monolingual country back in my childhood, and that is probably why I have such a passion for languages.”
He adds: “The Irish of the Gaeltacht authors, storytellers and tradition keepers is my great inspiration, and I read books by native speakers or folklore volumes from the Gaeltacht all the time.
“As a non-native writer of Irish, I feel obliged to learn and relearn the Irish of the real speakers of the language, so that I could satisfy their demands, too.”
- Panu Petteri Höglund will contribute a fortnightly column to Metro Éireann. The first edition appears opposite.
