For many of us, January can feel long and grey, full of good intentions to sort out different aspects of our lives.

But it doesn’t always have to be like that; the start of a new year can, of course, be an opportunity to embrace something new and try something different.

So, with my ’Yn Greinneyder’ hat on (which, in Manx, means ’the encourager’, or ’the motivator’), I want to guide you through some different ways that you can start to explore Gaelg (Manx), whether you’ve lived here all your life, or are brand new to the island. The language is for everyone!

Manx is all around us - in our placenames, on our buildings, in print and online, and in the mouths of thousands of people of all ages.

It has seen an upsurge of interest in recent years, and there are a huge amount of resources to help you get started.

Learning Manx is a great way to meet people, and to find a sense of community.

A good first port of call is the Learn Manx website: here you can find free online lessons, information about classes, news from the language community, reading material and hundreds of videos and soundfiles to explore.

We loved creating and filming Manx language games with the popular children’s theatre company ’Hello Little People’ recently; why not learn and laugh along with them!

If websites aren’t your thing, you can also use completely free Apps, such as ’Learn Manx’ and ’Manx songs and rhymes’, to explore the language.

If, like me, you enjoy listening to podcasts, why not search for ’Manx’ in your podcast app and find some bitesize lessons, perfect for listening to while you’re driving!

On that note, Manx Radio also hosts a number of radio programmes each week in or about Manx Gaelic, and you may have caught the popular feature ’Manx word of the day’ on Late Lunch, in which the community hears and is asked to guess the meaning of the chosen word.

There are lots of really fun and colourful books, too, such as ’Teach Your Cat Manx’ and ’First 1,000 Words in Manx’.

If you’d prefer to learn directly from a teacher, we have a new four-week taster course on Zoom that would be perfect.

We will be demystifying place names, exploring useful phrases and discovering some of the reasons that we should celebrate Gaelg.

You can enrich your Wednesday lunchtimes with these free half-hour long interactive sessions, which start on Wednesday 2nd February, running from 1.20pm - 1.50pm. To sign up, please email me via [email protected]

There are a myriad of ways to discover Manx and, no matter what type of learner you are, there’ll be a route for you!