My Gael ancestors would be ashamed of me.
I tried learning Gaelic, and experienced Epic Fail.
You still have a chance.
The two comparatively ‘major’ Gaelic nations in the modern era are Scotland (Scottish Gaelic-speaking population approx.
60,000 native speakers) and Ireland (which has over 200,000). Communities where the language is still spoken natively are restricted largely to the west coast of each country and especially the Hebrides in Scotland. However, large proportions of Gaelic speakers also live in the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh in Scotland, as well as Galway, Cork and Dublin in Ireland.
There are between 500 - 1,000 Canadian Gaels although they are generally of a very advanced age and concentrated in Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island and Newfoundland. According to the 2000 US CensusPDF (123 KiB), there are over 25,000 Irish-speakers in the United States with the majority found in urban areas with large Irish-American communities such as Boston, New York City and Chicago.
Go n-éirí an t-ádh leat! Ádh mór ort!
Ah, you’re Gaelic....that would explain your obsession with gnomes!
Sorry to hear you experienced Epic Fail. Don’t you just hate it when that happens? :)