Living in Northern Ireland but working as this newspaper's Irish-language Editor can give one the cultural headstaggers. The North is changing as quickly as the Republic. There may well be a political logjam as regards the Belfast Agreement but workers from Poland, the Baltic states and Portugal are a common sight on cold Ulster mornings as they head off to jobs that the natives do not want.
It is not uncommon to hear splashes of Portuguese on the streets of Portadown or lines of Polish in the cafes of Lurgan. Local hospitals offer translation services and there are children at school in Armagh who are being taught in English, though they do not speak a word of that language.
My children are meeting children from countries I knew only from maps when I was their age and going to primary school in Andersonstown 30 years ago.
English was the language of my Catholic primary school in Belfast, just English. It is odd, then, to follow the debate about Irish in the Republic's education system.
The calls for abolition of Irish show a startling ignorance as to the role of education. If you want to know what kind of linguistic society an Irish-free education system would produce, look northwards. It is the alternative linguistic model that was followed when Ireland was partitioned.
The first time I heard Irish spoken was when I was preparing to go to the local Christian Brothers' grammar school, aged 11. My mother said to my paternal grandfather, Paddy Murray: "Paul is learning Irish." My grandfather looked at me and said in perfect Irish: "Cad é mar atá tú?"
He was a native of Dún Lúiche in the Donegal Gaeltacht and had spent the Great War ducking and diving in Scotland looking for work (like so many generations of Donegal people) and trying to avoid conscription into the British army. I had no idea he spoke Irish; I had no idea there was an Irish language. Was I - or the tens of thousands in primary schools like mine - educated?
People in the Republic often fail to realise just how comprehensive their knowledge of Irish is. (How it is taught is a matter for another day.)
It is worth reminding ourselves that there is a huge pool of passive Irish speakers in this State and that many of them have a familiarity with the language and its culture which is quite profound.
The failure is not that people don't know Irish but that they don't have the opportunity to use it. It is a problem for adults but they, at least, have access to a car and money and can take themselves off to classes or Gaeltacht courses. How do you educate young people that the language is not just a school subject? That is the question that will be addressed this weekend at Tóstal na Gaeilge in Galway.
Tóstal is a biannual gathering and is the most important event in the language sector's calendar. It has set much of the agenda for language development in the State in recent years. This year the theme will focus on youth: "An Chéad Ghlúin Eile". It means "The Next Generation" and, ignoring the Star Trekkie resonance, it will be an extremely important occasion.
Undoubtedly, a window of opportunity exists for the language at the moment. Imaginative thinking, forward planning and old-fashioned lobbying from the Old Guard have delivered TG4, a Language Act, Irish as an official and working language in the EU and more gaelscoileanna than you can shake a stick at. Irish-language organisations have consistently and successfully set the linguistic agenda for the last decade and a half.
It will all be meaningless, however, unless young people are convinced and encouraged to carry the language out of school and into their adult lives. That will be no easy task, especially as Irish is portrayed by reactionaries as being backward and useless.
So will the Pope's children be tempted to fight the good fight and speak Irish? David McWilliams of Big Bite fame seems to believe they will. He will give the keynote address: "Why Irish is set for a renaissance."
That McWilliams will talk in English should surprise no one. The caricature of the Irish-language begrudger belongs in the dustbin. The invitation to McWilliams to address this important event in the other official language is a generous gesture and an attempt to begin a discussion between those who learned Irish at school but never used it and those who have kept the faith.
Tóstal na Gaeilge is an open forum to discuss the future of Irish and youth.
It will be interesting to see how much of that talk translates to the English-language media and, more importantly, to young people of every class, creed and culture in Ireland.
Tóstal na Gaeilge will take place in the Corrib Great Southern Hotel, Galway, next Friday and Saturday. Details from 01-6794780 and www.tostal.ie