Beginning with the classical romantic framing devices for the Irish language: misty notes of music: picturesque scenery, solemn intonation, the rural paintings of Jack B. Yeats, ‘Tir Gan Teanga’ (a title that translates as ‘A country without a language’ from the Gaelic revival proverb ‘A country without a language is a country without a soul’) dissolves into a scatter-shot argument on the place of Irish within society that challenges the fluency and perceptions of the viewer, as well as the central irony of translating a language that is spoken by choice.