Fortunately, it was a harmless mistake
and you didn't make it while, say, interviewing for a job. But if you want
to work with the 3.5 million Irish who live in the United States, or the
almost 5 million in Ireland itself-if you want to benefit from the skill
of being bilingual-you need to learn the language well.
Edward Trimnell, author of Why You
Need a Foreign Language & How to Learn One, once said, "If your work
involves the Mexican Market and you don't speak and read Spanish, then you
are functionally illiterate [there]."