The Language of Passion
Dian Killian and Her Passion for Irish (And How It Can Change the World)
"What I love about Irish is it changes my way of looking at reality. It challenges me… it’s this amazing, interconnected world where things are not so linear… not so black and white." — Dian Killian
Often, passions jump out at us, pulling us in with the force of love at first sight, as if they’ve always been a part of us. But sometimes, they seem so distant from our interests that we might not even give them a second thought.
That, at least, is how Dian Killian, one of the world’s most passionate advocates for the Irish language and its cultural impact, came to find her love for Gaelic.
Long before she could conjugate the Irish preposition “ag” or had even set foot in Ireland, Killian’s exposure to Irish culture was limited and less than favorable. Her only encounters had been chaotic celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day in the United States — green bagels, green beer, and some less-than-pleasant interactions with some Irish Americans.
Killian has always loved to travel and has always been drawn to language, which she insists frames the way we see the world. She studied linguistics in college and eventually became a renowned Nonviolent Communication (NVC) trainer, a discipline rooted in the nuances of language and empathy. But Ireland? Irish? It wasn’t even on her radar.
"I didn’t have a keen interest to go to Ireland,” Killian recalls. “I really wasn’t interested."
It wasn’t until she was studying in France in her mid-twenties — with a Eurail Pass burning a hole in her pocket and most of Europe already checked off her list — that she booked a week-long trip to Ireland on a whim.
Killian didn’t expect much from her visit, but she stayed open-minded. In psychology, this is known as Openness to Experience, a trait tied to curiosity and the willingness to explore new ideas. This trait often helps people stumble upon passions they never expected — something Killian embodies fully.
In fact, Killian is one of the most passionate people I’ve ever met, which says a lot after nearly a year of profiling super passionate people for On Fire. “I have always been a really passionate person,” she tells me. “In fact, my main concern is that my enthusiasm can sometimes be overwhelming for people.”
I get it, and I can relate. Sometimes, I get so passionate about something I feel like I might burst — and find myself trying to tame my passion for others. But I’m working to unlearn that. I assure Killian her passion is welcome. Passion, after all, is contagious, and when we share it, we invite others to discover what lights them up too.
Killian’s wide-ranging passions reflect that energy: from Nonviolent Communication to the nuances of language, empathy hacking, and even playing the Appalachian dulcimer (you can listen to her original songs on SoundCloud here and she writes about language and her other passions on her beautifully written Substack, The Liminal, here). But Irish holds a special place in her heart.
In Killian’s case, her openness to visiting Ireland, despite having no prior interest, led her to a surprising, life-changing experience.
“It blew me away,” she says. “I fell in love with Ireland.”
The countryside captured her heart first. By that time, she had traveled extensively — she had been to the fjords in Norway, the Grand Canyon in the United States, the Swiss Alps. But Ireland was unlike anything she had ever encountered.
“This is God’s country,’” she recalls thinking. “I was just so struck by it. There are a lot of amazing places on the planet. But there was something about it. When I went to the West Coast of Ireland, it was so beautiful I couldn’t get over it.”
As enchanted as Killian was by the landscape of Ireland, it wasn’t long before another aspect of the culture pulled her in — the Irish language. What began as a curiosity quickly turned into an obsession. For someone who had always been passionate about language, the Irish language opened up a whole new way of seeing the world.
“Irish is so highly inter-relational,” she explains. “If you look at English... it’s all about who’s doing the action. So you start with the subject: ‘What did I do? What is he doing?’ In Irish... it doesn’t matter who is doing it. What matters is it’s happening. It’s alive.”
She elaborates on why this matters: “Language changes how we think, how we think about each other, how we think about the world, how we relate to ourselves.”
For Killian, this wasn’t just a linguistic curiosity — it was a window into a different worldview. “Based on what I've seen of different languages, Irish is sufficiently unique. Like, would anyone ever think before they heard this that you could be in relationships with something without owning it? Or that you couldn't talk about having something without asking your share of it?”
“What I love about Irish is that it challenges my way of looking at reality,” she adds.
But it wasn’t just the verbs or syntax that captured her interest. It was the deeper connections they revealed about Irish culture. I press her for clarification.
“In English, we not only objectify things, we objectify people,” she explains. “But in Irish, I am changed by the object. My preposition needs to change based on if I’m doing it, or you’re doing it, or he’s doing it, or they’re doing it.”
For Killian, these linguistic details are more than just quirks. “It’s this amazing interconnected world... We are impacted by the world as much as we impact the world.”
“I get chills talking about this,” she says with a look of pure awe. I can almost feel her passion radiating through the room. “Do you see why I’m excited about this?”
And I do. Passion is contagious, after all — her passion has sufficiently sparked my own curiosity about how language impacts the way we see the world. But more than that, I feel her passion deeply, a passion that found her unexpectedly — one she might never have discovered had she not kept an open mind.
"Irish can change your life,” she says. “It challenges you, surprises you, and gets you to start looking at the natural world in a different way. It changes your thinking about how you relate to other people, to yourself."
I can’t help but smile as I realize passion itself has the same magical qualities. Killian is on her mission to show that Irish can change the world — and I’m on a mission to show that passion can. And interestingly, I reflect later, we both start with the same advice for those truly ready to experience their alchemic effects: stay open.
Takeaways
Here is one big thing I learned this week about passion, one exercise you can do to stoke your own inner fire, and one aspect of Killlian’s intense enthusiasm that rubbed off on me — and that I now want to learn more about, too!
1. One Lesson: Stay Open to the Unexpected
Killian's journey into the Irish language is a reminder that we don’t always find passion where we expect it. Sometimes, it’s the things we feel indifferent to — or even actively avoid—that hold the greatest potential to change us. Keeping an open mind can lead to transformative discoveries, showing that passion often emerges when we're willing to explore the unfamiliar.
2. One Exercise: Explore Areas of Indifference
Think of an area in your life where you've felt neutral or disinterested, like Killian’s indifference to Ireland before her trip. Is there a genre of music, a new hobby, or a topic you’ve never cared to investigate? Choose one of these areas and make it a point to explore it further. This exercise encourages you to break through your comfort zone and may reveal unexpected sources of passion.
3. One Curiosity: Rediscovering Irish Music
Killian’s story about falling in love with Irish culture has sparked my own curiosity about Irish music again. Back in my teenage years, I was obsessed with the Irish punk band Flogging Molly and loved the hauntingly beautiful music in Once, a movie about a singer-songwriter couple who fall in and out of love. Now, I’m eager to explore more Irish music! If you have any favorite Irish musicians — whether traditional or contemporary — drop them in the comments, I’d love to check them out!
Links
The Liminal: Dian Killian’s Substack newsletter exploring language, life, Draíocht and what’s in-between
Interesting! As a person who is passionate about language, this explanation from Dian about why the Irish language is so different from English really fascinated me. I am intrigued about something I was previously indifferent to!
Another area of the Celtic culture that I find intriguing is dance. I think it’s been misunderstood and misrepresented, I’m sure it goes deeper than Riverdance. I think it’s so unfortunate that our culture has lost its connection to folk dancing, and *participating* in movement rather than observing it as spectators. 💃
Anyway, I’ve been wanting to explore Scotland but now I think I have to go to Ireland too!