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A Gaeltacht in Dublin?

1246

Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,772 ✭✭✭Cú Giobach


    Wibbs wrote: »
    Ahh right. Makes sense. :)
    My point being that it was a foreign tongue born on the back of conquest(Dalriada etc) and a religious "invasion" and it's surprising he appears to show no issue with this, nor considers it foreign because of the history behind it. Doubly so as in his writings he mentions more than once of Irish raiders and armies coming over killing and enslaving locals right up to his time.
    He regards English/Saxon similarly(and they were recent invaders, "pagan" and really bloody vicious). It seems to me anyway that he doesn't view language as some sort of a political football to take issue about, just another method of communication.
    Most linguists don't tend to have the attitudes towards language you mention above, Bede was no exception.
    He would hardly have had issues with the language of the English/Saxon since he was one.
    Out of the 5 languages he mentions, 2 were indigenous to Britain, 1 was the language of his people, another the lingua franca of most of Europe, the spread of which could hardly have been called peaceful, so he would have been an odd fellow indeed if he held animosity towards the Gaelic language used only in a small area, far from his home in the West of Scotland.
    Something we might learn from.
    If everybody viewed language as linguists do, we would all be speaking quite a variety of languages, and yourself and myself certainly wouldn't be "meeting" quite so frequently, except maybe to discuss the merits of various languages, with nobody having to defend the teaching, learning or desire to spread one. ;)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 892 ✭✭✭opti0nal


    Wibbs wrote: »
    It makes little practical sense, beyond the cultural window dressing of new road signs and place names and they would be new and utterly artificial. ....Forget practical sense it's nonsensical. A daft and futile exercise in cultural fancy.
    I should have realised that it was probably s publicity stunt for Irish language week when I saw one of the proposed benefits as being an 'Irish language checkout' in supermarkets. Given the general lack of any cultural interaction in any language that occurs while goods are scanned and the price is displayed, it's clearly yet more fantasy. That and the concept of 'network Gaeltacht' which is what was suggested for Clondalkin.

    I've no problem with imaginary Gaeltachts as long as they don't cost real money.


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,170 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    Most linguists don't tend to have the attitudes towards language you mention above, Bede was no exception.
    He would hardly have had issues with the language of the English/Saxon since he was one.
    Out of the 5 languages he mentions, 2 were indigenous to Britain, 1 was the language of his people, another the lingua franca of most of Europe, the spread of which could hardly have been called peaceful, so he would have been an odd fellow indeed if he held animosity towards the Gaelic language used only in a small area, far from his home in the West of Scotland.
    You have an enormous facility for missing the point. Plus the language wasn't so detached from his common experience, given the presence of Iona and Lindisfarne and the large amount of traffic of Irish monks in his region. Nor were the raids by Irish warriors far from his home. He would have been well acquainted with it and likely spoke it.

    If everybody viewed language as linguists do, we would all be speaking quite a variety of languages, and yourself and myself certainly wouldn't be "meeting" quite so frequently, except maybe to discuss the merits of various languages, with nobody having to defend the teaching, learning or desire to spread one. ;)
    You can wink to your hearts content, but I have zero issue with the teaching or learning of any language. Quite the opposite. However I do take issue when a small, but incredibly vocal and single minded group seek to impose any language through quasi cultural BS and raid the national coffers to do so. The example of a Gaelthacht in Dublin a classic example. Talk about delusional, never mind impractical, never mind just plain daft. Answer them better to grow the language in an existing Irish environment where people may actually use it.
    opti0nal wrote:
    I should have realised that it was probably s publicity stunt for Irish language week when I saw one of the proposed benefits as being an 'Irish language checkout' in supermarkets.
    Have you an official link for that? That sounds a bit far fetched even for the Irish language lobby.

    Actually stuff like that might prove statistically useful. In the sense it would survey the actual use of the language countrywide and county by county. BOI's ATM's have an Irish language option at the start of the transaction. I wonder does it record which language people choose? That would likely show how many people (with ATM cards anyway) use the language by default. Certainly better than the "surveys" coming from the Irish language lobby usually consisting of 100 people that strangely nearly always prove their point. Ditto for the "surveys" that come from your Kevin Myers types proving the complete opposite. Both are producing something one would step on if one followed a male of the cattle persuasion around.

    Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,570 ✭✭✭RandomName2


    opti0nal wrote: »
    I've no problem with imaginary Gaeltachts as long as they don't cost real money.

    Well that is the rub with the entire language, is it not?

    Well, that and the addition laws, rules, and paperwork :p


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 892 ✭✭✭opti0nal


    Wibbs wrote: »
    Have you an official link for that? That sounds a bit far fetched even for the Irish language lobby.
    Sure, it was in The Journal. Given that the Irish lobby have the OLA on their side, nothing is beyond their imagination.
    Even simple ideas around language development could create employment for students when they graduate, according to MacSuibhne.
    "Being designated as a Gaeltacht would encourage more local businesses to use Irish and to take on people who are fluent. An Irish-speaking till at local shops would be just one example.”
    Wibbs wrote: »
    BOI's ATM's have an Irish language option at the start of the transaction. I wonder does it record which language people choose? That would likely show how many people (with ATM cards anyway) use the language by default.
    I find that really irritating. Instead of constantly annoying people with this prompt, they could just record the preference once and display English Or Irish immediately based on this.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,772 ✭✭✭Cú Giobach


    Wibbs wrote: »
    You have an enormous facility for missing the point. Plus the language wasn't so detached from his common experience, given the presence of Iona and Lindisfarne and the large amount of traffic of Irish monks in his region. Nor were the raids by Irish warriors far from his home. He would have been well acquainted with it and likely spoke it.
    I didn't say he never encountered the language, Irish/Gaelic had been encountered throughout Europe by the 8th century.
    There is a very slight difference between encountering a language through learning (ie monasteries and monks) and raids by warriors on your home, a pretty good reason not to have issue with it.
    And yes the raids were a long way from where he was from by 8th century standards.
    I got your point quite clearly, it was the rather silly notion that a man of learning not resenting a language he encountered through other men of learning was somehow special, or something to learn from.
    You can wink to your hearts content, but I have zero issue with the teaching or learning of any language. Quite the opposite. However I do take issue when a small, but incredibly vocal and single minded group seek to impose any language through quasi cultural BS and raid the national coffers to do so. The example of a Gaelthacht in Dublin a classic example. Talk about delusional, never mind impractical, never mind just plain daft. Answer them better to grow the language in an existing Irish environment where people may actually use it.
    In other words you hate people trying to spread the language countrywide.

    You do realise the whole reason for this Dublin Gaeltacht debate is because of a change as to what constitutes a Gaeltacht, areas would only get it if enough people speak the language and there is a good community of Irish speakers in Clondalkin, hence it being spoken about.
    The fact that this is even being discussed and is a possibility, is something that would have been unthinkable 20 years ago. Change is in the air, and I have images of you standing up on your soapbox, ranting away while people pass casually around you chatting as Gaeilge.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,005 ✭✭✭Enkidu


    nuac wrote: »
    Interesting post Enkidu.
    How did Irish stand at that time ( I presume Old Irish ) i.e was it more closely linked to whatever the Picts were speaking?
    The Celtic languages on the British Isles are divided into two families. Those descended from Brythonic and those descended from Goidelic. Irish is in the second family and Welsh is in the first. At the time Brythonic itself would have been spoken in Britain, it hadn't begun to separate into different languages. Goidelic itself is more commonly known as Primitive Irish. Old Irish came into existence around the 600s.

    So Patrick would have met late speakers of Primitive Irish who called him "Qatrikias". In Old Irish he is known as "Cothraige", so you can see the difference.

    The Picts probably spoke two languages at the time. The vast majority spoke Brythonic, probably through cultural interaction with the rest of Britain. A smaller group of Picts spoke a second language, probably the original Pictish language, which is unclassified. (Although it looks somewhat like Finnish)

    Confusingly the Picts wrote both languages in Ogham, which was designed to write Primitive Irish.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 892 ✭✭✭opti0nal


    You do realise the whole reason for this Dublin Gaeltacht debate is because of a change as to what constitutes a Gaeltacht, areas
    Let's be clear here: what is proposed is to apply a new definition of 'Gaeltacht' to Clondalkin, called 'Network Gaeltacht'. This is, in effect, a form of cultural gerrymandering to make a Gaeltacht appear in a location where Irish is not spoken as an everyday, common use, normal, native language.

    Smoke and mirrors.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,677 ✭✭✭deise go deo


    Wibbs wrote: »
    I presume what he calls "english" is the language of the Saxons? No idea what language "british" was though. Interestingly enough he seems to be talking about Britain as the landmass that contains England, Scotland and Wales(though doesn't mention Welsh), not Ireland which he always refers to separately and as separate in his writings. So he considers Irish(a "foreign" language) as a language of "his" country. No enmity involved. Maybe try convincing some of the Northern English towns that they should have a Gaeltacht? :)

    The Language spoken by the Scots at the time was the same as the Irish spoken in Ireland.

    British would be Welsh I would imagine.
    They wouldn't and there's the rub. It makes little practical sense, beyond the cultural window dressing of new road signs and place names and they would be new and utterly artificial. The vast majority would automatically continue to read the english on signs etc. I'd include a goodly chunk of Gaeligoirs in that too. Forget practical sense it's nonsensical. A daft and futile exercise in cultural fancy.


    You sound very certain of that Wibbs, I don't suppose the fact that it is already happening in Belfast will change your mind?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,677 ✭✭✭deise go deo


    opti0nal wrote: »
    I find that really irritating. Instead of constantly annoying people with this prompt, they could just record the preference once and display English Or Irish immediately based on this.


    Why? All you have to do is press a button? I thought you were pro choice when it comes to Irish?


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 892 ✭✭✭opti0nal


    Why? All you have to do is press a button? I thought you were pro choice when it comes to Irish?
    Yes, I'm pro-choice, but once I make that choice, I don't want to be asked again every time I want to withdraw money. It's annoying, just like the Irish lobby.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,706 ✭✭✭junder


    Wibbs wrote: »
    I presume what he calls "english" is the language of the Saxons? No idea what language "british" was though. Interestingly enough he seems to be talking about Britain as the landmass that contains England, Scotland and Wales(though doesn't mention Welsh), not Ireland which he always refers to separately and as separate in his writings. So he considers Irish(a "foreign" language) as a language of "his" country. No enmity involved. Maybe try convincing some of the Northern English towns that they should have a Gaeltacht? :)

    The Language spoken by the Scots at the time was the same as the Irish spoken in Ireland.

    British would be Welsh I would imagine.
    They wouldn't and there's the rub. It makes little practical sense, beyond the cultural window dressing of new road signs and place names and they would be new and utterly artificial. The vast majority would automatically continue to read the english on signs etc. I'd include a goodly chunk of Gaeligoirs in that too. Forget practical sense it's nonsensical. A daft and futile exercise in cultural fancy.


    You sound very certain of that Wibbs, I don't suppose the fact that it is already happening in Belfast will change your mind?

    The whole belfast gealic quarter thing pretty much backs up what optional is getting at, it's meaningless, bilingual road signs and a Irish langauge center with most shops sticking with the English names, have yet to hear anybody actully speaking gealic there though although no doubt you have a friend / relative / girl(boy)friend / collague or some such who lives there and speaks it all the time


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,570 ✭✭✭RandomName2


    Enkidu wrote: »

    The Picts probably spoke two languages at the time. The vast majority spoke Brythonic, probably through cultural interaction with the rest of Britain. A smaller group of Picts spoke a second language, probably the original Pictish language, which is unclassified. (Although it looks somewhat like Finnish)

    Confusingly the Picts wrote both languages in Ogham, which was designed to write Primitive Irish.


    It was my understanding that there were no Pictish written records (apart from glyphs/art) :confused:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,570 ✭✭✭RandomName2


    British would be Welsh I would imagine.

    British means Welsh ;)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,005 ✭✭✭Enkidu


    It was my understanding that there were no Pictish written records (apart from glyphs/art) :confused:
    No, there are written records such as the Brandbutt Stone.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,769 ✭✭✭nuac


    Enkidu wrote: »
    The Celtic languages on the British Isles are divided into two families. Those descended from Brythonic and those descended from Goidelic. Irish is in the second family and Welsh is in the first. At the time Brythonic itself would have been spoken in Britain, it hadn't begun to separate into different languages. Goidelic itself is more commonly known as Primitive Irish. Old Irish came into existence around the 600s.

    So Patrick would have met late speakers of Primitive Irish who called him "Qatrikias". In Old Irish he is known as "Cothraige", so you can see the difference.

    The Picts probably spoke two languages at the time. The vast majority spoke Brythonic, probably through cultural interaction with the rest of Britain. A smaller group of Picts spoke a second language, probably the original Pictish language, which is unclassified. (Although it looks somewhat like Finnish)

    Thanks Enkidu

    Is the "Q" pronunciation of Patrick part of the "P and Q" interchange of in Old Irish.?

    Is there anything published on the P/Q business?

    I believe it has some relevance to Partraighe the Mayo village?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,677 ✭✭✭deise go deo


    junder wrote: »
    The whole belfast gealic quarter thing pretty much backs up what optional is getting at, it's meaningless, bilingual road signs and a Irish langauge center with most shops sticking with the English names, have yet to hear anybody actully speaking gealic there though although no doubt you have a friend / relative / girl(boy)friend / collague or some such who lives there and speaks it all the time

    Nope, don't know anyone who lives there, though a freind of mine does, I did visit the area though, had no problem speaking Irish when I was there.
    The one thing there is a lack of in the area though is Bilingual Road Signs, thanks to the 'No Surrender' brigade who don't even want to allow people who want them to have them.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 892 ✭✭✭opti0nal


    In other words you hate people trying to spread the language countrywide
    OOOO! Indeed, Wibbs why do you hate freedom Irish?

    Criticising the antics/policies of the Irish lobby is like killing the Easter Bunny and strangling dolphins..how could you?

    On a more serious note @ the Irish lobby who insist on compulory Irish lessons for English speaking children...why do you hate choice?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,250 ✭✭✭✭Iwasfrozen


    Nope, don't know anyone who lives there, though a freind of mine does, I did visit the area though, had no problem speaking Irish when I was there.
    The one thing there is a lack of in the area though is Bilingual Road Signs, thanks to the 'No Surrender' brigade who don't even want to allow people who want them to have them.
    When we get bilingual road signs in Connemara you can have them in your corner of Belfast.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,677 ✭✭✭deise go deo


    Iwasfrozen wrote: »
    When we get bilingual road signs in Connemara you can have them in your corner of Belfast.


    Do you live in Conamara? And I seriously doubt Bilingual road signs in Conamara would make the slighest impression on the 'No Surrender' crowd un North.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,250 ✭✭✭✭Iwasfrozen


    Do you live in Conamara? And I seriously doubt Bilingual road signs in Conamara would make the slighest impression on the 'No Surrender' crowd un North.
    No and you don't live it Belfast. It wouldn't make them change their mind but it would give your argument moral validity. If not your only a hypocrite arguing for bilingual signs to replace english ones but not irish.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,677 ✭✭✭deise go deo


    Iwasfrozen wrote: »
    No and you don't live it Belfast. It wouldn't make them change their mind but it would give your argument moral validity. If not your only a hypocrite arguing for bilingual signs to replace english ones but not irish.


    The difference is that the people of the area in Belfast have been vocal on the issue for quite some time.
    Try to label me a hypocrite all you want, but at no point have I said that I am against bilingual signage if the people of the area want it.

    You on the other hand have suggested that an area that wants it can only have it if its forced on an area that does not, where the moral validity for that stance comes from is beyond me.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 39,022 ✭✭✭✭Permabear


    This post has been deleted.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,250 ✭✭✭✭Iwasfrozen


    The difference is that the people of the area in Belfast have been vocal on the issue for quite some time.
    Try to label me a hypocrite all you want, but at no point have I said that I am against bilingual signage if the people of the area want it.
    *ahem* Dingle *ahem*
    You on the other hand have suggested that an area that wants it can only have it if its forced on an area that does not, where the moral validity for that stance comes from is beyond me.
    Because you don't seem to care about arguing for bilingual signs in an area with only irish language signage. I doubt you hold too much grá for the plight of the poor people of Dingle. Who aren't allowed to name their own town under the threat of losing their status.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,565 ✭✭✭southsiderosie


    MOD NOTE:

    Some of the posts here are getting overly personal and snarky. Please tone it down, thanks.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,677 ✭✭✭deise go deo


    Iwasfrozen wrote: »
    *ahem* Dingle *ahem*


    Because you don't seem to care about arguing for bilingual signs in an area with only irish language signage. I doubt you hold too much grá for the plight of the poor people of Dingle. Who aren't allowed to name their own town under the threat of losing their status.


    *ahem* Dingle is officially recognised as having a Bilingual Place name *ahem*

    I did not say anything about Dingle in this thread, you called me a hypocrite for supposidly being against bilingual signage in Conamara, I am not if the people of the area want it, the same applies to An Daingean, would you like to take back your unfounded accusation now?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 892 ✭✭✭opti0nal


    The difference is that the people of the area in Belfast have been vocal on the issue for quite some time.
    Why on earth would native English speakers decide to switch to a different language language, one which is not spoken by a huge majority of their fellow citizens in the United Kingdom?

    Is it a political thing?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,677 ✭✭✭deise go deo


    opti0nal wrote: »
    Why on earth would native English speakers decide to switch to a different language language, one which is not spoken by a huge majority of their fellow citizens in the United Kingdom?

    Is it a political thing?


    Why on earth would an Irish person not want to speak Irish?

    You would have to ask them why they choose to speak Irish. I suppose most of them identify with the Irish Language, their ancestors being speakers of it, but what difference does it make what their motivation is? If they choose to speak Irish why should they not have Bilingual road signs if the want them?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,250 ✭✭✭✭Iwasfrozen


    opti0nal wrote: »
    Why on earth would native English speakers decide to switch to a different language language, one which is not spoken by a huge majority of their fellow citizens in the United Kingdom?

    Is it a political thing?
    Of course it's political. They're irish nationalists who want to push away the rest of the UK while promoting their own sense of "Irishness" it's stupid to me but meh different votes for different folks.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,677 ✭✭✭deise go deo


    Iwasfrozen wrote: »
    Of course it's political. They're irish nationalists who want to push away the rest of the UK while promoting their own sense of "Irishness" it's stupid to me but meh different votes for different folks.

    Ah, Irish does not belong to the nationalists, there are some Unionists who are happy to learn/speak Irish.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,706 ✭✭✭junder


    junder wrote: »
    The whole belfast gealic quarter thing pretty much backs up what optional is getting at, it's meaningless, bilingual road signs and a Irish langauge center with most shops sticking with the English names, have yet to hear anybody actully speaking gealic there though although no doubt you have a friend / relative / girl(boy)friend / collague or some such who lives there and speaks it all the time

    Nope, don't know anyone who lives there, though a freind of mine does, I did visit the area though, had no problem speaking Irish when I was there.
    The one thing there is a lack of in the area though is Bilingual Road Signs, thanks to the 'No Surrender' brigade who don't even want to allow people who want them to have them.

    I do live in Belfast and as it happens not to far from this supposed gealic speaking area. It's nothing more then a political stunt most people living there still use English to communicate only supposed evidence of 'Irish' is a few pubs have bilingual signs up even fewer shops and FYI bilingual road signs, most republican / nationalist areas have Bilingual roads signs these days


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,706 ✭✭✭junder


    junder wrote: »
    The whole belfast gealic quarter thing pretty much backs up what optional is getting at, it's meaningless, bilingual road signs and a Irish langauge center with most shops sticking with the English names, have yet to hear anybody actully speaking gealic there though although no doubt you have a friend / relative / girl(boy)friend / collague or some such who lives there and speaks it all the time

    Nope, don't know anyone who lives there, though a freind of mine does, I did visit the area though, had no problem speaking Irish when I was there.
    The one thing there is a lack of in the area though is Bilingual Road Signs, thanks to the 'No Surrender' brigade who don't even want to allow people who want them to have them.

    I do live in Belfast and as it happens not to far from this supposed gealic speaking area. It's nothing more then a political stunt most people living there still use English to communicate only supposed evidence of 'Irish' is a few pubs have bilingual signs up even fewer shops and FYI bilingual road signs, most republican / nationalist areas have Bilingual roads signs these days


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 892 ✭✭✭opti0nal


    Why on earth would an Irish person not want to speak Irish?
    Because English is their native language and that of all their friends, family, workmates and acquaintances. Because, if they have the time to acquire a second language, they will choose one which helps them communicate with people in the rest of the world who don't speak English. Strangely, they don't insist on multilingual road signs.

    People learn Irish so that they can congratulate each other on how much more Irish they are than everyone else.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,570 ✭✭✭RandomName2


    Why on earth would an Irish person not want to speak Irish?

    Or Latin?

    Latin has traditionally been more of a culturally binding force than Irish - for Latin was the language of the Church, whilst English was the language of administration, and Irish the language of rural inhabitants (and rarely written, unlike latin and english).

    Thus it stands, why on earth would an Irish person not want to speak Latin? Oh wait, the nationalists don't value it. That explains it then. ;)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,677 ✭✭✭deise go deo


    junder wrote: »
    I do live in Belfast and as it happens not to far from this supposed gealic speaking area. It's nothing more then a political stunt most people living there still use English to communicate only supposed evidence of 'Irish' is a few pubs have bilingual signs up even fewer shops and FYI bilingual road signs, most republican / nationalist areas have Bilingual roads signs these days


    Well, I was there just after they opened the new Extention of An Culturlann, had a look at some of the tourist info, the number of events was shocking, maybe you havent looked into it, but the amount of stuff going on in Belfast through Irish is amazing, you have An Culturlann with stuff going on every day, another Irish Language family center just down the road, another Irish Language Club on the Antrim Road, and another Irish Language Center, An Droichead in south Belfast, you also have your own Irish Language Raidio Station, Theather Company, Irish Language Dance Studio, Irish Language Café etc, the Irish Language is getting so strong in Belfast that a company, GaelChursaí was reciently established to train people for the increasing number of jobs in the Irish language Sector.

    No doubt the majority still use English, Most adults in the Gaeltacht Quarter never had the chance to learn Irish, but thanks to the Gaelscoils in the area, and Cholaiste Feirste, thats changing.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 2,706 ✭✭✭junder


    junder wrote: »
    I do live in Belfast and as it happens not to far from this supposed gealic speaking area. It's nothing more then a political stunt most people living there still use English to communicate only supposed evidence of 'Irish' is a few pubs have bilingual signs up even fewer shops and FYI bilingual road signs, most republican / nationalist areas have Bilingual roads signs these days


    Well, I was there just after they opened the new Extention of An Culturlann, had a look at some of the tourist info, the number of events was shocking, maybe you havent looked into it, but the amount of stuff going on in Belfast through Irish is amazing, you have An Culturlann with stuff going on every day, another Irish Language family center just down the road, another Irish Language Club on the Antrim Road, and another Irish Language Center, An Droichead in south Belfast, you also have your own Irish Language Raidio Station, Theather Company, Irish Language Dance Studio, Irish Language Café etc, the Irish Language is getting so strong in Belfast that a company, GaelChursaí was reciently established to train people for the increasing number of jobs in the Irish language Sector.

    No doubt the majority still use English, Most adults in the Gaeltacht Quarter never had the chance to learn Irish, but thanks to the Gaelscoils in the area, and Cholaiste Feirste, thats changing.

    Not had a chance to learn Irish? Odd that considering it's taught in most if not all CCMS schools, again like in the republic were Irish is compulsory it's still failed to catch on, odd that


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,706 ✭✭✭junder


    Iwasfrozen wrote: »
    Of course it's political. They're irish nationalists who want to push away the
    rest of the UK while promoting their own sense of "Irishness" it's stupid to me but meh different votes for different folks.

    Ah, Irish does not belong to the nationalists, there are some Unionists who are happy to learn/speak Irish.

    Some unionists do indeed speak it, but not as a primary langauge


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,677 ✭✭✭deise go deo


    junder wrote: »
    Not had a chance to learn Irish? Odd that considering it's taught in most if not all CCMS schools, again like in the republic were Irish is compulsory it's still failed to catch on, odd that


    I am not familiar with Irish in CCMS schools, though I am guessing that they are not Gaelscoils, if not, then there is the problem, there is a massive difference between Irish being the medium of education and just learning Irish as a subject.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,706 ✭✭✭junder


    junder wrote: »
    Not had a chance to learn Irish? Odd that considering it's taught in most if not all CCMS schools, again like in the republic were Irish is compulsory it's still failed to catch on, odd that


    I am not familiar with Irish in CCMS schools, though I am guessing that they are not Gaelscoils, if not, then there is the problem, there is a massive difference between Irish being the medium of education and just learning Irish as a subject.

    Irish is offered in catholic maintained primary and secondary schools you can even learn it in intergrated schools either way it speaks volumes that a langauge that's compulsory in roi schools and it still needs to have speacial areas to survive. I've seen the comments by people on this site that have been forced to learn it and the comments are not very posertive


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,677 ✭✭✭deise go deo


    junder wrote: »
    Irish is offered in catholic maintained primary and secondary schools you can even learn it in intergrated schools either way it speaks volumes that a langauge that's compulsory in roi schools and it still needs to have speacial areas to survive. I've seen the comments by people on this site that have been forced to learn it and the comments are not very posertive


    Ya, the way Irish was taught in English Medium schools was truely dire, things have gotten better over the last 7/8 years or so, but it will take 20 years before any improvement in the education system has time to filter through into the rest of society.

    You could look at any thread on any topic in Politics and the comments tend not to be very positive, if positivity is what your after this aint the place, thats what Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows is for.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,565 ✭✭✭southsiderosie


    MOD NOTE:

    I am a little concerned that this is drifting into the usual deathmatch debate over the wisdom of Irish language instruction etc., whereas the topic of this thread (as I said in my previous warning) is the establishment of a Gaeltacht in Dublin (or your 'hood).

    If nobody has anything else to add on the expansion of Gaeltacht regions, and/or this is going to simply turn into the same "one-or-two-posters-vs.-the-world" type threads that, frankly, we have had too many of in this forum, then I think we may be just about done here.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 23,316 ✭✭✭✭amacachi


    Wibbs wrote: »
    I mean the French don't have a chip on their shoulder* about those bastard Italians who influenced their romance language and killed off Gaulish by successive waves of invasion, killing and enslavement. Ditto for the Spaniards.

    I was under the impression that there are fairly big populations in both countries with chips on their shoulders (perhaps that's unfair if it's justified) about others within their countries killing off their languages.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 892 ✭✭✭opti0nal


    Core questions need to be answered:

    What exactly is a 'network Gaeltacht'?

    What procedures are used to award this status?

    What are the measurable benefits and advantages of the status and how much do they cost?

    Where 'network Gaeltacht' status is given, what procedures will apply to ensure that there is no fraud?

    In relation to Clondalkin, does it meet the criteria?

    Will non Irish speakers be permitted to use Irish speaking tills in shops in Clondalkin?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,772 ✭✭✭Cú Giobach


    junder wrote: »
    Irish is offered in catholic maintained primary and secondary schools you can even learn it in intergrated schools either way it speaks volumes that a langauge that's compulsory in roi schools and it still needs to have speacial areas to survive. I've seen the comments by people on this site that have been forced to learn it and the comments are not very posertive
    Irish has not survived because of "special areas". It has and will survive because each generation passes it on to the next.

    Do you take your world view from cherry-picked comments on internet forums or what you see in the world around you? If you took a proper look at the status of the language you would see a shift occurred in the latter part of the 20th century, with the increase of services available through Irish, increased demand and consequent supply of Irish medium education and basically an increase in use of the language country and island wide, the attitude of people has and is continuing to shift from the negativity of most of the 20th century.

    The telling thing about this revival is that it is from the ground up, with things like TG4 and the Gaelscoileanna coming about by demand, not having just been introduced hoping people will avail of them, a true Athbheochan nua na Gaeilge.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,677 ✭✭✭deise go deo


    opti0nal wrote: »
    Core questions need to be answered:

    What exactly is a 'network Gaeltacht'?

    What procedures are used to award this status?

    What are the measurable benefits and advantages of the status and how much do they cost?

    Where 'network Gaeltacht' status is given, what procedures will apply to ensure that there is no fraud?

    In relation to Clondalkin, does it meet the criteria?

    Will non Irish speakers be permitted to use Irish speaking tills in shops in Clondalkin?


    20 Year strategy for the Irish Language
    The Government considers it appropriate that a new type of “network Gaeltacht” be recognised in the new legislation. This category will allow for targeted language planning initiatives to develop new language communities/networks outside the Gaeltacht. These will be predominantly in urban communities that have achieved a basic critical mass of community and State support for the Irish language, such as childcare facilities through Irish, gaelscoileanna, second level education through Irish, Irish language youth clubs and other services, including mother and toddler groups, Irish language religious services, etc. Specific criteria to be developed for this category will relate to public attitudes, language ability, provision of Irish-medium education and the willingness to actively participate in Irish language initiatives.

    We will have to wait for the new Gaeltacht Bill to come up in the Dáil before we know what the new criteria for Gaeltacht status or Gréasán Gaeltacht status will be.

    There is also the posibility that areas can become part of the existing Gaeltacht if they meat the criteria set out for them. I know that there is a group in Clare looking for this.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,005 ✭✭✭Enkidu


    Latin has traditionally been more of a culturally binding force than Irish - for Latin was the language of the Church, whilst English was the language of administration, and Irish the language of rural inhabitants (and rarely written, unlike latin and english).
    I know this isn't directly related to the thread, but this is a commonly held belief.

    Both by the nationalist crowd:
    Irish wasn't really a written language, because it's more pure and honest and down to earth, e.t.c.

    And the non-nationalist crowd:
    Irish was a language spoken only by boggers and was never written down until 20th century, e.t.c.

    The truth is that Irish literature is the fifth oldest Indo-European literature, consisting thousands of books, articles, poems, e.t.c. It was by no stretch of the imagination "rarely written", I mean there was literally an entire class of society who existed solely to cultivate the written word, the filid.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,796 ✭✭✭RichardAnd


    Enkidu wrote: »
    I know this isn't directly related to the thread, but this is a commonly held belief.

    Both by the nationalist crowd:
    Irish wasn't really a written language, because it's more pure and honest and down to earth, e.t.c.

    And the non-nationalist crowd:
    Irish was a language spoken only by boggers and was never written down until 20th century, e.t.c.

    The truth is that Irish literature is the fifth oldest Indo-European literature, consisting thousands of books, articles, poems, e.t.c. It was by no stretch of the imagination "rarely written", I mean there was literally an entire class of society who existed solely to cultivate the written word, the filid.


    True but I think that the idea that Irish was rarely written down stems from the likelihood that historically, the Irish that was written was probably that of scholars and the educated. The language of the common man, vernacular Irish, was probably not written because its speakers were largely illiterate and thus, they would have no access to literature or indeed, the means to understand it. I would imagine that this is why Irish is associated with rural peasants more so than scholars and thinkers.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 892 ✭✭✭opti0nal


    There is also the posibility that areas can become part of the existing Gaeltacht if they meat the criteria set out for them. I know that there is a group in Clare looking for this.
    So, numbers of Irish speakers in in area that is failing to meet its quota could be increased by adding virtual Irish speakers drawn from the 'network Gaeltachts'?

    What are the benefits of being classified as a 'network Gaeltacht? Will there be any cost to the taxpayer?

    No doubt the legislation will clarify how the 'Irish language tills in shops' will work.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,677 ✭✭✭deise go deo


    opti0nal wrote: »
    So, numbers of Irish speakers in in area that is failing to meet its quota could be increased by adding virtual Irish speakers drawn from the 'network Gaeltachts'?

    No, I dont know where that came from, but that is nothing to do with what is proposed.
    What are the benefits of being classified as a 'network Gaeltacht? Will there be any cost to the taxpayer?

    Official support for language development in the area is what seems to be on offer, Gaelscoils, provision of state services in Irish in the area and the like, but we will have to wait for the Bill to be published before we know the details.
    No doubt the legislation will clarify how the 'Irish language tills in shops' will work.

    I doubt it, should such a thing be provided, I would expect it to be at the discretion of the manager of the business.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,706 ✭✭✭junder


    junder wrote: »
    Irish is offered in catholic maintained primary and secondary schools you can even learn it in intergrated schools either way it speaks volumes that a langauge that's compulsory in roi schools and it still needs to have speacial areas to survive. I've seen the comments by people on this site that have been forced to learn it and the comments are not very posertive
    Irish has not survived because of "special areas". It has and will survive because each generation passes it on to the next.

    Do you take your world view from cherry-picked comments on internet forums or what you see in the world around you? If you took a proper look at the status of the language you would see a shift occurred in the latter part of the 20th century, with the increase of services available through Irish, increased demand and consequent supply of Irish medium education and basically an increase in use of the language country and island wide, the attitude of people has and is continuing to shift from the negativity of most of the 20th century.

    The telling thing about this revival is that it is from the ground up, with things like TG4 and the Gaelscoileanna coming about by demand, not having just been introduced hoping people will avail of them, a true Athbheochan nua na Gaeilge.

    That's just it I do take my view from the world around me of which Irish is not part of and the only evidence I see of it is the pidgin Irish spoken by the shinners at stormont and a few Irish road signs. Ironically something that both northern Ireland and the republic share is that the Irish langauge lobbyists are more interested in using Irish as a political weapon rather then real preservation of the language. I for one will never accept compulsory Irish being forced on the children of my community


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