Raising your children through Irish

JustCoz

I was just wondering if anyone here has given thought to raising their children through Irish? It's something that I would really like to do. They will definitely be going to a bunscoil lán-gaelach anyway but living outside the Gaeltacht are would make it difficult. I think that there is alot to be said for bringing up children in a bi-lingual environment.

Was just wondering what other people in this forum think about it?

hullaballoo

I have always imagined that my house will be a bi-lingual one. I really think it helps give children a sense of identity if they speak Irish. It also means there's a fair chance they'll be good at languages in school (other than Irish and English, that is)

There is one caveat though. I am aware of a few cases of people who develop serious problems with English grammar and other language instruments when they grow up on a linguistic diet of mostly Irish.

I think it's important to get the balance right between English and Irish, but I suppose it also comes down to the child's linguistic ability as well.

besty

apparently children that are raised using 2 languages use more of their brain and this has beneficial consequences for the child's learning ability in later life. in short, not a bad idea

simu

I am definitely going to do it.

/edit

Áis mhaith anseo/Good resource here: http://www.comhluadar.ie/fergal_updated/eolas_new.htm

JustCoz

So am I. They are going to be exposed to English anyway by the time they go to school ,but I think that it would be very beneficial with regards to learning languages in general, not just Irish

Good website!

Suaimhneach

I love the idea, that in the Gaelteacht, they go to school to learn english!

Bi-lingual for sure.

Gael

Some people still worry about a lack of exposure to English if the children are raised with Irish, but the fact is that unless you keep your children locked up in the house with no access to any form of media or other human beings except yourself, it is virtually impossible(even in the Gaeltacht) that your child will not be exposed to huge amounts of English. English is unavoidably everywhere and young children are lingusitic sponges that suck up all around them.

noby

We are doing it at the moment. We have a 2yo and a 1yo. My wife is from An Rinn, and teaches in a Gaelscoil, so talks to them in Irish all the time. I'm trying my best, but probably speak half and half Irish and English. Funny how it comes back to you from your school days.

As was said, they'll have no trouble picking up English (child minder, grandparents, tv etc).

Grudaire

I went to a gaelscoil in Dublin, although our English was no better then anywhere else's each of the 9 lads got really good junior cert results, 10A's, at least 3people got nine A's, I as one of the worst only got 2 A's,

Not only that but we all left with a love of the language, well above thgat of those from a gná-scoil
It is to be advised

Dónall

I think it's important that your rear your child in a language that is your native language or in which you have near-native proficiency, something which is relatively rare.

This has become much more of an issue in countries like France or the US where immigrant parents speak to their kids in French or English in the hope that this will help them socially (not unlike parts of Ireland in the 19th century! Except they were doing it in their own country!) Some studies have shown (and I'm afraid I don;t have any citations on hand) that it can be bad for a child's linguistic development in general if one or both of their parents speak to them in a language they are not fully competent in.

The ideal situation in rearing a bilingual child at home is one I saw in Spain where both parents understood spoke English and Spanish; so, the dad, who was American, spoke to the kid in English and the mum, who was Spanish, spoke in Spanish, but everyone could understand everyone else! It's worked really well for them, but it's been hard work.

I think people sometimes underestimate the difficulties of acquiring a language per se. And in particular the difficulties of learning a second language.

I knew other cases in Spain where I met people who's parents spoke different languages but they weren't entirely bilingual themselves. This surprised me at first, but then I saw how much work is involved in helping a child to be truly bilingual. The typical case where it didn't work so well was, for instance, other friends of mine - Welsh and Spanish - where the father spoke English to the kid but the had to translate everything over into Spanish for his wife who didn't understand English very well. The net result of this is that the kid is not fully bilingual in that he has perfect native Spanish but his English, while excellent, is quite heavily accented and, more importantly, he often translates directly from Spanish when he speaks English and says things like "I want to make piss" when he wants to go to the loo.

Anyway, my point is: be very careful and don't expect it to just happen by osmosis!

simu

D&#243 wrote: »

Anyway, my point is: be very careful and don't expect it to just happen by osmosis!

I agree with you there. You have to be aware of what you're trying to do. I was brought up speaking Irish in a city and although my mother's a native speaker from a Gaeltacht and my father has reached the standard of a native speaker, they certainly made a lot of extra effort so that we'd have good Irish. You have to make sure the kids are exposed to media in Irish and have other people that they can speak Irish with, you have to make sure you read them stories in Irish and talk to them about all sorts of topics in Irish and that they know the culture of Irish too (rhymes, customs, plants, place names etc), give them an awareness that they're bilingual and how important this is and you have to stick with it through thick and thin!

That said, I think it's a good idea to encourage, say, the parents of kids who are going to a Gaelscoil but might not have perfect Irish to speak it with their kids now and then too - it'll show them that it's not just a school thing!

Dónall

On that note also, there's no underestimating the enormously positive fact of cartoons on TG4 and the wealth of children's books that are being published in Irish these days. I don't know how it compares to a few years ago but I do have the impression there's an awful lot more on offer these days to complement bringing a kid up with Irish. That and the mushrooming of the Gaelscoileanna of course....

simu

Yup - they're even running ads on TV encouraging it. I saw one over Christmas - it was quite well done - they had Dara Ó Cinnéide on it and a few others. "Ná bímis ar an nglúin dheireanach de chainteoirí dúchais" or something like that was the slogan.

Dónall

Yeah, chonaic mé é uair amháin um nollaig - shíl mé go raibh sé go hiontach! TG4 abú! :cool: