Chinese guards?

Degsy

Just saw a chinese guard in parnell st..not a probabationer,a proper,uniformed Garda only chinese.
I wonder are there many more of them and have they waived the requirement to speak irish?

karlog

Cant see why they would have to speak Irish.

Asking a guard to speak Irish when you know English too well is an ar*ehole thing to do.

Chinafoot

How do you know he wasn't born here to Chinese parents and can speak Irish?

Nolanger

Saw that guy too this week - short man.

Degsy

Chinafoot wrote: »

How do you know he wasn't born here to Chinese parents and can speak Irish?

I heard him asking a bloke to move his car and he had a chinese accent.
If he was born here,he wouldnt.
I'm not knocking the man at all,its just the first chinese cop i've seen in this country and one of the requirements was to be able to speak irish..maybe it no longer is,thats what i'm asking.

FruitLover

Degsy wrote: »

I heard him asking a bloke to move his car and he had a chinese accent.

Are you able to distinguish a Chinese accent from a Korean accent?

mikemac wrote: »

They could be assigned to the Gaelteacht and they have to go.
So how are they going to manage?

You may as well ask how Irish gardaí could manage disputes or crime between foreigners. With the foreign population of Irish cities in the 21st century, we need foreign gardaí who understand the language and culture of our foreign populous.

xia

And maybe he speaks irish as well? Or is that not possible just because he speaks english with an accent?

Dirk Gently

I vaguely recall a recruitment drive a few years ago looking for applicants from various ethnic backgrounds, idea being that it promotes cultural balance and also helps improve policing the various communities. No idea how successful it was but perhaps the first of the recruits are turning out about now. Might gradually see a few more over the next few years. Lets face it, there's probably more need for fluent mandarin speakers than fluent Irish speakers on the beat in Dublin. Most if not all Irish speakers will also speak english.

A Primal Nut

The idea guards have to speak Irish is retarded...and way more people speak Arabic/Polish/Lithuanian than the 5 people who speak it in the Gealteacht so shouldn't that be a requirement? No, because that would be silly. Besides, the 5 people who speak Irish regularly also speak English.

Seen 1 or 2 Chinese cops around Dun Laoghaire. And its not hard to tell by looking whether or not they are Chinese or Korean.

Nevyn

Degsy wrote: »

If he was born here,he wouldnt.

That isn't so esp if his milk tongue is not english despite being born and bred here.

Degsy wrote: »

I'm not knocking the man at all,its just the first chinese cop i've seen in this country and one of the requirements was to be able to speak irish..maybe it no longer is,thats what i'm asking.

Chance are he has pretty good Irish esp if there were more then 2 languages in the house hold growing up.

FruitLover

Thaedydal wrote: »

That isn't so esp if his milk tongue is not english despite being born and bred here.

That doesn't make sense. You can't live your entire life in Ireland and not have an Irish accent when speaking English. The only way to have a non-Irish accent would be if you spent more time speaking English with non-natives.

AnonoBoy

mikemac wrote: »

Gardai can be assigned anywhere.
They could be assigned to the Gaelteacht and they have to go.
So how are they going to manage?

Yeah the auld Gaeltacht regions are a hotbed of crime alright. And nobody there can speak a word of English at all. Jaysus - sure he'd be destroyed by them Gael Goers altogether!

I saw my first Asian Garda last year on the way to the EP. He had the unenviable task of having to deal with some scumbags shop-lifting in a Tesco shop somewhere in the midlands (can't remember where we stopped).

I say we should be encouraging people to join the Gardai not automatically counting them out because they can't speak a language that the majority of Irish people can't speak fluently anyway.

markopantelic

when people say unfortunate situation of having to deal with scumbags...why? thats their job. trust me they won't be offended by some retards using some racial slur against them.

ive seen a few asian guards, including one at st.patricks day i felt sorry for her all the tourists found it interesting as well as a couple of ignorant irish people but they weren't offensive they just looked stupid the way they were going on.

Nevyn

FruitLover wrote: »

That doesn't make sense. You can't live your entire life in Ireland and not have an Irish accent when speaking English. The only way to have a non-Irish accent would be if you spent more time speaking English with non-natives.

If he grew up keeping with in the very tight knit Asian communities which we have in this country then it is very easy to grow up with that sort of an accent having been born here.

ntlbell

Thaedydal wrote: »

If he grew up keeping with in the very tight knit Asian communities which we have in this country then it is very easy to grow up with that sort of an accent having been born here.

surley they'd be exposed to irish accents everywhere?

school, getting on a bus, buying a sandwhich, answering the door to some strange politician

if there's people walking around ireland today born and bred and have a non irish aceent.

well.

i'll eat my hat.

what a bizzare thing to say for the sake of argument

Amalgam

It works both ways, you have children born to African parents that have Dublin accents you could cut with a bread knife.

Jeanious

ntlbell wrote: »

surley they'd be exposed to irish accents everywhere?

school, getting on a bus, buying a sandwhich, answering the door to some strange politician

if there's people walking around ireland today born and bred and have a non irish aceent.

well.

i'll eat my hat.

what a bizzare thing to say for the sake of argument

im not gonna say its commonplace, but i know one chinese lad who was born and bred here, but has a recognisable chinese accent, i.e. some pronunciation and that sort of quick way of speaking, but with half a dublin accent as well...hard to describe but put it this way, ya'd know by listening to him that he was raised in dublin to chinese parents.

DubMedic

AnonoBoy wrote: »

Yeah the auld Gaeltacht regions are a hotbed of crime alright. And nobody there can speak a word of English.

I say we should be encouraging people to join the Gardai not automatically counting them out because they can't speak a language that the majority of Irish people can't speak fluently anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA0a62wmd1A .

Apologies if Off Topic but it highlights something important about the native language of Ireland.

There was also a piece on Crimecall or Prime Time some time ago in which they spoke to members of the AGS Reserve, one of those members was Chinese ( Apologies if I'm wrong about the country in which he was born ).

.

Dandelion6

The requirement to have a qualification in Irish was scrapped a few years ago. Now they have to learn Irish as part of their training.

WindSock

Degsy wrote: »

I heard him asking a bloke to move his car and he had a chinese accent.
If he was born here,he wouldnt.
I'm not knocking the man at all,its just the first chinese cop i've seen in this country and one of the requirements was to be able to speak irish..maybe it no longer is,thats what i'm asking.

Maybe they need a Chinese speaking cop? He may also have learned enough Irish to get by, like most other non bog coppers

WindSock

Thaedydal wrote: »

If he grew up keeping with in the very tight knit Asian communities which we have in this country then it is very easy to grow up with that sort of an accent having been born here.

Yeah, I heard somewhere that by te age of around 5, your accent is pretty much set. There may be some influence after that but your main accent will always remain.

c4cat

WindSock wrote: »

Yeah, I heard somewhere that by te age of around 5, your accent is pretty much set. There may be some influence after that but your main accent will always remain.

I agree with you, my Daughter lived overseas from the age of 2 till 9 yrs and was educated in international schools in NZ, Japan and Hong-Kong. For the past 4 years she has been educated in Ireland. Now she is 13 yrs old I have not got a clue what accent she has aquired now but I know she has not picked up any of the Irish accent yet. I myself having travelled and lived overseas for work for most of my working life have lost much of my original accent, the accent I naturally speak with now is hardly recognised in the area I was brought up in my formative years but I still do have twangs of my native accent.

Degsy

WindSock wrote: »

Maybe they need a Chinese speaking cop? He may also have learned enough Irish to get by, like most other non bog coppers

It makes sense really,chinese are quite insular and one of the problems in dealing with crime in thier communities is thier apparant unwillingness to talk to non-chinese.
At last a bit of common sense being used in this country.
And as for the baility to speak irish..there are people in this country (usually with beards) who demand that EVERYTHING be subtitled in irish and that legal documents etc be written in irish,there have been cases of these numpties refusing to recognise courts because the judge couldnt address them fluently in irish.

A Primal Nut

WindSock wrote: »

Yeah, I heard somewhere that by te age of around 5, your accent is pretty much set. There may be some influence after that but your main accent will always remain.

Yes, but if you learn a new language it is different. I was in Central America and most of the people who learned English as a second language in secondary school and college and who could now speak it fluently, spoke it with an American accent, very different from when they speak Spanish.

I know some Chinese people who came over here to study and have been here 4/5 years and who have Irish accents when they speak English. Although they learned it, they never really spoke it until they came over here.

AnonoBoy

Degsy wrote: »

It makes sense really,chinese are quite insular and one of the problems in dealing with crime in thier communities is thier apparant unwillingness to talk to non-chinese.

Kinda like the Irish unwillingness to talk to any member of the Gardai.

Jip

3 Chinese people graduated from the Garda training college earlier this year, 2 of which are stationed in the city centre. I'm pretty sure one of them at least was interviewed for the news at the time.

Kintarō Hattori

There's an Asian guard (chinese/japanese/korean) station out in Rathmines. Have seen her quite often.

Degsy

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

There's an Asian guard (chinese/japanese/korean) station out in Rathmines. Have seen her quite often.

Unlikely to be japenese or korean..the huge majority of asians here are chinese.

deaddonkey

ntlbell wrote: »

surley they'd be exposed to irish accents everywhere?

school, getting on a bus, buying a sandwhich, answering the door to some strange politician

if there's people walking around ireland today born and bred and have a non irish aceent.

well.

i'll eat my hat.

what a bizzare thing to say for the sake of argument

I've lived northside dublin since i was 2 months old with an english dad. I have an accent that sounds English in Ireland, but Irish in England.

Greenmachine

DubMedic wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA0a62wmd1A .

Apologies if Off Topic but it highlights something important about the native language of Ireland.

There was a piece on crimecall or Prime Time some time ago in which they spoke to members of the AGS Reserve, one of those members was Chinese ( Apologies if I'm wrong about the country in which he was born ).

.

Agreed must admit I am pretty clueless when it comes to Irish. reminded me of a thread I wnted to start actually thankd Doc.

A Primal Nut wrote: »

Yes, but if you learn a new language it is different. I was in Central America and most of the people who learned English as a second language in secondary school and college and who could now speak it fluently, spoke it with an American accent, very different from when they speak Spanish.

I know some Chinese people who came over here to study and have been here 4/5 years and who have Irish accents when they speak English. Although they learned it, they never really spoke it until they came over here.

Agreed Bro ex learned American english in Spain, spoke english with an American Accent.

jayteecork

I think this is great, we can have our own Irish supercop like they have in hong Kong.

Kintarō Hattori

Degsy wrote: »

Unlikely to be japenese or korean..the huge majority of asians here are chinese.

I was just trying to avoid being called racist if I assumed they were Chinese. You know what it's like.

mehmeh12

I think the whole needing the irish language thing id total BS. I did my leaving cert 3 years ago and just did a degree in UCD. Irish is the most useless thing to know. Unless you live in a actual gaeltacht area where in life is their a use for speaking Irish? I think its appalling that this is still being taught in school.

Degsy

mehmeh12 wrote: »

I think the whole needing the irish language thing id total BS. I did my leaving cert 3 years ago and just did a degree in UCD. Irish is the most useless thing to know. Unless you live in a actual gaeltacht area where in life is their a use for speaking Irish? I think its appalling that this is still being taught in school.

Its all due to a minority of trouble makers.
Where i work,they went to huge expense translating all the signs and notices into "irish" for whatever reason even if it meant some ridiculous words.."fotochopail" for example.
Pathetic.

Alun

A Primal Nut wrote: »

Yes, but if you learn a new language it is different. I was in Central America and most of the people who learned English as a second language in secondary school and college and who could now speak it fluently, spoke it with an American accent, very different from when they speak Spanish.

Agreed. I'm English, but spent most of my adult life in Germany and the Netherlands where I learnt and spoke the languages with an accent local to the areas I was living in, and any native speakers I come across here can immediately tell which region I lived in while living there just from my accent. I haven't picked up any semblance of an Irish accent while living here though, and probably never will, although I find myself picking up a lot of Hiberno-English turns of phrase of late. My own English accent is pretty non-specific and has been watered down by years of living abroad but dealing with non-native English speakers for my work.

fitzyshea

There are loads of guards who are not irish. We have eastern europeans and asian guards. The irish requirement was wavied.

JoeSchmoe

there is also a female chinese garda, stationed in swords i believe

Victor

The Vietnamese boat people that came here in the 1970s were ethnic Chinese. While some intergrated well, others didn't.

A Primal Nut wrote: »

Yes, but if you learn a new language it is different. I was in Central America and most of the people who learned English as a second language in secondary school and college and who could now speak it fluently, spoke it with an American accent, very different from when they speak Spanish.

Thats because they learned English from people with American accents. European Spanish speakers consider American Spanish speakers to speak in an antiquated fashion - the language has started to split.

FruitLover

Thaedydal wrote: »

If he grew up keeping with in the very tight knit Asian communities which we have in this country then it is very easy to grow up with that sort of an accent having been born here.

Only if he spoke English with those other Asian people more often than with Irish people. Not likely.

Degsy wrote: »

Unlikely to be japenese or korean..the huge majority of asians here are chinese.

The garda in Rathmines is Chinese, but I've met a Korean garda in the city centre.

mehmeh12

At the risk of sounding blunt why is having Garda of non Irish nationality such a big deal? If i'm being robbed i really don't care who comes just as long as they help to some degree.

sdanseo

Could easily have been a reserve, few chinese lads doing that job. Although there are a few fulltime Gardaí from other ethnicities as well. I for one am glad to see them, if we're going to have a multicultural society then why not a multicultural police force? In the wildly varied different jobs I've done to date, I've found foreigners to be just as hard-wroking and friendly as their Irish counterparts. A few of them would probably even go to the trouble of learning Irish; they've learnt english haven't they?

People can rarely tell the difference between Reserves and Full-time Gardaí - they dont wear blue epaulettes, just have GR rather than H, D, R etc for the districts - followed by a number.

BraziliaNZ

yeah i saw a woman one coming out of the Bridewell recently and a man one on Grafton st lol. They look so funny in the little uniforms.

AnonoBoy

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

yeah i saw a woman one coming out of the Bridewell recently and a man one on Grafton st lol. They look so funny in the little uniforms.

Wow - that's not patronising or condescending in the slightest.

miami365

Victor wrote: »

The Vietnamese boat people that came here in the 1970s were ethnic Chinese.

Where did you get this rubbish from? The refugees that came here were from the French colonised South Vietnam exiled by the Communist Chinese North Vietnam.

Your quote is on par with calling the Irish ethnic English.

Asia is a massive continent with people of different ethnicities from caucasian Russians to black Indians hence it does my head in when people assume all Asians are Chinese.

For the record I was born in Saigon, brought here when I was two and consider myself Irish despite having Vietnamese parents and yes I do have a Dub accent.

lightening

Do you visit Vietnam much? I did the whole travel from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, blew me a way, best trip ever. Still obsessed with Vietnamese food.

topper75

Gárdaí on tSín? Is dócha gur chuid don réabhlóid é.

Agus BEIDH an réabhlóid ar an teilifís!

WindSock

lightening wrote: »

Do you visit Vietnam much? I did the whole travel from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, blew me a way, best trip ever. Still obsessed with Vietnamese food.

Is there anywhere in Dublin that does good Vietnamese food? I went to that place in Temple Bar the other day, but it wasn't open. Haven't tried it yet.

lightening

Yeah, that's Ho'Sen, really good place, lovely food and quiet authentic. I hope it's still open, I have been there lots of times. Don't know of any more proper ones, SABA and the Koh in the Italian quarter do bits and pieces, but not all Vietnamese.

miami365

lightening wrote: »

Do you visit Vietnam much? I did the whole travel from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, blew me a way, best trip ever. Still obsessed with Vietnamese food.

Na not since birth.
Was brought up as Irish so wouldnt be a great one to ask about their food, customs, language etc but heard it's a good spot from people that have holidayed there.
Was a big enough step for me to go to Oz for a year let alone anywhere in Asia.

miami365

topper75 wrote: »

Gárdaí on tSín? Is dócha gur chuid don réabhlóid é.

Agus BEIDH an réabhlóid ar an teilifís!

Irish is fierce rusty but are you on about a revolution or something?
Have you seen South Park's episode about Cartman and the Chinese?
Very funny and so true.
China and India represent over a third of the world's population, God help us if they decide to start something.

lightening

miami365 wrote: »

heard it's a good spot from people that have holidayed there.
Was a big enough step for me to go to Oz for a year let alone anywhere in Asia.

Yeah, you strike me as Irish as Irish. Check it out though, amazing place. I'm sure your folks tell you all the time! I will deffo be heading back, want to check out the places I missed. Saigon is nuts.