Sábháil Ár dTeanga-Save Our Language

deise go deo

Toyota_Avensis wrote: »

Sílim go bhfuil fadhb bheag ann í rith na lae inniú faoi an fáinne, Tá sé sean fhaiseanta do dhaoine óige.. Ag an am, Bhí rud maith é agus thug sé cabhair leis an dteanga a labhairt.
AnOis, Ceapaim go bhfuil rud éigean (mar shampla an band) ar bhfad níos fearr do na laethanta atá againn anseo.. An bhfuil Comhairle ag éinne chun rud seó a dheanamh? Smaointe ar bith, inis duinn!

Tá 'Wrist Band' Gaeilge ar fail i siopa CnaG anois. Tá ceann agam.

Toyota_Avensis

Cén áit?

Krusader

deise go deo wrote: »

Tá 'Wrist Band' Gaeilge ar fail i siopa CnaG anois. Tá ceann agam.

Peictiúir nó amach leat

deise go deo

Here are a few, but these are not the ones I was talking about,

I have a black one that says 'Gaeilge' and has a thumbs up after it. The black one I have is for sale for 1 euro in the CnaG shop (6 Harcourt street, beside Stevens green.):)

An gal gréine

Fóirstinneach do mhná. B'fhearr liom ceann éadach ar nós banda allais.

dubhthach

I think the continued growth in Irish medium education will help. One thing that needs to be tackled is the lack of places in Gaelcholáisteanna. I believe there are only 1/3rd the number of positions as in Gaelscoileanna as a result alot of Gaelscoil children aren't going to get the oppurtunity to continue there education through Irish.

Personally I would think there should be a question in the Census "If given the choice of Irish medium education for your child would you avail of it", this would at least allow for planning on a regional level for provision of schools. Then again this is Ireland where long distance planning is in regards of the next election. :rolleyes:

LordSutch

Leto wrote: »

Would you like to make some suggestions?

Relax the compulsory nature of the teaching of . . . . .

Seriously, its been said time & time again in many threads, that the force feeding has done more harm then good to Irish over the dacades since it was intruduced in the 1930s as a mandatory subject, now I am not anti the Irish language, (far from it), but if you step back & think of the progress or lack of the inroads the language has made since the foundation of the State, then something is horribly wrong! either the numbers are in decline, or they are static, maybe up^ slightly? but with every child doing mandatory Irish for their whole school life, and coming out with only the Cupla Focal :cool:

I say Relax the mandatory nature in schools, and concentrate on the speaking of the langauge in popular culture, make Irish fun for the youth on a large scale (not just in the Gaelscollina), let those families who want their kids to learn Irish enjoy it in school (and at home), and those who don't, not made to be force fed something they really don't want (not spoken at home & will never be used again after their school life).

Sorry, I don't speak Irish, but I don't dislike it either.

Krusader

It doesn't work . England did it and less and less students are doing a language for their A levels

The problem is primary school teaching or lack there of in Irish

deise go deo

LordSutch wrote: »

Relax the compulsory nature of the teaching of . . . . .

Seriously, its been said time & time again in many threads, that the force feeding has done more harm then good to Irish over the dacades since it was intruduced in the 1930s as a mandatory subject, now I am not anti the Irish language, (far from it), but if you step back & think of the progress or lack of the inroads the language has made since the foundation of the State, then something is horribly wrong! either the numbers are in decline, or they are static, maybe up^ slightly? but with every child doing mandatory Irish for their whole school life, and coming out with only the Cupla Focal :cool:

I say Relax the mandatory nature in schools, and concentrate on the speaking of the langauge in popular culture, make Irish fun for the youth on a large scale (not just in the Gaelscollina), let those families who want their kids to learn Irish enjoy it in school (and at home), and those who don't, not made to be force fed something they really don't want (not spoken at home & will never be used again after their school life).

Sorry, I don't speak Irish, but I don't dislike it either.

I can understand where you are comming from, but the method of promoting a language(or languages) through making them optional was tried in England and it failed badly. If you have any examples of Languages being made optional and doing well please share them, but the evidience I have seen suggests that making languages optional is not an effective method of promoting them.

I believe that root of the problem(and there is no doubt that there is a problem) is the Curriculum, It is far to focused on Literature, poetery etc and not focused at all on teaching people to speak the Language, Learning how to speak a language naturally can be quite enjoyable(Much more so than rote learning essays) This can be seen by the popularity of Summer courses in the Gaelthacht, While your there Irish is compulsory but that dosent make the experience less enjoyable.

As for you suggestions about makeing it fun for youth, I agree fully, The future of the language is in the youth of the country, There are several organisations that promote the use of Irish in a fun way for young people and these could be supported by nthe state much more than they are.

An gal gréine

deise go deo wrote: »

Tá 'Wrist Band' Gaeilge ar fail i siopa CnaG anois. Tá ceann agam.

They are stretchable black rubber wrist-bands @ €1 each with the proceeds going to the Gaelscoil in Ratoath, Co. Meath.

deise go deo

An gal gréine wrote: »

They are stretchable black rubber wrist-bands @ €1 each with the proceeds going to the Gaelscoil in Ratoath, Co. Meath.

They said that money was for something, always wondered what.:)

subedei

if ye dont mind a newbie coming on this, I think part of the problem is adults, not just education, kids look to the purpose of irish after school and they dont see any so they arent motivated to learn it. When I was young I was terrible in Irish and had the same opinion as most kids around me that there was no point in learning it. Thankfully as I grew older I changed my mind, I only started learning the language in the last 6 months and I am 28. I could never see the purpose in learning something just to pass exams, which is how irish was taught in my school. Only when people create more of a living purpose to irish outside the school systems will this change. Not sure how this will be done tho. Even now most adults around me when I say I am learning Irish treat me like some kind of idiot or radical lol, so obviously most people have the same opinion as when they were younger.

As for education, when thinking about english speaking schools, I think perhaps more penetration into the teaching english and history and other subjects may help. Perhaps teaching the history of hiberno english and the interactions between irish and the english language when English is taught, so teaching irish children why they speak english the way they do, rather than teach them the way English is spoken in England. Or teaching them Irish literature and poetry through the language of English, in English class, motivating people to discover them in their original language. Or when teaching history teach the importance of the language to understanding Irish history completely. And perhaps having classes on the purposes of Irish and the reasons for learning it, like its unique way of viewing the world and describing it.

Perhaps I am speaking out my.... and some of this has already been discussed elsewhere and some of this is already happening and I am just not aware of it, if it is, I apologise!

Krusader

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0201/1224288693721.html

Ceapaim go bhfuil roinnt ciall sa rud atá á rá aige

The Irish Times - Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Loss of Irish damaged confidence, book claims


A CONTROVERSIAL claim has been made in a new study that Irish parents who believed their children only had a future with the English language may have been contributing to a loss of economic creativity and self-confidence.

The analysis by Dr John Walsh, lecturer in NUI Galway’s school of language, literature and culture, contends that the shift from Irish to English use in the 19th century had a detrimental effect on both Ireland’s economy and its society.

His new work has been described by Prof Peadar Kirby, who is professor of international politics at University of Limerick (UL), as “one of the most important books written on the Irish language for a very long time”.

“For the first time, it examines the claim made by authors as far back as Thomas Davis in the 1840s and up to historian Joe Lee’s magisterial book of 1989 that the decline of Irish as the vernacular language has had a detrimental effect on Ireland’s socio-economic development,” he said.

Prof Kirby was speaking at the book’s publication in Galway City Museum.

“The experience of language shift in the 19th century was a remarkably painful experience,” he said.

“This is a point which has not been acknowledged, but which affected us deeply. Contrast our sense of confidence and creativity with Scandinavian countries which held on to their languages,” he said.

“Walsh’s book adopts a rigorous social scientific approach to interrogating this claim, contributing important insights not only to debates about Ireland’s future development but also to international debates about culture and development,” the professor told those attending the launch.

“Coming at a time of major national reappraisal of where we are going as a society, this book has a huge contribution to make to charting the road towards a better future.”

Dr Walsh was appointed as a Fulbright Irish Language Scholar in 2009, and he subsequently spent six months engaged in researching the subject matter of the book at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in the United States.

He examined previous writing on the issue, dating back to Thomas Davis and Douglas Hyde, and chose three Gaeltacht areas as case studies.

He also investigated areas outside the traditional Gaeltacht, such as Galway city and west Belfast. Dr Walsh additionally examined the new development policy of Údarás na Gaeltachta, and looked at the changing focus of the organisation, particularly in the light of renewed concern about the strength of Irish in the Gaeltacht.

“I conclude that we need a new theoretical model, combining elements of sociolinguistics and socio-cultural development, in order to better understand the link between language and development,” Dr Walsh said.

LORNA SIGGINS, Western Correspondent