Irish or Latin?

Brussels Sprout

Which of these languages would it be better to be fluent in?

Ricardo G

French

phasers

Mandarin

Praetorian Saighdiuir

Yeah defo French.

liah

Latin, if you're academic or want to learn more languages. It gives a good base in root words making it a bit easier to pick up Latin-based languages (albeit, not much). Or into the sciences or law, I suppose.

Irish if you just want to learn a language, enjoy Irish culture or would visit and/or live in an Irish-speaking community.

antodeco

English

easyeason3

German.

Russian.

James2693

Bastard! LOL

Badgermonkey

Was Ulster-Scots a joke that got out of hand?

איך בין עקסטרע באָרד דעם אָוונט.

starbelgrade

Latin.

Because you never know when you might end up being transported back in time to ancient Rome.

It's a more regular occurrence than is reported in the media. What they don't want you to know is that there are evil corporations sending people back in time on a regular basis & although many journalists know about it, they are unwilling or unable to speak out about it.

Jim Corr told me all about it when I went for a pint with him last week.

squod

Whats pog mo thon in latin?

Cakes.

squod wrote: »

Whats pog mo thon in latin?

Meos suaviari

latin if you ever want to learn any other romantic languages

Ricardo G

squod wrote: »

Whats pog mo thon in latin?

noht om gop

humberklog

Brussels Sprout wrote: »

Which of these languages would it be better to be fluent in?

Neither, both are equally pretentious and pointless.

Esperanto FTW!

squod

Cakesofrice wrote: »

Meos suaviari

Doesn't really have the same impact. No, dem oirish know how to insult peeple

deise go deo

Is fear liom Gaeilge.

Pretty_Pistol

All the people I know who took latin either failed it or found it very difficult. They were good at other languages.

grrrrrrrrrr

At least Latin could be useful if your studying medicine.

Irish may be use if ermmmm..... ammmm..

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Elvish. Sounds beautiful.

deise go deo

grrrrrrrrrr wrote: »

At least Latin could be useful if your studying medicine.

Irish may be use if ermmmm..... ammmm..

You want a job in Ireland? Lots of jobs here need Irish.;)

starbelgrade

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

Elvish. Sounds beautiful.

A huh.

Crasp

Badgermonkey wrote: »

Was Ulster-Scots a joke that got out of hand?

איך בין עקסטרע באָרד דעם אָוונט.

i guess you won't be voting for German

Einhard

squod wrote: »

Whats pog mo thon in latin?

Cakesofrice wrote: »

Meos suaviari

You just made that up!!

Osculare culūm meum.

Kiss my arse in Latin.

Ah, nothing like learning practical skills like latin when on the dole!!:p




Latin FTW. You can't become Pope with Irish!

u140acro3xs7dm

Well Latin is useless unless you want to become a paedophile Priest where with Irish you could get a job withTG4.
aka both useless

foxinsox

Serious answer:

I would say Latin might be more useful..

Law

Medicine

Binomial Nomenclature

I'm sure there are more professions where it is still used as a universal standard. I do a lot of work with plants and once you get the jist of the ol' Latin the names of plants and animals all make some sense..



AH answer:

Your mater!!

Cakes.

Einhard wrote: »

You just made that up!!

Osculare culūm meum.

Kiss my arse in Latin.

Ah, nothing like learning practical skills like latin when on the dole!!:p




Latin FTW. You can't become Pope with Irish!

I typed póg mot hoin into google translate and translated it straight to latin :P

Einhard

Raquel Gray Theater wrote: »

Well Latin is useless unless you want to become a paedophile Priest where with Irish you could get a job withTG4.
aka both useless

So anything that doesn't relate to the workplace and getting a job is devoid of value?

Einhard

Cakesofrice wrote: »

I typed póg mot hoin into google translate and translated it straight to latin :P

Feckin google. I spend ages trying to learn Latin, and then google comes along and makes me hard won skills redundant! :mad::p

u140acro3xs7dm

Einhard wrote: »

So anything that doesn't relate to the workplace and getting a job is devoid of value?

Well im sure Spanish, French , German, Italian, SQL, Mandarin etc would be of way more value. If you are learning it for personal interest like learning history that would be different for every person.

GLaDOS

Latin would be more usful, I'd rather be able to speak Irish from a cultural point of view though.

Wibbs

phasers wrote: »

Mandarin

Meh this is one trotted out a lot, but I dunno phasers. It's lauded as one of the most widely spoken languages and that's true but only among Chinese people. It's not like Spanish or English or French or Arabic, that are spoken by many millions up to billions of people who arent actually Spanish or English or French or Arabic if you see what I mean. It's not unlike the Chinese economic miracle itself, local and not transmissable across other cultures. No? name me one Chinese company off the top of your head. Not so easy?* For all the hype the vast majority of Chinese folks are on a bowl of rice a day cooked over a log fire. The last time the average Chinese person was on a par or better off per capita than the equivalent European was around the 9th century. The language is the same. Looks like a plan, but until Chinese cultural influence kicks off, not worth learning beyond an academic interest IMHO.

Pretty_Pistol wrote: »

All the people I know who took latin either failed it or found it very difficult. They were good at other languages.

Yea it's a right bastard of a language. Loadsa genders and all that bollocks IIRC from a loooong time ago in scoile. It's a very logical language. A bit lacking in blood and bone and more about crystalline thought. Even among the Romans most of the everyday people, the vulgus, spoke sermo(a?) vulgi, IE "vulgar" or common latin(or fell back on Greek). That's where we get the guts of the romance languages today, rather than classical latin. Then at one point the micks got involved and did what we do with language and started playing with it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiberno-Latin Sadly that didnt take off.




*Yet when Japan was mentioned in the 70's 80's and 90's and today, it would be easy to name 5 Japanese companies. That's why they're still there.

wolfpawnat

Brussels Sprout wrote: »

Which of these languages would it be better to be fluent in?

Studied both in school and went to an all-Irish speaking school for 5th and 6th year. Latin is great for scientific and language subjects. But I enjoyed Irish too.

u140acro3xs7dm

Wibbs wrote: »

Meh this is one trotted out a lot, but I dunno phasers. It's lauded as one of the most widely spoken languages and that's true but only among Chinese people. It's not like Spanish or English or French or Arabic, that are spoken by many millions up to billions of people who arent actually Spanish or English or French or Arabic if you see what I mean. It's not unlike the Chinese economic miracle itself, local and not transmissable across other cultures. No? name me one Chinese company off the top of your head. Not so easy?* For all the hype the vast majority of Chinese folks are on a bowl of rice a day cooked over a log fire. The last time the average Chinese person was on a par or better off per capita than the equivalent European was around the 9th century. The language is the same. Looks like a plan, but until Chinese cultural influence kicks off, not worth learning beyond an academic interest IMHO.

Yea it's a right bastard of a language. Loadsa genders and all that bollocks IIRC from a loooong time ago in scoile. It's a very logical language. A bit lacking in blood and bone and more about crystalline thought. Even among the Romans most of the everyday people, the vulgus, spoke sermo(a?) vulgi, IE "vulgar" or common latin(or fell back on Greek). That's where we get the guts of the romance languages today, rather than classical latin. Then at one point the micks got involved and did what we do with language and started playing with it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiberno-Latin Sadly that didnt take off.




*Yet when Japan was mentioned in the 70's 80's and 90's and today, it would be easy to name 5 Japanese companies. That's why they're still there.

Im no expert but china is the 2nd biggest economy in the world and growing. They are by far and away the biggest manufacturers in the world. If you spoke mandarin you could broker some good deals ahead of your competition.

Wibbs

foxinsox wrote: »

AH answer:

Your mater!!

Tua(o) mater!! IIRC

One of my faves is bibo ergo sum, I drink therefore I am. The philosophy of the sot.

St. Robbie

Irish

Krusader

B'fhearr liom Gaeilge a labhairt

darragh16

Irish... Great to take the piss outta foreigners with it!

foxinsox

Wibbs wrote: »

Tua(o) mater!! IIRC

One of my faves is bibo ergo sum, I drink therefore I am. The philosophy of the sot.

You are right I'd say.. I couldn't remember what "your" was

it's been many many years ago ..

Wibbs

Raquel Gray Theater wrote: »

Im no expert but china is the 2nd biggest economy in the world and growing.

Yet the vast majority of Chinese people are far far below the western per capita worth.

They are by far and away the biggest manufacturers in the world.

Yes. At the moment. With an artificially controlled currency and dirt poor wages. IMHO you're looking at the biggest bubble in recent times since there was a catastrophic gas leak in the Wrigley factory. Look at the products. Each apple iphone nets the chinese company about 30-40 bucks, yet nets Apple in the US more than 400 bucks. To quote our American mates, "you do the maaath". Like I said name just one Chinese company with a world presence. Hell name just one Chinese company.

If you spoke mandarin you could broker some good deals ahead of your competition.

Maybe, maybe not Raquel Gray Theater. How many high end employees of the European and American companies who offload their manufacturing to China speak Mandarin? I'd say eff all. The attitude may more likely be "so long as they keep making our shít for eff all, they can spake martian for all we care".

Until Mandarin is a wanted and needed language outside the People's Republic, it's just a blip on the world language stage. Indeed it's very nature may preclude it from being much more than local influence. Yes it's ancient with a history going back millennia which is damned impressive, but that also suggests a culture being pickled. That was the case with China in the past. A land of great minds and sporadic innovation, but also quite stultifying tradition. They came up with moveable type printing(welll the Koreans did), but their alphabet/langauge is too damned long winded and complex, hence by the time Europeans gained access to the country they were still mostly transcribing literature by hand. Whereas in Europe within a generation of the printing press we were looking down the barrel of major industrial and scientific and moral and political and religious debate. Without the French, the Brits and especially the Germans in the 19th/early 20th century China wouldn't have had a rail or road network. They were quite the late medieval society until the turn of the 19th to 20th century. Short answer, I'll reserve judgement on China and on Mandarin.

policarp

Irish people should be able to speak Irish, and if they want, study Latin as well or any other language for that matter.

Cú Giobach

Latin? Non Gradus Anus Rodentum!
Gaeilge Abú.

Wibbs

Cú Giobach wrote: »

Latin? Non Gradus Anus Rodentum!
Gaeilge Abú.

One could say kinda similar of Irish. More speakers, yes but worldwide a latin base would have arguably more use as a background in one's linguistic bag. I was shíte at Latin in school, but it was enough to get me by in Spain, Italy and France. Well... enough to let me have a stab at a notion of what was going on. Unless I was in the Scottish Isles or the Isle of man with a local or at a real stretch a Cornish speaker Irish might give me some insight, but by comparison?

Though of late I have to say I am quite tempted to learn old Irish.

Barna77

bluewolf wrote: »

latin if you ever want to learn any other romantic languages

Valentines day is well gone now...

... thank god for that

u140acro3xs7dm

Wibbs wrote: »

Yet the vast majority of Chinese people are far far below the western per capita worth.Yes. At the moment. With an artificially controlled currency and dirt poor wages. IMHO you're looking at the biggest bubble in recent times since there was a catastrophic gas leak in the Wrigley factory. Look at the products. Each apple iphone nets the chinese company about 30-40 bucks, yet nets Apple in the US more than 400 bucks. To quote our American mates, "you do the maaath". Like I said name just one Chinese company with a world presence. Hell name just one Chinese company. Maybe, maybe not ET_phone_home. How many high end employees of the European and American companies who offload their manufacturing to China speak Mandarin? I'd say eff all. The attitude may more likely be "so long as they keep making our shít for eff all, they can spake martian for all we care".

Until Mandarin is a wanted and needed language outside the People's Republic, it's just a blip on the world language stage. Indeed it's very nature may preclude it from being much more than local influence. Yes it's ancient with a history going back millennia which is damned impressive, but that also suggests a culture being pickled. That was the case with China in the past. A land of great minds and sporadic innovation, but also quite stultifying tradition. They came up with moveable type printing(welll the Koreans did), but their alphabet/langauge is too damned long winded and complex, hence by the time Europeans gained access to the country they were still mostly transcribing literature by hand. Whereas in Europe within a generation of the printing press we were looking down the barrel of major industrial and scientific and moral and political and religious debate. Without the French, the Brits and especially the Germans in the 19th/early 20th century China wouldn't have had a rail or road network. They were quite the late medieval society until the turn of the 19th to 20th century. Short answer, I'll reserve judgement on China and on Mandarin.

Well you are talking high end products, but if you wanted to be a self employed importer of certain goods it would be such a useful language. If you work in a huge corporation its as useless as Irish or Latin. As i say every person is different. Knowing a local language in Papua new Guinea might make someone millions but would be of no benefit to the rest of the world.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

darragh16 wrote: »

Irish... Great to take the piss outta foreigners with it!

You can do that in latin!
"He who is called Roman goes in the house"!

Gaudizeit

Which is more useful, right now....Irish. There are jobs going with knowing this language. It's not a dead language. It's our first language.

Latin would not be useful right now. It may help me with learning another language, but that's learning 2 languages to get use out of the first one - latin.

Lumen

I studied Latin. I think its usefulness is overrated. Worth studying for curiosity value, but I'd rather be fluent in Italian, French, or German.

Irish has practical and cultural value. Not least of which is that if I'd studied it I'd have probably got my kids into a Gaelscoil.

As for Chinese, I'm not sure. Not everything of value in life is about making yourself more employable. Education is not training.

Cú Giobach

Wibbs wrote: »

One could say kinda similar of Irish. More speakers, yes but worldwide a latin base would have arguably more use as a background in one's linguistic bag. I was shíte at Latin in school, but it was enough to get me by in Spain, Italy and France. Well... enough to let me have a stab at a notion of what was going on. Unless I was in the Scottish Isles or the Isle of man with a local or at a real stretch a Cornish speaker Irish might give me some insight, but by comparison?

Choosing a language to learn would depend on where one will spend ones time, if you intend doing a lot of business in the far east Chinese would be a good option, South America Spanish or Portuguese, Tagalog in the Philippines and so on. Personally since I spend a lot of time traveling up and down the West coast of Ireland Irish is the most useful language for me (after English).

Though having Latin would indeed help with learning Spanish, Italian, Romanian etc unless you want to speak all the romance languages learning the particular one you are interested in or need would be a lot simpler and easier and also give you an insight into the others (not to mention it would actually be a living language).

Though of late I have to say I am quite tempted to learn old Irish

Go for it, and by default you will learn modern Irish which would open your eyes to beauty of this language and give you another view of your surroundings thus increasing the sum of your knowledge.
I'd say the biggest shock you would get would be hearing a person with what you would consider a "culchie" accent when speaking in English, speaking with a refined or even posh one in Irish (a refined accent in Irish is not an English one ).

pickarooney

Gaudizeit wrote: »

Which is more useful, right now....Irish. There are jobs going with knowing this language. It's not a dead language. It's our first language.

Latin would not be useful right now. It may help me with learning another language, but that's learning 2 languages to get use out of the first one - latin.

Exactly. I never understood this theory that learning one dead, complicated language would help you learn a living, less complicated one. Why not just learn the useful one directly and save yourself a lot of pointless hassle? Learning French would be a much better basis for understanding Spanish or Italian than Latin would, besides.