Irish Language, Keep it or Ditch it?

Aimsigh

I have seen several people saying that there should be a referendum to get rid of Irish, I have never seen anyone actually do anything about it though.

I would be interested to see how this would play out. If there was a referendum on removing Irish, would you vote to keep it, or ditch it?

Personally I don't really think there will ever be such a referendum, there is just no call for one now, and I doubt there ever will be.

RichieC

keep it.

Oranage2

I reckon most boardsies will say get rid of it though in the real world or referendum people wont want to see it go though they couldnt be arsed learning it -


Tir gan teanga, tir gan anam

starbelgrade

Atari O'Jaguari

OPENROAD

This hasn't been done before

Pulls up chair.

Jesus Wept

Tá mé ag dul go dtí an Cnoc.

OPENROAD

Is maith liom cupan tae.

Kojak

starbelgrade wrote: »

Atari O'Jaguari

I could go for that.

I'd say keep the irish, but don't teach it like they did in school where they have a talking elephant hanging around with a young fox and they wondering how to go to the shops to buy toffee, or some other inane situation like that.

shane_rafferty

keep it because if we dont learn it we'll have no way of giving out about someone in a different country

i57dwun4yb1pt8

we should combine it with greek , spanish and portugese
, leave the euro with these guys and form our own EU ,
to become an economic center of banking excellence.

ElaElaElano

No Irish language=no TG4=no Ros na Rún=no daytime soft porn.

Keep it.

xsiborg

d'fhéadfadh a dhúnadh moderator snáithe seo le do thoil? :rolleyes:

civis_liberalis

An cac seo arís...

ElaElaElano

xsiborg wrote: »

d'fhéadfadh a dhúnadh moderator snáithe seo le do thoil? :rolleyes:

Cén fáth? Ba mhaith liom caint faoi an gnéas atá ar Ros na Rún gach uile lá, agus an fadhb atá agam leis ag immeacht on teilifís. Béidhim ag bhualadh mo cracieann go dtí 'loose women' nó rud éigin ansin.

Cathaoirleach

Here's why Welsh is doing a lot better than Irish

Welsh-medium schools
55,000 Primary students
42,000 Secondary students

Irish-medium schools (excluding An Ghaeltacht)
31,300 Primary students
6,000 Secondary students

We need more Irish-medium schools.


Source http://www.gaelscoileanna.ie/assets/Irish-Medium-Ed-09_10.doc

deise go deo

Cathaoirleach wrote: »

Here's why Welsh is doing a lot better than Irish

Welsh-medium schools
55,000 Primary students
42,000 Secondary students

Irish-medium schools (excluding An Ghaeltacht)
31,300 Primary students
6,000 Secondary students

We need more Irish-medium schools.


Source http://www.gaelscoileanna.ie/assets/Irish-Medium-Ed-09_10.doc

Is it not 8000 secondary?

innovation.

I say keep it. Don't want it to gradually become a dead language like Latin. It gives us a bit of pride too.

I'm guessing these people don't want to change Amhrán na bhFiann to English too do they?

Cathaoirleach

deise go deo wrote: »

Is it not 8000 secondary?

I think it's about 9500 if you include the schools in the Gaeltacht. I couldn't find a definitive source though.

ArmaniJeanss

innovation. wrote: »

I say keep it. Don't want it to gradually become a dead language like Latin. It gives us a bit of pride too.

I'm guessing these people don't want to change Amhrán na bhFiann to English too do they?

About 50% of us sing it in Phonetic anyway.

Killer Pigeon

The worst things on the Irish Leaving Cert curriculum are Gerald Barry and the Irish language.

AskMyChocolate

OPENROAD wrote: »

Is maith liom cupan tae.

We all like a cup of coffee, but that's not the point.

Killer Pigeon

AskMyChocolate wrote: »

We all like a cup of coffee, but that's not the point.

Sin é an pointe ar fad, nach bhfuil fhíos agat! Léiríonn sé go bhful réimse gearr stór focail ag an gcuid is mó don daonra!

Oh yayes another Irish language rantfest opportunity! I always wanted one of those!

AskMyChocolate

I'd like to see money better targeted. I'd like to see TG4 better funded. God knows with their limited budget, they leave RTE in the shade when it comes to programming. I often find myself remembering words that I had forgotten, because I'm intrested in the subject matter of their shows.

What I resent, is money being spent on legal fees, fighting an argument that no-one wants to have, over the Luas signs being in both languages.

Nearly everyone speaks English. There is no need for every document to be printed in both languages, and the money would be far better spent in making documentaries about people who were lobster fishermen or crab fishermen in a certain area. And if Irish is still their first language, well that's just the jam.

I should have said "subh" (oh God I hope that's right) agus Aran.

Sorry, I love Ireland and it's things, and fighting the wrong battle is one of my pet peeves.

Choco

Cathaoirleach

AskMyChocolate wrote: »

I'd like to see money better targeted. I'd like to see TG4 better funded. God knows with their limited budget, they leave RTE in the shade when it comes to programming.Choco

TG4 produce better content because the people that work there are actually passionate about broadcasting and creating quality content. And all for the sum of €30m per anum.

Then you have RTÉ, which is plagued with overpaid arseholes that have absolutely no interest in broadcasting nor creating quality content, but are protected by the RTÉ Trade Union Group.

In relation to the overall budget for the Irish language, the money should be spent maintaining the current Irish-medium schools and, God forbid, opening new ones - that is the only way to keep the language alive.

The Welsh have 90,000 students in Welsh-medium schools, whereas the Irish only have 38,000 in Irish-medium schools - mostly funded privately by parents.

The Irish government have really fúcked over the Irish language in that regard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLdnoWMDBwI

gent9662

Think it should be thrown out of schools. It's a crap language and has no practical use at all. Better that kids be thought french/Spanish rather than some island based crap. It is also keeping a lot of good foreign teachers out of our education system as it is still a requirement I believe. Personally I feel stupid when I hear it been spoken in public. I feel there should a law against it's use.

Cathaoirleach

dclane wrote: »

Personally I feel stupid when I hear it been spoken in public. I feel there should a law against it's use.

Nice try.

Show Time

Ditch it as in the current economic climate we are better off teaching kids a language that will be useful to them.

stone roses

who are we to ditch our own language?? 1500 yrs or more we have spoken irish and just becaues its not used in todays fast moving world some god****s think we should dump it!! we were here befour the lot of them steeped in history, they only reason we dont speak irish is becaues we were invaded and it was knocked out of us by decades of english rule!! for exsample the germans, italians, french all speak tere native language becaues they were not invaded its thats simple!! keep what you got its ours and we should be proud we have a native language!! god only knows we need to hold onto our irish roots more than ever the why things are with the imf, ecb, irish and proud!! :-)

Dump mandatory education in it yes, but the language, no. I like irish.

Wibbs

What is it with these debates? The yay side more than the nay usually come up with the utterly daft and black and white and emotive "Keep it or Ditch it?" line. The idea that even the teeniest reduction in government support will cause the language to come crashing down is another meme of theirs. There is a middle ground you know?

Predator_

I would rather ditch the English language.

Deedsie

I like Irish, not a big fan of of the bureaucracy surrounding official documents. Maybe when 35% of the population speak Irish as their first language, translating official documents should be considered. The mandatory leaving cert should be removed, but there should be primary, secondary and third level Irish schools promoted to counter balance this.

What's Ruairí Quinns opinion on the matter?

alex73

Shame on Ireland for loosing their language, People are just too lazy to keep it alive. Making English the defacto language of Ireland means the English really did do a good job of invading Ireland.

Its amazing to see so many real day to day speakers of Welsh in Wales. And i am not saying they speak cupla focal, they are a lot more Active Welsh speakers in Wales than Active Irish Speakers in Ireland. (for a country about half the size of Ireland)

I don't support Sinn Fein,, except were they come to defend our language.

People fail to realise that apart from a National point of View, speaking a Irish from an Academic Point of view makes it a lot easier to pick up a 3rd or 4th Language.

AskMyChocolate

Cathaoirleach wrote: »

TG4 produce better content because the people that work there are actually passionate about broadcasting and creating quality content. And all for the sum of €30m per anum.

Then you have RTÉ, which is plagued with overpaid arseholes that have absolutely no interest in broadcasting nor creating quality content, but are protected by the RTÉ Trade Union Group.

In relation to the overall budget for the Irish language, the money should be spent maintaining the current Irish-medium schools and, God forbid, opening new ones - that is the only way to keep the language alive.

The Welsh have 90,000 students in Welsh-medium schools, whereas the Irish only have 38,000 in Irish-medium schools - mostly funded privately by parents.

The Irish government have really fúcked over the Irish language in that regard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLdnoWMDBwI

Agreed, sir. And I think it would be a brave man, who would argue otherwise. Not only that, but they produce interesting documentaries (Mobs Mhericea) as an example, which are easily viewed, with subtitles.

They also have access to "stars" like Stephen Fry, Martin Sheen, Colin Farrell, Christopher Lambert, Natalie Portman, etc.; who normally would have to be paid huge sums of money for their time, but will happily work for free in the interests of keeping a language alive.

There is a great love out there, and I don't mean that it is universal, for small countries trying to hold on to what is theirs.

We are lucky to have such a massive Diaspora. We shouldn't piss on it. We should embrace it.

We have no need to behave like Israel, and we should be grateful for that.

IMDO

(In My Drunken Opinion). It's a new acronym which I feel is much needed.:pac:

Krusader

Ní chríochnóidh sé seo go maith

This won't end well

Mike 1972

Aimsigh wrote: »

I have seen several people saying that there should be a referendum to get rid of Irish

Where are these people seriously proposing a referendum to make the speaking of Irish illegal because Ive yet to see one ?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

I do not understand this idea people have of losing our language. English is our language, and it's not going anywhere. If you want to spend your free time learning Irish, that's up to you but you can't expect everybody else to fund your hobby.

Wibbs

stone roses wrote: »

who are we to ditch our own language?? 1500 yrs or more we have spoken irish and just becaues its not used in todays fast moving world some god****s think we should dump it!! we were here befour the lot of them steeped in history, they only reason we dont speak irish is becaues we were invaded and it was knocked out of us by decades of english rule!! for exsample the germans, italians, french all speak tere native language becaues they were not invaded its thats simple!! keep what you got its ours and we should be proud we have a native language!! god only knows we need to hold onto our irish roots more than ever the why things are with the imf, ecb, irish and proud!! :-)

I'd be aiming to up the standard of existing subjects of communication across the board. Not just Irish.

You do realise that other countries have been invaded and kept their languages? Or that your view may be incredibly narrow and simplistic? Italians speak Italian, yes? Italy had a load of quite different dialects before it was united. France also has pockets of Breton and Basque. Spain has 4 official languages.

Then "de Britz!!" :mad:grrr *shakes fist at perfidious Albion* Christ we really need to get the fúck over this. We've been invaded just the once pretty much yet we blame our woes on that. In one way we're very like the English on that score. Invaded nearly a 1000 years ago and still bitching about it. When I hear or read of some saddo little englander crowing on about "the frogs", I feel the same contempt for the sad little fool as I do when I hear some local twat witter on about "de Britz".

The English are but a part of the reason for it's decline, as is the teaching of it and government support. I say the main reason is us. Yep the Irish themselves. You and me. We simply don't see the value of it beyond using it as a whipping boy or cause celebre. We haven't since the mid 1800's. It was noted to be in decline then. If it's "our" language why do so few actually speak it? Well... can you speak it? I don't mean a cupla focal I mean to some degree of fluency?

Krusader

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

I do not understand this idea people have of losing our language. English is our language, and it's not going anywhere. If you want to spend your free time learning Irish, that's up to you but you can't expect everybody else to fund your hobby.

Some people have irish as their 1st language in this country

Iwasfrozen

Crosáidí wrote: »

Some people have irish as their 1st language in this country

Some people have Polish as their 1st language in this country.

Asphyxia

Keep it, I love the Irish language it would be a shame for it to die.

Lustrum

dclane wrote: »

Think it should be thrown out of schools. It's a crap language and has no practical use at all. Better that kids be thought french/Spanish rather than some island based crap. It is also keeping a lot of good foreign teachers out of our education system as it is still a requirement I believe. Personally I feel stupid when I hear it been spoken in public. I feel there should a law against it's use.

I could put together a well thought out, articulate reply to this, but I feel I would be wasting my time. Nor am I going to reply in Irish, as that would evidently be a waste of time too. Instead, I can only reply to such a moronic, offensive attitude with this....


You sir, should go and **** yourself

Micky Dolenz

Lustrum wrote: »

I could put together a well thought out, articulate reply to this, but I feel I would be wasting my time. Nor am I going to reply in Irish, as that would evidently be a waste of time too. Instead, I can only reply to such a moronic, offensive attitude with this....


You sir, should go and **** yourself

Banned.

pablomakaveli

If the language is left to die we won't be able to get it back. However i think there needs to be a different approach to the language in the country. Having to translate documents and signposts to Irish when everyone, even irish speakers can speak english is ridiculous and a waste of money plus it just creates more resentment towards the language.

The approach to the language in schools should be changed as well. A smarter approach to things would benefit the language more in the long term.

douglashyde

People want it yet can't be arsed to learn it.

What's needed is to give people an ultimatum: Irish or an increase in tax by... let's say 0.5% to fund the teaching, translating and printing of Irish material.

Ultimatum's make everything clear.

PK2008

For me, no way.

Keep forcing kids to learn it though, I hate kids

Catsmokinpot

Keep it, but ditch the teaching method for a new one.

Catsmokinpot

Wow, i'm surprised at so many no's! I'm not even irish and I think if it was taught correctly it could be revived.

Iwasfrozen

Catsmokinpot wrote: »

Wow, i'm surprised at so many no's! I'm not even irish and I think if it was taught correctly it could be revived.

That's why you think that.

PK2008

Catsmokinpot wrote: »

Wow, i'm surprised at so many no's! I'm not even irish and I think if it was taught correctly it could be revived.

Its not only about teaching, there's just no real use for it...

You can teach Morris dancing effectively, doesn't mean anyone will give a toss