Increasing everyday use...

Andrew Flexing

Dia Dhaoibh,

Níl gaelgeoir a ba mé ach tá an chúpla focail agam.

Do people have any suggestions how the government and/or local authrorities could increase the use of Irish in everyday interactions? Should bi-lingual staff in shops be encouraged to wear a fáinne etc?

Do people have other ideas?

keepkeyyellow

I have an idea that I've been working on recently. A nationwide iniative for people to use their 'Cúpla Focail'.

A big chain store could introduce a scheme where they advertise that their staff would be more than happy to hear Dia Duit, say the prices in Irish, could respond to 'Ba mhaith liom phaicéad de Marlboro Light' or even just 'Nach bhfuil sé fliuch' which at the end of the day is about all people say to people behind a counter. They could have a poster at the store front advertising this with a glossary of basic words and ensure that their staff understand this.

If this was a government iniative it could also be applied to Restaurants by having the menus in Irish as well as English, Cinemas, train and bus stations and basically anywhere we visit in everyday life.

And personally I think the Fainne is a bit insular as very little people know what it is, however the Cúpla Focail pin that they also offer is more open.

However I'm fully aware that what I'm talking about could be out there already...

Andrew Flexing

Good idea!

I was on a train in France a few years ago and all of the employees had flags beside their name on the name badge that indicated what languages they could speak.
Re0inventing the fainne in somethign like this would be worthwhile. If you went to a till in Dunnes and saw a girl at the till with a tricolour (for ex) on her name badge then you would know that you can use you chupla focal.
I just think its a shame that many gaelgeoiri interact in english without knowing that the other is fluent.

deise go deo

Getting a large supermarket chain to do that sounds good, but the big problem is getting one to do it.
How could the Government actually get a large business like a supermarket chain to do something like this?


I think that if the government is going to start anywhere, it should start with its self. The government employs thousands of people all over the country to deal with/provide services for the public, that seams the best place to start to me.

The government has already started on doing this, since the Official languages act 2003, using Irish when dealing with the Government is a right. All public bodies have to provide certain services in Irish under the act, and ultimately to provide a fully bilingual service.
Under the act they have to put a language scheme in place to show how they are working twords being bilingual.

There are several problems with this however, I was at a talk given by a rep of the office of An Coimisinéir Teanga (The Guy who oversees all of this) and he said that nobody knows how many State body's there actually are at any given time because they get changed, merged, split, closed and set up so often.
Another problem is that although many state body's have a language scheme in place, they are all different, so its hard for the customer to know what is available in Irish from any given organisation.


Anyway, What I would like to see, is some form of Irish language service brand scheme put in place, by which I mean a Symbol (A large 'G' for example) that would be used to show where Irish is available.

Then staff who can speak Irish can wear a 'G' badge to show people that they are happy to speak Irish with anyone who wants to.
Public Bodies that provide services in Irish could put a 'G' sticker in their door to show that they can provide services in Irish.
Perhaps a Gold 'G' where a fully bilingual service is available, and a silver 'G' where only some services are available, with a list of those services on display with it.

andyterryjay

i dont know if economically irish could ever be introduced, but i think more advertising with Irish on it would be beneficial.

im in 6th year and love irish, but only a few of my friends speak it with me, and my teacher. the biggest thing that needs to change before irish expands, is peoples attitude towards it as our national joint language. Most treat it as a joke, some stupid subject that no one ever does well in in school. That perception that is initiated in the teen years to be ridden of.

i like to think im doing something innovative by making a vlogging on youtube as gaeilge.

check it out here

http://www.youtube.com/user/AndrewJordanGaeilge

Fuinseog

Andrew Flexing wrote: »

Dia Dhaoibh,

Níl gaelgeoir a ba mé ach tá an chúpla focail agam.

Do people have any suggestions how the government and/or local authrorities could increase the use of Irish in everyday interactions? Should bi-lingual staff in shops be encouraged to wear a fáinne etc?

Do people have other ideas?

the government or local authority react to what the people want. if no one wants more Irish spoken or could not care less they will act accordingly.

pog it

Andrew Flexing wrote: »

Dia Dhaoibh,

Níl gaelgeoir a ba mé ach tá an chúpla focail agam.

Do people have any suggestions how the government and/or local authrorities could increase the use of Irish in everyday interactions? Should bi-lingual staff in shops be encouraged to wear a fáinne etc?

Do people have other ideas?

People just don't have will to become bilingual, and it takes a lot of learning and practice to become fluent in another language. Best hope for the future in terms of more people having fluent (enough) Irish is the Gaelscoileanna really.

bpb101

dai duit
opening paragraph is a rant of "i dont do irish but people who do in my year have a negative approach to irish begging thought"


{im in 5th year in school in dublin at the moment. In forth class i was exempt from irish due to dyslexia. However i keep up my irish till i was in 2nd year in secondary where the school offered classical studies instead of irish (for people who were exempt ) and although i know the school were only doing there best it was stupid as now there not doing it for the leaving ...
now i will admit most people that were doing the classical studies werent doing the irish in first year ,but however
there not doing Classics and as a result 1 person left the school as he wasn't doing german either.
I know this is because of budget cuts but that a different thread . }

After all this rant what i think should be done is people who are exempt from irish should have to do irish but not as a requirement to get to college ...

i believe that how we can revive irish is not have suchhhh a negative approach.

the lads in my school think it is stupid and it should be optional, but english not optional.
this is why people dont use it in later life ... it people negative approach to the subject

i do think learning the meaning of poems in irish is stupid. i think the exam should be more focus on learning living irish . begging flute in irish. encouraging students to talk in irish outside the school.

i hate the new junior cert way of learning that is begin brought in , i think it shi* but i do think that the irish exam shouldn't be poetry focused or story focused. i think it should get kids to leave school flute in irish.

i belive the way this should be happen is in the primary schools and playschools . when a teacher says eg "wash your hands " she should also say this in irish ....

then i think in 10 years time we should have exams on poetry in irish and story in irish on the exams

bpb101

andyterryjay wrote: »

i like to think im doing something innovative by making a vlogging on youtube as gaeilge.

check it out here

http://www.youtube.com/user/AndrewJordanGaeilge

like the idea and have subscribed but to be honest i doubt i will get the time to watch the all but i like the idea and ill try to watch some
but i would like to recover my language