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An bhfuil Gaeilge agat?

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    #62
    Boom__Boom
    Registered Users Posts: 3,103 ✭✭✭Boom__Boom


    Complete waste of time.

    Got an A in the Leaving Cert in Honours Irish and since I left school close to 20 years ago I can only recount one occasion I've used Irish. Completely irrelevant to my existence.

    During me life I've known precisely one person who could be said to actually use Irish on a daily basis and they are from the Gaeltacht. Pretty much the overwhelming vast majority of when they use it is speaking to their family. The one occasion I used Irish was replying to a wedding invite from this person.

    Whenever I'm watching GAA on TG4 I mute the commentary as its a distraction.

    The notion of it being part of my culture is something that utterly baffles me, when pretty much no-one I know uses it to any extent whatsoever.

    For people who say it's part of Irish history, to me it's not that dissimilar for saying tribal warfare and cattle-stealing is part of Irish history so we should force children to spend hundreds of hours learning about the finer points of this throughout their time in the Irish educational system.

    From my experience with Irish it is a dead language, that is wandering around in a zombie state due to government intervention and funding.


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    #63
    Ficheall
    Registered Users Posts: 9,023 ✭✭✭Ficheall


    Endless Nameless wrote: »
    I didn't even know that "sea" meant "yes" until 4th class

    It doesn't really, though...


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    #64
    Endless Nameless
    Registered Users Posts: 138 ✭✭Endless Nameless


    Ficheall wrote: »
    It doesn't really, though...

    Oh.

    Well then I guess I still don't know what "yes" means in Gaeilge.


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    #65
    opti0nal
    Closed Accounts Posts: 900 ✭✭✭opti0nal


    An Coilean wrote: »
    Some people yeah, all of the people? Nope.
    Most of the people.
    An Coilean wrote: »
    The reality is that not everyone is in a position to make that commitment even if they want to.
    Why do people choose not to make that commitment to learning Irish, and for example, make a commitment to watching football on Sky instead? You decided to allocate some of your free time to learning Irish and many, many others decide to allocate their free time to things they find interesting. Irish is not a priority for them.
    An Coilean wrote: »
    Main aim, main aim, main aim, main aim, main aim, main aim, main aim, main aim......Show me some evidence to back your position up and I will happily concede if I cannot find evidence to counter it.
    The evidence is all around you. Most Irish people don't speak Irish. It is no longer our native language.

    From www.cnag.ie:
    Conradh na Gaeilge is the democratic forum for the Irish-speaking community and promotes the language throughout the whole of Ireland and around the world. Is main aim is to reinstate the Irish language as the common tongue of Ireland.
    Do you deny that the 'Main Aim' exists?


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    #66
    JustAThought
    Registered Users Posts: 5,323 ✭✭✭JustAThought


    From www.cnag.ie:

    Do you deny that the 'Main Aim' exists?[/quote]

    Wow. From lifelong hatreds and resentments of Miss Sharkey in 3rd class to accusations of mental health issues , stealth funding & conspiracy theories. Who would have known Irish could be so interesting!

    Maith tú!!!


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    #67
    Sierra 117
    Registered Users Posts: 629 ✭✭✭Sierra 117


    I can't speak Irish, bar a couple of phrases. I don't see a point in learning it given it serves no purpose in my life whatsoever.


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    #68
    gramar
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,045 ✭✭✭✭gramar


    Like most of the country I started when I was 4 and finished with the leaving cert where I got a B something in honours and I spent a few weeks in Ring along the way too. 15 years on I couldn't string a sentence together and I struggle to remember the most basic vocabulary. After all those years of daily classes it's simply not acceptable that you leave school with a decent exam result but not being able to maintain a basic conversation in the language without using phrases that were learned off by heart.
    Pól is anim dom. Tá me in a chonaí....... etc etc
    I've heard they are changing how it's taught and it's about time.
    A language is for speaking not for learning off by heart.

    'an bhfuil cead agam dul amach do dtí an leithras?'


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    #69
    An Coilean
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,285 ✭✭✭An Coilean


    opti0nal wrote: »
    Most of the people.

    You will need to back that up, my opinion is that most of the people are supportive of the position of Irish within our society and within our education system.
    Proving this one way or the other is esentially impossible but what evidence there is on the issue points more in my favour than in yours as far as I can see.
    Why do people choose not to make that commitment to learning Irish, and for example, make a commitment to watching football on Sky instead? You decided to allocate some of your free time to learning Irish and many, many others decide to allocate their free time to things they find interesting. Irish is not a priority for them.

    As I said the reasons are many and varied. The reality is that learning a language, any language is a long and dificult process that needs commitment in time and money. Some people are simply not in a position to make that commitment. Learning a language is percived as dificult and it can be, many people find it daunting.
    The same is true when it comes to learning other languages.

    The evidence is all around you. Most Irish people don't speak Irish. It is no longer our native language.

    Our? Unless you are excluding Native Irish speakers then Irish certainly is one of our native languages.
    Someone not speaking Irish =/= someone not wanting to be able to. repeating it ad infinitum dose not make it true.
    From www.cnag.ie:

    Do you deny that the 'Main Aim' exists?

    No, but why are you banging on about CnaG's Main Aim all the time?
    There are lots of other Irish language organisations, how come they never get a mention?

    Here is a new toy for you to play with, its the 'Main Aim' of Comhluadar.
    Pobal labhartha na Gaeilge a chothú, a láidriú agus a fhorbairt don todhcaí; tríd an aistriú teanga ó ghlúin go glúin a mholadh, a spreagadh agus a chaomhnú do theaghlaigh, ionas go mbeidh sé ar a gcumas an Ghaeilge a shealbhú go nádúrtha agus saol iomlán a chaitheamh trí mheán na Gaeilge


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    #70
    Lord TSC
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 42,428 Mod ✭✭✭✭Lord TSC


    Oh. This topic. Again. Is it that time of the month already?

    Haven't read the 5 pages. Someone tell me, are we on the compulsion part of the topic? Or the constitution part? Or the main aims? Have we discussed census figures yet? Or are we still going on massive generalizations based on personal biased opinion?


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    #71
    TheLastMohican
    Registered Users Posts: 1,837 ✭✭✭TheLastMohican


    What does "An bhfuil Gaeilge agat" mean?


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    #72
    Rayne Wooney
    Registered Users Posts: 14,136 ✭✭✭✭Rayne Wooney


    I'm fluent in Irish and speak it every day.

    I find it great speaking with people in Irish but If people don't want to learn it over another language they think will be more useful in life then that's their choice.


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    #73
    opti0nal
    Closed Accounts Posts: 900 ✭✭✭opti0nal


    An Coilean wrote: »
    You will need to back that up, my opinion is that most of the people are supportive of the position of Irish within our society and within our education system.....varied. The reality is that learning a language, any language is a long and dificult process that needs commitment in time and money. Some people are simply not in a position to make that commitment. Learning a language is percived as dificult and it can be, many people find it daunting.
    You just moved the goalposts. We were discussing whether or not people wanted to speak Irish.

    I pointed to the obvious lack of use of Irish among the general population and the voluntary choices people have made in the use of their spare time and money.
    An Coilean wrote: »
    Our? Unless you are excluding Native Irish speakers then Irish certainly is one of our native languages.
    In general, it's not the native language of the vast majority of people here. Referring to it as 'our native language' or 'the language' is dismissive of English, which, unlike Irish, is a functioning native language in Ireland.
    An Coilean wrote: »
    No, but why are you banging on about CnaG's Main Aim all the time?
    There are lots of other Irish language organisations, how come they never get a mention?
    Because I disagree with CnaG's Main Aim and its support for compulsory Irish lessons being imposed on English speaking children? Because of its expensive and unnecessary demands for public services in Irish? Because it's the biggest Irish lobby group and claims to represent all Irish enthusiasts?

    Why do you want suppress discussion of the 'Main Aim'?
    An Coilean wrote: »
    Here is a new toy for you to play with, its the 'Main Aim' of Comhluadar.
    Translation please.


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    #74
    opti0nal
    Closed Accounts Posts: 900 ✭✭✭opti0nal


    An Coilean wrote: »
    Here is a new toy for you to play with, its the 'Main Aim' of Comhluadar.
    Comhluader: 6 Sráid Fhearcair, Baile Átha Cliath 2.
    CnaG: 6 Sráid Fhearcair, Baile Átha Cliath 2.

    The many facets of the the 'Main Aim'.


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    #75
    wow sierra
    Registered Users Posts: 1,085 ✭✭✭wow sierra


    Tá Gaeilge agam agus labhraím í minic go leor - cúpla uair sa tseachtain de gnath. I have Irish and I speak it pretty often a few times a week generally.

    It depends on who I am spending time with really - don't use it at all at work but some friends I only speak Irish to. Otherwise its a bit of a mixture.


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    #76
    Nailz
    Registered Users Posts: 7,688 ✭✭✭Nailz


    I've been staying in Hong Kong since January of this year and will be going home in a bit less than a months time, but while I was here I felt like a bit of a ponce for not knowng how to construct a full sentence as Gaeilge that wasn't "Conas ata tú?", given the fact that I know quite a few continental Europeans here who could destroy most of the UK in terms of English speaking, as well as having a grasp of one or two other European languages. That's namely the Scandinavians and Central Europeans, such as Germans, Austrians and the Dutch.

    There's something nice about having your own language and being able to communicate with your own people in your native tongue that no one else understands but you and your Irish peers. Any Americans that I meet who know of the languages existence always ask to hear it, and those who don't know that it exists are immediately intrigued that Ireland has an active native language and also want to hear something; and it annoys me to tell them that I don't really know much of it...

    But of course I lie and go off as if I'm in that Carlsberg ad from a few years ago with "tá geansaí orm" and all that crap if I'm fond of them or want to see their reaction but the main point still counts.

    I didn't care so much about Irish before I pissed off temporarily to Asia, I thought it was effectively a useless language and has no place being a mandatory subject in secondary schools - and I still think both those things - but I'm less cynical about it know and would actually care to learn it if I was given the time or opportunity, and both of those are scarce commodities at the moment.

    Regardless, I'm quite satisfied with my change of opinion though, because I do somewhat understand now why it is important to people to promote the language, preserve it and even spread it; if I received better teaching as Gaeilge when I was younger I could well be speaking it, and I reckon that could be said for the majority of the 90% of Irish people who don't either...


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    #77
    Paramite Pie
    Registered Users Posts: 1,312 ✭✭✭Paramite Pie


    Nailz wrote: »
    There's something nice about having your own language and being able to communicate with your own people in your native tongue that no one else understands but you and your Irish peers.

    I agree, travelling to Korea made me feel the same way. I also met an American who could speak Irish better than me when I was in Times Square in New York. He was African American and had no Irish ancestry but simply had an interest. I really want to learn more Irish but haven't gotten around to it yet!
    Endless Nameless wrote: »
    Oh.

    Well then I guess I still don't know what "yes" means in Gaeilge.

    There isn't really a literal 'yes' or 'no' in Irish. Both Sea or Tà can be used to agree with a statement as far as I know (Sea comes from the English Yeah but not used as a yes) but there is no simple on word response for yes.

    As far as I know you simply respond with the verb in question; I will or I won't, I am or I am'nt ect...

    To be honest I studied French for 7 years (primary and secondary) and got a B2 in honors and I never knew how to say "your welcome" in French! It wasn't even in my French book!!


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    #78
    An Coilean
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,285 ✭✭✭An Coilean


    Paramite Pie wrote: »
    There isn't really a literal 'yes' or 'no' in Irish. Both Sea or Tà can be used to agree with a statement as far as I know (Sea comes from the English Yeah but not used as a yes) but there is no simple on word response for yes.

    Séa does not mean yes and it does not come from yeah, it is a contraction of 'Is éa' which means 'It is'

    An éa? - Séa/Ní héa
    Is it? - It is/It is not

    ;)

    As far as I know you simply respond with the verb in question; I will or I won't, I am or I am'nt ect...

    This is correct.


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    #79
    Paramite Pie
    Registered Users Posts: 1,312 ✭✭✭Paramite Pie


    An Coilean wrote: »
    Séa does not mean yes and it does not come from yeah, it is a contraction of 'Is éa' which means 'It is'

    An éa? - Séa/Ní héa
    Is it? - It is/It is not

    ;)

    I stand corrected!:D

    Someone once told me it came from 'yeah' and since there was no 'y' the Irish pronounced it 'sea' but your answer makes more sense.:)


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