Irish language-do u care?

Gearoid

This is the proper poll, had a problem with the other. So wat is your opinion. If it was announced yesterday that the country was to try a massive revival of Irish wat would u do?
Post a reply also if u want.
Go raibh maith agat.

Éomer of Rohan

I try to speak Irish if someone addresses me in it and certainly speak it abroad because as I have said to Gearoid privately, the English girls love it - that and my Irish dancing.;)

bonkey

I use any language I'm capable of using when it is the most suitable for the conversation.

Thus, when speaking to French or Germans, its a case of who is more familiar with the other's language, and does either person have any reason for not speaking one of the languages.

With Irish, I'd be the same. I used to be fluent, and heavily involved in some stuff revolving around the language up until my early uni days. Now, I'm rusty, but if I was in the Gaeltacht, or talking to one of the real Irish "fanatics" from my pseudo-home-town of Ennis, then I'd probably speak it anyway.

If and when I move back to Ireland with my girlfriend, she wants to learn Irish (somewhat unusual for a Swiss), so hopefully at that point, I'll have some excuse to start using it again more often.

And its not just the English girls Eomoer. Nor just the English and the Swiss. I dont think I've met anyone who didnt love the sound of the language.

jc

p.s. Is this really relevant to Politics though?

Bard

Originally posted by bonkey
p.s. Is this really relevant to Politics though?

Not really.

Move it to Gaeilge if you like. Mind you, if you did, I'd edit the poll just to make it a bit more balanced.

Gearoid

Actually i think it is a political issue because no doubt the revival would have to be initiated by the government. I'd like to see it become a major political issue.
to the moderator: please dont move it its relevant to politics.
go raibh maith agat.
Slán go fóill.

gandalf

To be honest I don't care. Thanks to the damage of crap teachers in secondary school and bloody Peig Sayers being inflicted on me for 2 years I would say that I hate the Irish langauge.

Don't see this as a political issue either, there are far more important issues to be resolved first.

Gandalf.

Sparks

Language shapes thought and all that. So, yes, I'd love to be fluent. In fact, I would be fluent if it hadn't been taught in school - but since I started with Dingle Irish and then was forcibly switched to some bastardised dialect that was neither Kerry nor Connemara nor Donegal, my knowlege of the language is lamentable.

Thing is, while I love the sound of the language, I can say that about French, Mandarin, Japanese and Danish as well. And German, if the speaker is female. (Not an inneundo, I actually don't like the sound of german when the speaker is male, I don't know why - it just sounds far harsher to my ear).

So would I like to be fluent? Yes. Should the government push for the widespread teaching of the language again? No, it's counter-productive in my opinion.

I was raised speaking irish, so i feel for it. But the fact remains that atm there is no use of it, unless you live in the gaelteacht regions. I hardly remember any irish off hand, simply because i've had no use to speak it in the last 6 years. I could probably rememebr it all if i was emersed in it for an hour, but right now? nada, i know none.

I'd like to see it remain. Its part of our national identity, whether we do completely join the EU or not.

Cork

Going to school - I absolutely hated the language. I had enough of Peig etc.

It is so badly tough in school. Students should speeck it & enjoy it. Instead it is a chore & full of drudgery.

So recently, I've begun to watch TG4. I still have a bit of Irish.

I enrolled in a night course last week & I hope to spend a week in the Gaelteacht over the Summer.

I am looking at the language differant and getting over the teachers and books that turned me aganist it.

This is my personal experience. I know there are some great teachers out there.

seamus

I'd use it if I had the opportunity - ie if someone else spoke to me in Irish. In work sometimes I'll answer the phone and the caller is speaking Irish. However, because I'm not expecting it, I just think I can't understand them (we do get a lot of filthy back-of-the-bog farmers), and then they say 'Oh sorry'(thinking I can't speak Irish), and start speaking in English. At which point I'm kicking myself for not noticing they were speaking in Irish

Elmo

Its a national lanuage and i respected as much as i respect

The Irish Flag
The Irish Stance On Nutality
Even the English Lanuage (Even If its not the most commonly spoken lanuage in Europe or the world)

Sev

Its kind of ironic, but the only use I ever have for our native tongue, is when I'm in another country.

Elmo

I'd like to see it remain. Its part of our national identity, whether we do completely join the EU or not.

Are We not Full members of the EU? I was sure that we were. Oh you mean the Fedral Republic of the Devolved Decentralise European Union Of States or FROTDDEUS as it is more common known as.

Gearoid

thanks for the replies and votes go raibh maith agaibh.
Keep them coming in i'd like to get a good picture of peoples opinions.
Slán go fóill

Zukustious

I have barely any Irish. For the last three years in secondary school, I haven't had a single Irish class. I have had classes that are labelled as "Irish", but I haven't done any Irish in them.

Don't think of me as a dumbass or anything. They just don't teach us the language. They just show us videos of Hector which has English subtitles.

I could have gotten a much higher mark in the junior cert if I took the exam before first year. I went to an all Irish school and my Irish was fantastic then. I was all fluent. Now I've forgotten the past tense, the future tense and the present tense!

Cabaal

Gave it up in school, but tbh I'd like to learn it now

Cork

There is a serious problem with the teaching of Irish as a subject. Why is it so badly tought? Is there too much Irish prose, poetry and novels and very little spoken Irish.

People learn Irish for 11-12 years and come out of school with very few words. Yet, we have had Presidents and TDs who became fluent in a couple of years.

I have started going to an Irish course last Monday night. A teacher comes in for an hour. Then we make tea and talk for about another half an hour. My Irish is pretty weak but I am going to try and keep it up.

But using TG4 programmes as a substitute for speeking Irish in class is mad. TG4 is a great service but people can tape and watch Hector themselves.

My old teacher used make us learn off lists of spellings - we did not have a clue what even the words meant. If we got 2 out of 20 - we were classed as failures with the language.

Lennoxschips

It's a damn shame English was forced upon us and Irish all but disappeared, but now that it's gone and nobody speaks it I have no use for Irish. You can't force people to speak a language they don't need. No use in flogging a dead horse, etc.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Éomer of Rohan

So speaks the problem with globalisation LOL.

Gearoid

I don't see the arguement of us being at a disadvantage in economic terms if we were all Irish speaking, look at all the countries around the world that dont speak english and they have succesful economies. Do we always have to think of everything in terms of money or that for Irish to thrive our economy will suffer? If anything would come out of such a situation it would be the increase of job oppurtunities for interpreters! Also if we look to the past in Viking times Ireland was a very strong trading country and we were apart from scotland the only Irish language speaking country in the world and at that time the combined population of those countries was not that near to the present pop. of Ireland 2day.
Language was never a serious barrier to trade in the past and should certainly not be today with all the advancements we claim we have, I think it is a poor arguement to have against Irish as it is very easy to have many languages and still speak your native one the Continental Europeans have proven this without doubt.

aine

I care quite a bit actually! I would love to speak Irish more, I thinkits such a shame that our language has been left to fall by the wayside!

I don't really see myself staying in Ireland once I graduate...maybe I'll come back later..I don't know but my point is I'd still love my kids to learn at least some words of Irish...and I don't just mean the tourist version of the Irish language...slainte etc....

I think the manner in which it is taught in our schools needs to be radically updated...many of my friends, myself included, ended up with more french, german or spanish on leaving secondary school and that was after 6 years of learning a foreign language as opposed to learning our native language for what? 14 years??

Shinji

I used to speak Irish perfectly fluently (went to an Irish-language primary school so it was the language I spoke to all my friends in and was educated in from the age of four to the age of 12). Now I can barely string a sentence together; I'm sure it'd all come back if I was exposed to the language for a few days, though.

That said, I have no use for it and no particular love for it. It's not a particularly pleasant or flexible language (none of the Celtic tongues are) and speaking as a writer, I've always been far happier writing in English than in Irish.

The one thing I'm glad about is that I was effectively raised bilingual, because while one of the languages I know is an utterly pointless one, it does make learning other languages easier. I have a working grasp of German and French, and am progressing fairly quickly with Japanese; I don't think that would have been as easy without the basis of being bilingual in the first place.

The only use I ever have for Irish these days is speaking to other Irish people in England when I don't wish to be understood; or speaking to Americans in Tokyo when I didn't want them to know I spoke English, so they'd go away

commuterised

Originally posted by Sev
Its kind of ironic, but the only use I ever have for our native tongue, is when I'm in another country.

I would totally agree with Sev there, the only time I can be heard speaking Irish is when I'm on holiday and I don't want the foreigners to know what I'm saying!
I am embarrassed to say that my French is way better than my Irish

Gael

Some continental Europeans are amazed that alot of irish people care so little about Irish and even look down on us to some degree because of it.
A friend of mine used to go out with a Pole who was interested in Irish culture, language etc. Once when they were having an argument(standard lovers' tiff) she actually used the whole "You Irish aren't a proper nation, you abandoned your language!" thing as a weapon in the argument!
Also there's the problem of being identified as English on the continent which won't endear you to some people. Two friends of my brother were out on a night in Amsterdam and nearly got beaten with truncheons by some of the local police. When the policemen found out that they were Irish they actually laughed and walked away. They had intended to give the lads a beating because they presumed on the basis of their speaking English that that they were English.

simu

I speak Irish every day anyway. Yes, such ppl still exist!

Actually, I think it's nicer speaking to ppl in Irish than in English - it's less formal, you feel you're really communicating with them, not just exchanging meaningless words for the sake of it.

For those who think it's an "inflexible" or cumbersome language, it's not true!
That's a myth created by schools where they teach really "starchy" expressions to the students.
For example, the whole "Conas tá tú?" "Go maith, go raibh maith agat, agus tú féin" etc that pupils have to learn off.
Ppl in the Gaeltacht don't talk like that!
If I was in charge of the school curriculum, I'd make out a booklet of more natural colloquial sayings in Irish for students to use. How to say you got pissed last weekend, how to give out and curse, every day expressions and exclamations, how to talk about sex, drugs rock 'n' roll, the lot!

Trebor

I would love to speak Irish.

I plan to learn at a later time in life and to make sure my kids are brought up in it.

all that needs to be done is for the government to impose that Irish be spoken in all gornerment services.
AFAIK irish is a requirment to get a job as a civil servent? so why not get them to great the people who come into the tax office in irish? it's on every form that is given to us aswell but if it is not used in ever day topics then people will believe that there is no need to learn it.