If you heard people in a pub, restaurant etc speaking Irish....

3hn2givr7mx1sc · 27-12-2010 04:47AM

Why would you judge them for it?

Star Bingo · 27-12-2010 04:48AM

baz2009 wrote: »

Why would you judge them for it?

it would just be an assumption

StereoLove · 27-12-2010 04:50AM

I think I would be happy to hear that there is someone keeping out native language alive.

3hn2givr7mx1sc · 27-12-2010 04:51AM

Star Bingo wrote: »

it would just be an assumption

An assumption of what?

JupiterKid · 27-12-2010 04:51AM

feelingstressed wrote: »

Definitely, a decent barman will hand you your pint with a Sinn É and there is a fair chance they can hold a conversation with you as Gaelige.
You'll hear Irish if you stroll down Shop Street or any busy place

Unusual yes but it depends where you are, I used to live in Drumcondra which is very settled and has a lot of elderly people. Often had people come up to me with Irish, I did my best but my best wasn't very good.

Yes, I've heard Irish spoken quite a few times when I've been in Galway. It adds to the city's cultural appeal, but it's really the only city that you would hear Irish spoken to any extent.

As for your being spoken to in Irish in Drumcondra, I suspect that a cluster of Gaelgoirs live in and around Drumcondra for historical and cultural reasons.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i · 27-12-2010 04:54AM

I'd say fair play to them, i'd be quite envious of anybody with a second language. It's an amazing skill to have.

hullaballoo · 27-12-2010 04:55AM

I think most people would be envious should they hear a conversation in Irish and not be able to understand/contribute. There's a real problem that many people only know Irish as a school subject and not as anything else.

It should be compulsory to spend time in a Gaeltacht as an Irish person and see people speaking it regularly, without difficulty and with a certain amount of pleasure at not having to speak English. (Edit: that sounds very harsh; maybe I don't mean compulsory, but it's certainly something every Irish person should have the pleasure of!)

My days of having to learn Irish are long gone - I did my LC about 8 years ago - but I was fluent at 17/18 and have lost a good bit of it since. I'm currently embarking on a mission of re-learning Irish, this time for my own sake. It's a difficult language, but it has a certain beauty (admittedly, that's only when people speak it properly - bit like English).

Star Bingo · 27-12-2010 05:08AM

baz2009 wrote: »

An assumption of what?

oops; i've just made one.

jd007 · 27-12-2010 05:15AM

I couldn't give a fcuk tbh. I still probably wouldn't talk to them though cos I wouldn't knw what they're sayin :pac:

GizAGoOfYerGee · 27-12-2010 05:56AM

It's a shame that a thread like this should even be started, but we all know that the Irish curriculum has failed us all.

The Gaeltacht is dying, along with its native speakers.

We urgently need more Bunscoileanna, Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí, but the government has done feck-all to meet demand.

The waiting lists for Irish schools are ridiculous.

We should be pumping money into Irish schools to meet demand. Instead we waste millions translating EU documents that no-one will read.

If Labour ever get into government, we can kiss goodbye to An Gaeilge. Gilmore wants to remove Irish completely from the constitution and the curriculum.

mikemac · 27-12-2010 06:03AM

Irish is the primary language of the State and the main language of the constitution.

Gilmore can wish what he wants but it'd be voters in a referendum who decide that

tolosenc · 27-12-2010 06:23AM

Eden Old-fashioned Rider wrote: »

The few times I've heard it spoken I've been pretty envious.. I'd love to be an Irish speaker.. It must be a beautiful thing, to be able to converse in your native tongue.

Technically, English is YOUR native language.

There should be more of a move to push Irish to be the more prominent language in the country, but we don't want to lose English. We should be aiming to be like the Dutch/Scandinavians.

the_syco · 27-12-2010 07:52AM

If I heard Irish being spoken, I'd expect some (terrorist organisation) loving scumbag wearing a random (english football league) t-shirt to tell them to "go back to wherever they came from", to be quite frank. Learning Irish is on my to-do list. Was taught how to read poems and short stories, but never really taught how to "talk" in Irish.

pickarooney · 27-12-2010 09:58AM

Eden Old-fashioned Rider wrote: »

The few times I've heard it spoken I've been pretty envious.. I'd love to be an Irish speaker.. It must be a beautiful thing, to be able to converse in your native tongue.

You might consider this pedantic, but your native tongue is the language you first learn as a child, be it English, Irish or Tagalog. If you spoke English at home then English is your native tongue.

Lumen · 27-12-2010 10:17AM

I'm a immigrant from England and I don't speak any Irish but was keen on my Irish children doing so.

I sent my oldest son to two years of Irish pre-school (at my own cost, several thousand euro). His Irish seemed decent enough to me. He was then turned down for a place in the local Irish school, which was based on an interview with us parents - they never even met him. My lack of Irish was a problem in the interview, though my wife speaks it decently. I guess I could have learned the language myself but there are only so many hours in the day and I'm not a natural linguist.

It saddens me that when people make this sort of effort the State fails to rise to the challenge. Like so many things, the government makes the right noises and then completely fails to deliver.

Unless something changes, Irish looks to me to be effectively dead. My kids will end up speaking it like a foreign language.

27-12-2010 12:39PM

The only Irish I know is how to comment on someone that is fat, black or smelly. Pft.

arybvtcw0eolkf · 27-12-2010 12:48PM

feelingstressed wrote: »

I heard before the Suez Crises that the Israeli's sent officers to Trinity college to learn Irish and then they introduced Irish code words for communications as their enemies wouldn't understand it.

Well we had soldiers based in The Suez, so maybe to listen to those too.

I'm not really sure, I've heard those stories too.

I know under the original UNIFIL mandate Resolutions 425 & 426 the Israeli's wouldn't let us use any kind of cyphered communications so when the operational situation got very hot and we didn't want the IDF eves dropping if there were Irish speakers around we switched radio traffic over to Irish - this frustrated the Israeli's and they'd block our frequencies.

So maybe back in the Suez times, but certainly not now.

27-12-2010 12:52PM

Anyone else suspect that half the acronyms that Makikomi say could be made up?

arybvtcw0eolkf · 27-12-2010 12:54PM

tolosenc wrote: »

Technically, English is YOUR native language.

English is no more native to us than the grey squirrel.

Sand · 27-12-2010 12:58PM

I wouldnt judge them anymore than Id judge anyone in a resteraunt speaking a language I didnt understand. People are well used to hearing people speaking in languages other than English in public places. You dont really get special marks or condemnation for it.

El Siglo · 27-12-2010 01:04PM

I don't speak Irish but then again I don't speak any language well. As far as I'm concerned there are two official languages of the state and that suits me fine. If people want to learn it, the more the better. However, from my leaving cert days there was a certain level of arrogance I experienced from one or two speakers, they could afford the grinds and the several summers in the Gaeltacht. In saying that, I'm sure these are a small minority.

kylith · 27-12-2010 02:39PM

I'd be jealous of them, and I'd eavesdrop to see how much I could understand.

I think that the government missed a trick to bring Irish back when we split from the UK; every school should have been a gaelscoil. I still think that they should bring in more and more gaelscoileanna, and ignore the 'what feckin' use is it?' crowd, until future generations are fluent.

Gummy Panda · 27-12-2010 02:50PM

Eden Old-fashioned Rider wrote: »

The few times I've heard it spoken I've been pretty envious.. I'd love to be an Irish speaker.. It must be a beautiful thing, to be able to converse in your native tongue.

Something I learned in Israel, and wish we'd done here. When the Israeli's got their independence their government made it illegal to post street signs, road sign, advertising etc in any other language but Hebrew. The thinking was that Hebrew was (at the time) an almost dead language, this is how it was resurrected.

Now most signs are in Hebrew, Arabic & English.

I have very limited Irish, like most Irish people. But I try to improve it when I can.

do you not learn Irish in the army?

I thought you receive instructions in Irish (heard it from a friend)

arybvtcw0eolkf · 27-12-2010 02:55PM

Gummy Panda wrote: »

do you not learn Irish in the army?

I thought you receive instructions in Irish (heard it from a friend)

Our arm's & foot drill are in Irish, although we do have an Irish speaking battalion in Galway 'An Chéad Chathlán Coisithe' - the first infantry battalion.

It used to be the case that Irish was their daily working language, however its been awhile since I was in Renmore Bks so I'm not sure thats the case anylonger.

I'll just add, there are regular irish language course's throughout the year which are open to all personnel from all units.. However places are limited and due to work & operational commitments it can be hard to get a place on a course.

the_syco · 28-12-2010 05:18PM

El Siglo wrote: »

I don't speak Irish but then again I don't speak any language well.

aDeener · 28-12-2010 05:22PM

Star Bingo wrote: »

i'd probably find it hard to digest; choke n turn Pale.

i'd think of them as better than me, at that.

how appropriate, you being from there and all :pac:

aDeener · 28-12-2010 05:24PM

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

Well I'll take it upon myself to be controversial here and say sometimes I find it pretentious and thinks it can smack of showing off...in a "look at us being all exclusive in our little club that non fluent speakers can't join" way.

My opinion may be influenced by the fact that the last time I was in the company of Irish speakers I found myself totally sidelined while they discussed a film about Japans whaling practices in Irish.

surprise surprise, look you thanks you. seriously mike this chip is getting out of control

steddyeddy · 28-12-2010 05:31PM

Eden Old-fashioned Rider wrote: »

Our arm's & foot drill are in Irish, although we do have an Irish speaking battalion in Galway 'An Chéad Chathlán Coisithe' - the first infantry battalion.

It used to be the case that Irish was their daily working language, however its been awhile since I was in Renmore Bks so I'm not sure thats the case anylonger.

I'll just add, there are regular irish language course's throughout the year which are open to all personnel from all units.. However places are limited and due to work & operational commitments it can be hard to get a place on a course.

cas cle, cas cle and saisiad rais (is that right)?

Oranage2 · 28-12-2010 05:34PM

steddyeddy wrote: »

cas cle, cas cle and saisiad rais (is that right)?

turn left, turn left and attention?

Coeurdepirate · 29-12-2010 01:07AM

I'd probably laugh at all of the English words that are just thrown in/turned into Irish words e.g. instead of ag seilg, hunting would be ag huntáil :P

If you heard people in a pub, restaurant etc speaking Irish....

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