Irish Language, Keep it or Ditch it?

Aimsigh · 07-05-2011 02:55AM #1

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 · 07-05-2011 02:57AM

keep it.

Oranage2 · 07-05-2011 02:59AM

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 · 07-05-2011 03:00AM

Atari O'Jaguari

OPENROAD · 07-05-2011 03:01AM

This hasn't been done before

Pulls up chair.

Jesus Wept · 07-05-2011 03:01AM

Tá mé ag dul go dtí an Cnoc.

OPENROAD · 07-05-2011 03:03AM

Is maith liom cupan tae.

Kojak · 07-05-2011 03:05AM

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 · 07-05-2011 03:10AM

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

i57dwun4yb1pt8 · 07-05-2011 03:12AM

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 · 07-05-2011 03:16AM

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

Keep it.

xsiborg · 07-05-2011 03:21AM

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

civis_liberalis · 07-05-2011 03:22AM

An cac seo arís...

ElaElaElano · 07-05-2011 03:24AM

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 · 07-05-2011 03:37AM

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 · 07-05-2011 03:42AM

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. · 07-05-2011 03:49AM

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 · 07-05-2011 03:52AM

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 · 07-05-2011 03:55AM

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 · 07-05-2011 05:23AM

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

AskMyChocolate · 07-05-2011 05:43AM

OPENROAD wrote: »

Is maith liom cupan tae.

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

Killer Pigeon · 07-05-2011 05:55AM

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!

07-05-2011 05:55AM

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

AskMyChocolate · 07-05-2011 06:03AM

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 · 07-05-2011 07:39AM

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 · 07-05-2011 07:41AM

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 · 07-05-2011 07:55AM

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 · 07-05-2011 08:28AM

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

stone roses · 07-05-2011 08:49AM

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!! :-)

07-05-2011 08:49AM

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

Wibbs · 07-05-2011 08:50AM

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?

Irish Language, Keep it or Ditch it?

Should Irish be kept as our National Language? 148 votes

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