Why do you hate Irish?

Coles · 03-01-2016 07:24PM

Iwasfrozen · 03-01-2016 07:33PM

Coles wrote: »

http://reactionface.net/reactionface/images/original/1394.jpg?new=1

Shep_Dog · 03-01-2016 08:07PM

LeinsterDub wrote: »

Based on what? There's numerous Gael schools in Dublin, clubs and Gaelic nights in Dublin.

A relative handful of enthusiasts, massively outnumbered by a general population with other hobbies.

appledrop · 03-01-2016 08:29PM

I think the biggest problem with Irish is the fact that it is compulsory in school right up until your Leaving Cert. When people have no 'choice' but to learn a subject that a lot of people think is irrelevant they resent it. I often think that I might have actually liked Irish if I had the choice to pick it as a subject rather than have it rammed down my neck.

It is also taught very badly. I did very well in my Leaving Cert but Irish was the one subject I did at Ordinary level. How come I can speak French perfectly well after learning if for only 5 years yet my Irish is woeful and I spent 13 years learning it. I remember in French class for the Leaving Cert we were learning about interesting current affairs topics to speak about in or oral exam and written exams. In Irish we were learning these ancient poems and stories that were totally irrelevant to 17 and 18 year old students. It needs to modernise it's self big time and stop relying on all the old fashioned poems, songs and stories. Basically as far as I'm concerned it's biggest problem is that it is a 'dead language' and has no place in the modern world as it's not moving forward and changing in the way that French, Spanish, English and all other languages are.

Dirty Dingus McGee · 03-01-2016 08:41PM

LordSutch wrote: »

Is there a point to broadcasting the Rugby Union Six nations in Irish only

Seems totally daft to me.

Thank God for the BBC.

The 6 Nations is not broadcast on TG4.

LordSutch · 03-01-2016 09:05PM

Phew, thank goodness for that.

Dirty Dingus McGee · 03-01-2016 09:11PM

LordSutch wrote: »

Phew, thank goodness for that.

Strange for someone supposedly interested in Rugby that you didn't actually know what channel it is broadcasted on.Sounds like you were almost complaining for the sake of it.

Coles · 03-01-2016 09:14PM

Lord Sutch hates people who even speak with an Irish accent. Silly little briton.

LordSutch · 03-01-2016 09:14PM

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Strange for someone supposedly interested in Rugby that you didn't actually know what channel it is broadcasted on.Sounds like you were almost complaining for the sake of it.

Paranoid or what :rolleyes:

I don't know what Irish TV channel it's broadcast on, but I thought I read back a page or two (by BMM) that the Rugby was going to be on TG4 'in Irish'.
Obviously it isnt - sorted.

Coles · 03-01-2016 09:17PM

LordSutch wrote: »

Paranoid or what :rolleyes:

I don't know what Irish TV channel it's broadcast on, but I thought I read back a page or two that the Rugby was going to be on TG4 'in Irish'.
Obviously it isnt - sorted.

No, it is. But you don't know what competitions because you haven't a clue about the game.

You silly little british fraud.

Mod-Banned

LordSutch · 03-01-2016 09:19PM

Coles wrote: »

Lord Sutch hates people who even speak with an Irish accent. Silly little briton.

I have defended the irish language on many occassions, look back my friend at my posts, and look again before you make a total fool of yourself.

smurgen · 03-01-2016 09:19PM

Coles wrote: »

No, it is. But you don't know what competitions because you haven't a clue about the game.

You silly little british fraud.

Jesus man,take a chill pill.it's is not life or death.

Coles · 03-01-2016 09:24PM

smurgen wrote: »

Jesus man,take a chill pill.it's is not life or death.

:pac: Lol!

ToddyDoody · 03-01-2016 09:25PM

Moderators, time to declare a winner?

LordSutch · 03-01-2016 09:29PM

ToddyDoody wrote: »

Moderators, time to declare a winner?

Yes, I think Coles & Dirty Dingus McGee should be declared joint winners.
They can sail off into the sunset together, just like young lovers . . .

Bless em, they're both very prickly.

Coles · 03-01-2016 09:31PM

I don't actually know Dirty Dingus McGee, but I like the sound of her! It is a 'her', right?

Ken. · 03-01-2016 09:33PM

Mod- folks, cut out the personal digs or the thread will be locked.

Dughorm · 03-01-2016 09:42PM

appledrop wrote: »

I think the biggest problem with Irish is the fact that it is compulsory in school right up until your Leaving Cert. When people have no 'choice' but to learn a subject that a lot of people think is irrelevant they resent it. I often think that I might have actually liked Irish if I had the choice to pick it as a subject rather than have it rammed down my neck.

It is also taught very badly. I did very well in my Leaving Cert but Irish was the one subject I did at Ordinary level. How come I can speak French perfectly well after learning if for only 5 years yet my Irish is woeful and I spent 13 years learning it. I remember in French class for the Leaving Cert we were learning about interesting current affairs topics to speak about in or oral exam and written exams. In Irish we were learning these ancient poems and stories that were totally irrelevant to 17 and 18 year old students. It needs to modernise it's self big time and stop relying on all the old fashioned poems, songs and stories. Basically as far as I'm concerned it's biggest problem is that it is a 'dead language' and has no place in the modern world as it's not moving forward and changing in the way that French, Spanish, English and all other languages are.

Two questions
1. If it was optional would you have chosen irish for lc?
2. What essay topics did you do in irish? At HL most people write (learned off) essays on current affairs topics as well as the "ancient poems and stories"?

Shep_Dog · 03-01-2016 09:49PM

appledrop wrote: »

How come I can speak French perfectly well after learning if for only 5 years yet my Irish is woeful and I spent 13 years learning it. I remember in French class for the Leaving Cert we were learning about interesting current affairs topics to speak about in or oral exam and written exams. In Irish we were learning these ancient poems and stories that were totally irrelevant to 17 and 18 year old students.

The difference is that learning French connects you to a living culture. Learning Irish connects to a dead culture and society. The Irish language is a vestigial relic of a culture that died a long tome ago. The revivalists, such as Conradh na Gaeilge, are effectively promoting a cult fixated on bringing back the dead.

Modern Irish is the Frankenstein of languages.

LordSutch · 03-01-2016 10:07PM

I think the reasons for people Hating the Irish language are all in the past, and all those reasons are to do the the teaching of . . . . .

Having the language 'bet' into you as a kid in National School is a common reason among the older generation for hating Irish. Thankfully corporal punishment is long gone from our schools, but that harsh memory remains in many people.

I think they should lay off compulsory Irish after Inter Cert.

Dughorm · 03-01-2016 10:11PM

Shep_Dog wrote: »

The difference is that learning French connects you to a living culture. Learning Irish connects to a dead culture and society. The Irish language is a vestigial relic of a culture that died a long tome ago.

In all these threads that's the first time reference has been made to "a dead culture". What does it mean? To me it means history and heritage, and to most people that is a good thing!

But I'm delighted you acknowledge that language does "connect" to culture and society, because several people here claim that translations into English of heritage and history are the equivalent of connecting in the spoken tongue of that heritage, which of course it isn't. The phrase lost in translation comes to mind.

Qualitymark · 04-01-2016 01:36AM

Trouble with all the "Oh dear, I learned Irish for all those years and the bad teachers made me hate it" people is that they give the impression abroad that Irish people aren't too bright.

Banjoxed · 04-01-2016 01:40AM

Qualitymark wrote: »

Trouble with all the "Oh dear, I learned Irish for all those years and the bad teachers made me hate it" people is that they give the impression abroad that Irish people aren't too bright.

No, that the good teachers were great and the bad ones a right pack of cnuts. Which they were.

_Whimsical_ · 04-01-2016 01:41AM

I just saw an article in The Journal on a school abandoned during the 90s. One of the remnants lying around the empty halls was a page from a child's copybook with Irish translation on it. One look at it reminded me exactly why I hated Irish in school. There's a childish scrawl on the page of translation for words like hogweed, shepards purse, "fools parsley".

Why was any child learning that??

Remember when you were last on a nature walk desperate to impress your friends with your knowledge of the Irish names for indigenous weeds?
Me either.

It was as if the curriculum fully acknowledged and underlined the irrelevance of the language to kids who could've soaked up something modern like sponges. It's really sad when you think about it.

This is the pic
http://img2.thejournal.ie/inline/2487970/original/?width=630&version=2487970

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 04-01-2016 03:01AM

Qualitymark wrote: »

Trouble with all the "Oh dear, I learned Irish for all those years and the bad teachers made me hate it" people is that they give the impression abroad that Irish people aren't too bright.

How do we do that?

colossus-x · 04-01-2016 03:38AM

The problem with the Irish Lanugauge is that it simply isn't 'rich'. Hardly anyone ever spoke it. There is **** all good literature in Irish. James Joyce wrote in Engiish. Oscar Wilde spoke and wrote in English.

There simply is eff all good Irish literature. There never could be. There was f*ck all people ever to converse in it or write it in the first place.

It's wrong to say the Irish language is 'rich' just because it's difficult to pronounce. It's not rich at all. It's totally worthless.

Shep_Dog · 04-01-2016 07:52AM

Dughorm wrote: »

But I'm delighted you acknowledge that language does "connect" to culture and society,

I said Irish connects to a dead culture and society, one that is in tha past and no longer exists.

English connects us to the present where we should live now.

There's nothing wrong with studying old cultures through the medium of its langauge. This happens with Latin. r

What is wrong is trying to re-introduce the Irish language and impose it on the population of the country.

The idea with re-introducing Irish as a living language is either a creepy hobby or an idiotic isolationist fantasy.

Asmooh · 04-01-2016 07:57AM

LeinsterDub wrote: »

Given the other thread it was surprising to the level of hatred for Irish. Having been over in Wales recently the English speakers would generally be apathetic to Welsh. No one seemed to hate it. Why do people hate a language so much?

Cen faith mar is fuair a lán daoine Gaeilge?

Because I don't understand it.

No just kidding, I think irish sounds kinda cool but I cannot make any sense of it. But I don't hate it

Frogscotch · 04-01-2016 09:02AM

I kind of hate it. But I'm not Irish. I love to hear people speaking Irish in Gaeltacht areas and I know enough to say hello and thanks, but I hate Gaelscoils in English speaking areas. I think they are nationally acceptable vehicles for schooling your children away from children with special needs, black kids and foreigners.

wakka12 · 04-01-2016 11:40AM

The_Minister wrote: »

I have a massive chip on my shoulder over having to learn that language.

It was the source of endless hours of suffering for me - I cannot put into words what a negative impact having to learn Irish had on my childhood, and that isn't an exaggeration.

It was taught in such an awful manner that my knowledge of French surpasses it by a mile, even though I put a fraction of the time into it.
It was the subject that made the least sense, took the most work, was the least fun and the least rewarding.
It shook my confidence in my intelligence, and made me feel like an idiot for at least an hour every day.
It took time from subjects with some usefulness and set back my academic life overall.
It represented hours of frustration and heartache, over something I knew all along was absolutely worthless.

I'm older now, and I no longer want to burn down the Gaeltacht, but the way the language is taught needs to be radically overhauled, in particular, not having the language taught by teachers with only a passing knowledge of the language.

God reading that feels like a proper throwback to leaving cert maths for me:o

Why do you hate Irish?

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