Irish language

[Snowball9825]

Does anyone in Ireland actually speak native Irish? I was on a flight today to Dublin and Irish was spoken by the flight attendants but it seemed a bit redundant in that no one really took notice. The pilot spoke English and the plane went quiet to hear about flight times etc but it seemed no one understood when the native language was spoken. Happy to be corrected if I’m wrong?

What are you basing your opinion on that Irish seems difficult to learn? A few words of Irish that you heard spoken on an airplane?

Students don’t get extra points for sitting all subjects as Gaeilge. There is a bonus Gaeilge where students may get a small bonus, depending on the exam. The bonus is on a sliding scale, so the higher mark a student gets, the less the bonus. The bonus for subjects such as Maths/Physics is very low but higher in the likes of History.

It’s a bit of a joke really, only Irish speaking schools and certain areas in Ireland do- I think a lot of people are trying to get back to it but in terms of fluency I remember an Irish teacher saying it’s an extremely low percentage. We basically learn how to introduce ourselves, our hobbies etc and then we’re stuck!! Saying that it became recognised as a language and now everything is translated but I don’t know a person myself who uses Irish forms or the like. Just where I’m from personally

It's not mandatory for the President or Taoiseach to be fluent. Lots have been of course but it's not a requirement. Simon Harris isn't fluent by any means.

I knew a barrister who specialized in Irish language cases, most of her work was on Kilkenny court circuit. Very useful for her as a newly qualified barrister, she picked up cases very quickly.

My child is educated through Irish, she speaks Irish to her friends outside school. It's just natural to them. Their GAA club is Irish speaking too.

My sister-in-law is a native Irish speaker now living in London. Her parents were very involved in the rebirth of the Celtic languages movement Her children attend Irish Saturday school and are completely bilingual at home, meaning my English brother-in-law now speaks pretty good Irish too. It is great fun when we have been in America with them as Americans find it both confusing and thrilling to know they are Irish speakers.

No they don't. French is a Romance language and a form of vulgar Latin. Some words in the Breton language are the same/similar to Welsh (and Cornish) because the people of Brittany were Brethonic Celts. But the French language has no roots in any Celtic language.

In terms of difficulty to learn, well, there are four cases (same as German, and one fewer than Latin) and only 11 irregular verbs (compared to over a hundred in English.). So … like any language, it just takes learning 🤷‍♀️

I live in a Gaelteacht, in the west of Ireland, Irish is spoken here by 95% of people everyday.
It is a beautiful and melodic language alive and well and I believe Irish language classes are on the rise worldwide..

Ceapaim..😍

Compulsory throughout the entire state unless a student receives a dispensation from dept of education. It's making a comeback at present. Some think it's political. Some think there's a snob value.

There is a wonderful, short, film available on Youtube called “My name is Yu Ming” or “Yu Ming is ainm dom” which wonderfully sums up the state of the Irish language in Ireland.

In our household of 6 (4 kids 2 adults) we have basic words despite learning from the age of 5, kids wouldnt be able to carry out more than a basic sentence. I cant help them with homework. A teacher friend of mine thinks we shouldn't have any writing/reading in primary school and insted focus on oral and aural and just speak it introducing the reading and writing later on.

If I was on that flight I would only know the odd word being spoken.

Yes, a pp linked it upthread.

My family in Ireland speak Irish, DH speaks Irish and I’m almost fluent, and we are teaching our children to (we live in England). It’s not a hard language to learn, it’s the same as any other really.

Aer Lingus using Irish is also about brand value - like the green and the shamrock. It marks them out as Ireland's premier (once semi state) airline. They're not going to be giving emergency evacuation instructions in Irish, just wishing you a nice flight.

In Dublin last year, I noticed some people who conversed only in Irish. Whenever I’m in Donegal I hear people speaking Irish but will speak English for people who don’t understand.

I studied French, Italian and Irish at school and didn’t find Irish any more difficult, like a pp said, you just learn it like any language.

I originally come from a Gaeltacht area, my Irish is good but I don't often need to use it. While some areas are designated Gaeltachts, not all people in every area use Irish every day. They don't in my village, although my grandmother would have been fluent. There was a concerted effort to get rid of Irish, children were beaten in schools if they used it up until the 1920s. I got pretty good marks in Leaving Cert Irish but that was a while ago now.

Irish is having a resurgence now all over the country and it's really great to see. I do think it is a fairly difficult language to learn, I'm good at languages and can get by in French, German and Spanish as well.

How is it any harder ?

There was a concerted effort to get rid of Irish, children were beaten in schools if they used it up until the 1920s.

Interestingly, talking to my mum today about it, when she was at school they were punished for speaking English (Irish medium in the 70s) and she said that’s maybe one of the things that turned her off maintaining her Irish into adulthood. I bought her one of Manchán Magan’s books for Christmas and it has made her think about revisiting Irish to see how much she remembers.