Irish after the LC

thomasjad

Will you keep speaking/reading Irish things after the leaving,or has it just turned you off the language forever?

PrivateEye

beautiful language, shameful education system.

estebancambias

I did ordinary level a year ago, and now can nearly(a bit yet) speak it fluently.

Mars Bar

I hope the Irish Times pick up on this poll!

PurpleFistMixer

I've applied to live in Irish-speaking residence in TCD (though my chances are pretty low, and I probably wont have enough money to do it...), so yes, I fully intend to keep on using Irish after the LC.
I picked the first option, but I wasn't overly interested in Irish until about 4th year, so you could say that school did it to me. But how the Irish curriculum could make anyone love the language, I do not see...

On the upside, the aiste part of Irish paper 1 is just about the only class I had where we actually spoke about current events/issues. So that was nice.

eoin2nc

Hell no HL Irish has managed to beat to death any love I once had for the language

mebabyme

definitely speaking it after tuesday, its a fantastic language if u put in the effort to learn the bloody thing . . . . pity its not spoken all over




****in irish . . .too damn laid back lol

thomasjad

I myself went to an Irish primary school,but since I got to secondary school the whole way in which it was thought turned me off completely.I think the people who force Irish on students are being hypocritical as they complain about how the english language was forced onto us.I think the only way to keep the language alive is to change the course immediately or even make it optional for leaving cert

BJC

Not great Poll options, I hated the language till I was old enough to understand how important it is. I can't speak a word though and I whole heartedly blame the way it's taught. I plan on going west for my first summer of college and staying there for the summer. I will learn!

Mars Bar

Saying that, I would love to be able to speak it. But the fact that it wasn't a great course in Secondary School, I have no intention of making any effort to learn it. If there was a time to be fluent in Irish, it should be before you finish Secondary.

Cokehead Mother

I don't really like the language at all. I think I might have developed a love or at least respect for it if the LC was a lot more literature orientated. It's what I think we should be focusing on when learning a language which is the mother tongue of so few people.

Having casual conversations in Irish belongs in the past for most of Ireland. It's an English-speaking country now and there's very little point in us being taught how to converse in the language. Learning to appreciate the culture of the past is always nice though. It'd be cool if the Irish syllabus was similar to the Ancient Greek and Latin ones.

cHaTbOx

I am doing ordinary Irish and if i had the chance again i would learn it because i think its a beautiful language but i have never been taught it right.

Twee.

BJC wrote: »

Not great Poll options, I hated the language till I was old enough to understand how important it is.

Agree. I doubt I'll ever do any further study in the language, but like a lot of people I use some phrases with English- Sin é, slán, a few proverbs! Also it's pretty much a secret language i foreign countries

donmeister

no,definitely not,it is a lovely language,until the l.c. but now has made me turn to murderous rage when i hear it!!:mad::mad::mad:

thomasjad

We should all be learning Polish

PurpleFistMixer

The terrible injustice the syllabus/department of education has done to the language just makes me want to speak it more. If the LC is trying to beat it to death with a stick, somebody needs to help it...
Going "oh they did such a bad job now I hate Irish oh it's going to die but it's not my fault, it's the syllabus" will do nothing. If you recognise that it's a beautiful language or an important part of our culture (not saying you have to, I wouldn't push an agenda on people), then a terrible syllabus shouldn't put you off it. It's like saying "ah jaysus I hate Sylvia Plath and Shakespeare, think I'll give up on English altogether." Sort of. Don't blame the language for how crappy your Irish classes may have been.

Davidius

I don't think I'll use any sort of language except 13375|>34|<. :pac:

cHaTbOx

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

The terrible injustice the syllabus/department of education has done to the language just makes me want to speak it more. If the LC is trying to beat it to death with a stick, somebody needs to help it...
Going "oh they did such a bad job now I hate Irish oh it's going to die but it's not my fault, it's the syllabus" will do nothing. If you recognise that it's a beautiful language or an important part of our culture (not saying you have to, I wouldn't push an agenda on people), then a terrible syllabus shouldn't put you off it. It's like saying "ah jaysus I hate Sylvia Plath and Shakespeare, think I'll give up on English altogether." Sort of. Don't blame the language for how crappy your Irish classes may have been.

+1 i agree and i have never taken an interest in classes after 2nd year
It really demoralising that this country fought for freedom and still oppressed by a language not native to our country.But after tuesday i will take up more of an interest for pleasure.It should be 50% oral so we could speak the language during classes.It would make the irish language more popular as a subject and for redeeming our heritage

Davidius

random chatbox wrote: »

oppressed by a language not native to our country.

Indeed, txt spk will kill us all!

Cokehead Mother

random chatbox wrote: »

+1 i agree and i have never taken an interest in classes after 2nd year
It really demoralising that this country fought for freedom and still oppressed by a language not native to our country.But after tuesday i will take up more of an interest for pleasure.It should be 50% oral so we could speak the language during classes.It would make the irish language more popular as a subject and for redeeming our heritage

Forcing us to speak Irish isn't redeeming our heritage. It's denying our present culture more than anything.

Learning about Irish literature and the histroy of the Irish language and Ireland and stuff is a way of remembering our heritage.

KeyLimePie

Cokehead Mother wrote: »

Forcing us to speak Irish isn't redeeming our heritage. It's denying our present culture more than anything.

Learning about Irish literature and the histroy of the Irish language and Ireland and stuff is a way of remembering our heritage.

ye don't really learn about the poetry or history of the irish language not in ordinary you don't

I can honestly say I only started liking irish this year
I hate to use the tired old excuse but I had the worse teacher ever for irish he wouldn't teach me anything about the conditional tense or grammar even though I asked him many a time, sure i'm in ordinary but i'd like to know
I thought myself everything I know

cHaTbOx

Davidius wrote: »

Indeed, txt spk will kill us all!

Lol that made me smile

Cokehead Mother

KeyLimePie wrote: »

I hate to use the tired old excuse but I had the worse teacher ever for irish he wouldn't teach me anything about the conditional tense or grammar even though I asked him many a time, sure i'm in ordinary but i'd like to know
I thought myself everything I know

I think bad teaching is a bigger problem than a bad syllabus. With my Irish teachers it's been nothing but exam-prep since the start of second teacher. We'll learn the aimsir caite cause you need to know it, we won't learn the gnáth caite cause you can just learn a few phrases involving it etc.

But really if people are so intent on saving themselves from the... opression of speaking English, then I'm sure it can be done outside of school.

nats89

every single person in our irish class absolutely loved it cause our teacher was amazing and she pass on her enthusiasm to us so i'll definatly keep it up after the exams.... i'd love to do it in college but i cant cause i'm goin for a course that it cant be mixed with .. its such a waste of 14 years learning it to stop now... i think that people will eventually grow to like the language and realise theres more to it then the peoms...and theres so many people supporting it now, like des bishop so it can only get better!!:D

Fad

I definitly will, I also like that loving the language isnt really seen as a nationalist thing anymore. (Thus i can like the language regardless of my total political apathy)

cHaTbOx

Cokehead Mother wrote: »

Forcing us to speak Irish isn't redeeming our heritage. It's denying our present culture more than anything.

Learning about Irish literature and the histroy of the Irish language and Ireland and stuff is a way of remembering our heritage.

Yes I agree about forcing someone to learn something they may not use is not right ,although i also believe if we had the chance to get high marks in irish from learning to speak the language it would be a great benifit in uplifting irish sense of identity and in turn help us to remember our heritage.Yes we have a present culture but that comes and goes ,we should have somethin that is real and is in place to show we are irish and we have an identity

Peleus

I don't know why they make us learn off essays on Claire Sa Spéir and Mo Ghille Mear etc... I know alot of people in honours who can talk about the metaphor in Oiche Nollaig na mBan but wouldn't be able to order a pint in Irish! They treat Irish like it's English and are totally in denial!

I think the best thing to do would be to teach Irish like a foreign language so that students would actually learn the various tenses and conjugations rather than learn off notes on poems and scéals, in irish they barely understand. I say Irish should be simplified and more emphasis should be put on correct grammar and good language. That way, more people would come out of Leaving Cert liking Irish. I've been learning Irish my whole life, and have been learning French for six years and I am ten times better and more comfortable with French. Oh well, no more Irish for me...

Patrickisperfec

Cokehead Mother wrote: »

Having casual conversations in Irish belongs in the past for most of Ireland.

Wrong

PrivateEye

I don't associate the language with nationalism.
Many of it's greatest figures have come from across the spectrum, the socialism of Mairtin O' Cadhain and Padraic O' Conaire is something I think of as very progressive. The language is a beautiful thing. Nowadays its hard to tell Dublin from Dundee, or Belfast from Belgrade, it's just the world we live in- I love the idea of something like the Irish language still existing and in use.

Firm believer in celebrating what we have in common, but what makes us unique should be celebrated too. Nationalism is a dangerous and reactionary thing in my opinion, because it promotes some kind of "We're better than _______ because" line of thought, but speaking a language that your greatgrandparents or even grandparents would of used on a day to day basis is a lovely thing. It's not for sale, and it belongs to all the people.

Now, the school course- theres a kick in the balls for the language revivial movement. Whereas those of us who WANT to bring the teanga back try to do so in a modern context (see the Ceol cds...Mundy,Damo Dempsey,Coronas etc. singing in Irish, or turn on your radio where you can hear everything from Eircom League soccer to culutral events discussed in Irish...) the school course is hellbent on making the language look like something that belongs in the National Museum. Stair na Teanga? what about the future of it :rolleyes:

Cokehead Mother

Peleus wrote: »

I don't know why they make us learn off essays on Claire Sa Spéir and Mo Ghille Mear etc... I know alot of people in honours who can talk about the metaphor in Oiche Nollaig na mBan but wouldn't be able to order a pint in Irish! They treat Irish like it's English and are totally in denial!

I think the best thing to do would be to teach Irish like a foreign language so that students would actually learn the various tenses and conjugations rather than learn off notes on poems and scéals, in irish they barely understand. I say Irish should be simplified and more emphasis should be put on correct grammar and good language. That way, more people would come out of Leaving Cert liking Irish. I've been learning Irish my whole life, and have been learning French for six years and I am ten times better and more comfortable with French. Oh well, no more Irish for me...

It's ridiculous not to study literature after 13 years! :eek:

While I don't think there should be any emphasis on spoken Irish, I do think that the average honours Irish LC student just isn't at the level to analyse poems and stories and stuff. If I were to make changes it would be to focus on teaching it properly at national school, and for the better students to start secondary with a wide vocabulary and a good grasp of grammar. I remember in 5th year when my teacher told me nouns had genders. I was like "wtf? Why wasn't I told about this ten years ago?".

Cokehead Mother

Patrickisperfec wrote: »

Wrong

Well I guess Ireland's future might involve most Irish people speaking the language on a day-to-basis but I don't know why that should be encouraged and I certainly don't think it's the case today.