Would you prefer to speak Irish?

Daniel S

Would you rather have been born in an Ireland that spoke Irish rather than English? Forget the consequences with international business for the moment. Might be just me but I'd rather have English as a second language as it would be easier to pick up than learning Irish as a second language.

What do you think?

P.S. Could we leave national pride and that sort of stuff out

Dravokivich

Nope.

Abi

I wish this was England. There. I've said it.

hondasam

Yes I would love to be able to speak Irish.

BBDBB

I wish I had a beer and a sandwich. There, now Ive said it.

HalloweenJack

Yeah, definitely.

Not so much for the cultural value but for the linguistic value. Think about it, if we lived in an Irish-only society, we had have to do a lot better at teaching languages in schools as they'd be essential to attract foreign investment.

As we have English as a native language, there is less emphasis on perfecting foreign languages, we see them as inessential as we natively speak the big one, which is understandable. If Irish was the only language, then that attitude would change and I think it would be for the best, with the ultimate benefit being that language teaching would improve and, as a nation, we would value foreign languages a lot more.

Seachmall

If we remove business and the ability to communicate easily with others than there wouldn't be a difference between English and Irish and I wouldn't care.

As it is, the Irish language is a fun past time. Nothing more.

Abi

I wish I had one of Betty's hotpots and a pint if ale. There. I've said it.

SafeSurfer

I wish we didn't waste money forcing a dead language down people's throats. If you want to speak Irish, pay for lessons with your own money in your own time.

Daniel S

SafeSurfer wrote: »

I wish we didn't waste money forcing a dead language down people's throats. If you want to speak Irish, pay for lessons with your own money in your own time.

That's sort of what I'm trying to say in the OP. Leave that shíte out.

In a perfect situtation, would you rather grow up in an Irish or English speaking Ireland? Nothing to do with forcing it down throats.

Micky Dolenz

Ta

Lady von Purple

'Could we leave national pride out of this'- I'm subscribing to this thread just to see how long this lasts. 7 posts so far, I have to say I'm surprised :pac: While I agree with the point above about having Irish as a first language making us put more emphasis on learning foreign languages, I think it'd mainly be English we'd focus on learning as our 'foreign language.' I don't think we'd be prioritising other European languages much more than we do now as they'd be third languages, not second.

SafeSurfer

According to census 2010 1.7 million people in the country consider themselves to be native Irish speakers.

arybvtcw0eolkf

hondasam wrote: »

Yes I would love to be able to speak Irish.

Same here, I'd love it.

When Israel got its independence Hebrew was more or less a dead language, most people spoke a smattering of Russian, Yiddish, English etc.

Well the new Israeli government decided to make all public signage Hebrew & Arabic and thereby revived a dead language.

We should have done similar in Irish & English.

hondasam

SafeSurfer wrote: »

I wish we didn't waste money forcing a dead language down people's throats. If you want to speak Irish, pay for lessons with your own money in your own time.

It is our language and we should be able to speak it.

Micky Dolenz

SafeSurfer wrote: »

I wish we didn't waste money forcing a dead language down people's throats. If you want to speak Irish, pay for lessons with your own money in your own time.

Why learn any language then?. If a pupil is interested in it they should pay for it themselves. A huge waste of tax payers money on teachers who teach languages, that the vast majority will never use in a practical way.

My name is URL

I don't/can't speak Irish therefor I insist that no money is wasted on allowing others to learn the language. Same goes for everything else that I can't do.

Dostoevsky

SafeSurfer wrote: »

According to census 2010 1.7 million people in the country consider themselves to be native Irish speakers.

They don't, but don't let facts impede your anti-Irish agenda.

Fromthetrees

Yeah, I'd much prefer if we all spoke Irish as our first language. I think the majority of people would be able to speak English very very proficiently as a second language, the Dutch and Norwegians have perfect English for example. We'd be still very much influenced as a society by Britain and the US in tv, film, sport ect. so most would just pick it up anyway.

mikemac1

Welsh seems to be doing fairly well
Love those lyrical tones, it's like they are singing it. Gorgeous

What are the Welsh doing in schools that we are failing at?

Seachmall

My name is URL wrote: »

I don't/can't speak Irish therefor I insist that no money is wasted on allowing others to learn the language. Same goes for everything else that I can't do.

Out of curiosity, what real-world applications and benefits does the ability to speak Irish have?



/The beginning of the end of this thread.

mikemac1

Alanna Few Needle wrote: »

Same here, I'd love it.

If you don't mind me asking Alanna Few Needle, just an army question

I read somewhere there is a battalion in Galway and all commands and their daily business is done through Irish

Seems fairly cool
Is that true?

Sunnyisland

Love to have Irish as my first language.

Micky Dolenz

Seachmall wrote: »

Out of curiosity, what real-world applications and abilities does the ability to speak Irish have on an international level?



/The beginning of the end of this thread.

You could visit parts of your own country and be able to speak to the natives of those areas without feeling like a foreigner in your own land.

TheZohanS

I'm pretty much fluent in both but I'm happy having English as my first language.

Lady von Purple

Forgot to say- I voted English speaker with Irish as a second language. For one thing, the Irish alphabet is missing several letters. Which isn't a problem when you learn it secondarily in your later primary years but if you start off with an alphabet ingrained into your learning and then have to learn a different one a few years later... It's doable, of course, but I wouldn't like it. I still remember the German alphabet because the letters correspond to the ones in the alphabet I already know.

Tar.Aldarion

wouldnt mind knowing it or not, it's far more useful to have english, but if I didn't know that I would try hard to learn it.

Frankly I wish there was some 'common' language that was agreed upon somehow that everyyyyyybody should know, as well as your cultural language.

Namlub

I'd prefer a 'Native English speaker with a useful second language' option tbh.

No problem with Irish as a language, I just have no desire to ever use it again after being obliged to for my leaving cert...

token101

Abi wrote: »

I wish this was England. There. I've said it.

Ryanair and Aer Lingus do flights daily.

Irish is grand as a second language but having to learn English as a second language would be a nightmare. They do a bad enough job with foreign languages in our educational system as it is.

SafeSurfer

Dostoevsky wrote: »

They don't, but don't let facts impede your anti-Irish agenda.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_language

Seachmall

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

You could visit parts of your own country and be able to speak to the natives of those areas without feeling like a foreigner in your own land.

I was talking more in justifications of spending the time and money on teaching it schools.

Why is it consider a good investment in this respect, or is it entirely for cultural/historical factors?

SafeSurfer

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

Why learn any language then?. If a pupil is interested in it they should pay for it themselves. A huge waste of tax payers money on teachers who teach languages, that the vast majority will never use in a practical way.

Agreed. Which is probably why Latin has been scrapped.

philologos

I don't think learning English as a second language would have been easier. I consider it an advantage that I learned English first.

Micky Dolenz

SafeSurfer wrote: »

Agreed. Which is probably why Latin has been scrapped.

Most of them Latino's can speak English now though.

hondasam

Seachmall wrote: »

Out of curiosity, what real-world applications and benefits does the ability to speak Irish have?



/The beginning of the end of this thread.

Pride in your country,it's language and history.

token101

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

Why learn any language then?. If a pupil is interested in it they should pay for it themselves. A huge waste of tax payers money on teachers who teach languages, that the vast majority will never use in a practical way.

Since we've made ourselves the centre of Europe for call centres it would be extremely practical and useful and would get a lot of people off the dole and negate the need to import people for language skills.

Seachmall

hondasam wrote: »

Pride in your country,it's language and history.

Too subjective to validate the money being spent on it imo.

Pacifist Pigeon

No, English is the global lingua franca. I can speak to over a billion people through the medium of English, while only around 75,000 people through the medium of Irish. If Ireland had its own empire and took over a quarter of the globe and spread the Irish language, then maybe I might consider using Irish. I put my priorities on numbers not on some nationalist fantasy. I say this and I went through 14 years of education as Gaeilge (because my parents made me) so I can still speak it. Do I regret it? Yes, my English syntax is all fecked up because of it.

token101

hondasam wrote: »

Pride in your country,it's language and history.

That's not a real world application! The only time the majority of people even come into contact with the Irish language is through TG4. I'd rather have a practical language skill that I can take elsewhere when I eventually have to emigrate than have pride on the dole!

ItsAWindUp

I went to an Irish speaking primary school so I have a fairly good standard of Irish, shouldn't be the first language though

My name is URL

token101 wrote: »

That's not a real world application! The only time the majority of people even come into contact with the Irish language is through TG4. I'd rather have a practical language skill that I can take elsewhere when I eventually have to emigrate than have pride on the dole!

Well what's stopping you from learning other languages?

superstoner90

TA agus NIL!!!!!!!

TheZohanS

SafeSurfer wrote: »

Agreed. Which is probably why Latin has been scrapped.

I learned Latin in school, it made learning other languages a lot easier. Most english words come from Latin.

hondasam

Seachmall wrote: »

Too subjective to validate the money being spent on it imo.

You think it should be stopped in schools? if that happens it will die out completely except in Irish speaking areas.
I have no idea what is spent on teaching it but I guess it is a lot.

token101

My name is URL wrote: »

Well what's stopping you from learning other languages?

Nothing, but if it was taught properly in schools from an early age we wouldn't need to pay to learn it as adults. There's also the fact that you learn things much easier as a child than you do as an adult. Any teacher will tell you that.

LordSutch

Would be nice if you had a third option "Native English speaker with French, German, or 'other' as second language".

Maybe I dont want to speak Irish at all? but you have closed off that option, (so I can't vote).

Seachmall

hondasam wrote: »

You think it should be stopped in schools?

Maybe, I'm not sure. Right now I think it should be optional.

I don't see teaching the Irish language as an investment, thus not a worthy expenditure of tax-payers money.

Even if 100% of the country were fluent it would provide little benefit as far as I can see. I'm happy to be shown otherwise.

Micky Dolenz

TheZohan wrote: »

I learned Latin in school, it made learning other languages a lot easier. Most english words come from Latin.

I learnt French in school, 30% of English words have French origins which in turn came from Latin.

I play a match down in Dingle a few years ago and was embarrassed that I had very little clue of what the locals were saying and it just wasn't their accents I found hard to understand.

philologos

hondasam wrote: »

Pride in your country,it's language and history.

I don't know why I should be proud of a country that I was born into. I could have been born in Botswana, or Sri Lanka.

Don't get me wrong, I have no major objections to Ireland as a country, but I don't understand why I should be proud of being born where I was born, that was out of my hands.

LordSutch

Maybe I dont want to speak Irish at all? but you have closed off that option in the poll, (so I can't vote).

Maybe I dont want my children to speak Irish either? Maybe I want them to have French or German as a 2nd language?

saa

If a child was watching english tv, speaking English with their parents but speaking conversational Irish in primary school rather than writing out verbs again and again, English and maths would obviously be in English and other subjects could be in Irish because frankly when you leave primary school you have basic english and math skills you're not going to be held back in geography or history you don't even start studying them properly until secondary school before that its mostly simple story telling with a lot of images. we would learn a lot more Irish in secondary school and probably find it easier to pick up other languages because we haven't had to misery method of teaching Irish drilled into us.