Irish language revival

BarryD2

Genfella wrote: »

We need to preserve our language and, when reunification occurs, aim to have at least 40% of the population as Irish-speaking.

Jesus wept. What are going to have - Gaelic Gulags to enforce your vision? I hate to tell you but this wee country is getting even further and further from the language as each year goes by. Some will choose to keep it as a hobby, a cultural pastime and why not, but that's as far as it'll ever go.

whisky_galore

KathleenGrant wrote: »

The best thing to do for the language is not to ban it but to make it non-compulsory. That will raise the standard of those who wish to learn it and stop the rest whinging about it.

Wont happen.
The language lobbyists won't have that. It'll drive down their (notional) numbers of speakers.
It won't go down well with the mini industry, people that keep students in Gaeltachts and the like.

briany

KathleenGrant wrote: »

The Anglo-irish treaty negotiations that de Velera didn't even attend you mean???

Excuse me, it was actually a series of pre-treaty talks held between George and Dev in July 1921, where the future relationship between Ireland and Britain was to be discussed.

KathleenGrant

whisky_galore wrote: »

Wont happen.
The language lobbyists won't have that. It'll drive down their (notional) numbers of speakers.
It won't go down well with the mini industry, people that keep students in Gaeltachts and the like.

Maybe not but when I am Minister that's what I would do. Numbers......people who can say barely more than 'an bhfuil cead agam dul go dtí an leithreas" we need to redefine or measure what a speaker is.

BarryD2

whisky_galore wrote: »

Wont happen.
The language lobbyists won't have that. It'll drive down their (notional) numbers of speakers.
It won't go down well with the mini industry, people that keep students in Gaeltachts and the like.

The real props are artificial State supports - the advantages in the education and points system but particularly in the language requirement for certain state jobs. It's the State that drives the impetus to learn and provides the employment outlets. But a lot of this is divorced from the everyday life of ordinary citizens. It's largely a top down rather than bottom up approach.

El Tarangu

whisky_galore wrote: »

Wont happen.
The language lobbyists won't have that. It'll drive down their (notional) numbers of speakers.
It won't go down well with the mini industry, people that keep students in Gaeltachts and the like.

While there is some truth in what you are saying it doesn't really tell the whole story:

There are loads of people, who have never shown the slightest inclination to speak Irish themselves, who still feel that other people (i.e. children) should be obliged to learn the language. I believe that this sense of patriotic-duty-by-proxy would have a lot of non-Gaeilgeoirs resist any measure to make Irish optional after the Junior Cert, or non-compulsory altogether at second-level, or similar.

branie2

Seadh!

Upforthematch

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Although I agree with the Lose it or Use it approach, are you kidding here re the Irish-language novels?

Apart from the classics, which a moderate reader would get through in a few months, there are precious few good novels written in the Irish language today.

My preferred bookshop is one of the few retailers that actually stock Irish books, and most of the newer books are dreadful garbage, often self-published or published by very low-budget publishers with (apparently) a low threshold for talent.

Reading material in modern Irish fiction is astoundingly bad, although things are better on the poetry side. That lack of talent is my greatest worry for the language, and not some census of how many people are speaking it.

I wasn't commenting on the standard of irish language fiction (I'll leave that to the saineolaithe) just making the point that buying an irish language book is a good opportunity to have a chat in Irish.

The fact that publisher cois life is closing might back up your point though

whisky_galore

El Tarangu wrote: »

While there is some truth in what you are saying it doesn't really tell the whole story:

There are loads of people, who have never shown the slightest inclination to speak Irish themselves, who still feel that other people (i.e. children) should be obliged to learn the language. I believe that this sense of patriotic-duty-by-proxy would have a lot of non-Gaeilgeoirs resist any measure to make Irish optional after the Junior Cert, or non-compulsory altogether at second-level, or similar.

Would agree with that.

Saving the language, by leaving others to do the work of saving it.
The "someone should do something" school of thought.

Reati

If they is nothing I like more than a dole bashing or a traveller bashing thread, it's an Irish language bashing thread full of the same old myths.

Let me cut through them (I'm on my phone so it'll be brief) and save people a heap of time.

1. No its not thought badly by teachers or any worse than the other subjects. Many people learn a European language for 5/6 years yet few could pass a (CEFR) A2 level. You can't learn a language with a few classes here a week. The teaching method is the problem. Immersion is the only way to learn a language.

2.Wales and Ireland have very differnet language backgrounds. What worked there is unlikely to work here.

3. We don't spends billions and trillions on Irish esch year. We spend less than they budget for papers and pens in the Dáil each year (which is the biggest waste)

4. English is a better language to have. Shur its the langauge of business isn't it. Remember how we proudly told businesses in the UK, Ireland was the only English speaking country going to be left in Europe then most of them moved to mainland Europe anyway. Its because speaking English isn't some magic benefit anymore. There are only 1.7billion English as a secondary language speakers in the world. Many of them at c2 speaker level who can do the job as good if not better. Oh and most of them come with an advantage that they are bilingual so are already more attractive. Brain drain is our main language driven export. Train them up at expense of the Irish tax payer and ship them to the US, Canada or Australia where the good money is at.

5. Irish langauge material like books or news is hard to come by. Not true. Pretty much every bookshop I've visited had Irish langauge books. Even amazons UK site sells a bunch.

6. Its all Peigs fault. Musha, poor old Peig. It's a tough read even if your near fluent so getting kids to read it was a terrible idea. You can blame the government for that one. It'd rumored they actually reworded a ton to fit the stereotype of a typical Irish western women.

7. Its too hard to learn. It's really not, if you actually put the effort into it. It's just an excuse to say it's too hard. Learning any language is not going to be easy, especially for monoglots.

8. Last but not least, the Irish language is dying or dead etc it's not. The language is everywhere if you listen. I've heard it used several times today by people in my workplace, some people in Dunnes all in Dublin. It has survived invasions, plantations, attempts to wipe it out, famines, civil and World wars and it will survive all of us.

It's our language but it's everyone's choice to embrace it or leave it behind them after school. The OP is a troll though.

Johnny Jukebox

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

How sad, why would you discourage children from learning any language or its literature?

Its not the language per se I have an issue with - its the state forcing it down our throats in the form of mandatory education and exams and as a barrier to entry to employment when it serves no utility in practical terms.

When me and many of my generation say we hate "Irish", what we actually mean is that we hated our experience of Irish delivered through the education system in the 70s and 80s.

Johnny Jukebox

Johnny Jukebox wrote: »

Its not the language per se I have an issue with - its the state forcing it down our throats in the form of mandatory education and exams and as a barrier to entry to employment when it serves no utility in practical terms.

When me and many of my generation say we hate "Irish", what we actually mean is that we hated our experience of Irish delivered through the education system in the 70s and 80s.

That's very fair, and I share your experience to an extent. My own education in Irish was interrupted (between the ages of 12 and 15) by a linguistic demagogue who would routinely lose her sh!t if someone erred in their application of the plural-genitive case of a second declension noun (I wish I was kidding here).

I now manage to speak Irish fluently or almost so, and for that Im grateful to my primary school teacher and Leaving Cert teacher who were both from the West Kerry Gaeltacht. They even made Peig seem interesting.

The Irish-language purists absolutely do exist and they make the language seem dull and needlessly complex.

Sardonicat

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Sardonicat wrote: »

And I still don't know what it actually is.

It's just the conditional tense. It's not much more complex than the French version, and certainly easier and more consistent than its English counterpart!

My point was, I was never told what it was. Nothing was ever explained. Ever. Just declining verbs with different endings. Tenses never explained. How and why did they teach it like that. What was wrong with conversational Irish? If you want people to speak it, fecking converse !

_blaaz

Lads seriously showing their age here....im old enough like and peig was gone off the course years before i doned my leaving :pac:

Sardonicat

Sardonicat wrote: »

My point was, I was never told what it was. Nothing was ever explained. Ever. Just declining verbs with different endings. Tenses never explained. How and why did they teach it like that. What was wrong with conversational Irish? If you want people to speak it, fecking converse !

How can you speak a language without using the conditional tense?

I would (see?!) have trouble believing that it was never explained that the Modh Coinníollach is just the conditional tense.

I agree that the language is badly taught. But this mystery around the Modh Coinníollach is difficult to swallow. It's far easier to understand than, say, the Tuiseal Ginideach or the other cases.

ILoveYourVibes

Why the welsh?

ייִדיש איז אַ בעסערע שפּראַך.

И если вы научитесь говорить на идише, вы сможете писать задом наперед на английском!

Junkyard Tom

Haven't a word of Irish but would love to speak a little - I feel like I'm missing out by not being able to understand it.

_blaaz

Junkyard Tom wrote: »

Haven't a word of Irish but would love to speak a little - I feel like I'm missing out by not being able to understand it.

Dulingo app

Sardonicat

Reati wrote: »

If they is nothing I like more than a dole bashing or a traveller bashing thread, it's an Irish language bashing thread full of the same old myths.

Let me cut through them (I'm on my phone so it'll be brief) and save people a heap of time.

1. No its not thought badly by teachers or any worse than the other subjects. Many people learn a European language for 5/6 years yet few could pass a (CEFR) A2 level. You can't learn a language with a few classes here a week. The teaching method is the problem. Immersion is the only way to learn a language.

6. Its all Peigs fault. Musha, poor old Peig. It's a tough read even if your near fluent so getting kids to read it was a terrible idea. You can blame the government for that one. It'd rumored they actually reworded a ton to fit the stereotype of a typical Irish western women.

7. Its too hard to learn. It's really not, if you actually put the effort into it. It's just an excuse to say it's too hard. Learning any language is not going to be easy, especially for monoglots.

I don't know what the teaching of Irish is like now but when I left school, 30 years ago, I left with more functional French than Irish. French was taught completely differently to Irish. Despite years of learning ****e off by heart. I can still manage to ask directions, order food, basic survival stuff in French. I live 30 miles from a gealtacht and would have to use English to do that. That's not cos I'm stupid or was too lazy to learn. I was never taught . I was never taught the meaning of what I was learning. Half the time I didn't even know what tense was being used . It was taught in an utterly counter-productive way. The kids who's folks could afford to send them to the gealtacht learned Irish. The rest just struggled to grasp what was going on. If you can speak it and want to use it, great. It's a beautiful language. It's not my language. It's not part of my heritage. It's not part of my identity. It might be for you. But it isn't for me.

ILoveYourVibes

Junkyard Tom wrote: »

Haven't a word of Irish but would love to speak a little - I feel like I'm missing out by not being able to understand it.

A bisl of Irish never hurt anyone.

Junkyard Tom

Junkyard Tom wrote: »

Haven't a word of Irish but would love to speak a little - I feel like I'm missing out by not being able to understand it.

Unfortunately you're not missing much. As mentioned earlier, the contemporary books are mostly rubbish, and the online news coverage (through Irish) is also woeful.

Raidió na Gaeltachta has occasional gems, but there's an awful lot of rough. It's almost a local-news station, at times

amcalester

Spent my summers in the Gaeltacht and had quite good conversational Irish but had no time or interest in Fear Lasta Lampai or Peig so did pass for the leaving, did well too.

Haven’t a word now and regret not keeping it up to the point that I think I’ll send my future kids to a Gael Scoil.

Sardonicat

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Sardonicat wrote: »

My point was, I was never told what it was. Nothing was ever explained. Ever. Just declining verbs with different endings. Tenses never explained. How and why did they teach it like that. What was wrong with conversational Irish? If you want people to speak it, fecking converse !

How can you speak a language without using the conditional tense?

I would (see?!) have trouble believing that it was never explained that the Modh Coinníollach is just the conditional tense.

I agree that the language is badly taught. But this mystery around the Modh Coinníollach is difficult to swallow. It's far easier to understand than, say, the Tuiseal Ginideach or the other cases.

Rather then saying, in Irish, now let's learn ,how about practicing conversation using the conditional tense and telling the students what the words Mo Coinníollach actually mean! Instead we got a list of verb endings to decline. No context. Like I said earlier, I only discovered that today! How the hell was that a good way to teach a language?

nuac

Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »

Modh coinníollach.

Two words to explain why it won't be revived.

Agus an Módh Foshuíteach!

Sardonicat

Sardonicat wrote: »

Rather then saying, in Irish, now let's learn ,how about practicing conversation using the conditional tense and telling the students what the words Mo Coinníollach actually mean! Instead we got a list of verb endings to decline. No context. Like I said earlier, I only discovered that today! How the hell was that a good way to teach a language?

That sounds exactly how French is taught. Aside from French, I didn't study any other European language in the Leaving, but I seem to remember German as being the same.

In any language, you're bombarded with verb conjugations from an early stage.

You're definitely correct in saying that something has gone wrong in the teaching of Irish, I'm just not convinced that its verbs are the problem. They're really not much different to Latin languages and other Germanic languages.

jimbobaloobob

I use it daily for at least 50% of the day in general conversation, listening to radio and tv and in business, while i use it i cant say im bothered what language people want to speak, if someone has it and wants to speak english to me im not bothered.
I cant ever see it being more than it is though in irish society.

ILoveYourVibes

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

That sounds exactly how French is taught. Aside from French, I didn't study any other European language in the Leaving, but I seem to remember German as being the same.

In any language, you're bombarded with verb conjugations from an early stage.

You're definitely correct in saying that something has gone wrong in the teaching of Irish, I'm just not convinced that its verbs are the problem. They're really not much different to Latin languages and other Germanic languages.

I think the trick is your parents have to learn it and speak it with you.

ILoveYourVibes

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

I think the trick is your parents have to learn it and speak it with you.

one of my parents was born in the UK and the other one only learned Irish when his kids were grown up.

But yeah, we shouldn't look to outliers; rather to general trends, and having a Gaeilgeoir at home will surely enhance learning. I'm still mystified as to why the language is deemed so difficult, though. I say this as someone who can hardly post to boards without making a grammatical error, so I'm nearly sure it's unrelated to language skill in itself.

keepalive213

It's a dying language, every generation its getting worse.

Greyfox

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

In any language, you're bombarded with verb conjugations from an early stage.

Which is why I'll only ever speak English. In school I couldn't understand why it seemed like I was learning all these verb conjugations before learning what the Irish for all common English words where. Learning lots of words first and then the grammar does seem a more logical and interesting way of learning a language.

Sardonicat

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Sardonicat wrote: »

Rather then saying, in Irish, now let's learn ,how about practicing conversation using the conditional tense and telling the students what the words Mo Coinníollach actually mean! Instead we got a list of verb endings to decline. No context. Like I said earlier, I only discovered that today! How the hell was that a good way to teach a language?

That sounds exactly how French is taught. Aside from French, I didn't study any other European language in the Leaving, but I seem to remember German as being the same.

In any language, you're bombarded with verb conjugations from an early stage.

You're definitely correct in saying that something has gone wrong in the teaching of Irish, I'm just not convinced that its verbs are the problem. They're really not much different to Latin languages and other Germanic languages.

I can still still remember my first French class and my French text book and work book.
The very first lesson was 'My name is---' 'What's your name?' 'His name is ---' 'What's her name?' The book had cartoons with speech bubbles. We learned to decline the verb Avoir. The class was held in a language lab. With cassettes that played the conversation with different voices in different accents and time for us to repeat what we heard and practice it with each other. It was a very basic conversation. I experienced nothing like that in Irish. Of course it got more complicated as we progressed, but the basics were presented in a teenager appropriate way, talk about school, your family, your favourite music and TV shows. Irish was nothing like that. Nothing. Just texts that were never translated and grammar that was never contextualised in a conversation. It was awful. I could read aloud perfectly but only have the vaguest idea what I was reading. I'm not quite sure how they managed to impart that particular skill. Perfect pronunciation but not idea what's being pronounced. Well done! The kicker is I actually really wanted to learn it. It wasn't for want of trying.

blanch152

Sardonicat wrote: »

I don't know what the teaching of Irish is like now but when I left school, 30 years ago, I left with more functional French than Irish. French was taught completely differently to Irish. Despite years of learning ****e off by heart. I can still manage to ask directions, order food, basic survival stuff in French. I live 30 miles from a gealtacht and would have to use English to do that. That's not cos I'm stupid or was too lazy to learn. I was never taught . I was never taught the meaning of what I was learning. Half the time I didn't even know what tense was being used . It was taught in an utterly counter-productive way. The kids who's folks could afford to send them to the gealtacht learned Irish. The rest just struggled to grasp what was going on. If you can speak it and want to use it, great. It's a beautiful language. It's not my language. It's not part of my heritage. It's not part of my identity. It might be for you. But it isn't for me.

This is pretty much the reason why Irish is the way it is.

I feel sad for the poster, while I can accept that the Irish language is only a very small part of our culture today (and fully believe that such a small part is
its correct place) it remains a large part of our history and our heritage.

It would be nice to keep a few small parts of the country speaking Irish, even if only for tourist purposes, but aside from that, there is no need to speak it in everyday life. The Irish language is a part of our heritage, is a part of our identity, but equally, if not even more so, the English language is a part of our heritage and identity. Our greatest poets, our greatest story-tellers, our greatest musicians, our greatest broadcasters, our greatest anything, well they all did their best work through the medium of English.

Simple_Simone

Igotadose wrote: »

What's striking is how well Wales could do on preserving and encouraging it's language, while Ireland fumbles along spending a lot of money with poor results.

Seems like we could learn something from Wales.

Seems like you could learn something from England too - namely the difference between its and it's!

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

blanch152 wrote: »

This is pretty much the reason why Irish is the way it is.

I feel sad for the poster, while I can accept that the Irish language is only a very small part of our culture today (and fully believe that such a small part is
its correct place) it remains a large part of our history and our heritage.

It would be nice to keep a few small parts of the country speaking Irish, even if only for tourist purposes, but aside from that, there is no need to speak it in everyday life. The Irish language is a part of our heritage, is a part of our identity, but equally, if not even more so, the English language is a part of our heritage and identity. Our greatest poets, our greatest story-tellers, our greatest musicians, our greatest broadcasters, our greatest anything, well they all did their best work through the medium of English.

You use the word "our" a lot there - have you checked with everyone else?

I'm Irish, was born and raised in Ireland, but it most certainly NOT a part of my culture or my identity. I'll decide what defines me as an individual - not the State, not a language and not some conformed and assumed "culture".

(Interestingly, the word "culture" has the same root as the word "cult" - to worship" - which is not a word used in association with the langauge for most people)

Das Reich

Igotadose wrote: »

5 years in Ireland, and hear it nearly daily in interactions with others. Of course, living in a Gaeltacht region probably has something to do with that

What's striking is how well Wales could do on preserving and encouraging it's language, while Ireland fumbles along spending a lot of money with poor results. Seems like we could learn something from Wales.

Which Gaeltacht you can hear it? I lived near one in Dungarvan, NEVER heard Irish there, I live near Trim now where there is a supposed Gaeltacht but I asked few old people if they speak Irish and no one does, was recently in Connemara, stoped here and there and not a single word in Irish. And these people you hear they are first language Irish speakers (without English accent)?

Subcomandante Marcos

Das Reich wrote: »

Which Gaeltacht you can hear it? I lived near one in Dungarvan, NEVER heard Irish there, I live near Trim now where there is a supposed Gaeltacht but I asked few old people if they speak Irish and no one does, was recently in Connemara, stoped here and there and not a single word in Irish. And these people you hear they are first language Irish speakers (without English accent)?

Either you're talking bollocks or you need a hearing aid. You hear Irish regularly in Galway city from people form Connemara in doing their shopping. Sit in Fig Coilis or Tom Sheridan's of a weekend and there will be umpteen auld lads chatting away as gailge.
Even a short trip to Moycullen or Barna and the majority of people are fluent and slightly further west and it's the default language.

kingchess

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

Either you're talking bollocks or you need a hearing aid. You hear Irish regularly in Galway city from people form Connemara in doing their shopping. Sit in Fig Coilis or Tom Sheridan's of a weekend and there will be umpteen auld lads chatting away as gailge.
Even a short trip to Moycullen or Barna and the majority of people are fluent and slightly further west and it's the default language.

Was in Galway and Connemara awhile ago and heard a lot of Irish spoken,People shopping and nattering away in Irish,

Subcomandante Marcos

kingchess wrote: »

Was in Galway and Connemara awhile ago and heard a lot of Irish spoken,People shopping and nattering away in Irish,

Literally sat across the aisle from a young mother and her three young kids as they chatted away in Irish on a train from Galway to Dublin the other day too. This is normal enough when I'm visiting Galway. I hear it very often, and I think it's brilliant.

dd973

I understand the viewpoint of bad memories of sitting bored in class having Peig rammed into your brain but can't see why so many people are apparently anti our language especially when it's a demarcation of not being perceived as English or British which is something most Irish people regard as their raison d'etre.

Das Reich

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

Literally sat across the aisle from a young mother and her three young kids as they chatted away in Irish on a train from Galway to Dublin the other day too. This is normal enough when I'm visiting Galway. I hear it very often, and I think it's brilliant.

Sure is brilliant and I wish more people would speak it, but the fact is that I never heard it, and I don't think I need a hearing aid as I can well recognise Polish, Romanian, Lithuanian etc... (that are languages that I hear every week). My ex boss was from Galway and could speak only a how are you, I will believe this language exist and some people use it as first language only after hearing.

Filmer Paradise

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

Literally sat across the aisle from a young mother and her three young kids as they chatted away in Irish on a train from Galway to Dublin the other day too. This is normal enough when I'm visiting Galway. I hear it very often, and I think it's brilliant.

Really? I go to Galway a lot.

In laws are there. Been going up there more than 15 years.

Never heard a word of it in all those years.

Language Hawks have a fair habit of distorting the facts from reality.

100 years of practice really.:rolleyes:

Junkyard Tom

_blaaz wrote: »

Dulingo app

I tried it - I don't have the discipline. I need to be in a group/social environment to do something like that.

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Unfortunately you're not missing much.

I'm interested in Irish for more technical reasons, its being in the nomenclature, our geography, and how it has influenced the way we speak English.

Sardonicat

dd973 wrote: »

I understand the viewpoint of bad memories of sitting bored in class having Peig rammed into your brain but can't see why so many people are apparently anti our language especially when it's a demarcation of not being perceived as English or British which is something most Irish people regard as their raison d'etre.

I'm not anti-Irish language at all. I just don't want to speak it myself and don't feel it has any significance to me. Most of us can't speak it, but can understand a little bit , depending on the dialect. It's a nonsense persisting in pretending this is a bilingual country. Using it solely for the purpose of not seeming English is just pathetic and I would imagine, quite insulting for those whose mother tongue is Irish and can actually speak it.

whisky_galore

What I find interesting is statistics showing declining numbers of native speakers due to shrinking Gaeltacht areas (usually as a means of giving a kick up the arse for more funding and supports) and simultaneously language enthusiasts professing that because of Gaelscoils etc the language has never been in a healthier state.
There's people here hearing Irish being spoken everywhere and people claiming not to hear it at all, picking areas where it's more likely to hear Irish to reinforce their point of course.... Galway, Connemara... Not inner city Dublin or Roscommon.

It's either in decline, is stable, or increasing in usage. It can't be in all states like a linguistic Schroedinger's Cat.

ILoveYourVibes

whisky_galore wrote: »

It's either in decline, is stable, or increasing in usage. It can't be in all states like a linguistic Schroedinger's Cat.

It can in a way. There are more gaelscoils than ever. Yet the native gaeltacht speaking population is shrinking.

More people have 'learnt Irish' than ever. So it is both in decline and increasing.

Half of my family didn't come from Irish roots the other half on my dad's side did.I was born here and went through the Irish school system. I have some Irish.

People brought Hebrew back.

Irish could do the same.

whisky_galore

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

People brought Hebrew back.

Irish could do the same.

People also built the Great Wall of China.
Doesn't follow that we'll build one.

If we were bothered, we would have revived it a century ago.

ILoveYourVibes

whisky_galore wrote: »

People also built the Great Wall of China.
Doesn't follow that we'll build one.

If we were bothered, we would have revived it a century ago.

People weren't interested in reviving hebrew either. Infact rabbis were against it because it was a holy language. Rabbis tried to BAN it. (which probably helped reverse psychology)

I mean it was dead for like 15 hundred yrs.



Then ben yahuda said 'bitch hold my beer!'



One crazy dude literally did it alone.

Don't worry about it will be fine. And its not gonna be this huge laborious chore either. It will happen naturally.

_blaaz

whisky_galore wrote: »

If we were bothered, we would have revived it a century ago.

In other words nothing to stop us now??

whisky_galore

_blaaz wrote: »

In other words nothing to stop us now??

Knock yourself out.

Wanderer78

Genfella wrote:

Cén chaoi a bhfuil an Bhreatnais in ann dul chun cinn le níos mó ná 20% á labhairt, ach níl ach 10% ag labhairt na Gaeilge againn. Cén fáth?

What fcuking planet is that language from?