Tá Béarla ag breith bairr ar Gaelige i Éire (Baile Átha Claith ar aon nós)?

[tytal]

Given that Irish was granted Official Language Status this week, the following excerpts from a television show titled No Béarla (to be shown on TG4 this spring) are all the more disturbing. Ireland claims that 25% of the population speaks Irish at a comprehensive level. Truth told, perhaps only 3% of the population can use it fluently and as a

Comments

[aclarar]

I like Irish.

Not that I can actually understand it, but I like the way it sounds.

Would like to learn it...some day, when I find a person that actually could teach it around here

Not relevant.

I know.

[tytal]

If it got the proper respect it deserves, like Welsh, I think Irish could make a strong resurgence just as Welsh has and Breton is beginning to make. There are strong cultural biases and stigma built into speaking Irish - by the Irish themselves - as you can see in the videos. It took less than a hundred years to instill them; it is taking three times as long to reverse them.

Languages as culture markers are delicate and dangerous things. That's why we love them.

By the way, I simply must phone you sometime. Columbianos have the most beautiful accents in the Spanish-speaking Western world. Venezuelans run a very close second, but you just seem to have some kind of refinement when you speak, much like Received Pronunciation (BBC Accent) in England. You make me smile.

[aclarar]

oh wow. *blushing* thanks.

Oh, and me being very pedantic, is Colombianos, with two o's, It really annoys me that English speakers write the name of the country with a non-existing U. Why is that?

[tytal]

For me, it's poor spelling in general, and adding -ianos onto the end threw off my spell checker. I am, among co-workers and other peers, a notoriously bad speller.

Colombia ... Columbia ... both are place-names and are easily confused. Columbia University, Columbia (many cities, roads, counties, etc. here in the states). It's just something we confuse often. Sorry.

[boobooirl]

The whole irish thing is so complicated.
I must admit that mine isn't anywhere near as good as it should be. With a little bit of teaching I could get a lot of it back again I think.

I know lots of irish people use it as an excuse, but it IS true that the methods used to teach it are all wrong and totally turn people away from it at an early age. Until the country can get away from this attitude of irish being hard work, people will never really learn it properly. It's time to teach it as a language that people can use and not one for reading depressing irrelevant poetry.

As for the guy's song, if that really was Galway, I'd be surprised - they have a huge number of native speakers there. Spiddle is only 10 or 15 miles away and the Gaeltacht pretty much starts there.