50 Irish-language jobs in EU bodies

[Cliff Barnes]

Ws it in Clare County Council where they spent thousands translating the County Development Plan into Irish in case anyone asked for a copy of it As Gaeilge ?

No one requested an Irish language version.

 

[Backinblack]

The way Irish is forced fed to kids in school is the problem. Not enough is done to present Irish in the context in which it exists, i.e the native speaking areas.
The teaching of Irish needs to change. It needs to center around the gaeltacht and have local native speakers involved. I'm thinking a type of instruction that focuses more on the the telling of our myths and legends through Irish rather than the conjugation of fucking verbs. I'm thinking about busing kids in and out of the Gaeltacht once a month, for day trips in which they are immersed in the culture. Activities like Ceili's, visits to a stone circle or iron age ringforts, plays depicting our mythology, a meeting with a bean an Ti in a traditional farmhouse, these are the things that need to happen to make Irish more attractive and interesting to young people. Besides it would keep a lot of people employed and help sustain the Gaeltacht as well.
More action is needed by everyone if we are to preserve the ideals of the Gaelic revival.

 

[Backinblack]

The fact that this thread is dying says a lot about our country...

 

[Club DP]

Tóg go bog é a chara.

the fact that the DCU report is 38 pages says a lot about why I haven't replied yet.

Good news is that DCU published a review of it laying out all the questions that the strategy will have to answer, if it is not to be considered a dream-wish-list, which the draft version is. Please read the DCU review.

Seo dhuit an nasc má bhíonn suim agat. Is tuairc as béarla é...
http://www.pobail.ie/en/IrishLanguage/file,10104,en.pdf

 

[Agus]

a murdered, decaying language

What does "murdered" mean? This would appear to suggest that it is dead, but a dead language is one no longer spoken or learnt as a native tongue - obviously Irish doesn't meet those criteria. So what does "murdered" actually mean?

A language whose speakers can all speak English equally well at the very least.

Just as a point of fact, some people are more fluent in Irish than English. A fairly small minority of the national population, but they do exist.

 

[Goldstein]

...a dead language is one no longer spoken or learnt as a native tongue - obviously Irish doesn't meet those criteria.....

We don't have much choice do we?

 

[Beaty]

...to me...a waste...but a unfortunately a necessary waste. Our native tongue IS Oirish..

if younwant to axe 50 jobs start in FAS...

B

 

[Agus]

We don't have much choice do we?

"native tongue" in that context means as a first language. If you're referring to learning a second language at school that's a different matter: you could have everyone in the world learning Latin at school but that wouldn't make it a living language.

 

[DJP]

There is a lack of leadership with regards to the promotion of the Irish language, certainly outside the Gaeltacht. The 20 year plan recently published (I suggest everyone interested in Irish revival reads it) is to be welcomed.

...

But that malaise affects everyone. I can only speak of my experience in Cork but the biggest issue for the language here is not funding or money. It’s apathy.

It affects not just ordinary people who are disconnected from the language but people who lecture or teach it as well as those who will tell you ‘its not my job to promote the language, I just teach it’.

If you look at how the Welsh language revival has succeeded it’s because there are groups of extremely motivated individuals like Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, the Welsh Language Group. When companies order their employees to only speak English there are huge protests so politically they have clout and more money is spent on Welsh. I’m not saying that is a justifiable method of proliferating the language but you couldn’t accuse them of apathy.

If you love speaking Irish and would like to see more people use it naturally everyday you have to ask yourself the question ‘what did I do today for the language?’. Invariably among those with an ability to speak it the answer is little or nothing.

My experience is that nearly everyone who speaks Irish has an opinion on how the language should be promoted properly but only a tiny few are actually doing anything about it or willing to put some time into it. The culture of waiting for someone else to do the promotion is another way of describing apathy.

Are you a member of an Irish language organisation?

 

[if it ain't fine]

cé mhéad a dhéanamh ar na poist san EU a íoc?