Do you think the Irish are a beaten race?

Question

Virtually nobody speaks our Mother Tongue. Even in the Gaeltachtaí, with the probable exception of Connemara, the conversion to English seems to vary between 'well underway' and 'almost complete'. Census figures say 1.8 million people can speak Irish, but they can't. They can tell you their name followed by "is ainm dom" or tell you to kiss their backside, but that is hardly fluency. Our traditional culture went the same way, we might have a "féile", but it is really just a concert - and when was the last time you heard keening at a wake? Or even a wake that was more than a booze-up for that matter?

Compare us to the Catalonians, virtually all their kids speak Catalan at home, and their culture is markedly different from the Spaniards.

Most of us may have had independence since 1922, and we love to sing about how we kicked the Brits out, but what was the point? The only difference between us and England now is the colour of our post boxes.

Answer 1

dont you dare compared us to the catalans, we speak our language of english because we have been opressed byt the british for over 700 years, if you know you catalans history, which im guessing yo dont, the catalonian's once had a country of their own, about 150-300 years ago, along with the galicians, the basques, and a few others. they werent oppressed so much as we were. their culture was banned for 200 years by the facist leaders, but they fought back and retaught their culture and history.

the diference between modern day ireland and modern day britain is alot different, not just the post boxes, every thing, the bins say bruscar, also, the laws are different, and are the traditions, and are the housing and socioty.

if you asked me this question in public to me. i would smack you round the face. it is an anti-irish question.the basques and the rest of the spanish oppresed dependent states, are our freinds.

not every irish person knows how to say just 2 phrases. ive never taken an irish class in my life, and i now a hoard of irish phrases, and words.

also im going with the first answer

Tiocfaidh ár lá

Answer 2

I don't think we are beaten, I just think that DeVelera fecked things up for us.  His policies sent us backwards and created a country stuck in time.

Cultures constantly change, it is true we have become more anglicised but truth be told I think we have become more Dublinised.  Dublin has always looked east for inspiration whereas the rest of the country has looked either internally or to other countries.

GAA football is still the largest sport in the country, but not to the same degree in Dublin.

RTÉ has had a part to play too, Glenroe was cancelled and Fairy City is still going.  The rest of the country gets Nationwide and Ear to the Ground and even these are becoming more and more Dublin and commuter belt focussed.

Dublin teenagers and a lot of adults too scoff at Culchies and Boggers and rural Irish culture thinking it backward or idiotic.

The way Irish is taught is an utter disgrace, it should be taught like any other modern language.  I have retained French and Spanish more than I have retained Irish.  

Our language is bet because we allow it, Catalonia and Wales have both revived their languages to working day-to-day languages, we are afraid to spend money on it.

However, Gaelscoileanna and Iarscoileanna are popping up all over the country, the government may not be planning an Irish revival but teacher and parents are at the local level.

Primary school teachers are supposed to have proficiency in the Irish language so you would think if the government thought, why don't we make get teachers to teach maybe half their classes in a week through Irish in Junior Infants and then expand it to senior infants the following year and so on until all primary school education is in Irish.

Answer 3

ActuallyI'm going to go against everyone else here. We are not a beaten nation but you are correct about the language. I can't understand a word of it. I have never paid any real heed to Irish music and everything is an excuse for a booze-up. Irish oppression by the British is no excuse and nor was it for 700 years. The first real plantation was in the 1500s Ireland gained independence in the early 1900s. Yes there were the Old English but they were as much Gallic as they were English and they did not have any real control. The cultural movement that included The Gealic League and GAA was highly successful but the language has died off again. Much of the Irish culture has been brushed aside but other areas are thriving.

Answer 4

Im Irish and I would say I could speak the language.I may not be completely fluent but I would have enough to make a conversation.The 1.8 million people out of the 4million in our country probably can speak irish the same as me(the not fluent but its grand all the same type)If the government introduced 5 or 10 new words each month to replace the existing ones we would be on the way to recovery.It might sound like a stupid idea but eg the govt could say "this month bed will be replaced by leapa,table will be replaced with...etc.Then these words would be spoken on telly and in daily life and over 10 years thats 1200 irish words. Its better than not speaking it at all.

Answer 5

Just recently RosettaStone, which is a well known provider of language software just added Irish onto their software. They are quite advertised in America, and I am sure there will be a great number of people who will want to learn Irish from this.

I actually have lived in America all my life, and I have been teaching myself Irish. I actually told a friend about the software updating with a new language, and once they knew it were Irish, they decided to buy the software!

I actually think Ireland does a better job at times than England in preserving their heritage. You'd actually be surprised how many people in my town honor their Irish roots, some people fly the Irish flag more than the American flag, and sometimes - not even the American flag!

I believe exposing people to the language will cause people to learn even more about their roots, and aim to visit eventually - and maybe settle down there.

And if I am correct, it says 1.8 millon people have basic knowledge on the language, rather than being fluent.

Answer 6

first: Tiocfaidh ár lá

secondly: I was a few classes short of an Irish studies minor (way too long ago) and we were taught then that Irish was dead, no one was learning it, and no one was using it....I was finally able to visit a few years back and heard Irish (and Ir-nglish?) from Dublin to Dingle so clearly, there is hope

Languages aren't frozen in time and only have life when they are used...keep using it, and keep teaching the next generation