IRISH: I read an interesting book on Ireland the other day, and was wondering something?

Question

I am an American with Scotch-Irish blood on my father's side, and the book I read brought a question to mind:

Do most (native) Irish speak Gaelic, or is it not too common today?

Here's the book I referred to, BTW (HIGHLY recommend it!):

http://www.amazon.com/Famine-Ships-Irish-Exodus-America/dp/0805058443

Answer 1

It is sad actually that not many people speak Irish in  daily conversations. You can watch this video and you will get my point...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTbl-_xq6...

"Tir gan teanga, tir gan anam !"A country without a language is a language without a soul.

Answer 2

there are some schools in Ireland that teach still but most of the population don't use it, if they do its to say something like pog ma harn (kiss my ***). friendly people

Answer 3

I went to a gaelscoil (primary school thought through Irish) There's an Irish language TV station and radio station here. The language is fairly widespread and everyone speaks "a cupla focal" (a few words)

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

My little brother is going to a summer camp in the Gaelthact this year. A lot of young people go there every summer. They're the only places in the country where Irish is spoken as the native language.

There is a Gaeltacht being planned for Canada as well!

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

wikipedia is also available in Irish! (or "as Gaeilge")

http://ga.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pr%C3%ADomh...

we almost never call it Gaelic though. There are a few Gaelic languages that are all kind of similar, but the one spoken in Ireland is called Irish. Irish is also the most used of the Gaelic languages.

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

Answer 4

There are areas in Ireland(Connemara, meath, kerry, donegal) that have area's called Gaeltachts. These are areas where fluent Irish is spoken all the time. Every where else, English is the main language. Every irish person learns Irish throughout their school years, but due to a poor curriculum(we more learn Irish poems, which are boring, instead of focusing on how to speak the language in everyday activities) most people find it boring and monotonous. The language is dying out and its a shame. But until the government revise the way that it is taught, its going to keep going down the drain.

Answer 5

There ARE places that speak mainly (and in some:only) Gaelic.  The government realized a few years ago that the Irish language was dying out and decided to take steps to revive it.  That's why all signage in Ireland is in both English and Gaelic.  I'm not sure what they did in schools, etc... But I think they published a report about how even the kids who take Gaelic in school could only speak rudimentary sentences.  

My fiance (who went through the Irish school system) is terrible in Gaelic.  He can just about tell me what the words on the signs mean (because they're written in English right above!)

Answer 6

There are still some parts of Ireland where Gaelic is the first tongue, mainly in the west , Donegal, Galway and Kerry. These area's are known as the Gaeltacht.

The Irish language is on an upturn at the moment, there are more and more children going to Gaeltach schools, known as Gael scoils, where all lessons are taught in Irish.

There are also a TV station and a radio station, exclusively in Gaelic.

Usually children who are taught in Irish, but speak English are very good at picking up other languages.

In Ireland, there road signs and towns are all in the two languages of Irish and English.

Answer 7

you  are right

Answer 8

the majority of the country speak english,but some ares speak irish

Answer 9

There are places in Ireland where the people do speak fluent Irish, i did it in school but i dont speak it at all really, i'd know alot of words in Irish, and i'd use them in conversation from time to time.

Answer 10

we dont speak it every day but everyone has to learn it in school!! So everyone know how to speak it!

Answer 11

Very few areas still speak Irish as their first language.These areas are 'Gaeltacht' and the largest are Galway,Donegal,Kerry and Rath Cairn in Meath (am familiar with this one cause its where I live).Although, constitutionally Irish is the official first language of Ireland with English recognised as a widely spoken language.

Answer 12

all children learn the irish lang(gaelic) in schools aswell as english, some places in ireland still use gaelic but  alot only use the odd word here and there. hope this helps

Answer 13

I'm not Irish, but I'm pretty sure I'm correct when I say that most Irish do not speak Gaelic anymore. Not fluently anyhow. As far as I understand it, though, there are some communities who are paid by the government to speak Gaelic. (I remember seeing Gaelic street signs, and listening to a Gaelic radio station when I visited.) However it is not, by any means, common.

Answer 14

most speak english now, though there are some places where Gaelic is spoken as first language.

However, there are many more who still learn Gaelic today through primary school 'bunscoil' and then the Gaeltacht