In What Part of Ireland is Irish Gaelic Still Spoken?

Question

I'm writing a story - and the characters speak Gaelic here and there within it, but I'm not sure which part of Ireland still speaks Irish Gaelic. I could make them a part of Scotland and have them speak Scot Gaelic, but it would complicate things.

Help?

Answer 1

First of all its just called Irish, not gaelic.it is generally spoken in the west - parts of Galway, donegal mayo and kerry. but the language is on the way out and very few (like less than 1% of the population) speak Irish as their first language in the rest of the country if spoke Irish people would look at you strangly.

Answer 2

also in Kells Co Meath its spoken

Answer 3

Parts of Donegal, Galway and Waterford.  Please check your spelling and usage of the words.  So many words appear incorrectly on American websites. It is very annoying to Irish people.  Good luck with your story. (by the way Scots Gaelic is different to Irish).

Answer 4

In my household!

Answer 5

west galway, west kerry and west donegal all still speak Irish.

Answer 6

There's a comprehensive and accurate description of the Irish-speaking "gaeltacht"s in Wikipedia:

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

They're mostly along or near the west coast in small communities, except for Ring, in County Waterford, and Rath Chairn in County Meath. (Slim Trim that's the Kells one).

You may or may not want to include the Shaw's Road "gaeltacht" in Belfast which was set up by enthusiasts about 25 years ago and still carried on, although the type of Irish used there is not idiomatic.

BTW it is quite normal to find people in Gaeltacht areas to switch back and forth between Irish and English in the same conversation, depending on the company.

Answer 7

Aran Islands

Answer 8

All along the western coast of the country, Hon, from Counties Kerry to Donegal.    I have noticed when traveling there that many of the road signs are in Gaelic only.

Btw Hon...my friends who reside there (born and bred)  don't call the language "Gaelic"; they refer to it simply as "Irish."

Answer 9

Hello i live in Ireland and I can tell you that Gaelige is still spoken in the west of Ireland mostly. In the summer time secondary school students can enroll to go to the areas where it is spoken for three weeks to improve their irish. When you go you are not allowed to speak english for the whole of the three weeks. These places are known as the

Gaeltacht. There is a Gaeltachr in Galway, Donegal and another in the south but Im not sure where.

Slan go foill (that means goodbye in gaelic)

Answer 10

The language is known as IRISH here.

In Connemara in the West,  in the Southwest in Kerry around Dingle and in West Cork in the Bantry area, and in Northwest Donegal all around Mount Erigal are the biggest gaeltacht areas,  not to forget the Aran Islands and Tory.. There are actually small enclaves still all over the place, especially the Western seabord, they are on the wane, though.

To be authentic you have to be careful to match your chosen area with the dialect, which can be quite different from North to South.