Tír Na HiFi

Jared wrote: Fergus & Sean, did either your generation or your kids learn any Gaelic in school in Dublin? My impression was that it was only really an active language around Kerry and Galway? Is there a movement to make it more widespread these days?

As Seán says Jared there are different points of view regarding our National Language. The spoken language is not just confined to Kerry and Galway. In fact one is very likely to hear it spoken in my local supermarket (and I frequently do hear it there).

Unlike Seán I love our language and culture. I was a semi fluent speaker at one time. At one time, long long before we aspired to be the 51st state of the USA we had an amazing culture, language, architecture, music, literature, art and system of government. Then began 1000 years of subjugation and not just by, but mostly by, our close neighbours. Our national identity was all but destroyed. I strongly believe that to deny one's native language is to deny one's heritage and culture....but that is just me.

Curiously, the language is on somewhat of a small upward incline in latter times and even more curiously it is being taken up by the young. My daughter is a very good speaker and I never "encouraged" that. She developed a love for it in her school. Her circle of friends spoke to each other in Irish in the school yard and even got to texting in Irish to each other. It got to a point where at one stage the princilpe of her school sent letters home to the parents to ask them to get their children to stop speaking Irish....the reason given was that their English was suffering badly!

So Jared, it very much depends on one's personal viewpoint on this matter.

Seán wrote:

Jared wrote:Now, I'm woefully ignorant on this, so please forgive the dumb question... but

Fergus & Sean, did either your generation or your kids learn any Gaelic in school in Dublin? My impression was that it was only really an active language around Kerry and Galway? Is there a movement to make it more widespread these days?

Thanks...

Oh do not get me started on the Irish language please! Suffice it to say that Irish children have to do Irish throughout the entire primary and secondary level schooling and in my view is not taught well. Some people love it and then there are people like me. ;) I should say no more. My eldest struggled with it and my youngest found it easy but doesn't like it.

And now I am going to have a glass of one of Ivor's lovely red. :)

It's really a beautiful poetic language but the way it's taught in schools does everything to turn you against it! When in the Gaelteach it's lovely to hear Irish spoken naturally and without any fanaticism. Some customers in the shop will use a phrase or two (to which I respond to in kind) and it keeps the bit of Gaelic I have going. I'd rather reclaim it from the fascists than let it die.

Enjoy that red Sean, it's known to bring out the mid-range in a good system.

Jared wrote:Now, I'm woefully ignorant on this, so please forgive the dumb question... but

Fergus & Sean, did either your generation or your kids learn any Gaelic in school in Dublin? My impression was that it was only really an active language around Kerry and Galway? Is there a movement to make it more widespread these days?

Thanks...

Like the others have said, Jared, Yes we all learn Irish (as we call it) - it was compulsory in schools (is it still?) but as a result, in the past, the books were uninteresting & teachers maybe uninterested (in my case anyway). So love of the language was seldom encountered - I had more love for French & it's rich literature then I developed for Irish.

Nowadays, I hear more & more young people in Dublin conversing in Irish which is a delight to observe (even if I can only understand half of what is said).

It is a most lovely language in my humble 1/2 Irishman opinion. I KICK (shout directed at me) myself for not having the mind to learn it from my Irish grandparents. My grandmother spoke it fluently, grandfather less so. My mom never learned it (I should have kicked her too) so I am confined to a few phrases and greetings I managed to write down.

I have a bit of Welsh (mostly English however) on my dad's side and I love that fascinating language too.

Don't know why I commented, but I guess to say to me it is important to keep local and lesser spoken languages alive. Hate to have a world speaking nothing but English, French or Chinese.

BTW, I named my new range of computer audio products (USB DAC & USB converter) "Ciúnas" which means "calmness, stillness, quiet, silence" in English.

If you went to a school in Ireland at primary level then you will be familiar with this word as it was often used (almost daily) in the phrase "Ciúnas! Teigh a chodladh!" meaning "quiet & go asleep" as we all put our heads down on our hands on the desk & closed our eyes. As I said elsewhere, this was a form of pupil management but I don't mean the pupils in our eyes

I've just come back from an evening at the cinema (Paul/ McQ - I went to see the new Koreeda 'I Wish' and it was very much on a par with Nobody Knows)...

...anyway, many thanks for all your comments on this interesting subject; I've enjoyed reading all your responses. The last time I was in Ireland was 2003, and I don't know whether it was me as a Tourist, but I noticed Gaelic far more in the West, but then I was probably guilty of not talking to enough native Dubliners to find out. It doesn't surprise me at all that the language is being championed by the younger generation (it is certainly the case in Wales) because I think it's part of a new wave of national consciousness in many parts of Europe... and as Ivor says, providing there is now underlying fanaticism, that can only be a positive thing.... :-)

Jared wrote: I think it's part of a new wave of national consciousness in many parts of Europe... and as Ivor says, providing there is now underlying fanaticism, that can only be a positive thing.... :-)

I think you misunderstood me but you're right. The fanaticism of those who, in the past, held a flame for the Irish language was something that put people off. It was a fundamentalist approach that paid lip-service to spreading the language but in fact was snobbish, elitist and insular. Knowing people who simply spoke the language in a natural way did more to encourage me to use Gaelic than 14 years of schooling. In fact (wild) teenage holidays in the West did more.
We do now have a much more positive attitude and my daughter is determined that my grandson will go to a local 'all Irish' school where all subjects are taught through Irish. He's just over 3 weeks old but we have to get his name down now!

Well, I´m sure it´s a gorgeous language, and as a cultural manifestation it´s something to be treasured and kept alive, but on the other hand, I´m very happy that the language used in this lovely Forum is English, since it´s my first foreign language, and thanks to that I can share my views on music and make new friends, so after all, having a, so to speak, universal language can´t be a bad thing.

Feliz día de San Patricio a todos.

Pepe.