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THIS PAST MONTH The Good Information Project has been looking at whether the Irish language is thriving or merely surviving – “fair bhrú nó faoi bhláth” mar a déarfá.
In many ways it is unfortunate that our national language is the subject of regular health checks but it’s difficult to avoid when daily speakers have declined over the last decade.
As of the last Census there were about 74,000 daily speakers, with the government’s goal of having 250,000 by 2030 looking to be a long way off.
When the results of tonight’s Census are collated we will have a more up-to-date idea of where we are – but the language need not be a numbers game.
As has been explored over the past month, what is clear is that there is an evident grá for the language among the majority of the population.
Polling carried out by Ireland Thinks/The Good Information Project found that two-thirds of people would like to see more Irish in their lives, with younger people especially associating it closely with national identity.
The poll found a correlation between those recently in education having more of an affection for the language than older age groups – something that perhaps points to an improvement in how the language is taught in schools.
For example, several people who spoke to The Journal during this series spoke about how old tropes about the long-abolished teaching of Peig Sayers are still used by sceptics, even though the much-maligned text hasn’t been taught for decades.
Instead, the focus for education providers is on catering for the demand that exists for Irish language schooling. There are now 150 primary-level gaelscoileanna and 44 second-level gaelcholáistí across the 26 counties, with Northern Ireland having 28 and 2 respectively.
The demand for gaelscoileanna has been somewhat hampered by new patronage competitions using a first-past-the-post system, with calls for more legislative powers to enforce greater rights to Irish-language education.
The EU can play a part, with Irish having recently been made an official language of the union.
Our Open Newsroom featured Dr Teresa Lynn of the ADAPT Centre and senior policy advisor at the European Parliament Jim Maher to discuss how the EU can support minority languages and the importance of visibility.
Ireland is not the only country in Europe where the indigenous language has hit a ceiling, with CJ McKinney outlining that by some metrics Irish is in a worse position than some European peers.
Zuzia Whelan explored another minority language, in this case the Polish language in Ireland, and the opportunities it presents for a new generation of Irish people,
The precise role of Irish in this country is also something that is being constantly debated, with the heritage, social and cultural aspects of the language seemingly a lot more secure than the economic case for doing business through the language.
In the case of the former, we spoke to the Irish colleges that are booked out this summer and to the communities expecting a boon from arriving students.
We also spoke to the people who are taking Irish language cinema international and winning awards along the way.
We profiled some of the next generation of young Irish speakers who are engaging with a whole new audience online but who face digital obstacles common to many minority languages.
This question of coming at the language with a business eye is something that is taking place specifically in Dublin, where a number of Irish language professional networks are attempting to find a foothold.
The goal of having an Irish Language Quarter in the capital may be on the ambitious end of the spectrum but there are moves towards this also.
In the gaeltachtataí there are a completely different set of challenges, something we explored at a live debate in Dingle involving Seán Kelly MEP, ‘Kerry Cowboy’ Séaghan Ó Súilleabháin, Orlaith Ruiséal from Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne and Lisa Nic an Breithimh ón European Movement Ireland.
The debate featured interesting questions about how the housing crisis is affecting rural gaeltacht areas.
This work is co-funded by Journal Media and a grant programme from the European Parliament. Any opinions or conclusions expressed in this work are the author’s own. The European Parliament has no involvement in nor responsibility for the editorial content published by the project. For more information, see here.
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Maybe look at how it’s taught – after 13 years and most kids can’t put a few sentences together.
@Jim Buckley Barrett: the article deals with this
Beautiful language
Should be optional. Forget the social and cultural engineering
@alan: no one is forcing you to speak it
@Ben Lally: yes they are! we are all forced to learn up to 6th year, taught (mostly) by teachers who came through the same system and hate the language.
Remove the compulsory element, have only people who want to, learn it, they in turn will become more passionate exponents of the language, leading to more people WANTING to learn the language, creating a positive cycle rather than the current system that creates a negative cycle.
@Ben Lally: when did you leave school?
It’s an easy thing to fix but the government lack the creativity to do it.
Create a separate conversational Irish class where the whole focus is on immersion, where the students learn useful everyday conversational phrases and just have a chance to chat in the language and build confidence in using it. Ease up on the grammar side of things so students aren’t constantly worrying whether or not they said something properly. It’s ok to make mistakes.
Make the class optional. Those who have a genuine interest in the language will learn conversational Irish to a good level and can take it beyond the realm of school.
I learned more Irish in 1 year from setting up a ciorcal comhrá than I did from 13 years of school. This is fixable. Government just need to do it.
@Seán Ó Briain: I have to disagree with the “ease up on the grammar” part, in fact the biggest criticism I would make of the way it’s currently taught is that many aspects the grammar isn’t explained in a simple, easy to understand way.
@Ben Lally: I think the main point Seán Ó Briain is making is more about spoken fluency, than abandonment of grammar. It’s a fact that many young people don’t do well memorizing *written* grammar which they then don’t get to practice in speech. I don’t agree with all of his points, but I’d certainly agree that the ability to converse and convey ones meaning is more important than precise speech. I’ll go further, and state that the best way to learn any grammar – which is just more sounds – is to *hear* the language spoken, and to use it oneself. The younger the age that occurs, the better. After that, the explanation will definitely be simpler.
@Fachtna Roe: Exactly, the majority of people that speak any language to a conversational or fluent level, don’t think in terms of, what is the correct use of grammar in this instance, they do so by speaking the language and it becomes intuitive.
This may inhibit their ability, to use different terminology to express complex or nuanced ideas in entirely grammatically correct terms, but the primary role of any language is communication through conversation and once you have that foundation of communication, it is easier to learn the correct grammar.
The teaching methods for Irish in schools for decades has been to drill grammar into people, the majority of who can’t use any of it in a basic conversation, primarily out of fear of making mistakes in the presence of fluent speakers.
Labhair í agus mairfidh sí.
Have a look at three very different Irish speakers in our youtube show.
We have Colm a native Irish speaker, Kateanne who learned Irish in Gaelscoileanna and Micheàl who is from Manchester. All excellent speakers and great ambassadors for the Irish Language
We produced the show to promote our local GAA Club, Na Gaeil CLG and to promote Irish in the community.
I hope more clubs will follow
Denismoriarty99@gmail.com
https://youtu.be/UIAxmV3AaBU
@Denis Moriarty: go raibh míle maith agat! Subscribete :)
Irish will die out if we don’t all make an effort to improve our current standard. Most of us have some (dormant) Irish thanks to school years. So use that prior exposure as your basis to improve what you have. As adults we have nobody else to blame. Beir bua!
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