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THE NEWLY INSTATED Dáil has become rapidly known for its raucousness in the last few weeks, presided over by the Gaeilge-less Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy.
Earlier this week, it appears that the Taoiseach decided to take his chances with the language barrier, and said, as Gaeilge, “Tá an Teachta Dála ag insint bréaga arís” to leader of the opposition, Mary Lou McDonald.
Dáil rules dictate that TDs cannot accuse one another of being purposefully deceitful.
The debate has sparked chatter about the Irish language. Carl Kinsella writes in his column today, “We’re all for rejuvenating the Irish language but this probably isn’t the way.”
So today we’re asking you: Can you speak Irish?
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Tá béal mór ag Harris.
@Dan Murphy: Tá intinn béag agus !
@Dan Murphy: easy as pie with google translate
Seriously has to be looked at the way it’s taught. It didnt work that well in at the past…at least not for me. So why not look at the best way to teach it instead of keeping same old same old… it would be great if they actually taught Scottish Gaelic and Welsh too. Now THAT would be truly getting back to our Gaelic Roots. Imagine an actual holiday in Scotland speaking Gaelic. I can only dream!
@Mick Hanna: Or should I say Our Celtic Roots? We can only dream!
@Mick Hanna: they do , there are garlic medium primary and secondary schools in Scotland and welsh is thriving . It’s a compulsory subject in the Welsh curriculum .
@Mick Hanna: It would be fun Scotland where 1% speak the language. In Wales you would have a much better time 28%.
We would be wasting time teach languages with no real benefit to the people bar some romantic idea of mutual history!
But why not teach Chinese instead like a lot of countries do as a business language!
@Mick Hanna: Scots Gaelic and Welsh are taught as minority subjects in their respective education systems. What we need here is Gaelscolaíocht to be the main stream rather than a niche provision. It would give us bilingual children who are more intelligent and have far greater terms of reference than children taught only English. Kids brains soak up data, so that’s the best time to expand their minds and their intellectual capacity, rather than waiting till they’re older and more resistant to their own national language. Irish is not hard to acquire provided that a) you don’t allow your fear of not getting it to get you and b) practice and put in a little effort (which seems anathema to far too many Irish people these days). Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam.
An bfhuil céad agam ag dúl go dti an leitheras ?
The one phrase every Irish school kid needed to know.
@Ned The B’stard: One day there were too many asking the science teacher “bhuil cead agam dul amach” eventually he said “ cur faisc ar “. Put a stopper on it. PS an all boys school.
@Vincent Alexander: Ta sha ma hoganey gass pipe!
@Ned The B’stard:
Cupla Neomaid isteach.
@Mary.E.:
Sorry meant amach.
@Ned The B’stard: On my first day in primary school, the teacher said “a very important man is coming to talk to you”. The headmaster arrived, and told us that if we wanted to use the toilet, we had to put our hand up, and say “on will cyad agum dull go gee on lethrus, maw shay do holly”.
It seems very stupid. I wonder how many children urinated on themselves because they didn’t remember the rigmarole.
@Ned The B’stard: Ciúnas, le bhur dtoil!
I have a small bit which is self taught !!
Because the way it was taught in school ( 50 years ago) it was beating into everyone, so you had a fear of it .
@Charlie Molyneaux: you didn’t do too good at the English either, by the look of things.
“Beaten
@Ollie Fitzpatrick: Looks to me that you didn’t do too well in English at school either. Bad grammar and missing a quotation mark in your comment. Very poor from you.
@Ollie Fitzpatrick: “..do too good” ..lol
@Ollie Fitzpatrick:…”well”
The fact is he did call mary lou a liar it doesn’t matter if it’s in irish or English he said it then lied again in matter of fact he constantly lies
@John Reynolds: Perhaps the poor man can’t help himself!
Tá
@Brian farrell: Nìl
@Willie Marty: meh
@Willie Marty: Níl fhios agam
@Larry Betts: seá
@James Leahy: Wháá?
@Larry Betts: Ca, arsa an preacain,
Learoidi, arsa Milligan.
Lots over here can’t even Speak English but looked after better than the irish
@John Kenny: I wonder how you say “never miss an opportunity” in Irish.
@John Kenny: “even speak English” as if that coloniser’s language is preferred.
@Brian farrell: Ná caill do sheans riamh.
@Paul Culloty: Google translate doesn’t always work properly big man.
@Colm Flaherty: English is the ‘Lingua Franca’.
@John Kenny: You write “irish” with a capital I as in Irish.
Us true native Irish know that.
@Housing Hunger Games:
You think everyone that voted for parties other than the blatant anti immigration ones are pro immigration? LOL, I hate to burst your bubble, but that’s not the way it works.
@KTH: sorry KTH didn’t know we’re from some tribe
@John Kenny: golly gosh
@Colm Flaherty: That England language doesn’t have a Father! Its a Bstrd language!
@Brian farrell: As Gaeilge??
@John Kenny: if you think like that it must be exhausting be angry all the time!
These people that “can’t even speak English” are different by appearance and culturally on an Irish town street.
You and many others in Ireland don’t like the change or fear the change in your local area. Social media is fuelling this also. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to right-wing aggression, where, all or some of your problems in life are caused by that different looking fella in the street.
@John Kenny: True they have good homes and live well.
Then again they are doctors and nurses and others who work hard for those things.
Oh do you you mean the people living in factories and with little money.
Hard to know who you don’t like!
@Mick airport:
Are you old enough to remember Ireland before there were foreigners ?
Although fluent, I don’t get to speak it as much as I’d like (family, friends and occasionally through work). Aside from anything, I love the expressiveness of it from a linguistic approach.
@Jack Hayes: ‘I love the expressiveness of it from a linguistic approach.’ Is English your second language?
@Jack Hayes: BS.
No, and it’s an absolute disgrace that most of us cannot speak Irish fluently after being taught it for years while in school. The current way of teaching Irish clearly does not work, young kids are not interested in learning literature in a language that they cannot even speak yet.
@Barry Healy: Far too much teaching hours put into Irish when it could be invested in PE
@Sandra Molloy: Zzz. PE should be optional…which I hope it is.
@Mick Hanna: no it shouldn’t be
@Barry Healy:
How do the Welsh do it? They seem to have a greater proficiency with their native tongue
@Mick airport: They teach the love of it as well as the language!
Tá
No. Hopefully it becomes an optional subject and my kids don’t have to waste time learning it.
@Ger Whelan: Sure just erase all our culture, it’s almost done anyway
@Joe Beirne: learn what OPTIONAL means. If people want to learn it let them.
@Ger Whelan: Absolutely agree. It should be optional. Far too much time spent on it, to the detriment of other subjects.
@Ciaran: Like what?
@Ger Whelan: waster
@Dixie: An anonymous internet troll calling someone a waster. Oh the irony
@Joe Beirne: Catholicism is also part of our culture. If we can dispense with that part of culture we can also get rid of the language bit.
@Ger Whelan: Why are you choosing what your kids learn then… let them make up their own mind!
@Clare Power: OPTIONAL?. learn what it means
@Ger Whelan: I have absolutely no Irish,but that’s because I come from “that other country” and we weren’t allowed to be taught it .
@Vincent Alexander:
Yeah, sure let’s get rid of all our culture. Have you pride at all ?
@Ger Whelan:
The best time to learn another language is when the brain is young.
Irish isn’t taught well in schools but that doesn’t mean you let a 5 or 10 year old decide if they want to learn optional Irish! Otherwise it’s the parents deciding at the optimum time to learn a language
@Ollie Fitzpatrick: Another European language would be more useful. The fact is, that if you speak to any Irish speaker in English, they will understand you. English is the national language of Ireland.
It probably didn’t help the language that any worthwhile book was banned in Ireland, until quite recently.
This included quite a few Irish language books. I read Myles na gCopaleen’s The poor mouth in English. It was banned for many years here. It was quite funny, and parodied Peig Sayers, among others.
The subjects of ‘The tailor and Ansty’ were victimised by the Irish locals after the book was banned. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tailor_and_Ansty
@Regular John: I’d rather see more civil pride than this nebulous culture thing. Civil pride is often lacking in Gaelgeirí who think that using the Irish language makes them superior.
@Vincent Alexander:
What’s nebulous about our culture ? I’m beginning to think you’re not even Irish. Civil pride is part and parcel of our culture anyway. Our culture is slowly being eroded every day, it’s a sad indictment of todays society to see that some don’t seem to care.
I’ve picked up a tiny amount after 25 years, but it’s difficult.
@Jane Alford: I must say, I found learning English to be very easy!
@Jane Alford:
I’d love to know more but it is indeed a difficult language to learn.
How do ye say as geailge please stop talking simon and Micheal about world affairs that don’t involve you and concentrate on irish issues you two insufferable plebs.
@Gavin Smartr:
Pretty sure it’s:
Póg mo thóin agus cáca milis. Nil aon thintan mar do thintan fein
How can anybody look themselves in the mirror and call themselves Irish if they can’t speak the language?
(Joke).
It s a real pity that we’re not all fluent but I feel it’s getting more relevant as our society becomes more diverse.
@Fergus O’Donnell: you are so behind the times.
@Fergus O’Donnell: my biggest regret is that we r not fluent enough…from birth irish should of been tought…people who disregard it will later in life regret that…its our national tongue and it should be spoken up and down the country…you dont see spanish german french peope giving up their language for d english one
It’s actually getting more and more irrelevent. Learn it if you want but you’ll have a lot more fun if you learn a language that millions of people speak.
@offside again: very ignorant
@kaidon sharkey: get over yourself.
Je ne regrette rien
@offside again: nothing u dont regret doesnt hide your ignorance
@offside again: not the brightest are you?
I believe I have what is known as a Kuppla Fockal.
@Richard Barrett: Fockall is right
@Richard Barrett: With your Kuppla focKel you are using letters that are not even in the Irish language. Similar to the We Ourselves’ party using the meaningless word Votail. The pretence that we have almost 1 million “fluent” Irish speakers (last census) is embarrassing. Based on that nonsense we’d all expect to hear at least some few people conversing in that language at THE VERY LEAST once a day. That never happens where I live or where I go in this country.
‘We have always found the Irish to be a bit odd. They refuse to be English. Put Churchill into Ireland now and he’d be extremely proud given the Irish anti-immigrant sentiment, he’d also probably hightlight hypocrisy of it.
@Brian D’Arcy: what a dumb comment, seriously, get help
@Stuart Money: it’s an odd comment alright but maybe he needs to sober up, that’s all.
Is it not teachtaire?
And I not know no focal at all .
@Chaotic State: written by Lennon/McCartney for Richie, strange fact, but true
Fourteen year old boy killed in Austria today. People wake up to what is going on around Europe and wake up to what our government are not doing
@N D K: our country is goosed…i dont know how anyone can be shocked at murders anymore…its a daily occurrence doesnt matter what skin tone or religious faith u have…anyone who goes out to commit murder should be done away with no use to society
@J B: none when it comes to anyone going out to commit murder…y should they survive? they should be on the chopping block to
@kaidon sharkey: then maybe they will consider their motive or maybe they wont….could be used as a deterrent or some people just dont care…but we have to get out of this bleeding heart brigade and feal sorry for the people who intentionly commit murder…this country has to change when it comes to crime other wise it will end up as a free for all and just a cushy life in prison
Students don’t even sit the Junior or Leaving Cert Irish exams anymore, a relic from a dark past, a dead language that is best consigned to the dustbin of history, where it belongs
@Stuart Money: in no way shape or form is it a dark language. The spread of the English language has lead to more death and destruction across the world than any other “cultural spread “. Their policy of “make the world England”. Which was the colonial motto of the 18th and 19th centuries seems fairly dark to me
@Stuart Money: Go n-ithe an cancar thú = May grumpiness devour you.
@Stuart Money: yes they do ,what kind of school doesn’t do Irish ???
@Stuart Money: you just post complete false comments,sure you would be better to say feck all than to tell lies
@Stuart Money:
Your opinion is pretty pathetic. Are you Irish ?
Far better to teach children at primary level French,Spanish or another language that will help them in their future employment. The foreign language skills in Ireland are shocking. Google constantly recruit externally due to the language issue in Ireland. Gaelic shouldn’t be compulsory. The education department really need to look at the world and see what is really relevant.
@Gerry Lamont: The constitution needs to be changed in this respect. Irish is officially the first language and English the second. It’s ridiculous when safety notices are presented first in Irish and underneath in English. The reaction of most people is not to read the notice when they see the Irish and can’t read it.
@Gerry Lamont: I did 7 years of French as my parents were told it would increase my chances in the workplace….it didn’t!
@Clare Power: try moving to France. being Irish and speaking French is a huge advantage.
@offside again: Absolutely brother, French is a very beautiful language.
@Gerry Lamont: “foreign language skills in Ireland are shocking”
That comment is completely false ,we have 1000s of Irish working in non English speaking countries,as well as foreign companies happy to have a office in Ireland as they know they can recruit plenty of bilingual speakers .
But you just there and slag your fellow citizens off ,sad little man
@offside again: being able to speak the language of the country where you live is always a huge advantage.
I think you completely missed her point…yet again
@sean weir: whooosshhhhh …
Both your comments have 62 likes.
None of the comments so far actually address the core issue re the use of Gaeilge in 21st C.
It is that Gaeilge has no relevance when it comes to earning a livin, neither in Ireland apart from those actually directly involved in language education & restoration, nor in our continuing international emigre destinations.
Bhios scolair gaelach sa colaiste, ag folaim gach rud as gaeilge, ach bhi cursa triu oideachas as bearla! Ni raibh gaeilge ag na muinteoiri.
So, Gaeilge needs to be promoted as a purely cultural interest, as part of a combined Irish studies, recognising that it has huge value in that context, but very minimal wider significance.
@William Kelly: “no sense of themselves”
That is what happens when you let other governments bury your culture and traditions,look at Scotland,where Scots is now only spoken on the western isles,amd in the 6 where the English made sure people would grow up thinking they were anything but Irish
@sean weir: the ‘narcissim of difference’. Look it up. I’m British. I’m Irish. I’m French. Check out ‘Damien Saez – mon Européene’.
@sean weir: Scots . You mean Gaelic ? Scots altogether different and is spoken in some variation or other by thousands of people all day every day .
Very touchy/sensitive people can really hold up the important work of government.
It’s been a terrible miserable afternoon here in Dublin misty rain most of the time
@Razor Mulligan: The story of Ireland, north and south.
Increasing defence spending is a good thing but it’s Ireland, so will the money be spent wisely ?
Brexit won’t stop the British being involved in any war involving Europe and our ‘neutrality’ won’t either.
It’s time to play senior hurling.
@offside again: Neutral? Who Us? We were never that in World War 2. The Germans didn’t buy it then…think the next lot will? Unfortunately a European Army beckons. Sadly!
@Mick Hanna: there’s no 2 ways about it. Sadly …
Nobody gets out of it as a winner if we start firing nuclear missilles at each other.
Calm heads are needed but we have Trump, Putin etc and social media.
@offside again: “Calm heads are needed”…what about Me’Hole and Harris?
@Brian Hunt: what about them ?
@offside again: ROFLMAO! NUTS!
Nílim ag insint bréaga ach b’fhéidir go bhfuil daoine eile.
No option for those that can and don’t wish to speak it.
@Vincent Alexander: And Why Should that be an option? If you don’t…it’s irrelevant.
@Mick Hanna: Because I can speak it but do not want it to be taken that I do.
@Vincent Alexander: Whaaa??? No worries…I’ll take that as a WTF????
I don’t get the whole “ it’s our culture” thing with Irish . I grew up in a suburban environment in a working class household. No one I ever knew as a child or adult spoke Irish, had any interest in GAA , we weren’t religious in anyway , both my parents were appalled at the influence of the church . They voted Labour . I have more in common with people in Liverpool or Glasgow or bury st Edmund’s than I do with folk from rural Gaeltacht . I appreciate its importance to some but quite frankly other than having a name spelt slightly differently I couldn’t care less.
@Martainn -p: languages come and go. I personally don’t see what difference it makes. Each to their own. If only we understood each other …
@Martainn -p: English is the national language, and a very important part of our culture. (Try going to the local shops, and speaking Irish to everybody you meet, and see how far that gets you. If Irish was the national language, I would expect to hear it spoken more.)
@Martainn -p: Remember your opinion, upbringing or andecotal experience isn’t everyone else’s.
Cunas Bothair , Cailin Bainne !
Nope, got exempted. I suck at languages anyway.
Great way comments taking down if dont follow the crowd not allowed have different opinions anymore.
@Richard Barrett: With your Kuppla focKel you are using letters that are not even in the Irish language. Similar to the We Ourselves’ party using the meaningless word Votail. The pretence that we have almost 1 million “fluent” Irish speakers (last census) is embarrassing. Based on that nonsense we’d all expect to hear at least some few people conversing in that language at THE VERY LEAST once a day. That never happens where I live or where I go in this country
6000 Forms were filled in in Irish during last census – There are a lot of bluffers out there – Considering the census is a box ticking exercise. Finally what people fail to consider is the amount of people (me) who dislike the language and got my kids exempted.
Not much effort there,
Basically it’s not really taught here even though you’re made spend a lot of time on it over the school years. We just pretend it is. I remember the aural exams in it for the leaving cert and basically nobody could really string a sentence together. It’s a a bit of a farce really. Might as well make it optional at that rate. But still about 2m people tick on every census form that they can speak it. They obviously can’t.
Beagán, ní labhraím Gaeilge go minic
To all those who lied, I mean answered, ‘can hold a conversation’, saying your name and where you live does not qualify.
Also – it’s “Not the way it’s taught” rubbish.
It is generally just disliked as a waste of effort in the main.
One question that forgot “if
All languages should be taught orally. Those who like the language will learn to write it in time. The emphasis on grammar is a huge stumbling block to many.
Is fearr Gearmáinis briste ná Gaeilge cliste.
There is no political will for our nation to speak our native tongue. How many secondary schools are Irish speaking? We have had primary schools for many years. Why is there no natural progression to secondary or third level courses through Irish?
As in angle saxon, a mo grel breed!
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