See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv7ylNzxTfQ, which I have commented on in the comments section.

The video is over 5 years old. The lad that posted it isn't even posting anymore on YouTube. Assuming that, when he posted the video back in 2019, he was in the typical age bracket for people who spend summers in Gaeltacht areas, it's fair to assume he's now in University and doesn't study Irish at all anymore.

Even taking that into account, your comment is ridiculous and entirely misses the point of the video:



1. At the time he posted the video he was learning Irish in school. If his pronunciation isn't corrected by his teachers, it's not his fault and insulting a teenager for something out of his control is pathetic.

2. As a student in Ireland, he is required to learn Irish in school. This is something you already know, so saying "don't bother learning Irish" just demonstrates that your primary aim in interacting with people RE Irish, both here and elsewhere, is to be malicious, not to provide help or advice.

3. It's not even a video about the Irish language. He's not advising people on their pronunciation. He's advising other teens, based on his own experience, what to expect in terms of accommodation, diet, and activities if they spend time in a Gaeltacht area. If that gets even one person out of the classroom and into a house with native speakers for the summer, then he's already done a lot more for proper pronunciation in the language than you have with your pithy, uncivil comment on his video.

Honestly, what did you expect posting this here? A hearty congratulations for bullying a teenager online? Like I said, Pathetic.

What was the point of your comment other than to insult a young lad?

I value proper pronunciation as well but comments like yours serve only to put people down and dishearten those with a desire to learn. Not everyone will want to learn Irish to the level you expect anyone who wants to have Irish to have and strive for.

It isn’t clear to me why you wrote this post?

There are many types of learners: those who want to achieve true fluency, those who wish to have and use their cúpla focal and those with no interest at all. All are valid. Someone with a desire to learn his or her cúpla focal will be unlikely to ever research, practice and apply perfect Gaeltacht standard pronunciation and that is ok too. It’s akin to many an English person (or Irish, or Welsh, or Scottish) who wants to pick up and know some basic French, German or Spanish. You’re average non-committed learner is not going to spend months practicing to roll their Rs, or perfectly their Üs.

Pronunciation is hugely overlooked in our education system, many a teacher with an awful standard of Irish, but that’s no reason to try to dishearten any learner who hasn’t mastered it and may have been subjected to poor Irish instruction in school.

What you are both saying is that it should never be mentioned that Gaeltacht is not pronounced Gaeltakt, in case it upsets school pupils.... That is nonsense.

Maybe this boy should go back to his teacher and ask him why he taught them this word was pronounced Gaeltakt. This teacher will, for sure, be grabbing every penny he can get from the Irish taxpayer.

Yes, I condemn the refusal to even try to pronounce things properly. Pronouncing ch right is not an advanced or detailed point of pronunciation. The whole attitude of the Galltacht to this is wrong.

Sounds to me like what we're both saying is that there's a time and place to mention how to pronounce things in Irish, and you decided to do so in the wrong time and place. Not only that, but you were deliberately nasty about how you mentioned it to him. This is a common trend with you. You deliberately provoke people, then act like you're the victim when they don't appreciate your input.



Maybe this lad should just ignore comments from trolls online who are more interested in insulting him than in helping anybody with learning Irish. Either way, it's not his fault if his teachers never insisted on proper pronunciation, and you attacking him for it in a YouTube comments section 5 years later certainly isn't helpful.



You haven't helped the situation with the way you responded.

Adrienne, that is simply defamatory, but in line with many other comments you have made.

There is a difference between shouting someone down and criticising them vs. offering to help, guide, point to resources to help someone with their Irish.

The lad mightn't have the slightest interest in Irish.

I'd have taken offence, possibly, had he been trying to 'teach Irish', but he wasn't. He was simply talking about his experience of the Gaeltacht as a school lad.

That bears no relation to my comment on his Youtube. There is a problem in Irish culture with a preference for defamation and spídiúchán, which you and Ade demonstrate. Maybe try to be better?

If you're more inclined to stereotype an entire nation of people than to question whether you're the common denominator in the problems you experience with Irish people, you may be beyond helping. Nevertheless, I'll try to make it simple for you, dj. You're the problem.

You show nothing short of contempt to Irish people, then you complain when you're called out for it. In this instance you boasted about bullying a child online. Two people explained to you why your post was unhelpful (at best), both for the lad who made the video, and for the language more broadly, and you still have the audacity to act like you're the victim rather than consider that you're probably wrong.

Grow up. Treat people better. Stop being the problem.

Please enlighten me as to where I defamed you or partook in spídiúchán?