So I'm watching the Olympics, and the thing that keeps coming up in my mind, as I listen to the interviews with people from every country on the planet, is "why are we so hard on ourselves when it comes to language?" Or, at least, "why am I so hard on myself?"

I hear these lovely young people being asked to say a few words for the camera. Some of them are fluent English speakers, but many aren't. When I'm listening to them speak, I'm not thinking "Oh, she forgot the definite article!" or "Damn...he used the wrong verb tense!" or "Silly fellow! Doesn't he know that's the wrong word for "tough"? I'm thinking "Wow...I wish my Irish were half as good as his/her English!"

Then I realize...it is.

I make mistakes. Sometimes the kind of mistakes that make me sit up in the middle of the night and say "damn!" But so do they. If I can admire them (And I do! Tremendously!), why can't I cut myself a little slack?

Food for thought!

(And, while we're on the subject, is there a native Irish idiom that means roughly the same thing as "food for thought?")

Redwolf

Thiocfadh leat ábhar machnaimh a rá - nó ábhar machtnaimh / smaointithe i dTír Chonaill.

Deas an méid atá scríobhtha agat thuas. Ná bíodh ró-throm ort féin!

Slán,

Domhnall

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Ultach mé agus Gaeilg Uladh a labhraim go measardha maith!

I'm my experience North Americans are very judegemental about any English not the same as theirs yet when they say things like '2 aircrafts', 'infrastructures' etc it's ok

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__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___

I've never experienced that attitude, Jay Bee, if the person speaking was not a native speaker of English, which is what I'm talking about here.

You don't like Americans very much, do you? You never seem to have a good word to say about us, but you're always quick to jump in to judge us harshly.

Redwolf

I agree with Redwolf. Since we live in a country with so many immigrants with so many different accents in such varying levels of English, we are more than able to deal with them. Jay Bee seems to find fault with so many.

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean, Jay Bee. I've run across a few people who think that their way of talking is "correct" and everybody else is ignorant.

Fortunately, most people in North America aren't like that.

It's hardly an "American thing." You'll find people all over the world with that attitude (including in the Irish-speaking world).

It really irritates me, frankly, that this post of mine has turned into another round of America-bashing.

Redwolf

I think Jay Bee is just talking about her(?) own personal experiences. I'm from North America and I didn't find that comment irritating.

Tá an ceart agat!

Jay Bee's taken several digs at Americans recently. This is just the latest. That's why his comment pissed me off.

Redwolf

Going back to your original comment, Redwolf, I find that the people most critical of other people's Irish tend to be non-native speakers with a limited knowledge of the totality of the language, especially school Irish speakers who don't understand dialect, and to a lesser extent learners of one dialect who aren't familiar with other dialects. Mostly their criticism arises out of their own insecurity, i.e., fear of the unknown.

Native speakers on the other hand mostly take the entirety of the language in their stride and are very encouraging to anyone who has put (or is putting) in a decent effort to learn the language. (However, they don't much appreciate "educated" brats from elsewhere telling them their Irish isn't correct because it isn't "standard".)

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).