I should have said that this was at least 10 - 15 years ago. There was a crackdown in employing unqualified teachers in last 10 or so years. I just thought I should share this because there may have been teachers who were employed, qualified or unqualified, in Irish medium schools who were not proficient in Irish. If there is a shortage of teachers who are fluent in Irish, then that is understandable, but I think it shows that the people in charge of these schools are not necessarily interested in producing competent Irish speakers, maybe because they think that 'broken Irish is better than spoken English'. And I think it adds weight to the argument that, at least in the north, the political aspect of Irish language education is prominent.

She was offered a job as a teacher. I know my mother. If she were offered a job as a 'teacher's aide' or a secretary, she wouldn't lie about it, she'd take offence and pretend it never happened.

Actually, I think the whole 'Is fearr Gaeilge bhriste ná Béarla cliste' is a huge issue in the language. I'm not against learner's trying to speak and practice the language to improve, but so many seem to be happy with their mistakes, and they always quote that saying. I once got banned from a group for saying something like, "Is fearr, cinnte, ach is fearr Gaeilge cheart ná Gaeilge bhriste". And this was after they asked me to help correct mistakes. So many people just seem to equate 'broken Irish' with 'good Irish' anymore, because of, well, 'New Irish'.

I've encountered some of that too. One the one hand, I agree...we want people to speak, and to not be afraid of making mistakes (fear of making mistakes is a huge barrier to adult learners). On the other hand, some people get REALLY bent out of shape when you offer a grammatical or pronunciation correction.

In general, if I'm on a group that is designed to foster conversation, such as Gaeilge Amháin, I figure the aim is to keep people speaking, so I neither offer nor expect corrections (if someone does correct me, that's OK, but I figure the goal is to get people to relax and communicate). But in a group that's geared toward teaching or learning (including this forum), I both make and invite corrections. If you're going to get people speaking, you kind of need both situations, I think. We want people to be comfortable practicing, but that doesn't mean "everything goes."

Redwolf

I agree 100% with this. I think it also depends on the person. At the earlier stages of learning, if every mistake is corrected, it is disheartening and many give up. At that stage, if only selective and the most common (and arguably the more important errors) are corrected, it is helpful and not overwhelming. When you have got over that fear of correction, it is far more helpful (and not off putting) when someone points out mistakes, but it is hard to convince people of that. No matter how many times I tell a native Conamara speaker friend of mine to correct my mistakes, she seems quite hesitant to do so. I really appreciate it when she does, but I think she thinks she's being a bit rude.

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Fair play to you for making that effort. I remember being hesitant when my friends wanted me to correct their English, you can feel like an asshole.

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The dialect I use is Cork Irish.
Ar sgáth a chéile a mhairid na daoine, lag agus láidir, uasal is íseal

I've encountered the same thing here...English learners who want me to correct them, and I'm never sure how much correction is too much.

Sometimes it's easier in "3D" than it is on line. You can model the correct thing without making a big deal out of it. When I was at Oideas Gael in 2013, I was flustered when the ATM in Ardara ate my debit card while I was trying to get cash, and exhausted after hours spent on the phone trying to rectify the situation with Bank of America (note: If you're ever having problems with Bank of America, good luck explaining to them that you're not actually IN America. I finally screamed at the rep "What part of 'I'm in Ireland' are you not grasping? We have Ulster Bank, we have Banc na hÉireann, but we do NOT have Bank of America!). It didn't help that, after having spoken Irish pretty much exclusively for two weeks, I had to spend so much time speaking English. Anyway, when I wanted to ask someone if the local shops took credit cards, I fumbled around in my brain, made the all-too-common mistake of translating directly from English and came up with the wrong verb (tóg). She just smiled and answered my intent: "Glacann." Question answered and correction made with no angst.

Redwolf