Apathy towards Irish

Lughaidh · **Joined:** Thu 15 Sep 2011 12:06 pm **Posts:** 2436

Right but what's the problem?

Saoirse · **Posted:** Fri 20 Apr 2012 4:10 pm

Benjamin wrote:

Quote:

Up until recent years, if two people from the Gaeltacht bumped into each other in Galway City, they would be embarrassed to speak Irish to each.

Its something about Irish if you speak it in public in Galltacht areas the language always makes you stand out.

Not really any more as there are so many languages being spoken in Ireland. People think nothing of hearing languages other than English. Go to any playground and English may well be the minority language! 8-)

Redwolf · **Posted:** Fri 20 Apr 2012 4:34 pm

Saoirse wrote:

Benjamin wrote:

Quote:

Up until recent years, if two people from the Gaeltacht bumped into each other in Galway City, they would be embarrassed to speak Irish to each.

Its something about Irish if you speak it in public in Galltacht areas the language always makes you stand out.

Not really any more as there are so many languages being spoken in Ireland. People think nothing of hearing languages other than English. Go to any playground and English may well be the minority language! 8-)

Someone in the old place told a story once about talking on the phone in Irish one day while in Dublin and having a passer-by give him "the look" and mutter "bloody foreigners!" Seems you can chatter in Irish all day and no worries...people will just think you're speaking Polish! :darklaugh:

Redwolf

Mick · **Joined:** Fri 18 Nov 2011 2:27 pm **Posts:** 622

Redwolf wrote:

Seems you can chatter in Irish all day and no worries...people will just think you're speaking Polish! :darklaugh:

I know I was the one who said people hate the language, but I've also seen the other side of the coin. Sometimes people say "I'd love to be able to speak Irish" in the same way you might say "I wish I could fly to the moon." Like it's an impossible dream that could never happen for ordinary folks. I think there's a lot of people in this country who would like to learn, but don't really know how to get started.

Saoirse · **Posted:** Fri 20 Apr 2012 8:17 pm

Mick wrote:

I think there's a lot of people in this country who would like to learn, but don't really know how to get started.

I think that is absolutely true. In fact, if a couple of like-minded people went to Conradh na Gaeilge for a course or two, it would help them to realise that there are lots of others in the same boat. The next step is to find opportunities to use it. Having school-going children sometimes provides an incentive for people to reacquaint themselves with Irish; having children going to a Gaelscoil even more so.

Groups like na cnocadóirí are a great idea for normalising the language - doing an activity that just happens to be through Irish. viewtopic.php?f=32&t=341

Redwolf · **Posted:** Fri 20 Apr 2012 10:08 pm

Mick wrote:

Redwolf wrote:

Seems you can chatter in Irish all day and no worries...people will just think you're speaking Polish! :darklaugh:

I know I was the one who said people hate the language, but I've also seen the other side of the coin. Sometimes people say "I'd love to be able to speak Irish" in the same way you might say "I wish I could fly to the moon." Like it's an impossible dream that could never happen for ordinary folks. I think there's a lot of people in this country who would like to learn, but don't really know how to get started.

There seems to be a perception that Irish is much, much harder than other languages. I've had people here tell me they'd love to learn "Gaelic," but it just seems "too hard."

Redwolf

Mick · **Joined:** Fri 18 Nov 2011 2:27 pm **Posts:** 622

Certain languages (like German, French and Spanish) have much more in common with English than Irish does. So for English speakers, they ARE easier to learn. But I imagine a Chinese person would find Spanish and Irish equally difficult, so it's all a matter of perspective.

Me llamo Yu Ming?

Redwolf · **Posted:** Fri 20 Apr 2012 10:52 pm

Mick wrote:

Certain languages (like German, French and Spanish) have much more in common with English than Irish does. So for English speakers, they ARE easier to learn. But I imagine a Chinese person would find Spanish and Irish equally difficult, so it's all a matter of perspective.

Me llamo Yu Ming?

Most Americans have the perception that German is much harder than other languages as well...even though English is a Germanic language! There's also the completely unfounded perception that French is harder than Spanish.

Redwolf

Lughaidh · **Joined:** Thu 15 Sep 2011 12:06 pm **Posts:** 2436

Quote:

There's also the completely unfounded perception that French is harder than Spanish.

French spelling is much more complicated than the Spanish one... apart from that I think the 2 languages are equally complicated: many irregular verbs, as in all Romance languages...
Maybe French pronunciation might be more difficult too because of the r and of the nasal vowels? (I heard people saying that)

Redwolf · **Posted:** Sat 21 Apr 2012 1:22 am

Lughaidh wrote:

Quote:

There's also the completely unfounded perception that French is harder than Spanish.

French spelling is much more complicated than the Spanish one... apart from that I think the 2 languages are equally complicated: many irregular verbs, as in all Romance languages...
Maybe French pronunciation might be more difficult too because of the r and of the nasal vowels? (I heard people saying that)

No...it's more a class statement, I'm afraid, than anything that has to do with the actual complexity of the two languages.

Redwolf

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