Questioning Ireland
Post categories: Staff blog
| 17:40 UK time, Friday, 7 January 2011
Hi guys,
To start on a seasonal note, although it's officially 2011 now, I thought you might like to see a few Christmas photos from London!
As you've probably seen, Ireland has been in the spotlight over the last few months but I'm not going to get into that here! If you would like to find out more about what's happening in Ireland and with the Irish economy right now, check out some of the radio and TV programmes about it from World Have Your Say.
And now, back to your questions...
@svetlana said:
"... I've been under an (the) impression that Gaelic is a gradually disappearing language. I can see from your post though that the situation in Ireland is different. Or maybe I get something wrong... I'm confused, Stephen, please help me to understand."
There are a few things to think about here - how many people speak the language and its vibrancy, or how alive or regularly used it is every day.
Also, in December, the Irish government launched a Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen said:
"This plan aims to increase the number of people who speak Irish on a daily basis from 83,000 to 250,000 over the next 20 years."
I think this sounds very exciting, so it will be really interesting to see what happens over the next few years.
The number of people who speak Irish-Gaelic every day is relatively small in the overall population. Most of the people who speak it daily live in Gaeltacht or Irish-speaking areas, mainly in the west. However, we do learn it at school from the age of four or five until we finish secondary school, sometime between the ages of 16 and 18.
So while the numbers of daily speakers is relatively small, I think it is very much alive and as a people, it's very much a part of who we are, as Irish people. There is an Irish-language television channel, , which has many popular programmes, there are Irish-Gaelic programmes on local and national radio stations and people often use a 'cúpla focail', literally a few (Irish-Gaelic) words when speaking in English. It's also one of the official languages of the European Union.
Over a few years, I've worked on radio programmes where Irish-Gaelic was the language we used at work nearly all the time. The energy and enthusiasm the people I worked with was infectious. You couldn't help but be excited by their ²µ°ùá or love for the language.
I'll think some more about phrases in English whose origins lie in Irish and blog about them.
The ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ has Gaelic online, TV and radio in Northern Ireland and in Scotland.
@Alban asked:
"Stephen, could you explain in one of your next post the history of the country?"
I'd suggest reading the . I've been doing some searching to get some other links and I'll look around some more to see what I can find that's short and easy to read.
@MarÃa asked:
I lived in Ireland for some time and I remember wondering why people used sentences like 'I'm just after having lunch' (instead of the more English expression 'I've just had lunch').
I think this goes back to Irish Gaelic and the phrase 'táim dÃreach tar eÃs', which translates as 'I'm just after (or directly) after...'
Thank you so much for all your questions. Happy New Year!
Some useful phrases from this blog:
in the spotlight - watched by everyone
under the impression - believed or made to believe something
was infectious - inspired by being near these people
couldn't help but - was unable not to be
Comment number 1.
At 9th Jan 2011, Filippo wrote:Hi Stephen! I think the reindeer's pic was taken in front of the GPO in O'Connel Street, wasn't it? I really liked Dublin. As for the economy situation,things has shyly improved over here in Italy, but the rate of unemployment among young people has rocketed to a very high level and there has been an increase in job discouraged seekers. I think we cannot help but staying hard and trying to be positive. It is hard though. Anyway, great to hear from you again and all the best for the new year!
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Comment number 2.
At 10th Jan 2011, Svetlana wrote:Hi Stephen!
So glad to hear from you. First of all, I wish you and everyone from the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ LE team a happy New Year. All the best for you guys!
Stephen, thank you very much for such a detailed answer of yours. I really appreciate this. Everything is clear to me now. Look forward to reading more from you.
Best wishes
Svetlana, Russia.
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Comment number 3.
At 13th Jan 2011, Seymur wrote:Hi Stephen.From the very start I should say you have touched a
interesting theme.I mean language problems.For those reason languge
sometimes getting difficult.For instance I am working with US people
and I use only american english.But Some times
when I talk with Britian people in my language appear some problems
with understansing and I spot main reason for this problems.I guess it
is a differenties between those language.Anyway dear blogger Let
improve our language skills with help this link.
Seymur from Azerbaijan
Complain about this comment (Comment number 3)