Should Irish People Speak The Irish language? 1970
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- Опубліковано 16 лют 2021
- Vox pops with people about the Irish language and its use at home and abroad.
A number of people give their opinions on the Irish language and its use at home and abroad. They also discuss the degree to which speaking Irish makes you more Irish. Many of those interviewed question the value of the language, while others would love to be able to speak Irish.
One man comments
If we do learn Irish... who do we speak it to?
Another woman says
You can’t get anywhere with it except for a government job
Another woman questions reporter Jim Sherwin about why the interview is not being held in Irish if it is in fact a modern language.
‘What People Say’ is the first episode in the series ‘Watch Your Language’. It is a programme in English about the Irish language and its place in Irish life. It examines the problems and possibilities of its restoration.
This episode of ‘Watch Your Language’ was broadcast on 13 January 1970. The presenter is Jim Sherwin. - Розваги
"without the vernacular we are merely Englishmen with a funny accent"
@@wetgrowler499 the west brits have join the conversation...
Technically a large part of the Irish population have some degree of English ancestor but I would argue that only speaking England does nothing to effect yours Irishness, just look at Gerry Adams he has been murdering Irish for close to half a century. I really feel pity for real Irish speakers after hear him mangling it.
@@robert6106 how old do ya think Gerry Adams is, if you believe he has been murdering Irish people for almost half a century? How would he qualify for that, by killing once every 10 years on average or once every 5? How does that work? Do you count the first murder as the start of his murdering career and the last one as the last? Could it be that if someone committed two murders 50 years apart that you could then say they had a 50 years of murdering behind them? Please tell me how it works???? But, also consider the following in your answer.
No evidence has EVER been provided to any police or authorities anywhere in either GB or Ireland to link Gerry Adams to murder.
@@robert6106 your claim that speaking 'England' doesn't effect Irishness is quite puzzling, how did you arrive at that conclusion??
Have you any awareness of 'the Penal laws' or the persecution of Irish speakers in the past 3 centuries??
As for the claim that certain gentleman is a murderer,,, if you have ANY evidence please feel free to forward it to the appropriate investigating body, otherwise "éist do bhéal".
@@Difficultfuckhead yeah, I see that now. So sorryyyyyyy, for upsetting you so much. A bit touchy aren't ya????? Also what is a goon? Another thing is that I do not own nor have I ever waved a rainbow flag. I do not see what that has got to do with anything. I do not have a problem with the rainbow flag. Was that remark meant to someone insinuate that I support equality or am one of the gays and if so was that meant to be a put down. Why would you use that as a slur. Have you a problem with homosexuals??????? Your name really suits ya difficult fuck head, btw
The colonial mindset was strong back then. Some people still have this mindset but for the most part there is a greater appreciation for the Irish language now.
To be sure to be sure.
There wasn’t one mention of that, in fact one of the comments was on entering the Common Market and another on Modern Languages (as they termed them) needs ie French or German. This is simplistic and wrong, the views expressed are mainly down to the need to speak the language for economic reasons. People were poorer then and had one eye on emigration at all times. Learning the native language was a luxury pursuit for many. Thankfully backwards ideas like yourself have crept more into Meme culture than Irish language teaching. The passion for it needs to go a bit beyond myopic and outdated dog whistling about “de Brits”.
I don’t understand why we go to such lengths to learn English, I got called right wing in school for saying Irish should be the main language spoke in school and English should be treated like French or any other foreign language
poverty, and corporal punishment in school in which the language was beaten into people, alienated people from the Irish language. Irish was also politicized by the DeValera Government. This unfortunately alienated northern unionists to learning the language. Wales by contrast started a home school program at the turn of the 20th century. and within a couple of generations, successfully revived the language from near extinction to widespread use. languages can successfully live side by side as proven in Wales and the Scandinavian countries where English and their respective native languages are understood and spoken by almost everyone.
@@marcasotiarnaigh8672 It was the policy of the dominant Devalera Government from the 1930's until recently that perhaps did most damage to the Irish language. Their short sighted anti British agenda and isolationist policies did much to alienate people from the language. They had a ridiculous policy of ramming it down peoples throats in the Irish school system. They also isolated the Irish language from its association with the broader Celtic languages ie Scottish. It also became a sectarian language which further isolated it from it's broader Celtic association. In 1900, there were over 1 million native Irish speakers in Ireland. Even the Orange halls had Irish classes. By the 1980's there were only a few thousand native Irish speakers, many of whom only spoke it because of Government grants. Welsh by contrast was revived from near extinction in 1900 to being widely used across wales today because of a deep connection and desire of welsh people to connect to their Celtic roots. Ireland is part of a wide Celtic culture that includes wales, Cornwall, Scotland, not to mention the Celtic diaspora across Canada, usa etc. We need to revive those links and a sense of a greater brotherhood. Then perhaps we shall look at our Irish language with the same pride and determination as the welsh had in reviving their language!!
I find it mental that it never crossed anybody's mind to speak both Irish AND English. Yes, it's very valuable to speak English fluently in this interconnected world but there's no reason we couldn't be fluent in both, like our other northern European neighbours.
@trevor keen it seems all we ever talk of these days in Ireland is looking outwards to the rest of the world. Like the man said we have become a sponge, absorbing everything both the good and the bad from global anglosphere. I think it’s time we looked inwards once again.
It's the tail end of a long process of "cancelling" "shaming" "making irrelevant" etc... What ACTUAL internalized racism (yes) is...
Outside perspective here but it's harder to learn both languages well obviously. And because it's hard many people won't do it. And because many people won't do it there's less of a reason to learn Irish. It seems like it's a downward spiral that will result in the almost extinction of the language.
You mention the northern European languages. I wouldn't be surprised if the Scandinavian languages held a similar status as the Celtic languages in a few centuries.
@@bigstar66 but see its not there are many many people who learned both from birth and are completely well fluent in both languages so there is no excuse for people to not be able to learn both other than the educational system failing us as a people or us the people failing the language
Yeah like malta speaks english and maltese they preserve the language
Michael Collins once said that in order for the Irish to truly be free, the Irish would need to speak Irish and write down their thoughts in Irish.
See what thinking shite like that got him.
How's that soup tasting Larry?
@@Frank-bv9fs very nice of u
and did he say that in Irish or in English ?
@@seanoceallachain I'm sure he said it in English. I don't think Michael Collins spoke much gaelic. I don't really speak it either.
And honestly, I don't think it's bad for the irish to speak English, but I hate it when other irishmen say that Gaelic is a useless language when it's the language that our ancestors spoke and I want our irish culture to remain alive and even resurrect.
But honestly, the majority of Gaelic teachers are second language speakers, so it's hardly a native language anymore.
But I want it to remain alive because it's part of our irish identity and I'm happy to see that it's widely taught now.
Ireland needs to look to Wales where there has been a huge positive revival of the Welsh Language.
They have been
@@aislingmoran7762 If you look at the history of the Welsh language you'd know we had to fight. Hard. We had to struggle against the Welsh Not in schools and the way the English treated Welsh people as feeble minded morons throughout history.
@@ticketyboo2456 that's what it all boils down to... portraying the other language speakers as morons. The French did exactly the same to Bretons, the cousins of the Welsh and Cornish in France. They portrayed them as ignorant dirty drunk peasants who were also Catholic fanatics (much like stereotypes of Irish), and it worked -- many Bretons became ashamed of their identity and wanted to imitate 'Parisians' instead.
Wales was always stronger than Irish because they had a much larger percentage of native speakers.
What Wales seems to be doing now is exactly what Ireland attempted from the late 1920s to early 1940s. A schools based revival of the language.
This didn't work in Ireland's case, because schools cannot revive a language if the society and families outside the school gates are not speakers of that language.
And the signs are that the Welsh revival is having similar results. Large increases in second language speakers of school-going age in particular, but a continuous weakening of the Welsh speaking regions which are still being anglicised via inmigration, outmigration, and a range of other things. That is, they are slowly losing the Welsh speaking regions, the native first language speakers of Welsh, and they are replacing them with first language English speakers who speak Welsh as a second language, who rarely pass it on to their children and often don't keep it up after they leave school.
Yes, Welsh is a lot stronger than Irish, but they are simply repeating what Ireland tried and failed with in the past. They need to tackle the issues that are damaging the Welsh language where it is spoken natively, and support the founding and growth of real Welsh speaking settlements, otherwise they will simply create the neoliberal Gaeilge roghnach Béarla éiginnteacht (optional Irish, English necessary/not optional) situation we have everywhere in Ireland today, including the Gaeltacht which are not anymore protected linguistically by policy than anywhere else (Údarás na Gaeltachta are just a rural economic development organisation, they do not have powers of local government or the ability to enforce positive linguistic discrimination).
This video is over 50 years old and the people's attitude on the Irish language has changed. Even though they may not use it in daily life, nearly half can speak it to some degree due to schooling. It's actually kinda cool or sexy to know it.
Sad period in Irish history. Thankfully attitudes have changed and the internet has helped so much. I love the saying, "Tir gan teanga, tir gan anam."
Sadly this sentiment is still all too common
@@imperatorscotorum6334
How so?
@@roisinmalone3015 I know many people myself who have this very same view, it's truly a shame.
Its a waste of time, if you want to speak it fine, but dont expect the rest of the country to pay for it
@@ricemango7502
What's your view?
It's a great shame in the sense that to be "Irish", yet unable ( or even worse uncaring ) to speak it is sad. I ACCEPT that it is not utililitarian or of much use out of the country, but Norwegians, Finnish, Swedes have almost Native English speaking skills yet fully kept their national language. ( even though those languages are damn all good travelling around the world ).
This is a video from the seventies
Plus the British tried to eradicate the Irish language
Pretty misinformed comment in my view.
@@roisinmalone3015 are they stopping you from learning it now? Presuming you don't have any Irish.
@@ethancorrigan6967
Why would you think I have no Irish?
This video is from the seventies.
It doesn't represent Ireland now.
@@ethancorrigan6967
My comment re the other poster was that Ireland was occupied for centuries and trying to wipe out the Irish language was a policy pursued.
The fact that the Irish language survived is a tribute to Irish people of the past.
The Great Hunger nearly killed off Irish culture completely, but thankfully there was a Gaelic revival, which led to the Easter Rising, then the War of Independence and finally Irish Independence.
It takes a while for a colonised people to find their feet.
Ireland is now a relatively successful country and much more at home with itself and confident in itself and its identity than it was in the 1970's.
Plus re Brexit, its star has risen within the EU and in terms of its relationship with the US.
The imperial mindset from Britain or England has no clout now.
Britain or England thought it could steamroll all over Ireland and peace because re the imperial mindset, the views of 17.4 million people (who voted for different Brexits) was more important than peace and reconciliation and international commitments and historical responsibility.
Turns out, no.
Re your you can do it now etc
That is what Ireland has been doing.
The growth in Gael scoils has been huge.
But if something is somewhat severed by an imperial power, re centuries of occupation, it's not possible to revive it all, or even the circumstances where it thrived, some is lost forever, unfortunately.
I'm basque and my teachers have always told me that the basque language was very near to extinguish during the francoist dictatorship, that if you had a basque name you were enforced to change it for the spanish version of the name, that if you were a student you had to wear "the ring of the shame" if you were caught speaking the language, that you could even be shot in the streets for speaking this language in the first years of this horrible dictatorship. As a basque teen who has heard those stories I'm a bit sad after reading the comments and watching the video. The fact that the irish people apparently don't have awareness about the importance of their culture and language after suffering years of cultural genocide is awful. Please, make an effort and keep it alive, like the Welsh are trying to do in a more or less successful way. A big hug to our irish fellows!
This is what the US and Canada did to native people, it is what China is doing to Muslims with Arabic names right now. It’s sad how powerful nations seek to destroy languages to force people to assimilate into a society they don’t want to be a part of. I hope the Basques are free one day, but after what happened in Catalonia I’m not so sure 😞
The process of separating Irish people from their language began hundreds of years ago. For example, it was illegal to speak Irish in courts, and Irish surnames (including my own- Neville is the English name for Ó'Niadh) were Anglicised in order to rob people of their identity.
This might cheer you up:
ua-cam.com/video/ownuljxqCHM/v-deo.html
Nunca se sugirió siquiera cambiar un apellido vasco por su traducción castellana. y aquello del anillo fue muchos, muchos años antes de Franco. Tras la dictadura se inventaron muchos mitos falsos para obtener votantes. La historia de España está llena de leyendas negras falsas.
There are welsh who couldnt speak english. Im proud when i fist heard about that story.
The early 20th Century was an especially awful time for provincial languages. Spain for Basque, France for Breton, the USA for Louisiana French.
"A culture is superficial if it depends upon a language" says she, the language teacher at 2:39! Surely language is a central part of a culture since its literature, songs, conversation, place names, people's names depend upon it. I have just read Manchan Magan's book "32 words for field" in which he delves into the richness of the Irish language and the ways it connects us to the country in a way that English has never been able to do. Take for example the ridiculous place names foisted upon us by English mapmakers in the 18th Century that bore no relevance to the place they were describing. The name Newgrange is such an example. It should be called Brú na Boinne which means palace of the Boyne and connects us to our past. We cannot judge every facet of education by its usefulness in the marketplace. That would leave us very one dimensional individuals. I know loads of people that regret not trying harder at Irish in school and bemoaning the fact they can't speak it now. TG4 are making excellent TV in the medium of Irish. Traditional Irish music is going through a mini revival. I hope i'm not speaking too soon but I feel there's more of an appreciation for Irish culture than there used to be of late.
I'd say she was teaching lads who never finished primary school how to sign their names in the local FAS Centre and considered herself a language teacher if that was her attitude toward cultural linguistics.
Her words stood the test of time, sadly for you
'A culture is superficial if it depends upon a language'. It's a little ironic when you consider how stubbornly the English stick to their own language and refuse to learn others ... and even more ironic when you consider that by and large they are Germanised Celts ...
She is some gobshite
Manchan Magan's "No Bearla" is a great series that really showed me how important a language is to a culture. I'm not Irish, but I think every culture that's been made to speak a foreign language can relate to Magan.
"I don't see the use in a language that I can't speak in England" - "Sure I've done alright without it" - "I don't care if it dies, I can speak someone else's tongue instead!" Depressing!!
“If (Ireland) throws the stamp of its own nationality aside it will become a sponge and it will absorb both the bad and the good.” ... need to preserve our culture. No one’s gonna do it for us ☘️🔥👍🏼
Abair é 🔥
I'm 14 and I feel like the only child in the world who likes speaking irish.... it's a big part of our culture and it's so old, we can't let it die. I didn't like it much a few years ago, but when I got to secondary school, I got an amazing irish teacher who has made me love the language and learn it really well.
interesting comment. interesting point to hear from someone so young. great ti hear your interest in the language, and not surprised to find your dismay with feeling somewhat isolated in your appreciation of the language. watching the video actually reminded me things haven't charged a bit. years later this is still the prevailing attitude, irrespective of what people publicly say. I'll agree there's a certain trend towards it being more accepted and spoken than previously, but I don't know anyone who actively wants to speak it or , more importantly wants to put the time and effort into learning it. hope you continue to enjoy the language. with the internet you've a great tool to practise speaking it to other humans, something which is remarkably hard to do in Ireland.....
I mean I have a lot of respect for the Irish I'm half Irish me self but I know for a fact Irish culture isn't got anything to do with its language if that was the case English culture should be dead after going through 3 major language changes but its hardly changed
Realsticly over the last 100 years has Irish culture gotten stronger or weaker? Id say stronger yet over the last 100 years less and less Irish are speaking Irish so what does that tell ye
@@ciaranmck4469 Jesus but you are a fucking tool. "English culture has stayed the same through three languages" please tell me that's a joke. And you're off your rocker if you think Irish culture has gotten stronger. It's being forgotten. Only thing your comment tells me is that you're a twat who cant seem to grasp the gravity a native language holds. Despite your ridiculous notions, language is the glue that holds a culture together. Stop trying to push the bullshit narrative that Irish is useless
Coinnigh ort a Valentine. Tá tú óg fós. Beidh an deis agat amach anseo ár dteanga álainn ársa a úsáid. Tréaslaím leat! 😁
@@martinoleary5268 go raibh maith agat as do thrácht. tá tú an-deas! 😄
Yes.
We all know, everywhere, that English is the lingua franca, but everybody should know their nation's proper language. If I ever go and live in Ireland, I would definitely make the effort to learn it.
I'm basque and I know what it is to be sorrounded by inmigrants that don't like the local language and I'm honestly pissed of that. I would make an effort too.
@@pyrenaea3019 Euskal Herria askatuta. I am Galician with French nationality.
Poland did not even exist for few centuries and they speak polish so don't understand why Irish can't speak irish
@@Hilariusgamer It's because they're a completely lost and disvirtuated nation, with no soul left in them. Overseas people of partial irish have more love for the culture than the irish themselves.
I'm glad that attitudes towards the language, especially amongst younger people, have improved since then. If the Dutch, Germans or the Swedes can be bilingual from a young age, so can we.
Aontaím leat
Go hionraic 🟩⬜🟧 Aontaím leatsa go hiomlán
In my country, a less dominant native language almost die prior to the next or young generation does not want to use it anymore. Please, keep your language keeps intact. Your language is your national identification, treasure and your pride as the Irish.
This is a video from the seventies
I’m English and it should be taught in school it’s part of the Irish heritage and should not be forgotten
It is taught in school for about an hour every day. The way it’s taught is wrong they fire a young lad down on front of a table with a sheet full of words and expect him to learn it that way, it should be more oral than anything else
@@marcasotiarnaigh8672 Yep. Irish should be taught because that's how we seem to be able to connect with the language.
@snooker Hes saying something positive you fucking gobshite
You’re correct David, and it is. There are gaelscoileanna (schools that teach through Irish where kids not so ironically are more likely to score highly in English and succeed in a third language) around the country in addition to the English language schools teaching Irish as a second language. But a lot more needs to be done. I think every child should have the opportunity to have a year or two at minimum in total immersion in Irish to strengthen their speaking skills. This has been proven to strengthen their English language skills as well and prime the brain for a third language. Bilingualism has so many benefits beyond how many people speak any given language for the brain, problem solving skills, social skills and social awareness.
@@peteymax i wish i had gone to a gaelscoil. it’s a lot harder to learn the language when i’m older but oh well
I'm from the North and was brought up in a unionist community and I think Irish should be taught in all schools. The Celtic peoples of these islands should be able to speak our native tongues with pride imo.
And hopefully the positivity we are seeing in East Belfast will flourish, showing how diverse Irish culture (nationalist and unionist) is and one should not be seen as a threat to the other
As far as I know unionist attitude to Irish differs from place to place.
@@peteymax táimid ag dul i dtreo ceart anois mar gheall ar an Acht na Gaeilge (cé go ghlac sé sin an iomarca am) mar sin tá siúl agam go feicfimid feabhsaithe sa staid teanga i dTuaisceart na hÉireann
Find it odd that the "modern languages teacher" (0:53 and 2:33) disses the Irish language. Dutch people can speak English but also their own language, same as Germans, Danes, Norwegians etc. It is possible for peoples in a country to know English but have their own language.
So sad to loose their culture
A culture is superficial if its depending on a language, my god the ignorance of that, look at how much culture was lost everywhere when the euro was brought in, thank god the language was and is still being revived and given life, its a great part of any culture.
Language is very important.
You take away people's language, as an imperial power, you take away their past and identity.
Thank goodness Ireland has revived its language and its culture is thriving and growing with new peoples contributing to it.
@@roisinmalone3015 new people contributing by embracing and adopting it is what I hope you mean
@@OhEidirsceoil
Yes. Of course but contributing something of themselves too enriches cultures, I think.
@@OhEidirsceoil
There we disagree.
The Anglo Irish produced Yeats, Samuel Beckett, Douglas Hyde, Wolfe Tone and many others
They added their own flavour to being Irish and enriched the culture.
Sometimes it's people from outside that can bring out more what is inside.
@@roisinmalone3015 Do you think the Irish have been deprived of understanding their history? That's a very simplistic condescending take on things.. It gives no agency to people to recount their past, to self-identify, and it's reductive about what culture is. Culture is so much more than language. Intertwined, yes, but so much more than just* language.
The more I come back to this the sadder it’s seems. They don’t even realize their colonial mindset. You can speak two languages. It’s amazing how a language became associated with being poor and unintelligent because of the abuse that was put on them.
Yeah, I fully understand the situation cause we had the same in Ukraine. Fortunately, our language is in the same group with the oppressor’s one (russian), so it’s much easier to learn for russian-speaking people than for English speaking ones to learn Irish. So we had and sometimes still have this colonial mindset, but almost everyone knows Ukrainian. The problem is that many people are still reluctant to speak it because of the former oppression of both language and its speakers, although today Ukrainian use is encouraged and often obligatory.
The reverse is opposite now! tá leibhéal oideachais níos fearr ag formhór na ndaoine a labhraíonn Gaeilge anois
Ofcourse we should speak it. It's our language. There needs to be more focus on conversational Irish though and not grammer.
It needs to be spoken in the household, if we grow up around it with key figures like mam or dad, chatting each day kids will pick it up, more needs to be done for sure.
@@derekobeirnes482 not sure. I learnt French fine in school.
@@clairekilduff5930 to preserve the Irish language doing 1-2 hours a week in school isn't enough, if we parents that where fluent than it would be passed down to the children, yes I don't German in school I learnt more German than I did Irish..
@@derekobeirnes482 I think it just needs to be taught like other languages are taught. And less focus on having 100 percent correct grammer. I know people who grew up with Irish in the house and still aren't fluent.
Like that's going to happen! Now we're importing foreigners at such a rate, Ireland as a country is fading out of view. With demographics going the way they're going, ethnic Irish will be only 50% of the population in 40 years time. Then it's game over. Ah well, go back to your pints and premier league
Without an Irish langauge you can't have Irish culture. Just look at youth today, many of my friends would be well versed in drill and RnB but would be intellectually barren when it comes to Irish songs and stories. In terms of the generations below mine they have as your man stated at 2:40 "become a sponge". They know nothing of Ireland but could tell you all about the USA and UK in terms of society and culture.
Far more young people are able to speak Irish these days mind you...
It is the intelligent answer that these people needed to hear. You are right. It is worth investing in the mother tongue of a culture and then also learn the lingua francas as well. It enriches the people.
More teenagers these days know about drill music than they do folk ballads. Country’s going down the gutter.
@@animalmother5473 well actually alot of folk ballads come from England but please go off.
@@animalmother5473 more teenagers speak Irish now then when these clowns interviewed were around.
Any wanker that thinks singing ballads in English is our culture is part of the problem.
I'm from Ireland and the saddest part is that I sound like a foreigner when I speak Gaelic, part of the reason is because we haven't learned it from native gaelic speakers but people who speak English as their first language, we pronounce the gaelic words with an english tongue. It's sad..but so grateful for the opportunities for the youth to learn from a young age. Language is as much of culture as anything else. We should not lose it 💚☘
@@redfishswimming you're exactly right mate, going to do the Donegal school next year, apparently it's really brilliant 👌🏻 hopefully will improve the pronunciations 😂
you sound foreign speaking english too :P
I assure you, the Gaeltacht locals are much more appreciative that you speak Irish in an English tongue than don’t speak any Irish at all!
@@l-m4224 if you want a hand I'll help ya
As a foreigner in Ireland, I think you speak English with a gaelic accent! At least in County Cork and Kerry where I lived.
The dark days of Gaeilge, the days that killed off many irish speaking areas nationwide, nice to see it's on the rise again but we'll never get it to back to the places a lot of us would love it to be....nationally spoken as a mother tongue - Jamie Bryan, age 16.
The famine
The famine killed off a lot of Irish culture forever.
Thank goodness it's been revived but some is lost forever.
@@roisinmalone3015 that's a peculiar notion... How would starving to death make you not speak your own language. The reason we speak English is because the British made it the
language of education and government.
@@user-on2ys9jr6t
Most of those who died in the famine were native Irish speakers and most of those who emigrated were also.
Of course the British Government tried to wipe out Irish language and culture, but the famine was an almost fatal blow. Of course the famine was Britain's fault too re the laissez faire policies its government pursued.
Ultimately the loss of Irish culture re the famine led to the Gaelic revival which led to the Easter Rising which led to Irish Independence.
An Gorta Mhór had a huge effect on Irish, but post colonial hang ups did even more damage. Younger people in Ireland have moved on from those tiny mindsets in the video, Gaelscoileanna have played a huge and important role in that change. Also a lot of so-called new Irish (they’re just Irish) have contributed hugely to Irish too and that should be encouraged even more.
@@peteymax postcolonial damage is key here, I'm seeing many comments making fun of the teacher as if she's some simpleton but it sounds more like she's just typical of a society that's had their linguistic pride stamped out by a foreign elite. You will hear the same opinions today in many Asian and African countries, often the poorer ones which cannot afford to be sentimental about language.
I'm Brazilian and I'm learning Irish, I really like this language.
My Grandma only spoke Irish, and she got on amazingly.
As a non-Irishman (English), it saddens me to see a people hold so little value in their identity.
But they make good points
Do you speak old English no because what does it do for you? Unless your job requires learning languages that honestly don't get ye anywhere just isn't worth it
Besides if a countries culture is reliant on its language something is clearly wrong
@@ciaranmck4469 Ğese, Ic spreče eald Aenglisc.. I have a few books on it.
Also it's not the same. Modern English is descended from Old English. English is the language of my people. English is of alien origin, from the perspective of the Irish.
@@Evan_Bell k and
And that's why an Englishman speaking modern English isn't comparable to an Irishman speaking modern English.
@@Ben-ek1fz And that's sad.
Place Names should be changed back to their irish name
I said for years that the regular person in the street today is far more supportive of Gaeilge. As I look at this film i see why our language struggled for years, its because of these beaten people. Today's Eireannaigh are much prouder than people might think. Bail ó Dhia ar ár dteanga.
1:00
"I think there's too much time spent in school on it when they could be doing more useful subjects"
"Like what?"
"Languages"
🤨
And later on she says "culture is very superficial if it depends on language." She's so dense that it beggars belief 🤦♂️
This is the effects of hundreds of years of colonisation. The swedes can speak Swedish and English. There's no reason why Irish shouldn't be the main language and also learn English.
Thing is most people in Ireland either can't speak Irish or don't have enough interest to speak it. Why in a more commented world than ever would you be trying to learn a dead language than a spoken language such as french or Spanish or German or Chinese...
@@itsme-sn5gi Thing is aswell irish goverment has been dumping millions of euros into this and still hasn't come up with a solution. The answer is culture is what you make it to be and language is just a peice of the puzzle that makes up a culture just as how itialians no longer speak Latin we will longer speak a recognisable form of English in say 300 years. Always funny to see these so called patriots running around ranting in english about how people should speak irish. Like the pot calling the kettle black.
@@Niall-jd8zw also, did you just say Italians don’t speak Latin!?
Modern Italian is an evolution of Latin. Like how modern Irish and Scots Gaelic evolved from Middle Irish and that from Old Irish.
If you didnt know something as basic as that Italian, Spanish, Portuguese etc are natural language evolution from Latin rather than people nothing speaking Latin anymore maybe you should stick to struggling with your times tables and pipe down on this issue haha
@@itsme-sn5gi no. The way the language is taught in this country is the problem
@S.K 123 We can always get the thought police and MAKE people care about it. This has been tried since 1922, beating a dead language into national school pupils. It doesn't work.
The post-colonial mindset is strong here. Is mór an trua é. Don't let bad teachers, cruel Christian brothers or the Caighdeán Oifigiúil put you off Gaeilge. We need to learn to disassociate the language from negative experiences with the Church and State. Find and study the beautiful dialect that was spoken by your own ancestors. If you have a lot of Kerry in you, you might learn Chorca Dhuibhne Irish. Parents from Galway? Conamara Irish.
✝️🇻🇦
as a Scotsman I believe we should speak and be taught both Gaelic and English .
I agree in part, but Scottish Gaelic was never the language of the whole of Scotland, so some people would feel it was being foisted on them. There SHOULD be the option, though.
@@markscott554 actually when Scotland was first created there was a time when everyone spoke Gaelic , later when Scotland gained the borders area those people didn't speak Gaelic . The Scots language developed and Scotland had two languages 'Scots' and 'Gaelic' ..... now we have neither . I don't have a problem with speaking English obviously but we should also speak our own language , the language of our ancestors who created this country and the language which was deliberately oppressed by power hungry kings and unionists at westminster . If people feel it is 'foisted' on them then tough , English was 'foisted' upon us , you live in Scotland and Gaelic was the native tongue so get over it .
Scotland's Gaelic culture came about due to the Irish Gaels the Roman's called Scotti supplanting the Pict culture in Northern Britain. The Irish colonised and shaped Northern Britain centuries before the English arrived in Ireland. Brit bashers in Ireland are either ignorant of or choose to ignore this fact.
@@andrewdevine6333 Sorry Dev , But you are the ignorant one . Ireland and 'the Irish' did not exist in that time , the 'Scots' were a tribe of their own who had existed long before they were in what is now Ireland and Scotland . In short 'The Scots' were not Irish , they were 'Scots' hence the name . And there is no evidence the Scots didn't settle on the west coast of Scotland before The Picts settled elsewhere in mainland Scotland , FACT .
@@bigboaby555 You're being pedantic. Yes, Ireland and Irishness and Scotland/Scottishnesd as we know them today didn't exist. However, Scots Gaelic came from old Irish and Ulster Gaels called the Scotti did settle on the islands and did venture further in to mainland Britain supplanting the Picts in certain areas.
West Brits in the 70's
No
So what are they now? they're still not speaking Gaelic.
@@kudim3185 the answer to “what are they now?” is, dead, or close to dead, still expatriates either way.
@@kudim3185
Ireland now is a lot more pro Irish than then.
That was a hangover re imperialism and before the benefits of being in the EU/EEC were realised by the people.
Then Irish people weren't confident at all.
Now they are. Proud of their language and culture.
You can always count on the bigotry of the Republican cultural snobs to sneer at their fellow Irish people just because they don't speak Irish.
jesus it's almost painful to hear such things, the spirit of an entire people bent and smothered
I had a long long, very long argument with a man about a very similar video shot in Dublin recently. His take was that Gaeilge was useless etc, mine was the opposite, the people interviewed were very positive about it and I see every day that modern ireland is positive about Gaeilge. The majority of the Irish people from the 70s were still brainwashed into feeling inferior to our old oppressors who forced the language down. We have lost so much of it......ach tá sí beo í gconaí agus aisteach go leor, tá sí ag dul í neart san gáltacht ach caithfidh muid í a choinneal laidir sna gaeltachtaí chomh maith.
@Democrats&Leftists hate White people Tá beagan bród ag muintir na tire arís buíochas le Dia.
@Democrats&Leftists hate White people There's a lot of cognitive dissonance in the Irish language community. If it can be revived, it will not happen with a new stock of people.
@@michealbreathnach2928
Democrats and leftists hate white people?
Unsure what you mean
Sorry but this is factually incorrect. The majority of the people interviewed were educated in an Independent Ireland where the language was being pushed. The reason that many didn’t bother with it was that they didn’t see it as useful for economic reasons, which is a logical position. Many didn’t finish primary school of some of the vintage interviewed there. For them, it was the practicalities and economic issues of things that were important. As they mentioned, “entering the Common Market” with “modern languages like French”- that is a mile from how you have tried to portray it.
@@Runboyrun89
I do think it takes time for a colonised country to find its feet and Ireland is more at ease with itself now than it was then.
I think, in general, people support the Irish language and culture more now than they did back then. The Irish language is more accessible now also, through eg TG4 or online.
Tá an Ghaeilge fós agam, agus Ag dul ó neart go neart. Is muid an ghlúin a dhéanfaidh athbheochan Ar ár dteanga🇮🇪❤️
But the majority of people dont no what this says neither do I should I be ashamed or feel less irish???💚
@@billy1680 First, what is hello.
@@blenderocean slan....or is that goodbye.or welcome???
@@billy1680 yes you should... As should I as I have little...... we think in terms of a language so our language shapes our out look and philosophy.... Without it we are entirely disconnected from our culture. My girlfriend and I are attempting to learn it as she has decent Irish and I would strongly suggest you do the same.
Maith an fear a Dhónaill 👏👏
I was just in Ireland & I found the irish language very interesting. Loved hearing it. Wish I had been taught it as a kid. I had a great grandparents who could speak it.
We can learn two languages. We try and save old buildings but not our language.
We have compulsory Irish in school. We have a TV channel, radio stations, EU Translator jobs, Government jobs, University scholarships and many more things directly funded by the tax payer for the Irish language.
The worst thing that English did to Irish , is that they stolen their language.
It is like me , a Greek , speaking Turkish.
Ireland must take the language back.
"The English language is a very good means of communication"
that's what we had in mind when we made it.
lol
I love the English language and I love all the different twists on around the world, the Dublin and Yorkshire accents are my favourite, oh and the valley Welsh accent in English, the south Wexford accent, the Outer Banks dialect too. But loving or admiring or appreciating one language can include loving one’s own such as the beautiful Gaeilge (and Español which I also love).
I'm glad that the attitude towards Irish has changed since then
Interview people outside of the Pale and you'll get a very different response. Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam.
There are now more people in Dublin using Irish than in the Gaeltacht. Granted these interviews are from 1970, but even back then most people outside of "the Pale" had no interest in speaking Irish either.
@@seanolaocha940 if you are one of them fair play! Maith thú!
I never noticed how British Irish accents sounded before
It was common to speak that way in interviews or on TV or radio back then, to mimic the BBC, as far as I know. We don't sound much like this any more
@@ciarfah Yeah for professional presenters it was common, these are random people off the street though.
Of course people wouldn't sound exactly like that anymore because of natural language change and because it was fifty years ago.
They knew they were going to be on RTÉ, so the weirdly contorted post colonial pseudo-accent came out. It was a certain era in Ireland and thankfully has passed for 99% of people in Ireland.
The simple answer is that they should do so, if they want to. And, there should be no hindrance to anyone who wishes to communicate and conduct their business on Ireland on any and all levels. Assistance, supports, accessibility and provision should be in place for all those who wish to avail of Irish language education and services delivered through Irish.
C.R, you work for the IFI archives or something? Where do you find this stuff? Great content as always. Keep up the good work
Depends what it's trying to show
It doesn't represent Ireland now
Hi There, I am an iIish language speaker and musician in West Kerry and I am wondering if I could use a few seconds of this (audio only) for my sow in Dingle tomorrow? I love it! Thank you for sharing. Míle Buíochas, Clare x
Oh my god this is so sad to watch. People keep the language alive so hopefully attitudes are changing
Tá siad ag athrú anois, buíochas le Dia
God forbid we speak both
Colonialism as its worse. A shame how thoroughly brainwashed these Irish citizens were in that era. I understand today there is a more vibrant community in Ireland and N. Ireland keen to regain their ancestral language. Just ask yourself, why the English did such a great job of exporting their language, laws, religion; culture as a whole abroad? One reason is easier to subjugate and rule the conquered people. They first did it in Britain then Ireland and the results is language loss among all the Gaelic people therein.
Could you not say the same about the English for not learning old or middle English?
Even during the middle ages we have proof that a lot of Irish traders learnt English so they conduct trade with their next door neighbour
Besides Irish people hardly speak Irish today except in schools obviously but even now there are Irish schools were they don't teach Irish and instead teach children languages that can get the opportunity's to make themselves a better life such as French or Spanish or German
I struggled to learn Irish for several years, in my early 20s. By myself, in Romania. I gave it up after the 22nd lesson as I realised it is not very useful. Now, that I'm a guide, I meet a lot of Irish tourists that have less Gaelic than I do. It's ok, it is your country and your culture. But next time someone calls you English, don't be mad about it, as you paved the way to this confusion 😉
You're not wrong. The number of people in Ireland who claim to be proud patriots while having little idea of what this supposed patriotism involves. Far too often it is little more than "Brits/foreigners are bad, Irish are good".
Ní aontaím leat ansin . Tá mé an-bhrodiúl mo chara!🇮🇪💚
Níl ceart agat ar chor ar bith. Gaeilge agus Béarla i leataobh, táimid (sinn agus na Sasanaigh) an difriúil ar fad. Nílimid a lochtú in aon chor, seachas na dhaoine Éireannaigh ár dteanga a dímhignigh. Tá ár gcultúir an héagsúil.
it’s funny to think that to gain polish citizenship (and i’m sure it’s the same for many others) you have to have a certain level of fluency in polish. this should be the case for any countries with their own native language to help keep it alive. people will work for something they want. yet i understand so many of the population of ireland are yet to learn their language due to colonialism and anglicisation but just a thought
A very good thought at that. A lot of immigration into ireland these days, for immigrants to already have Irish would be a cultural connection between them and irish citizens living here and could help them integrate
Yeah. I think all of the countries that have their own language have to make you pass an exam in order to obtain a citizenship
That was sad to watch. It was as if they felt you had to choose between Irish and English and could only conclude that English was the only possible option.
I don't get the mindset of rightfully fighting for your independence and your country but then not value your own language.
Kind of the same mindset back then which demolished amazing characterful, historic buildings for 50s and 60s "modern" awfulness because it seemed the logical progressive thing to do and they could see no worth in what was infinitely more precious and as a result too much of value was lost.
Same attitude with Jewish immigrants who stopped speaking Yiddish to their children in America. They didn't realise they might have to help preserve the language one day since the Yiddish cultural centers of Eastern Europe would be destroyed in the Holocaust. Never take your minority culture and languages for granted
Is teanga álainn í an Ghaeilge
It's imperialism.
Michael D Higgins wrote in the guardian re this last week
At the heart of any imperialist adventure is the belief that your culture, ideas, views are far superior to those you are colonising.
So eradicating the language of those colonised is crucial to achieve this.
You cut cultures off from their past, and most had oral histories, you make them speak an alien language and you instill into them that their culture, their way of thinking, they themselves are inferior to you.
And unfortunately many of the ex imperial powers or the people within them, still hold those views, ie they are better and more important, their culture matters more.
Which is why you get the situation re
The views of 17.4 million people (who voted for different Brexits) are more important than peace and reconciliation and international commitments and historical responsibility.
Eh?
@@carlosmpsenyorcapitacollon6977
Read it again.
Not my problem if you can't understand it.
We have such a conditioned colonised mindset. The process of anglicisation went very far and deep into our hearts and minds.
The language works like a barrier to foreign ideas and culture. English has allowed us to be colonised by neo-liberalism at an alarming rate. There might be a semblance of a revival going on at the moment. But the only people who will have the drive to revive their native tongue are the people who are descended from the people who spoke it. The current trend towards demographic shift will surely kill off any chances of the kind of revival which the language deserves.
Aontaim leat a Roger. Níl me in aghaidh eachtranaí ach ní chabhraíonn sé le cothú na teanga
@@michealbreathnach2928 Sa deireadh éirionn ceist an teanga níos leithne. Ró-mhór do tráchtanna UA-cam. Níl ciníochas orm sa chiall gur fuath liom na eachtranaigh (Ní dhéanaim) ach is gá na firicí a lua
@@88888Rob88888Seá, Is ceist leathan í, má labhraíonn muid í, sin tús maith.
Your very right about it being a barrier, the rest of these comment in Irish are an instant barrier but if you listen to these people saying they don't think talking Irish has any future. They are really just speaking the truth, its human nature to conform to the greater social realities and that is why the whole of the British Isles now talks English.
@@robert6106 Tá tú buailte mhac.
Post colonial inferiority complex losing Irish language was absolutely tragic, all of them saying what good is it, look at all the Eastern European countries their languages aren't spoken outside their country
An Irish correspondent of mine opined that the reason the vast majority of the population of Ireland doesn’t speak Irish is because they don’t like being told what to do. This is where an ingrained habit of saying no to authority turns out to shoot one in the foot, or rather mouth in this case.
I think there is truth in that many don’t like the compulsory nature of it. I personally think that the fact that we are required to do it until Leaving Cert (A Level equivalents) damages it. Pass Irish (which most will end up doing as opposed to Honours Irish) is simply Honours Irish Lite. I don’t see the point. I think the compulsory examination should go after 15 with an examination stream for those who want it and for the rest it should be a compulsory class that just focuses on culture, speaking and enjoyment rather than preparing for an exam. Part of the problem is that control of the curriculum is given to people who really love the language, right down to the poetry and the writing. You don’t have to be an English language scholar to use the language for creative and passionate means - comedy, acting, performances etc all do not require a great appreciation for Shakespeare or creative writing.
@@Runboyrun89 Most of the curriculum is controlled by higher level professionals teaching aspiring upper middle class higher professionals. This is one of the reasons why languages are so hard for many students. The teachers, especially at honours level, are teaching future lawyers, judges etc for whom accuracy, logical thinking and precision of expression is of paramount importance. The Idea of keeping Irish compulsory up to Junior Cert level and optional afterwards would be a great idea. There is already provision in the education system for relieving students with learning difficulties and those over ten who have come from abroad from the burden of compulsory Irish. Also you no longer fail the Leaving Cert by failing Irish. Many students are obtaining exemptions by getting diagnosed with learning difficulties. This has increased greatly in recent years.
Má tá éinne ag lorg comhrá gearr as Gaeilge anseo, tá mé oscailte! Faraor ní fhaighim aon seans an teanga a úsáid taobh amuigh de na tráchtanna youtube na laethanta seo
Sin a fhadhb is mó ina éadan daoine le gaeilge. Nach bhfuil a nduine acu chun labhairt focal nó beirt leo. Shileadh leis a méid meán cumarsáide san lá inniu go raibh app nó site éigin a thiocfaidh leat labhairt le daoine as gaeilge ann
B'fhéidir gur suas le seasca bliain ó shin a bhí na daoine seo ag labhairt ach tá an dímheas céanna níos coitianta agus níos láidre in ár measc i leith na Gaeilge ná mar a bhí riamh. Nuair a chaith muid an Ghaeilge sna traipisi chaith muid amach ár bhféiniúlacht mar Éireannaigh. Tá muid níos Sasanaí anois ná riamh.
Táim i staid cosúil leat, níl a lán Gaeilgeoirí i mo cheantar féin, ach in ainneoin tá grá mór agam don teanga, tá siúl agam go freagróidh tú mo trácht mar is breá liom a bheith ag cleachtadh Gaeilge agus ag déanamh cumarsáid le daoine eile :)
2:39 - 2:51 : How prophetically right he was, sadly.
Considering ireland has been speaking English for hundreds of years and irish surviving through it and continuing to survive aswell as irishness still being quiet prevalent today no, he was not wrong. We do not NEED our language, but I would much rather be speaking monolithically As gaeilge then as bearla.
@@conordarcy4663 It's funny how people seem to think Irish and English are incompatible. Most of mainland Europe speaks both English and their native languages fluently, conductive their day-to-day in their native language while being able to communicate internationally through English
There are several reasons for the mindset in the 1970 video. The Irish language was sectarianized as a catholic rather than an Irish language. The DeValera Government tried to force it upon the people through its school system. In secondary school my Irish teacher often brought me to the top of the classroom and humiliated me by slapping my head and asking me questions in Irish that I could not understand, much to the nervous laughs of others in the classroom. This gave me a big hatred for the language. It was not until years later, living abroad that I started to appreciate the language. Ireland was a very poor country in 1970 thanks to the failed protectionist policies of the DeValera Govt. It made Irish people feel inferior as a nation. Many had to take the boat to Britain and even northern Ireland (before the violence) to find work. Now that we have become an affluent society and are not guilt ridden by those long gone problems, we can now reflect on the importance of the Irish language. However, while our short sighted government "modernized" the Irish language in the 1950's, the Scottish language remains closer to the authentic Irish language of the past, compared to the Irish language taught and spoken today. Only in Donegal do some people still speak the old Irish language. In contrast, the welsh language was successfully revived thanks to home schooling, and a genuine love for the language. I was impressed by how much it is spoken among families and neighbours in small towns and villages. Ireland should have taken the welsh approach in reviving our beautiful language. I would also hope that we return much of what was unfortunately changed by our short sighted government to "modernize" it in the 1950's!! In Scandinavia, wales etc people can freely and bilingually speak English and their native language successfully. So why can't we?
But really, I don‘t think you have any knowledge of the various Irish dialects. There is Munster Irish and there is Connacht Irish, they were there long before the caighdeán oifigiúil ( the so called standard Irish you are talking about) They are as native as Ulster Irish in Donegal. Gàidhlig in Scotland is closely related to Irish, though still quite different but native speakers of both languages are often able to understand each other. Gàidhlig developed itself away from the Irish it once was after arriving in Scotland in 4-5 centuries. Please don‘t spread such an amount of misinformation!
The way Irish was taught in school was traumatic. It has a history with it for people growing up around the 80s that may have been torturous. It was turned into a class thing..if you didn't go to the gaeltact you were inferior. Sometimes the subject of the language came with a feeling of shame. I only developed a smoother appreciation for it after I moved away from Ireland. Dez Bishop is a fine example of what it means to learn it because you want to, because he liked to and it was interesting the reactions of Irish people abroad (boston) when he started to speak gaelic on stage. Some were angry at him. For me (not good at learning language at all) find that you lose alot (a gateway) to understanding if you don't try. The past would be completely lost if nobody had an interest in language and not just of Ireland. How many ideas/friends/opportunities do we miss by not speaking with other people from other cultures simply because we can't understand them. It was muddling through Spanish when I moved to California (had Mexican friends) that made me appreciate Irish more.
I am ethnically Irish and like many people living in England of Irish descent we put up with a lot of discrimination. But we have always been proud of Ireland, Irish music and our Catholic faith.
The Irish language is safe .
The internet , you tube etc has helped to spread it around the world and people can hear how it actually sounds .
I hope that some of the great native speakers can record in full some of the great books , eg “ Peig” so that at school the children can watch it and read the book as well .
If they were to watch it first and then read a chapter , they would have a real understanding of the content .
The situation is somewhat similar to the use of Ukrainian language in Ukraine. It was banned several times in different centuries, it was oppressed, Ukrainian speaking people were laughed at by Russian colonisers and colonial-minded Ukrainians, the language and people speaking it were called farmers and village folk, whereas Russian was considered to be for modern townspeople. Yet, our situation is much better due to some reasons. First and most important is that though Ukrainian is not identical to the language of Russian colonisers, they still share 62% of lexicon and belong to Slavic languages. Second is that everyone learned Ukrainian in school, newspapers and books were printed in it, it dominated on TV over Russian, since 2006 it’s the only language possible to be used for film demonstration in cinemas, it is obligatory for politicians etc. So not everybody spoke and still speaks Ukrainian, but everyone knows it. And more and more people return to their native language due to Russian invasion. It’s sad that people needed such a hard lesson to return to their roots, but I’m glad that the number of active Ukrainian speakers increases. So I fully understand Irish people and wish them success in reviving their own language
I remember some Irish folk normally come with the phrase, "What's so good about being Irish?" I understand what it might feel like to have the dichotomy of keeping tradition as part of yourself and learning new things at the rate of convenience. This is the way the world works.
I would love to speak Irish it is a great language. I speak German & love the language
i'm English and looking to study Irish at university next year, Im not going to let a language and culture die at the hands of my own people
As you can see from the opinions shown in this video it's not the English but their own attitude to learning it that's the problem. Even now all these years later it's still the same.
@@Niall-jd8zw Haha this Brit probably tells the world how proud he is to be Irish.
You can’t speak Irish...you’re not really Irish.
@@Niall-jd8zw you clearly do, so that’s one from one 😂 You West Brits don’t like it up ya, but sure don’t worry you’ll have your Liverpool game to watch on the weekend to settle your nerves
@@Niall-jd8zw ua-cam.com/video/c5vsnX1UD1w/v-deo.html
Haha one of the richest economies on planet earth, you poverty stricken hun😂
@@keighlancoe5933 not sure how many irishyou know but most of us don't think like that. They thought like that because they came from a time where work was very important and irish didnt seem beneficial and as these clips are from dublin nobody in Dublin had any real sense of the irish language. The problem with us learning irish is that we are taught grammar and not conversational irish... the conversational irish we have is about our house, doctors appointments ,school ... generic things we have no interest in. As well as when in school we don't speak irish even in irish class its truly disappointing and it is down to the teachers not the students
The reason i never picked it up was because i mitched school whenever i had an Irish lesson, the one class where the Christian brothers would delight in using the cane.
Yes, I heard Terry Wogan talk about how Irish used to be taught at school in the Republic of Ireland... in ways that associate the language with unpleasant things, like caning and punishment... that's not the way to make love grow for the Irish language in the hearts of young English speaking Irish children at school.
Absolutely it think that’s the elephant in the room in here.
@@tomthumb3500 I used to think it was the leprechaun in the room, but I stand corrected!
I'm an Irish-American & I want to learn more Gaelic after learning about it in my linguistics class. It, Welsh, and Scottish Gaelic are the only Celtic languages left in the world. Celtic languages came up from the middle east and were once spoken all over Europe, but they've been slowly dying for thousands of years. We know almost nothing about the culture of the original Celtic speakers.
Preserving the Irish language means more than preserving a symbol of Irish pride - it means preserving a part of everyone's history that's nearly lost.
This isn't true. The celtic languages didn't spread from the Middle East, they spread from the Caspian Steppes like all Indo-European languages. They went into Europe directly and only later did a branch of it make it to Anatolia.
Also, there are 6 Celtic languages, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Breton and Welsh, plus the two that were brought back from Extinction, Manx and Cornish.
Your forgetting about manx, cornish and breton
Breton?
It did not come from the middle east. Irish came from proto-Indo-European like all other Indo-European languages, which migrated from the Eurasian steppe.
It's absolutely mental not to have your own language
But we do have our own language? Our language is english. This is an English speaking country
@@imperatorscotorum6334 so your Englishmen with funny accents
I think one of the good things for the Irish language is that we in Ireland are gradually losing OUR English, that is the specific form of English we speak in this country. When I was young, many people believed that we didn't need the Irish language as the English spoken in Ireland was distinctive enough. But I think that is changing, certainly young Irish people on UA-cam sound more American than ever before. I think we are losing the distinctiveness of the English we speak here. Our English is definitely less distinctive than Scots. The Irish language may be the last line of cultural distinctiveness we have left.
Yes what is that overtly American twang some young people use
the name of the english we speak in ireland acc has its own name. hiberno-english! it’s the patois of english spoken all through ireland. it gets its name from the old latin name for ireland which is “hibernia” which means winterland i think ahaha
Couldnt agree more never mind the language the physical Irish accent is dying due to social media on childten today etc.
Is the Irish accent in English not just the descendent of English being spoken with an accent by Irish (Gaelige) speakers?
@@tomasbyrom3954 Yes but children today are starting to develope a kind of fake American accent instead of an Irish one.I think its due to the amount of time spent on social media.
Rather have spoken Irish as my first and English as my second, it's sad...... nation without a language has no soul. Tá má geailge brista na béarla clisté
The only issue is the way its taught in schools, and it shouldn't be an examined subject with tests. Why the fuck I'm being told to learn irish poetry is beyond me when the aim is to try to get me to speak it a little every day. I'd say itll change in the future (hopefully), my teacher was a young one who never stopped going on about how retarded the course was and it seems everyone unanimously agrees with it in my classes.
A good buddy of mine is romanian and doesnt speak his language very well, was only telling me how sad it was when a language stops being spoken.
Though in fairness it is not the only issue albeit a major issue. Another is Irish just not speaking the cupla focail they have no matter how imperfectly, just use any Irish you have especially with children you know that’s how the Vascos brought euskera back from the brink and it has worked for the Catalans and the Israelis. Many from those cultures spoke their culture’s language badly a generation ago and have normalised the language for the next generation
Wtf why does he not speak his language well.
poetry and song is one of the best ways to learn Irish. You learn it by rote and you pick up a lot of the nuances of the language. This is why children learn nursery rhymes and songs.
This is insane. All the portrayals of the Irish I've seen, and of the ones I've met, are of strong and proud Irish.
Here it's the absolute opposite, perhaps a step short of self-hatred if not outright cultural suicide.
The effects of colonialism
Please Irish people PROTECT YOUR LANGUAGE!
Cheers from an argentine
That was a common behavior around the globe; in Mexico native languages such as Nahuatl or Mayan language were despised on those years too; younger generations have been trying to rescue their parent's tongue but unfortunately most of them will not survive in a couple of decades.
So many Irish demanding to preserve Irish identity yet support a union of many nations under a central government that are trying to eradicate national identity in favour of a bloc identity. The EU doesn't want strong international European countries, they want to remove nation borders, language barriers and everything else so it's easier to control the population, so why are the Irish so pro-EU if they want to maintain or restore their Irish identity?
It's so interesting to me - Ireland which fought for independence and rebelled for hundreds of years, want to throw everything that their ancestors fought and suffered for away - their faith, their language, their industry, etc. So people in Brussels can tell them how to live their lives.
@@raymondkay4896 because unlike britain the EU has no intention or ability to take away any of those things and because Ireland unlike britain has an intelligent population that dont base their political decisions on tory propaganda and three word slogans
It's simple WE 'irish' like 'OUR' INDEPENDENCE so long as someone else is footing the bill. If it's the English or Europeans WE don't mind
Are you kidding
Britain or England tried to eradicate Irish identity.
Britain or England still has the imperial mindset that says its views, opinions, culture are better than anyone elses.
Ireland didn't vote for Brexit.
It sees itself as European.
Respect that.
Britain is the third country.
Enjoy Brexit
@@roisinmalone3015 "Sees itself as European" I have lived on this island my entire I have never heard anybody consider themselves European, our culture has much more in common with indigenous and Arabic cultures than European cultures. And our language has a lot more in common with Arabic and Sanskrit than most other European languages. Europe has done nothing but destroy one of our biggest industries and take away our national sovereignty. I genuinely can't see how anybody could support the EU.
When Irish people go abroad the first thing foreigners ask is if you can speak your own language. Then they turn to their friends and say something to their friends in their language and laugh. Language = identity. Without Irish Ireland is just a suburb of London.
Thaisteal mé ar fud an domhain agus tá, is féidir liom mo theanga féin a labhairt!🇮🇪💚
Meanwhile, every oppressed nation ever was fighting for their own rights and their language, the Irish were just straight up roasting theirs.
It's weird that in over fifty years nothings really changed about people's attitude toward the Irish language, people that don't speak it ether say that its unimportant and not very useful or they say that it is important but don't really put any effert into learing it beyond the lettle they learn in school.
Make it optional in school. And people will stop hating it! You can't force it
Is fíor duit.
proposing to make the likes of Irish and history optional in schools would be heart-breaking to see. I'm well-aware that the stigma can sometimes come from being "forced" to learn it. Though if we succumb to this throw-away culture, the future generations of Ireland will face serious problems with identity. This might not bother some people living in Ireland in 2021. However, the language, folklore and history of Ireland are among the few things we have that are so culturally rich and diverse, untainted by broader influence! Making these subjects optional is a far-cry from what those who died for this country would've envisaged!
Making it optional might prevent the dislike for the school system but not for the language, nobody actually dislikes the language they just see it as a way they can say that schools useless, what they need to do is not make it optional but rather change all schools to gael scoils
@@conordarcy4663 That would make a lot of sense ... maybe if a few gaeilgeoir's win the lotto ...i feel even more gaelscoils at primary level would bring about huge changes...
@@dgheylyu5408 gael scoils and complete changes of the state to monolingual irish are the only way forward, making it as awkward for english speakers as it is for irish speakers would encourage people to want to learn the language
Different sentiments, different times. they were interviewed at a time when no one knew what would happen in regards to the casting off of the Irish sense of identity, re E.U./mass immigration.
This video should show you that the EU and immigration were not the reason for some Irish people turning their backs on Irish culture.
@@cathalb2007 the constant rhetoric from Irish TV, politicians, and radio, was. "ah sure what's an Irish person anyway", "sure they're more Irish than we are", "they'll do the jobs the Irish wont", "we can't stay back in the dark ages". Any of those sound familiar? All phrases left out by Irish media to manufacture Irish consent.
@@IrishFuryan are they wrong though? There's very little to distinguish English and Irish culture beyond Hurling and GAA. It's just an observation, and won't change until people decide to learn the language. People can whine about foreigners and the EU for destroying our culture, but it was in decline long before those things manifested themselves. The nation has been independent for 100 years this year and this decline has only continued this path.
At some point we're gonna have to stop blaming foreigners for the decline of the language and come to terms with the truth that we have done VERY little to prevent the decline. Sa fochlacha Údaráis na Gaeltachta: "Séard an príomhchúis an laghdaithe na Gaeltachtaí ó neamhspleáchas ná an Rialtas na hÉireann"
Ironically there was less of a connection to the Irish language before the bad old days of the immigration
Sea. Bá cearr go beidh muid ag leamhart gaelige gach áit anseo
We weren't taught it at school in north Belfast....we got Spanish
We were given the chice of learning Irish, Spanish, German and I think, Italian. Mine was Taig. Was yours Prod?
No full catholic school north Belfast
@@billy1680 Barnageeha?
Lolol yeah Barney
@@billy1680 I heard it was a tough school. Was it particularly anti-Irish or was it just they couldn't be bothered teaching it? Or maybe it wasn't seen as practical? I heard Barney was oriented towards practical subjects so maybe Spanish was seen as more useful than Irish>
As a non-Irish person it would be great if you guys kept the language alive. Iceland manage it. Seems like most people in this video had PTSD from having to learn it at school. Dunno when it starts in school but if it started from primary school or earlier it would not be such torture later on and learning a second language at that age makes it easier to pick up a third or even fourth. If you start from an early age and you have to compare a different language with your own you also learn how to express yourself more eloquently in whatever your mother tongue is. Well, yer-know yer-self like.
I think because it's forced in school is why people come to dislike it so much. Even if it was made optional after junior cert it would help
The problem is not that its forced, but the manner which it is taught. It felt like we were learing a foreign language with strich rules - "liom leat leis lei linn libh leo". Irish should be compulsary but rather than everything examined and tested, we should just have irish speaking classes where everyone chats and learns at their own pace. Irish was ny 2nd favourite subject in primary school, by the time I was doing my junior cert, I completely hated it.
This problem won't go away if they continue the current method. It's nearly 20 years since I left school and it seems nothing has changed.
@@SimonBarr No anything that's forced on me that's not necessary in life is going to make me hate it
@@itsme-sn5gi So you must have hated basically everything in school bar the basic elements of maths and a few other bits and pieces.
Which is probably why you weren’t paying attention in the class where your teacher explained that anyone ever saying “anything forced on me...will make me hate it” is a painful wanker
@@ckpalmeiras1318 typical gaelic extremist🥱
Looks at Holland. Everyone there speaks Dutch and English. Wish this were true in Ireland with Irish and English. Yes, English is good for traveling and marketing/business… but Irish should be our tongue just as much. We are Irish. Let’s speak Irish.
A true Irishman should be both fluent in his own language,and also have a good grasp of English.Both should be taught in the schools.
The colonial mind set
I hated irish in school. To be honest, I rather liked French and German. I was never any good at the three of them, though.
These people actually view the issue realistically, if this was made now they would be pressured into saying "oh yea we should, our heritage is..."
Interesting, how this is so outdated now. We’ve come along way. Many (not all) of the adults in those times were post-colonial. But there’s a good bit of truth in the last speaker, the Irish government could try A LOT harder.
If you’re going abroad you could at least pick out the Irish words that help you with memorising the foreign languages. For instance : Irish- ceathair Russian - chetire (четыре) = 4 . And there are loads of examples ...
Is oinseach chríochnaithe í.
I missed this programme when it was first run. Mind you, I was only 6 weeks old at the time and had other priorities. It's amazing how so many things change and other things don't. People still complain that children are learning impractical things in school and that folks are focussed on economic issues. There is no practical reason to retain a local language when the folks who developed the lingua franca, er lingua angla, whatever, are your neighbours. Denmark and Norway have the same population as Ireland and their languages seem to be thriving. I wonder if Irish would be more common if Ireland didn't have the massive-English speaking diaspora in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
This is what people look like who have been broken. Their confidence and self-identity is very low.
Glad that it seems attitudes have improved since then, though most Welsh people seem to have this attitude still unfortunately
Do you think so? My impression is that the Welsh language amongst the Welsh is a "hot" topic and seen as an important part of Welsh identity by both Welsh and monolinual English speakers in Wales
@@clavichord I live on the Welsh border and have never heard the language used in conversation, nor have I heard anyone express any interest in learning it either. They are trying to teach it in schools now but as an actual community language it's still very much at risk. I'm sure deeper into Wales you might find areas where the language is still strong but few and far between.
@@ctmpodcast6901 In rural Powys I didn't come across much spoken Welsh but in Carmathen and Gwynedd Welsh is spoken on the streets, including by children as first language. It can really vary from locality to locality, and sometimes be abscent in places you might expect the language to be spoken... yet also hear it spoken in Cardiff, where you might only expect to hear English