Irish is the most popular “foreign language,” studied in Ireland on the Duolingo App, and has been for years. Is it becoming somewhat common to hear it spoken on the street?
Not really. Many people say thanks, greet or have an idiomatic phrase they say in Irish, but generally people do not use Irish.
Lol no. Outside of Galway city I’ve never heard anyone speak Irish on the street
I think I’ve ever only heard it once spoken on the streets. This is from someone who lives in the East of the country. It really isn’t very common. I’ve even heard tourists make remarks as to why they even bother to use it on the Luas, Dart etc. It’s kind of a sad situation.
If it wasn’t bet into us in school it might a bit more popular.
Those numbers are probably inflated by the schoolkids who are prescribed work on Duolingo for Irish. It’s rare you hear Irish outside the Gaeltacht areas or in Galway city which is close to a prominent Gaeltacht area.
In my retail workplace in Dublin whenever I see an Irish name on a collection docket I’ll speak Irish with the customer. I speak Irish surprisingly regularly with customers.
Is teanga beo í.
Edit: I spoke Irish with two different customers today.
Níl
There’s a father and mother who come into my shop regularly who speak Irish to their kids it’s nice to see I wish I could speak more but language really isn’t my thing unfortunately
Going to the gym is a popular pastime.
Why isn’t everyone absolutely ripped?
Signing up to a Duolingo course does not really involve much intent or investment. I’d imagine most sign up and don’t go very far with it. It’s also not a great language learning resource by itself (although can be useful when combined with other methods).
To answer your question, no it’s still very uncommon to hear Irish out and about in the vast majority of places in Ireland.
The last time I heard Irish being spoken on the street was about three years ago, before COVID. Anytime I do hear I always look to see because it’s such a rarity.
And I apparently live in a Gaeltacht area too and besides one person who I know grew up speaking Irish (they’re in their 50’s now), I barely know anyone that can speak more than a few words of it.
Lack of confidence in actually verbalising what you learn could be an issue. I use Duolingo (not for Irish), but the thought of actually having a conversation is daunting.
I started it on duolingo, but as a Dutch person without any knowledge its a very hard language especially pronunciation and the grammar rules.
I now know some Irish words, and when I see Irish writing I can recognise some words and sometimes make up what it says by context. But I would like to learn how to have a casual conversation in Irish, however that is not something you learn from that app
I use random Irish words while speaking all the time.
I also work with some Gael goers. They talk in full blown Irish all the time when together. It’s fantastic!
I’ve heard in on the streets of Cork city more often recently, and in college I knew more people than expected who were fluent and chatted to each other as Gaeilge.
When I visited dursey island in west cork there was a family with young children in the cable car with me, all 4 including the children talking in Irish it was fantastic to hear.
Unfortunately the Irish government don’t give a fuck about the Irish language and would be quite content if it died. A perfect example is their total disinterest in the absolute necessity for an Irish Language Act in the north.
The fact that it’s still here is due solely to community activism and organising. And if they could get even half the fucking support they deserve the transformation for the language would genuinely bring about societal change.
I was at a stall for a faire and as I talked about stuff a parent translated everything I said as Gaeilge. Caught me off guard the first time, then I just waited for them to finish.
I live in Dublin and have heard it spoken on the streets from time to time. But it’s definitely not common in my experience.
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Not really. Many people say thanks, greet or have an idiomatic phrase they say in Irish, but generally people do not use Irish.
Lol no. Outside of Galway city I’ve never heard anyone speak Irish on the street
I think I’ve ever only heard it once spoken on the streets. This is from someone who lives in the East of the country. It really isn’t very common. I’ve even heard tourists make remarks as to why they even bother to use it on the Luas, Dart etc. It’s kind of a sad situation.
If it wasn’t bet into us in school it might a bit more popular.
Those numbers are probably inflated by the schoolkids who are prescribed work on Duolingo for Irish. It’s rare you hear Irish outside the Gaeltacht areas or in Galway city which is close to a prominent Gaeltacht area.
In my retail workplace in Dublin whenever I see an Irish name on a collection docket I’ll speak Irish with the customer. I speak Irish surprisingly regularly with customers.
Is teanga beo í.
Edit: I spoke Irish with two different customers today.
Níl
There’s a father and mother who come into my shop regularly who speak Irish to their kids it’s nice to see I wish I could speak more but language really isn’t my thing unfortunately
Going to the gym is a popular pastime.
Why isn’t everyone absolutely ripped?
Signing up to a Duolingo course does not really involve much intent or investment. I’d imagine most sign up and don’t go very far with it. It’s also not a great language learning resource by itself (although can be useful when combined with other methods).
To answer your question, no it’s still very uncommon to hear Irish out and about in the vast majority of places in Ireland.
The last time I heard Irish being spoken on the street was about three years ago, before COVID. Anytime I do hear I always look to see because it’s such a rarity.
And I apparently live in a Gaeltacht area too and besides one person who I know grew up speaking Irish (they’re in their 50’s now), I barely know anyone that can speak more than a few words of it.
Lack of confidence in actually verbalising what you learn could be an issue. I use Duolingo (not for Irish), but the thought of actually having a conversation is daunting.
I started it on duolingo, but as a Dutch person without any knowledge its a very hard language especially pronunciation and the grammar rules.
I now know some Irish words, and when I see Irish writing I can recognise some words and sometimes make up what it says by context. But I would like to learn how to have a casual conversation in Irish, however that is not something you learn from that app
I use random Irish words while speaking all the time.
I also work with some Gael goers. They talk in full blown Irish all the time when together. It’s fantastic!
I’ve heard in on the streets of Cork city more often recently, and in college I knew more people than expected who were fluent and chatted to each other as Gaeilge.
When I visited dursey island in west cork there was a family with young children in the cable car with me, all 4 including the children talking in Irish it was fantastic to hear.
Unfortunately the Irish government don’t give a fuck about the Irish language and would be quite content if it died. A perfect example is their total disinterest in the absolute necessity for an Irish Language Act in the north.
The fact that it’s still here is due solely to community activism and organising. And if they could get even half the fucking support they deserve the transformation for the language would genuinely bring about societal change.
I was at a stall for a faire and as I talked about stuff a parent translated everything I said as Gaeilge. Caught me off guard the first time, then I just waited for them to finish.
I live in Dublin and have heard it spoken on the streets from time to time. But it’s definitely not common in my experience.