I’ve said this a million times and I think its a great idea, if TG4 or RTÉ commissioned a long running, raunchy, tongue in cheek, full of sex and murder, eastenders on steroids Irish language soap opera and made it a national sensation, somehow, we’d all learn Irish in a generation.
Porn in Irish either, that would definitely work.
Sounds good to me! Include an excellent set of mandatory coursework on Irish and Celtic histories in the primary and secondary educations as well, if you don’t already. And of Irish mythology.
Every Irish lad and lass should know the stories of Culann’s Hound, or Finn MacCool. And why you should never dance in a mushroom ring under a full moon, or answer a challenge at the crossroads.
I agree, but I think we do a good job at this. Traditional Irish names are very popular, and Irish music and dancing is enormous – globally. Then there’s the GAA of course.
This will not be a popular opinion here but I care very little about being Irish and couldn’t care less if the language and most of the culture died out completely. I’d much rather identify with people based on values and interests than because we happen to have been born on the same rock and speak kind of similarly.
But but but – I don’t like Irish because my teacher was mean to me in school 🙁 and you can’t make money out of Irish 🙁 and if you learn one language you’ll never be able to learn another one 🙁
/s, obviously
If you’re doing something deliberately to spite the English you’re not exactly being independent of them. Doing whatever you wanted is proper independence surely.
Sneakily trying to integrate by learning Irish on my own hehe
On a different note: I’m Belgian-German and nationalism always seemed a bit icky to me, because in those countries it all went right wing and chauvinistic. Its nice to see it can be different.
Making every primary school a bunscoil lán-Ghaeilge would be the best way to have a high national literacy and fluency, but would be rather unfair to non-English-speaking kids who move here at any point further on from naíonáin beaga, certainly rang a haon.
Making it a mandatory subject in secondary school has not worked well. Basically, a minority of students will develop a passion for it and continue their interest in it. These are the people who keep the culture alive. Other kids who struggle in school should not be made to feel worse for not understanding or being interested in a difficult language of limited use (to them). Today it is not merely Anglicisation that’s the problem, it’s globalisation. Irish music and dancing? Yeah, I love it, at least the music. But, I recognise that it is a niche appeal that I wouldn’t impose on anyone else. I’m glad when I meet and can jam with people who are also into it. But that’s where any kind of cultural force-feeding, for any cultural aspect of any origin, should end.
Shakespeare is mandatory in school. I like meeting people who like Shakespeare. They are few and far between, but that’s okay. I wouldn’t endorse or enforce or encourage Shakespeare any more than Irish cultural activities, because not everyone is into it. You can appreciate your heritage without devoting your life to it.
The quote from Hyde is old and it shows its age as I believe the Irish Revival produced very little of literary value, and the greatest “Irish” literature is from Joyce, who was disinterested in the movement, and wrote in English. Yeats’ sycophantic muddling around in the Revival produced a few fine lyrics, but his best work came from when he’d moved on. Today “Irish” literature is rooted in English-language journals like The Stinging Fly, Banshee, etc and the authors who arise from publications therein, and these journals devote a page or two to the Irish language, and the content is good. But that’s it. IMO it will always be a minority language, and I count myself in the minority who support it, but I have no illusions about globalisation. In fact, I welcome its universalism and conditional openness to all ideas and cultures without subscribing to or forcing any one of them, besides, indirectly, the ones that led to its very possibility, or logical necessity, in the first place. And yes, this includes the English language, in its status as the lingua franca for the science and technology that has made (close-minded) nationalism an embarrassing spanner in the works of fully global and fully globalised communication. I love Irish, love that I can speak it, love meeting like-minded types, and if I ever have kids, they’ll speak it too, with my SO’s consent, but that’s the height of it for me. Ní thuigheann an sách an seang works both ways on this point.
Good luck with that. Vast majority of people on this island are either too lazy or don’t have the aptitude to learn another language, which is a pity.
It needs to be hard-coded into the curriculum from a young age before it dies out completely.
I’m Welsh and our government over here aims to have 1,000,000 people speaking the language by 2050. At present it’s about 884,000, or 30% of the population. We de-anglicised a lot of our placenames over the last half-century too! Conway became Conwy, Carnarvon reverted to Caernarfon, and Port Dinorwic to Y Felinheli. Of course, there’s still ways to go, and hopefully the remaining anglicised placenames can be changed back to their original Welsh in the near future, or at least have the Welsh placenames favoured on roadsigns and maps.
Everyone in Ireland should cherish their language and culture, and I say the same to my countrymen here in Wales. The nations of these islands we all share have a lot in common, which is no bad thing, but it does make it so that we do, at times, risk losing our quirks and the things which make us unique. The English language and culture is everywhere – whether it’s ‘British’ or ‘American’, and is all consuming.
Encourage your friends and family to speak your native language. Be proud that your culture endures, despite everything that it’s been through the last 800 years. Here in Wales we do – the language is held in very high regard by those who can speak it and English monoglots alike. We have a song called ‘Yma O Hyd’ (Always Here), which tells the story of Wales and the Welsh language’s survival despite the wars and conquests we’ve suffered over the centuries, and our national anthem climaxes with a verse about the Land of Our Fathers surviving so long as the language does. We also have a saying – ‘Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb calon’ (a nation without a language, is a nation without a heart). That being said, may both our nations and their cultures flourish and grow, so that our grandchildren can speak the language of our grandparents. 🏴🇮🇪
Based.
Step 1, Ban the use of English language in this sub.
So….Irexit?
Ochón is ochón ó
What a load of bollix. Now where is that store solely dedicated to Liverpool FC merch?
17 comments
I’ve said this a million times and I think its a great idea, if TG4 or RTÉ commissioned a long running, raunchy, tongue in cheek, full of sex and murder, eastenders on steroids Irish language soap opera and made it a national sensation, somehow, we’d all learn Irish in a generation.
Porn in Irish either, that would definitely work.
Sounds good to me! Include an excellent set of mandatory coursework on Irish and Celtic histories in the primary and secondary educations as well, if you don’t already. And of Irish mythology.
Every Irish lad and lass should know the stories of Culann’s Hound, or Finn MacCool. And why you should never dance in a mushroom ring under a full moon, or answer a challenge at the crossroads.
I agree, but I think we do a good job at this. Traditional Irish names are very popular, and Irish music and dancing is enormous – globally. Then there’s the GAA of course.
This will not be a popular opinion here but I care very little about being Irish and couldn’t care less if the language and most of the culture died out completely. I’d much rather identify with people based on values and interests than because we happen to have been born on the same rock and speak kind of similarly.
But but but – I don’t like Irish because my teacher was mean to me in school 🙁 and you can’t make money out of Irish 🙁 and if you learn one language you’ll never be able to learn another one 🙁
/s, obviously
If you’re doing something deliberately to spite the English you’re not exactly being independent of them. Doing whatever you wanted is proper independence surely.
Sneakily trying to integrate by learning Irish on my own hehe
On a different note: I’m Belgian-German and nationalism always seemed a bit icky to me, because in those countries it all went right wing and chauvinistic. Its nice to see it can be different.
Making every primary school a bunscoil lán-Ghaeilge would be the best way to have a high national literacy and fluency, but would be rather unfair to non-English-speaking kids who move here at any point further on from naíonáin beaga, certainly rang a haon.
Making it a mandatory subject in secondary school has not worked well. Basically, a minority of students will develop a passion for it and continue their interest in it. These are the people who keep the culture alive. Other kids who struggle in school should not be made to feel worse for not understanding or being interested in a difficult language of limited use (to them). Today it is not merely Anglicisation that’s the problem, it’s globalisation. Irish music and dancing? Yeah, I love it, at least the music. But, I recognise that it is a niche appeal that I wouldn’t impose on anyone else. I’m glad when I meet and can jam with people who are also into it. But that’s where any kind of cultural force-feeding, for any cultural aspect of any origin, should end.
Shakespeare is mandatory in school. I like meeting people who like Shakespeare. They are few and far between, but that’s okay. I wouldn’t endorse or enforce or encourage Shakespeare any more than Irish cultural activities, because not everyone is into it. You can appreciate your heritage without devoting your life to it.
The quote from Hyde is old and it shows its age as I believe the Irish Revival produced very little of literary value, and the greatest “Irish” literature is from Joyce, who was disinterested in the movement, and wrote in English. Yeats’ sycophantic muddling around in the Revival produced a few fine lyrics, but his best work came from when he’d moved on. Today “Irish” literature is rooted in English-language journals like The Stinging Fly, Banshee, etc and the authors who arise from publications therein, and these journals devote a page or two to the Irish language, and the content is good. But that’s it. IMO it will always be a minority language, and I count myself in the minority who support it, but I have no illusions about globalisation. In fact, I welcome its universalism and conditional openness to all ideas and cultures without subscribing to or forcing any one of them, besides, indirectly, the ones that led to its very possibility, or logical necessity, in the first place. And yes, this includes the English language, in its status as the lingua franca for the science and technology that has made (close-minded) nationalism an embarrassing spanner in the works of fully global and fully globalised communication. I love Irish, love that I can speak it, love meeting like-minded types, and if I ever have kids, they’ll speak it too, with my SO’s consent, but that’s the height of it for me. Ní thuigheann an sách an seang works both ways on this point.
Good luck with that. Vast majority of people on this island are either too lazy or don’t have the aptitude to learn another language, which is a pity.
It needs to be hard-coded into the curriculum from a young age before it dies out completely.
I’m Welsh and our government over here aims to have 1,000,000 people speaking the language by 2050. At present it’s about 884,000, or 30% of the population. We de-anglicised a lot of our placenames over the last half-century too! Conway became Conwy, Carnarvon reverted to Caernarfon, and Port Dinorwic to Y Felinheli. Of course, there’s still ways to go, and hopefully the remaining anglicised placenames can be changed back to their original Welsh in the near future, or at least have the Welsh placenames favoured on roadsigns and maps.
Everyone in Ireland should cherish their language and culture, and I say the same to my countrymen here in Wales. The nations of these islands we all share have a lot in common, which is no bad thing, but it does make it so that we do, at times, risk losing our quirks and the things which make us unique. The English language and culture is everywhere – whether it’s ‘British’ or ‘American’, and is all consuming.
Encourage your friends and family to speak your native language. Be proud that your culture endures, despite everything that it’s been through the last 800 years. Here in Wales we do – the language is held in very high regard by those who can speak it and English monoglots alike. We have a song called ‘Yma O Hyd’ (Always Here), which tells the story of Wales and the Welsh language’s survival despite the wars and conquests we’ve suffered over the centuries, and our national anthem climaxes with a verse about the Land of Our Fathers surviving so long as the language does. We also have a saying – ‘Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb calon’ (a nation without a language, is a nation without a heart). That being said, may both our nations and their cultures flourish and grow, so that our grandchildren can speak the language of our grandparents. 🏴🇮🇪
Based.
Step 1, Ban the use of English language in this sub.
So….Irexit?
Ochón is ochón ó
What a load of bollix. Now where is that store solely dedicated to Liverpool FC merch?
Nobody’s posted the address yet: https://cartlann.org/authors/douglas-hyde/the-necessity-for-de-anglicising-ireland/
If you want to instil national identity and stop people looking outwards, build a country that’s not hostile to its own fucking people.