This has “you know, I’m somewhat of an Irish speaker myself” after learning a few phrases in school vibes.
Let’s see the folks complaining about those ticking catholic on the census when they’re not (in their view) complain about 40% of people saying they speak some Irish.
I think at the very least it shows that there is an appetite for people to learn irish or continue to speak irish.
People often point out that the way it is taught in schools needs to be reformed, but there should be more resources available for adult speakers so they can continue to use the language after school.
It’s important to interprete the figures right. Most of that 40% will have little more than a few words.
The key figures are the weekly and daily speakers and those that say they speak the language well to very well. That number is about 200000 so I’d take that 200000 as the important number that we should be trying to grow.
I was in the not speaking very well and less than weekly categories but aim to be in the speaking well and weekly category for the next census.
All this means is that people like to think of themselves as the type of person who can speak some Irish. If there was an actual place on planet earth where Irish was the only language people spoke and _understood_, this same 40% of people would be in for a serious reality check.
But there isn’t, and there never will be. That famine ship has sailed and the soup has been guzzled.
I can say “can I go to the bathroom”, “my name is” and “ i like milk”. Do I count as the 40% that can speak some Irish?
The number of daily Irish Speakers (outside the education system and over 3 years old)
55,554 in 2011
53,162 in 2016
51,387 in 2022
A decrease in daily speakers of 4,167.
The population increased by 560,887 over the same time period.
There’s a European common framework for judging realistic language ability, it should be possible to rank people’s language abilities in some way using it. Most people are probably A1 and A2, which is a level of language progress, just not where people expect to be (but language won’t happen unless people use it) and thus people consider themselves at 0, we’re false beginners.
H1 at leaving cert is probably around B1, which is part of the problem. H1 should be a proficiency C1 or C2. We’re inflating the numbers and disappointing ourselves that’s we’re not perfect.
Most people who went to school in Ireland should have “some Irish”. Their communicative abilities in said language are likely to be quite limited in the majority of cases though.
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This has “you know, I’m somewhat of an Irish speaker myself” after learning a few phrases in school vibes.
Let’s see the folks complaining about those ticking catholic on the census when they’re not (in their view) complain about 40% of people saying they speak some Irish.
I think at the very least it shows that there is an appetite for people to learn irish or continue to speak irish.
People often point out that the way it is taught in schools needs to be reformed, but there should be more resources available for adult speakers so they can continue to use the language after school.
It’s important to interprete the figures right. Most of that 40% will have little more than a few words.
The key figures are the weekly and daily speakers and those that say they speak the language well to very well. That number is about 200000 so I’d take that 200000 as the important number that we should be trying to grow.
I was in the not speaking very well and less than weekly categories but aim to be in the speaking well and weekly category for the next census.
All this means is that people like to think of themselves as the type of person who can speak some Irish. If there was an actual place on planet earth where Irish was the only language people spoke and _understood_, this same 40% of people would be in for a serious reality check.
But there isn’t, and there never will be. That famine ship has sailed and the soup has been guzzled.
I can say “can I go to the bathroom”, “my name is” and “ i like milk”. Do I count as the 40% that can speak some Irish?
The number of daily Irish Speakers (outside the education system and over 3 years old)
55,554 in 2011
53,162 in 2016
51,387 in 2022
A decrease in daily speakers of 4,167.
The population increased by 560,887 over the same time period.
There’s a European common framework for judging realistic language ability, it should be possible to rank people’s language abilities in some way using it. Most people are probably A1 and A2, which is a level of language progress, just not where people expect to be (but language won’t happen unless people use it) and thus people consider themselves at 0, we’re false beginners.
H1 at leaving cert is probably around B1, which is part of the problem. H1 should be a proficiency C1 or C2. We’re inflating the numbers and disappointing ourselves that’s we’re not perfect.
https://www.ilsschool.org/uploads/1/6/5/8/16585490/cefr-2020-5fb7ab0ba4b84-1440×0-c-default_orig.jpg
Most people who went to school in Ireland should have “some Irish”. Their communicative abilities in said language are likely to be quite limited in the majority of cases though.
Me when I lie.