Simon Hogan writes:
Saw this in the ancient ‘Joy of Knowledge: Volume 36 ‘[1987] at the weekend. For every one of us here drinking there’s ten more at home who aren’t! Thanks to Willy M for letting me look through his old books….
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Currently, about 20% of the country don’t drink.
That book was published in 1987…. and there are fewer Irish speakers today than in ’87. That’s more proof the gaelgoirís are failing the language.
“That’s more proof the gaelgoirís are failing the language.”
It is absolutely not.
It is proof that less people are speaking the language.
It might be proof that you can’t actually think in any manner resembling logic, but it does nothing to suggest that people who speak Irish fluently are failing anything.
I think he makes a fair point. If gaelgoirí are viewing the Irish language as something they can make money from, fair enough. I’ve a Russian-speaking friend who makes money off her fluency. But if they are refusing to converse in their first language with another Irish speaking person because they expect to be paid for a conversation with some who already knows the language, then they are failing the Irish language and they deserve a portion of the blame.
That too, but that’s not what I was going for :)
Yes it does, the gaelgoirís hold sway in how the language is taught. Therefore, they decide how it is taught and are responsible for the outcome which is a continued decrease in speakers decade after decade after decade of not listening to anyone but themselves on how a second language is taught.
Deny it all you like, the results, and the gaelgoirís failings in those results, are the only measure of note. nothing to do with funding, and everything to do with how it is taught.
Simples really.
A lot of Irish teachers are Irish speakers who teach, rather than teachers who speak Irish.
It’s a handy gig and they have zero clue how to actually impart knowledge to students.
True dat !
Very, very true in my day anyway.
I always thought they were a breed apart, living in ‘Peig land’ but I’d never made the connection that they were Irish speakers first rather than teachers – it all makes sense now, thanks.
Exactly. It underscores the article about the gaeltacht perfectly.
How exactly does it prove that?
I should state that when I speak of “Gaeilgeoirí” I am talking of those who are involved in its teaching, from all points of view as to how it is taught in the school system. A system undoubtedly populated by the most ignorant of language studies, and how to teach a second language.
‘there are fewer Irish speakers today than in ’87’
I do not believe that for a second. Perhaps there are less Gaeltacht residents (?) but less irish speakers? Not a chance.
That’s true, but there’s no doubt that the language is continuing to decline in the Gaeltacht.
I don’t follow the maths in the second highlighted part. one sixth has pledged not to drink, so abstainers outnumber drinkers? Surely the other five sixths outnumber them
It puzzled me too. I They must have got the author pissed. It sounds like something an old guy in the pub would say to make us look good.
Us simple Irish people could never understand such complex maths. Now eat your potatoes.
Stats as of 1987:
Of adult population:
16% of the Population are unemployed,
25% incarcerated in various institutions
37% in priesthood
22% work in public sector
Any journalist ever looked at the Department of the Gaeltacht’s staffing and spending?
Funnily enough, yesterday was the 29th anniversary of my leaving Ireland and heading over here to the US so I remember 1987 very well. The bit about the food is absolutely correct, plain but nourishing. The pledging not to drink alcohol bit is nonsense. In those days you automatically signed up to this pledge before your confirmation so theoretically everyone took the pledge, the number of people who “kept” the pledge would have been a fraction of that.
‘Cept that alcohol consumption in Ireland has increased significantly in the last 20 years.
In fact, if you go even further back to the ’50s per capita alcohol consumption here was 50% that of the UK
Europeans live such complicated lives.
The French magazine, ‘Le Point’ had low opinions of us prior to joining the EC, Hall’s Pictorial Weekly ran with it.. the whole thing is worth watching, but for bumbling french boggers, skip to..
https://youtu.be/9cIAhCGhZ5E?t=31m45s
Hang on to 34:10 for Frank Kelly, the french peasant farmer..