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On the island of Ireland, there are only three places where people regularly speak Gaelic in conversation, all of which are way at the west coast away from Dubl
by Ologn 6y ago
On the island of Ireland, there are only three places where people regularly speak Gaelic in conversation, all of which are way at the west coast away from Dublin - in Munster, in Connacht and in Ulster. My mother's parents happen to be from the Ulster Gaeltacht, which is centered in Gweedore.
I was speaking to an older relative who still lives there. She told me after the 2008 Irish banking crisis, all the local Allied Irish Bank branches there closed down, with the closest branch then 20 km away - which is still the case. The closest branch after that was and is 50 km away. Not a great harbinger for the vitality of the Gaeltacht.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- frabbit 6y agoBy coincidence I was just watching an 8 year old Teilifís na Gaeilge (TG4) program in which the protagonist attempts to travel the length and breadth of Ireland speaking only 'as Gaeilge'. The scenes in which he attempts to get state-run tourist services to communicate with him in one of the official lanaguages of Ireland are painful. In particular his visit to the prison cell in which his grandmother (one of the 1916 revolutionaries) was incarcerated starts off badly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyll-bBZzyk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyll-bBZzyk
- I_complete_me 6y agoIn Ireland we are taught Irish in school from about 4years to 17 years. Most people leave school with a hatred of Irish and the fact that it is compulsory. If there is ever a research study being done to find ways to get people to NOT learn their native language, Ireland is a great source of material.