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Archiver > IRISH-IN-UK > 2005-03 > 1112168464


From: "Cyril Newsome" <>
Subject: Re: [UK-Irish] No English Allowed
Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 08:41:04 +0100
References: <4249F386.6070903@pacbell.net>


And rightly so Pat!

I was educated here in Ireland in my youth, went to the UK and people
couldn't understand a word I was saying! It made for a very difficult
lifestyle as a teenager trying to get a job I can tell you!

It is also taking the people of Ireland backwards into another 3rd. world
scenario if it is made compulsory! My son aged 16, I cannot understand a
word he says, so much for Irish!

I do not object to having Irish as a first language, in fact I'm all for it,
but we must not lose sight of where we need to be as a nation in the world!

Ireland has a mystical and mythical aura to those not living here, but let
reality in the developing world be! We need the English language to survive
with other trading countries within the European Community not just in the
World.

If we are not careful the European Parliament will be even more out of hand,
employing more translators than politicians, and as I watch my TnaG
(Teilifis na Gaeilge) programs, one becomes more and more aware of the
incidents of the English language that we here in Ireland have no
translations for.

Historically Ireland has benefited from the English language we cannot deny
this, the people, communities and country are stronger for this. Progression
of this can only be seen worldwide where the Irish have integrated into
those countries where they live. Maintaining ones native tongue in a foreign
land only creates ghetto's which is more obvious in places like the USA
where Hispanics rule in certain areas, more to their detriment I think!

If the American people had not adopted the English language (which has been
corrupted to suit) what language would they/you all be speaking now?

Ireland needs to seriously catch up, some parts are still in the 19th.
century whilst the East coast (in part) has now progressed into the 20th.
century. Give us another 200yrs. or so and we will be up there in the 21st.
century.

slan
Cyril Newsome
(no Gaelic translation)
Loch Garman
Eire


----- Original Message -----
From: "ConnorsGenealogy" <>
To: <>
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 1:32 AM
Subject: [UK-Irish] No English Allowed


> Printed today in the San Francisco (USA) Chronicle
> By Shawn Pogatchnick
> Associated Press
>
> DUBLIN, Ireland - Tourists, beware: Your guidebook may tell you the way
> to Dingle in County Kerry, but all the road signs will be pointing you
> toward An Daingean in Contae an Ciarrai instead.
>
> In an age where many people bemoan English's growing global influence,
> advocates of local languages scored a small victory Monday when Ireland
> enacted a law outlawing English on road signs and official maps on much
> of the nation's western coast, where many people speak Gaelic.
>
> Locals concede the switch will confuse foreigners in an area that
> depends heavily on tourism, but they say it's the price of patriotism.
>
> "The change is nice for the locals, but if a stranger's coming in
> without one of the new Dingle maps, it can be quite difficult," said
> Sarah Brosnan, assistant manager of the Dingle Bay Hotel, which - like
> most things connected to the tourist trade - won't be changing its name.
>
> In all, more than 2,300 towns, villages, fields and crossroads, the
> traditionally had both English and Gaelic names have had their
> previously bilingual road sings changed to Gaelic only. The change
> chiefly affects the three far-flung regions of the western seaboard
> called the Gaeltacht, which has long been the nation's last stand in the
> battle against English dominance.
>
> There, English place-names no longer have legal standing and my not be
> used in government documents or on official Ordnance Survey maps. The
> switch also applies in a few official Gaelic-speaking pockets of County
> Meath, northwest of Dublin, and County Waterford in the southeast.
>
> On the breathtakingly beautiful Dingle Peninsula in northwest County
> Kerry, signs with English spellings were taken down weeks ago, even in
> cases where the English versions remain popular in local parlance.
> Local villages still principally know as Ballydavid, Castlegregory and
> Ventry are now called only Baile na nGall, Caislean Ghriaire and Ceann
Tra.
>
> Gaelic enthusiasts say such place-names are redolent of local history
> and eventually will prove less confusing for visitors - so long as they
> are armed with updated or Gaelic-friendly maps.
>
> Locals like Brosnan, who went of an all-Gaelic school but speaks English
> as her first language, say promoting Gaelic is a point of pride.
>
> "I can't see them ever allowing English back on the signs," she said.
>
> The new law says the government-run Ordnance Survey mapping agency must
> use only Gaelic names in the Gaeltacht area. The law does not apply to
> independent producers of maps, although they are expected to follow the
> policy.
>
> The initiative has placed a new focus on the battle to preserve Gaelic
> in Ireland, where the language faded from everyday use in the 19th
> century, when Britian ruled the land.
>
> Every since Ireland won independence in 1922, successive governments
> have pursued a policy of mandatory Gaelic in schools and made it a
> requirement for many jobs, even though just 55,000 native Gaelic
> speakers remain in this country of 3.9 million.
>
> About 40 percent of the residents identify themselves as fluent in
> Gaelic on census forms, but in practice this doesn't seem to be anywhere
> near the case.
>
> The government's Irish language commissioner, Sean O Cuirreain, reported
> this month that the state was spending $650 million annually on teaching
> children Gaelic in elementary and high schools, yet too few students
> were attaining "a reasonable command of the language' after 13 years and
> 1,500 hours of instruction. He called for an urgent review of how
> Gaelic is being taught.
>
> English, in practice, permeates even government-funded projects to
> promote Gaelic.
>
> --
> Pat Connors, Sacramento CA
> http://www.connorsgenealogy.com
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