Fighting for Irish language rights

[Disir]

As we approach the centenary of Northern Ireland, one thing we can be sure of is that official ‘celebrations’ will be absent any mention of the century-long state-sponsored suppression of the Irish language.

To be clear, suppression of the Irish language did not begin with the Unionist one-party regime, which gained control of the six county ‘state’ following the partition of Ireland in 1921. Rather, it formed a core component of a longer process of colonisation in Ireland. As would prove the case globally, the English conquest promoted the obliteration of native culture.

After two centuries of such cultural imperialism and in the wake of the catastrophic Great Hunger – which led to the death and emigration of millions of mostly Irish speakers – by the late nineteenth century the language teetered on the brink of extinction, confined to remote and rural areas, mostly on the west coast of Ireland. By 1901 it is estimated that only 15% of the population spoke Irish, a figure declining at a rapid pace.

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It's going to make a comeback pretty quickly.

 

[danielpalos]

Insist it is for the sake of Tradition.

 

[Tommy Tainant]

Insist it is for the sake of Tradition.

Irish language schools in the Republic are thriving and it is great to see. There is still a fight in the North where the bonehead unionists oppose it in any way possible.

It was a staple of the English colonisers to suppress the local language and history. My family moved from Bethesda to Wrexham over a century ago and realised it was a different world near th border. The adults used to speak to their kids in Welsh and the kids had to reply in English because you had to speak English to get a good job.

That may seem absurd to my American friends. A whole people being denied their language and culture, but it went on for centuries and is still a struggle today.

 

[ESay]

Insist it is for the sake of Tradition.

Irish language schools in the Republic are thriving and it is great to see. There is still a fight in the North where the bonehead unionists oppose it in any way possible.

It was a staple of the English colonisers to suppress the local language and history. My family moved from Bethesda to Wrexham over a century ago and realised it was a different world near th border. The adults used to speak to their kids in Welsh and the kids had to reply in English because you had to speak English to get a good job.

That may seem absurd to my American friends. A whole people being denied their language and culture, but it went on for centuries and is still a struggle today.

Well, establish your own country and impose your own rules.

 

[zaangalewa]

Irish is a very fascinating language. Long live the so called "IroScots" - how we called you in history. God bless you. I hope you never will lose your roots. Best greetings to all Celts from a B-irish (="bairisch" = Bavarian), although my native language is not Gaelic (but somehow also not German; the grammar is much too different).

 

[xyz]

That may seem absurd to my American friends. A whole people being denied their language and culture, but it went on for centuries and is still a struggle today.

It's actually extremely common in immigrant families in the US, for the parents to talk in their native language and the kids to answer in English.

I'm pretty sure this has been the case in Native communities as well.

 

[Unkotare]

.....
It's actually extremely common in immigrant families in the US, for the parents to talk in their native language and the kids to answer in English.
....

True. It is part of the assimilation process.

 

[xyz]

.....
It's actually extremely common in immigrant families in the US, for the parents to talk in their native language and the kids to answer in English.
....

True. It is part of the assimilation process.

Their friends, tv, school...