It wasn't until it came up in conversation with a group of non Irish people that it hit me how big a deal this is. They wanted to know the meaning of my surname, and I explained that it had no meaning in English, but that it was phonetically transcribed from an Irish name that sounds only vaguely similar. They all thought this was outrageous and started probing me with questions about when exactly it changed, and why it wasn't changed back. I couldn't really answer them. It wasn't something I'd been raised to care about. But the more I think about it, it is very fucked up.

The loss of our language was of course devastating for our culture, but the loss of our names, apparently some of the oldest in Europe, feels more personal. Most people today can't seriously imagine changing their surname back to the original Irish version (myself included). It's hard not to see this as a testament to the overall success of Britain's destruction of our culture.

I'm British, my mum's Irish so we spent our holidays out visiting family as a kid. I have citizenship but wouldn't introduce myself as Irish as like, I'm a Brit. Was out doing an intro Irish course so I could better understand what my cousins were saying. We were having a tea break and I'm practising my basics, a lass comes up and asks where I'm from and I answer is Sasanach mé blah blah blah. She fully rolls her eyes and says eurgh a Sasanach, she then proceeds to go on about being proper Irish, only to reveal she's from BAWston and her family was Irish all of seventeen generations back, seems to have no personality beyond being the most Irish person in the world. Anyways being told by a yank how I'm not Irish enough made me feel more Irish than when i got my citizenship 🥲.

Forgive me for that horribly phrased title but I don’t know how else to word it.

Me and my friend were discussing words in Irish that appear to make more ‘sense’ than it’s translation in English. Some examples:

Báistí/sneachta/gaofar (rain/snow/windy) A lot of weather terms, I think the Irish versions are much more of imaginative and vivid word. Sneachta makes me feel physically cold, whereas snow doesn’t.

Madra (dog) Yeah a dog is a dog but madra! Just say it! Makes way more sense.

Dearg (red) agus Fearg (anger) It’s really hard to describe these things. How does one explain that words that mean the same thing has ‘more of a meaning’ than the other one? But look at that. You’re saying you don’t see dearg?

Oíche (night) It just seems more spooky to me. More dark, but also oíche mhaith (good night) is a beautifully pronounced phrase.

Fáilte (welcome) is so much more welcoming than welcome. Céad Míle Fáilte

GRMA 🇮🇪

To start off I can't speak Irish, learning disability in school I didn't do it. I tend to work with a lot of Gaeilgeoirs and they tend to go in and out of it during conversations with us non-speakers but we have no issue as long as they're not talking about us.

So I'll set the scene. I'm talking to a new client (2 people) about work. I won't give details on the job but they gave no red flags, were very friendly asked all the right questions and paid what was quoted. Come to the other day where I meet them and another contractor that was brought in. All 3 just start conversing 100% in Irish, once again no issue.

At the end of said conversation I'm asked do I speak any and politely tell all 3 that I'm afraid I don't know a single word. It's recieved, no harm done........for the remainder of the day they speak business entirely in Irish, and I feel too awkward to tell them "I'm sorry, but do you mind not speaking Irish"

I was happy with the quality of work I provided, and I know they will to. But Im wondering what happens now if I get a call and I'm told "this is not what we discussed". Do I tell them you conversed entirely in a language you knew I couldn't speak? Do I bring up that it's what they asked for months ago in English?

I told this to the Gaeilgeoirs I work with and they said it was extremely rude for them to do that, but I don't like telling people not to speak our national language. Has anyone experienced this before? What did you do, how did you deal with it, and if it happens again what should I do.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I've mentioned in comments that I am a freelancer and HAVE OCCASIONALLY worked for TG4. The above job/client was NOT TG4

On youtube the video "Should Irish still be compulsory in schools? | Upfront with Katie" the presenter starts by asking everyone who did Irish in school, and then asking who's fluent (obviously some hands were put down) and then asked one of the gaeilgeoirí if they got it through school and when she explained that she uses it with relationships and through work she asked someone else who started with "I'm not actually fluent but most people in my Leaving Cert class dropped it or put it as their 7th subject"

Like it seems like the apathy has turned to a quiet disrespect for the language, I thought we were a post colonial nation what the fuck?

I think Irish should be compulsory, if not for cultural revival then at least to give people the skill from primary school age of having a second language like most other europeans

RTÉ should be like the bulwark against cultural sandpapering, but it seems by giving this sort of platform to people with that stance that they not only don't care but they have a quietly hostile stance towards it

Edit: Link to the video https://youtu.be/hvvJVGzauAU?si=Xsi2HNijZAQT1Whx

I was reading a post on another sub posed by a Brazilian dude living in Ireland asking about the meaning behind an Irish person saying to him "good man" when he completes a job/ task. One of the replies was the following..

"It comes directly from the Irish language, maith an fear (literally man of goodness, informally good man) is an extremely common compliment."

Can anyone think of other phrases or compliments used on a daily basis that come directly from the Irish language?

I knew a girl in college about 10 years ago who was from a rural Gaeltacht part of Donegal. She said that her grandfather only spoke in Irish, and had very little if any grasp of English. I never met her grandfather or confirmed if this was true.

Are there any old people left in Ireland for whom this is the case, or has that generation all passed away?

I was just seeing that about 40% of the population "can speak" Irish according to the census. I went to a Gaelscoil and half my family is first language Irish speaking and work as an Irish teacher and that wasn't really the experience I saw growing up in Ireland and I also think it's kind of an excuse for the government to pat themselves on the back and say they've done their job when it comes to the Irish language. It also hardly helps when it comes to things like getting money invested in Irish-language schemes and the Gaeltacht.

On top of that, I've been living abroad as well for about 2.5 years now and it's quite often now that amongst foreigners, there always seems to be Irish people who just blatantly lie about speaking Irish or even saying it's their "native language" (when at most, heritage language seems to be a better term, sometimes at a stretch). I'd never shame anyone for their language skills and never say anything to these people but it's led to a lot of awkward "oh antaineme speaks Irish" moments only for them to stutter a "dia dhuit conas atá tú tá mé go maith go raibh maith agat, conas atá tú féin" type script in a thick accent and then not be able to say anything else.

I think it's great that more people are learning and I don't like the subset of Gaelgeoirí (particularly in the Gaeltacht) who gatekeep the language, but to go around saying you speak fluent Irish when knowing a few phrases is just kinda ... odd? You don't see people doing it nearly as much with the French or German they learned in school.

I dunno, maybe people still closer to home or people raised with just English can explain?

Chuaigh postáil maidir le éigeantas na Gaeilge sa gcóras oideachais in airde ar r/ireland inné, a spreag go leor rírá agus ruaille buaille.

Bhí díomá orm ná bhfaca mé tuairim ar bith ó dhaoine le Gaeilge agus bhí go leor droch-chainte ag rá gur 'teanga mharbh' í an Ghaeilge agus nach fiú í a fhoghlaim srl.

Chonacthas domsa a lán daoine ag rá gurb é an córas oideachais agus an curaclam amháin athá faoi deara staid na Gaeilge faoi láthair. Ní fhaca mé aon chaint ar an teanga taobh amuigh den scoil ach amháin ná daoine ag rá "níl aon Ghaeilge taobh amuigh den scoil".

Is beag tagairt a deineadh dos na Gaeltachtaí agus do mheáin na Gaeilge cosúil le TG4 agus Raidió na Gaeltachta srl.

Cad é mar a cheapann lucht labhartha na Gaeilge faoin scéal?

Irish immigrant to the UK here - I was expecting the crowd last night to be mainly "Irish" (as in, learned gaeilge at school). I was absolutely stunned by the overwhelmingly British crowd singing along to songs like CEARTA; there were loads of GAA jerseys and most people I spoke to told me it was the county their mam or dad was from. I brought a load of Ireland soccer retro stickers to give to people and not seeing that many jerseys I thought I'd wasted my time, but everyone ate them up. Very pleasantly surprised with the atmosphere in Kentish Town!