Irish – Page 11 – Joerg's Ramblings

Gaeltacht not viable!? Is that really a surprise?

24 October 2016Written by Joerg Steegmueller

As a foreigner, I don’t speak Irish and have never learned it in school. I did make an attempt many years ago to learn it and bought a book and a few cassette tapes (it is THAT long ago!), but I don’t think I made it beyond the first lesson.

Why did I want to learn it? Well, if you move to a country where there is a different language than your own, you at least make an attempt and in addition there is this romanticised idea that it will come in handy somewhere.

But then you realise that ONLY English is needed in Ireland and that apart from some politically inspired publications, there is not even a proper newspaper available in Irish, which is a clear indication to me that the language has been given up.

Is it a terrible thing to give up language that is not useful anymore? Not at all! Otherwise we would all talk in Shakespearian English. Languages change and move, disappear and appear and even if there is history of a language, it does not mean that it HAS to be kept alive. On the other hand, there is NOTHING wrong with keeping it alive if there is sufficient interest and if people want to use it.

The “Oireachtas Standing Joint Committee on the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands” was now told last Wednesday by Dr Brian Ó Curnáin from the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies that the number of Irish speakers is decreasing, that young people’s competence in the language even in the Gaeltacht is declining and that the Gaeltacht in its current state is not viable.

This has been reported by RTE.ie here.

It can’t really come as a surprise! Money is spent on Gaeltacht and on Irish language initiatives and the forced language teaching in Irish schools is still in place. But all this seems (to a non-involved observer) more like state-prescribed or forced programmes and not at all like genuine enthusiasm for the Irish language.

It seems that the language enthusiasm in Wales (for Welsh) is much bigger than in Ireland (for Gaelic). And considering that Welsh only became official language of Wales in 2011, that is some achievement. I am not sure what exactly was done in Wales to get there, but the system used in Ireland is clearly failing, so now the strategy needs to be changed OR maybe it should be considered to let Irish die?

Education, Irish, Politics, Society Gaelic, Gaeltacht

It is “country” not “jurisdiction”!

15 October 2016Written by Joerg Steegmueller

Language is a an odd thing! There seems to a sheep effect sometimes when someone uses a term that we think we SHOULD use. Years ago it was the term “non-national”. It was used initially in a misguided effort to be more inclusive by avoiding words like “foreigner” or “alien”. Not the term “non-national” made no sense whatsoever because nearly all “non-nationals” were very much nationals, just not nationals of Ireland, but of other countries. Oddly “non-nationals” was usually only used for non-Irish-nationals from outside the EU. So, it seems we had different classes of “non-nationals”. Luckily the term is hardly used anymore, which is a good thing.

But there are many other words that are used in odd circumstances. “Jurisdiction” is one of them!

Last week, the Irish Independent wrote “A slump in Sterling against the euro prompted hordes of shoppers in this jurisdiction to head across the Border for their pre-Christmas shopping.”

And it quoted Ash Ireland chairman Dr Patrick Doorley, who said “[…] There are many examples of jurisdictions where tobacco price has been increased for health reasons and smuggling simultaneously tackled and reduced – such as Australia, New Zealand and Spain.”

Why is the word “jurisdiction” used in this case and not the word “country”. Every country is a different jurisdiction by definition of sovereignty. The only difference is where a big country, e.g. the USA, can have different laws in different parts (states). In Ireland we don’t have different laws in different parts of the country, so the use of “jurisdiction” makes absolutely no sense.

And just in case “jurisdiction” is used by some to avoid having to call Northern Ireland a different country than the Republic of Ireland: No matter what your opinion is about the political divisions on this island in the future, currently the Republic of Ireland is a completely different country than Northern Ireland and until that changes, the hordes of shoppers in this COUNTRY headed across the border (there is a big hint in this word!!).

Irish, Odd, Politics, Society country, jurisdiction

School Uniforms – What a bad invention!! ….or maybe not?

17 September 2016Written by Joerg Steegmueller

In my opinion, school uniforms are TOTALLY wrong. They are mostly ugly, impractical, outdated, discriminating, freedom-robbing, outrageously expensive, a tool for intimidation and oppression and totally unnecessary.

Since school has restarted nearly two weeks ago, you see them everywhere again and it is just unbelievable how ugly most of them are. The colours, the cut, the “worn-outness” are turning them in the ugliest possible clothing for kids. It turns them to sheep in a herd instead of giving them the opportunity to become young individuals. The uniform is used to oppress them and to punish them if they don’t have the right one and it is also used for one-upmanship where some school insist on crests on their tops because they feel they are better than others. And I just can’t believe that in the 21st century, girls in Ireland are still FORCED to wear skirts. How outdated is that?

This rant all started when I saw a “my child has started school again” picture on Facebook that was posted by a friend recently, her daughter was shown in her new school uniform and it must have been the worst I ever saw. The poor little girl even had to wear a totally unnecessary tie that was to 80% covered by the ugliest “dress”-thing you could imagine. It really makes you wonder how twisted the people must be that decide how a school uniform has to look like and what idiocy made them to add a tie even for girls.

Hey, nobody wants to wear ties, not even the grown ups and they do it less and less, so why do we have to force our six year olds to wear them? And really, would you wear an excrement coloured skirt? Well, if you wouldn’t why do we make our kids to to it?

Where I grew up, uniforms didn’t exist. So we had an opportunity to be different, there were some goths in my school and some really well dressed kids and anything in between. We all had a uniform, but it was our own uniform. Not one prescribed by the school management or the principal and we used this uniform to express our individuality.

I would love a country full of self-reliant, independently thinking, individuals, not full of sheep that need a leader to follow him/her, that have ever learned to oblige all the time, to surrender their individuality and to be dismissive,

Does the school-uniform-induced brain washing support more the first or second set of characteristics?

But now comes the kicker: Maybe times have changed so dramatically, that individualism isn’t even possible anymore. Because the (very valid!!) argument of supporters of school uniforms is that the uniform takes the pressure off kids’ back to compete with each other on clothing. Maybe kids NEED uniforms, which is why they all would want to wear the same clothes from certain clothes labels. Maybe today’s generation just can’t handle individuality anymore?

But then, “No School Uniform” still works in other countries! So is this lack of individuality maybe an Irish problem?

I can’t answer that question and still find the need of school uniforms odd! ….but I can also see that they can make sense in certain contexts.

Education, Irish, Society School Uniform, School Uniforms

Enda Kenny – the Mayo eejit?

16 September 2016Written by Joerg Steegmueller

One of a number of problems in Irish Politics is the Parish Pump politics that is done. That means that politicians care much more for there people “at home” in their constituency than for the country. As a consequence TDs (members of the National Parliament) waste time with helping Paddy to get his passport faster because he forgot to apply in time or with going to funerals of every Tom, Dick and Harry, just so that their families will vote for that politician again.

It is bad and it could relatively easily get changed, but politicians don’t like change, so we have to live with it. But you would expect that the head of the country, the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny has the interest of the country in mind as the highest priority.

We had in the context of the mess around building a new government and with the recent Apple ruling and a few other stories, quite significant events that needed a strong and decisive Taoiseach and someone who informs the people about his decisions. Did Enda Kenny speak to the nation at that time? I am not 100% sure, but I don’t think so.

This week Mayo (where he is from) is playing in a Football game. Yes, it is the final, but so what. And what does Enda Kenny do? He speaks to the nation to support his home county in a cringeworthy video, What an eejit!

Here it is: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDmpmOy5qAk

Can we please swap him for a LEADER of the country?

Irish, Odd, Politics Enda Kenny, GAA, Mayo, Taoiseach

Category: Irish

Gaeltacht not viable!? Is that really a surprise?

It is “country” not “jurisdiction”!

School Uniforms – What a bad invention!! ….or maybe not?

Enda Kenny – the Mayo eejit?

“Bakewell Tarts” and “Tear & Share Brioche”