Athbhreithniú ar Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla 2003 (31 Éanair 2012) (Review of Official Languages Act 2003)

[Darren J. Prior]

Tá an Roinn Ealaíon, Oidhreachta agus Gaeltachta i mbun athbhreithnithe ar Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla 2003, i gcomhréir leis an ngealltanas atá sonraithe i gClár an Rialtais.

Is é an 31 Eanáir 2012 an spriocdháta chun an suirbhé agus/nó an aighneacht a chur faoi bhráid na Roinne i nGaeilge nó i mBéarla.

http://www.pobail.ie/ie/AnGhaeilge/A...Oifigiula2003/

Molaim díobh a rá go mba chóir go mbeadh comhstádas do ár logainmneacha Gaeilge ar gcomharthaí bóithre nua na tíre agus chomh maith leis an fhoirm a líonadh amach chun teagmháil a dhéanamh leis an tAire Iompair Leo Varadkar agus an tAire Stáit Dinny McGinley faoi!

[C. Flower]

Review of the Official Languages ​​Act 2003 (31 January 2012)


http://www.pobail.ie/en/Irish/OfficialLanguagesAct2003/

Apologies for the English, but this Act is also available in English and can be commented on in English.

Review of the Official Languages Act 2003
The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht is conducting a review of the Official Languages Act 2003, in line with the commitment specified in the Programme for Government.
The Department hopes that the public and other key stakeholders will avail of the opportunity to make recommendations on the Act through the public consultation process. The closing date for submitting the survey and/or the template to the Department, in either Irish or in English, is 31 January 2012.
All information on the review is provided here:
• Terms of reference
• Survey
• Template for submissions
• Public bodies under the Act
• Press release
Information on the Act is available in this Guidebook which is published by the Office of An Coimisinéir Teanga.
Information on the Office of An Coimisinéir Teanga is available at www.coimisineir.ie.

[homer]

Darren - leagmháil

[Darren J. Prior]

leagmháil? Teagmháil?

Agallamh le hÉamonn Mac Niallais ó Ghuth na Gaeltachta faoin athbhreithniú seo ar Tuairisc ar Raidió na Life 106.4FM inné.

http://soundcloud.com/darrenjmacanphriora/am

[homer]

grma -

[Darren J. Prior]

Athbhreithniú ar Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla (roimh fhoilsiú) | Raidió na Life

[Darren J. Prior]

Téigh go dtí 6.14!

[Simonsays]

The most important task needed is to make Ireland fall in love with the language again. The truth is that many people not just don't love it but actually deeply dislike it, and that was due in large measure to the way it was forcefed in schools. Irish language activists can sometimes be a bit like fundamentalist religious people - so determined that they are right that they turn the middle ground against the language.

I remember most people in primary school when I went to school were quite enthusiastic or at least relatively positive towards the language. But five years of secondary school (it was a five year cycle then) and the way it was taught left them to put it bluntly hating it. There was a "we will force this down your throats" approach across schools that really pissed off people and left people by 17 or 18 deciding when they walked out of school that they would never ever use a word of that goddamned language again.

To survive, first and foremost, people need to stop feeling as though they are being bullied into it and instead be inspired to see it as a part of their heritage that they should be proud to know.

Two examples of how NOT to do it:

In 1990 Mary Robinson was elected president. Like most of Ireland she was not fluent but wanted to be. But she was confronted with a Secretary to the President who was a fanatic for the language and who told her that of course she would be signing her name on Bills in Irish. She said she wouldn't. She already had a signature and wasn't going to make up a new one to write her name in a language she was not yet fluent in. He however wouldn't take no for an answer and made it quite clear to her, according to what she wrote afterwards, that he would be returning to the issue. In other words, whether she wanted to or not, she would be forced to sign her name in Irish. That is the sort of fanaticism that people all over would experience in numerous ways and which far from inspiring them to learn Irish would just get their backs up.

Some years later Éamon Ó Cuiv decided that Dingle was to use its Irish name. The locals said 'no'. Many of the locals were Irish speaking so not using the Irish name wasn't because they were anti the language, just that they were comfortable using the name they had always used. But he would not budge. All he managed to do was lose the goodwill of locals, many of whom were Irish speakers, and force a legal name on them that they refused to use. It was needlessly confrontational.

Irish language policy has got to
1) preserve Irish speaking where it exists.
2) avoid antagonising non-Irish speakers through forcefeeding
3) encourage people to begin again to love the language so that they can be convinced, not forced, into using the language.
4) turn Irish from a bad memory of forcefeeding in school into a proud part of their heritage.

[Darren J. Prior]

The most important task needed is to make Ireland fall in love with the language again. The truth is that many people not just don't love it but actually deeply dislike it, and that was due in large measure to the way it was forcefed in schools. Irish language activists can sometimes be a bit like fundamentalist religious people - so determined that they are right that they turn the middle ground against the language.

I remember most people in primary school when I went to school were quite enthusiastic or at least relatively positive towards the language. But five years of secondary school (it was a five year cycle then) and the way it was taught left them to put it bluntly hating it. There was a "we will force this down your throats" approach across schools that really pissed off people and left people by 17 or 18 deciding when they walked out of school that they would never ever use a word of that goddamned language again.

To survive, first and foremost, people need to stop feeling as though they are being bullied into it and instead be inspired to see it as a part of their heritage that they should be proud to know.

Two examples of how NOT to do it:

In 1990 Mary Robinson was elected president. Like most of Ireland she was not fluent but wanted to be. But she was confronted with a Secretary to the President who was a fanatic for the language and who told her that of course she would be signing her name on Bills in Irish. She said she wouldn't. She already had a signature and wasn't going to make up a new one to write her name in a language she was not yet fluent in. He however wouldn't take no for an answer and made it quite clear to her, according to what she wrote afterwards, that he would be returning to the issue. In other words, whether she wanted to or not, she would be forced to sign her name in Irish. That is the sort of fanaticism that people all over would experience in numerous ways and which far from inspiring them to learn Irish would just get their backs up.

Some years later Éamon Ó Cuiv decided that Dingle was to use its Irish name. The locals said 'no'. Many of the locals were Irish speaking so not using the Irish name wasn't because they were anti the language, just that they were comfortable using the name they had always used. But he would not budge. All he managed to do was lose the goodwill of locals, many of whom were Irish speakers, and force a legal name on them that they refused to use. It was needlessly confrontational.

Irish language policy has got to
1) preserve Irish speaking where it exists.
2) avoid antagonising non-Irish speakers through forcefeeding
3) encourage people to begin again to love the language so that they can be convinced, not forced, into using the language.
4) turn Irish from a bad memory of forcefeeding in school into a proud part of their heritage.

There are always going to be some bad teachers and fanatics. Things are a lot better today than they were years ago. Living in Dublin I'd be reluctant to raise my kids through Irish for two reasons- one I am nowhere near as fluent in Irish as I am in English and they would therfore have a big handicap developing.And secondly I wouldn't even raise them speaking Irish and English bilingually (I would encourage them to learn the language of course) unless we were in Irish speaking environments because the State has a tokenistic approach to the language and it's not healthy to diverge from that.

If the review sees the strengthening of the Act that I want I would certainly not only be "encouraged" to raise my kids also with Irish (again I don't have any or even a girlfriend at the moment ) I am sure I would because the wind would be at our back and Irish would clearly (in my view) be on the right road for the growth I can potentially see happening. I fear though that a tokenistic approach by the Government and Government parties (and supported by all mainstream parties except SF) will merely be reinforced by this review. The review started I think 14 months ago and I believe that it has taken too long (and it still is not finished or been published) and many of the Irish speakers I know agree. To be nice about it. That said all will be forgiven if the review is good for the Act. If it isn't then I for one am not going to be a martyr for the language. I am merely going to think of Irish in the same way the Government does. As a token language.

I would like to think that I will be proved wrong.