Irish is the 21st language to be officially recognised by the EU
Posted on 06/13/2005 1:45:27 PM PDT by RWR8189
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Irish is the 21st language to be officially recognised by the EU
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Ireland's national language is the 21st to be given such recognition by the EU and previously had the status of a treaty language.
Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern said he was pleased by the move, which was announced on Monday.
"This affirms at European level the dignity and status of our first official language," he said.
"This represents a particularly significant practical step for the Irish language, and complements the government's wider policy of strong support for the language at home."
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 As an Irish speaker, I am obviously delighted that the Irish language has been accorded the status of an official working language of the EU  Bairbre de Brun
Sinn Fein MEP |
In the country's 2002 census, 1.4 million of the four million population said they had "an ability" to speak Irish.
More than a quarter of those said they spoke it on a daily basis.
There are a number of Gaeltacht areas in Ireland, where Irish is spoken by more than 80% of people.
The Gaeltacht encompasses the most westerly parts of counties Cork, Donegal, Galway, Kerry and Mayo and their nearby islands.
Sinn Fein MEP Bairbre de Brun said the EU's recognition was a "victory for campaigners from all over Ireland and further afield who continue to campaign for equality for the language".
"As an Irish speaker, I am obviously delighted that the Irish language has been accorded the status of an official working language of the EU," she said.
"Sinn Fein has made the recognition of the Irish language at EU level a party priority and has campaigned long and hard with other Irish speakers and Irish language organisations."
Disagree with you here - I don't see this a Sinn Fein-appeasing plot. Most of them can't speak it properly anyway (Ta me good at gaeilge etc!). A lot of people still have a lot of pride in the Irish language and use it each day. It is a working language on much of the west coast, so its only right that it is recognised as an official language.
Sardinian, Frisian and Faroese are all spoken in EU-member nations, but are not on the list. Almost as many people speak Gaelic on a daily basis as speak Maltese.
In school I learned Munster Irish. So if I was to greet you with 'How are you?' in that dialect, I'd say 'Conas atá tú?'.
In my late teens I spent time in the Connaught Gaelteacht. The same greeting there is..'Cén chaoi in a bhfuil tú?'
Donegal Irish is quite different. Up there they say 'Goide már tá tú?'.
Bump.
(Pardon my English.)
That sounds more like the Gaelic my Scots grandpa spoke. I wish I had known him long enough to learn it.
These are the official languages into which all EU communications must be fully translated. Other languages can commission their own translations as they wish.
The significance of a fairly marginal (by European standards) language like Gaelic receiving official status is that it opens the door to every other language spoken by small groups of people who will demand equal treatment. The cost and logistics will grow exponentially and become a real impediment to integration. Of course, that's a good thing for Europe though.
So, are you gonna' translate?
:-)
Meur ras.
Dynnargh.
LOL.
Ok!
Have you ever been to Spain?
I was in Spain three years ago, and I could see why EU would argue that Catalan or even Basque should be an offical language. Catalan is in widespread use in Barcelona and Basque is spoken in north part of Spain. Basque is not part of the Indo-European family and it is completely different than what we are used to.
I do not see the case with Gaelic, after all it's an ancient language.
Is Latin an official language? I don't think so.
I remember reading about a Georgian who visited Ireland. One of his friends (from Mississippi) suggested he try to impress the cute barmaid with a little Gaelic and supplied the phrase (supposedly "you are very lovely"). As romantically as he could, the Georgian looked deep into her eyes and said, "My dear, pog mo thoin."
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