Tommy Collison

Or: In Defense of Irish

I was talking with my Dad (through Irish) the other day about how the language has some really beautiful turns-of-phrases. I agreed with him but pointed out how I didn’t think Irish as a subject in school was geared keeping appreciation for the language going and generally keeping the language alive.

Now, before we continue – this isn’t a whiny post. I’m quite happy and content to continue Irish as is because I imagine that I have very little chance of changing anything; especially for my Junior Cert. in 2011 and Leaving Cert. in 2013 or 2014 (Transition Year is still being considered and I don’t have to choose until 2011). Think of this post instead as one of those hypothetical games we all played in primary school: If you were President of Ireland for the day…

Let me begin by saying that I really quite like Irish. I know about half of you have raised eyebrows at this stage, but I’ll continue. I love the language and speak it quite often around my parents and siblings (when they’re home; maybe subconsciously to make sure they’re not becoming too Americanised.. have you heard Patrick’s accent?!). English is most definitely the dominant language but we’d definitely use it a fair bit – more than any other family I know actually and I’ve asked around.

I think it’s a beautiful language actually – English has no real nice turns of phrases while Irish is full of them. Case in point: To say ‘last week’ in Irish, one would say an seachtain seo chaite. A literal translation of same would be something like “The week just spent”, which I find quite nice.

So: these problems I mentioned in the title.

As an Exam Subject

I think most of the dislike of Irish stems from the core thought of “When will I need this?” – one can’t help but somewhat agree with this. Unless one wishes to be the next Conn Ó Muíneacháin (not that there’s anything wrong with that), the chances are that your future vocation won’t require you to know the ins and outs of Irish poetry.

With this in mind, I’d no longer teach Irish as an exam subject – if we changed the core method of how it was taught, I’m confident that interest, respect and general enjoyment of the subject would go up. Instead of focussing on getting you through exams, we spent the 155 minutes per week just appreciating Irish, much more in terms of keeping the language alive (which is the end goal, right?) would be achieved.

Speak, Speak and Then Speak Some More

You immerse yourself in a language by speaking it and 155 minutes (how long we have now) of speaking Irish would be endlessly beneficial. After all, that’s how you keep a language alive; not by writing a page and a half on the theme of ‘sadness’ in Reoiteog Mharfach (a poem about a young child who, in his eagerness to buy ice-cream, gets run over by a car. The title literally means “Deadly Ice-cream”).

Change Your Focusses

One can’t help but get the feeling that the purpose of most classes (not limited to Irish) are geared toward getting you through exams. Students love SPHE (Social, Physical and Health Education) because, well, it’s a bit of a doss. A class not geared toward the Junior Cert. is welcomed with open arms. We’ll watch some film clips or have a class discussion and it’s generally a more relaxed atmosphere.

I believe that making students enjoy Irish (an impression I can’t say I share with any of my class-mates) is the only way you’ll succeed in keeping the language alive. How do you expect these students to speak Irish with their kids when their strongest memory of the subject is resentment?

Differences

Perhaps it’s because you have a better grasp of Irish than a continental language upon entering secondary school, but I’m always surprised at how different Spanish/French/German is taught in comparison to Irish.

I finish 2nd year this afternoon – looking back at the two languages I do (Spanish and Irish), there are startling differences in how they’re taught. In Spanish, we study directions, post-cards or shopping terms. We do listening comprehensions to practise understanding spoken Spanish and learn off lists of fruit, vegetables and other such foodstuffs. Sure, we also practise conjugating verbs and such; but there’s a helluva lot more such everyday work than there is grammar work.

I’m always happy doing the donkey-work in Spanish because I know how much it’ll stand to me when I go to Spanish speaking countries. It’s perfectly obvious why we’re learning what we’re learning and thus, I (and, I think, my class-mates) quite enjoy Spanish.

So why in Irish do we focus on poetry and such?

Conclusion

I adore Irish. I don’t adore Irish classes in school while I agree with the end goal of keeping the language alive, I feel the way it’s taught in school doesn’t/won’t achieve this.

I’d love to hear about your thoughts on Irish being compulsory, why we’re doing Irish poetry, the differences between how the continental languages are taught in comparison or what you think about Ireland’s need/duty to keep the language (or lack of that belief) alive?