By: Sinéad ní Shuinéar

Sinéad ní Shuinéar — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 12:53:18 +0000

There is a Gaeltacht quarter in Belfast but not in Dublin. There are MANY Irish-language schools outside Gaeltacht areas, so more and more young people comfortably bilingual. Irish language television station, TG4, in addition to radio stations and two weekly newspapers, and some Irish language content in the predominantly English language media.
Ulster Scots is spoken by the descendants of 17th century Scots planters (colonisers) who retained a British identity and so resisted the notion of Irish independence – hence partition and the creation of Northern Ireland, which is where they are concentrated.
County Donegal is in the geographic north of the island of Ireland, but not in the political entity of Northern Ireland. Much of it is Gaeltacht.
“Shelta” is a term used solely by academics. Travellers speak either Gammon or Cant, neither of which is a “cant” in the sense of “made up secret language”. Together these languages are spoken by 25,000 people in Ireland (that’s how many self-identified as Traveller in the last census) and many more abroad.
Polish is by far the most widely spoken “new” language in Ireland. At one point a couple of years ago our sole national evening paper published a 12-page weekly supplement in Polish. Although many Poles have left now that the economy has nosedived, there are still plenty around: for example my local supermarket has signs up in English and Polish reminding customers to use a basket or trolley.

Comments on: Learning the Languages of Ireland

By: Sinéad ní Shuinéar