Comments on: Still boondoggling, Irish style

By: Diarmid Logan

Diarmid Logan — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 13:54:20 +0000

Why the anti-Irish language sentiment? You act as if people are going to be forced to speak it. It just means that the European Union is recognizing that many Irish people prefer to use their own language rather than that of their British enemies.

By: Kristian Järventaus

Kristian Järventaus — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 12:13:36 +0000

I welcome this. Yet another step away from the insufferable language-hegemony of the accursed Germanic and Romance speakers. Celtic is still IE, but at least it’s not saturating everything.

And about Esperanto: Polish is already an official language of the EU.

By: Matt McGrattan

Matt McGrattan — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 12:47:34 +0000

sorry for the double post…

By: chris y

chris y — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 12:20:34 +0000

but frisian is the language which is used by all official correspondence in friesland, thought at schools there, etc. etc.

Thought but not spoken? Britain should support the claims of Frisian as the closest related language to English after Scots. After all, back scratching is the EU way…

By: Matt McGrattan

Matt McGrattan — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 12:06:31 +0000

This report I mean:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/historic/education/reports-03/edr03-02-vol01-scots.pdf

By: Matt McGrattan

Matt McGrattan — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 12:05:46 +0000

“What about Cockney rhyming slang?”

Every time this issue comes up I always mention Scots — which is spoken in one form or another by many more people than Scots Gaelic or Irish and yet which just about gets recognized as a ‘minority language’ under the European Charter if it’s lucky.

Although interestingly, and to its credit, the Scottish Parliament has started producing a small amount of information in Scots: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/language/scots/index.htm, or, more interestingly, this report on minority languages that’s actually presented in Scots.

Nevertheless, it still seems crazy to grant Irish, or any other ‘minority’ language, including Scots, official status rather than, say, providing targeted financial support—i.e. not ‘pork’— to minority languages within a particular country.

[posted again as previous one hasn’t appeared]

By: jan

jan — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 10:12:49 +0000

No Frisian isn’t, yet….

By: dsquared

dsquared — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 10:01:42 +0000

Jan: yep, like Welsh which is used in Wales but it’s not an Official Language of the EU.

By: Maria

Maria — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 07:47:15 +0000

Nope, Luxemburgish isn’t an official language, even though pretty much everyone there actually speaks it every day….

In answer to my semi-rhetorical question, I imagine Sean O Neachtain will probably speak Irish in the Parliament from time to time. There’s value for money.

By: Matt McGrattan

Matt McGrattan — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 07:22:09 +0000

"What about Cockney rhyming slang?" Every time this issue comes up I always mention Scots (the germanic one, not the gaelic one) -- which is spoken in one form or another by many more people than Scots Gaelic or Irish and yet which just about gets recognized as a 'minority language' under the European Charter if it's lucky. Although interestingly, and to its credit, the Scottish Parliament has started producing a small amount of information in Scots: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/language/scots/index.htm, or, more interestingly, this report on minority languages that's actually presented *in* Scots. Nevertheless, it still seems crazy to grant Irish, or any other 'minority' language official status rather than, say, providing targeted financial support -- i.e. not 'pork' -- to minority languages *within* a particular country.

By: jan

jan — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 07:00:58 +0000

well sorry to say daniel
but frisian is the language which is used by all official correspondence in friesland, thought at schools there, etc. etc.
jan

By: George Bush

George Bush — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 06:45:13 +0000

You forgot Poland!

By: Billings

Billings — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 01:53:46 +0000

The time has come when Esperanto must be made compulsory.

By: Jayanne

Jayanne — Mon, 13 Jun 2005 23:25:18 +0000

(DSquared is Welsh?) At the moment, the Assembly provides enough jobs for the boys, but I’d have thought Irish being recognised would bring a call for Welsh to be, too.

“a language much more vibrant and widely spoken than Irish,”

yes

“—one much more central to the cultural continuity of an existing European population”

oh I suppose so… I’d like more money to be spent on the NHS etc. than on bilingual everything; and there’s a strong English-language Welsh culture too.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 13 Jun 2005 22:22:43 +0000

What about Cockney rhyming slang?