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Because it's the only thing justifying their insistence they're not British? Legolas Send a noteboard - 24/01/2011 10:03:54 PM
I love studying languages and think Irish is fascinating, but it has easily fewer than 100,000 people who actually use it and even fewer who use it every day. It's just about as necessary to learn for communication as Navajo or Sioux.

I mean, that seems fairly obvious. They can't make their entire population switch to Irish, obviously, but at least they can make sure the number of speakers doesn't dwindle further, and that all Irish have at least a basic working knowledge of the language of their culture and history.
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So the Irish government has basically imploded. Stephen - 23/01/2011 04:47:10 PM 1653 Views
I am now confused Camilla - 23/01/2011 05:34:31 PM 1023 Views
You won't be the only person Stephen - 23/01/2011 06:21:23 PM 923 Views
You do realize Britain is pretty much the envy of the Western world at the moment? Legolas - 23/01/2011 06:27:05 PM 1056 Views
Re: You do realize Britain is pretty much the envy of the Western world at the moment? Camilla - 23/01/2011 06:34:47 PM 988 Views
I did. There was more violence than in ours, that's true (ours have none so far, knock on wood). Legolas - 23/01/2011 06:41:34 PM 964 Views
Re: I did. There was more violence than in ours, that's true (ours have none so far, knock on wood). Camilla - 23/01/2011 06:43:41 PM 905 Views
Those protests were only violent by British standards. Tim - 23/01/2011 11:54:15 PM 1016 Views
Really? Camilla - 24/01/2011 12:03:38 AM 883 Views
But... Wibble - 24/01/2011 07:28:17 PM 951 Views
Re: But... Camilla - 24/01/2011 07:30:39 PM 1194 Views
What protests? Wibble - 24/01/2011 07:26:49 PM 1033 Views
Re: What protests? Camilla - 24/01/2011 07:28:40 PM 878 Views
Re: What protests? Nebhead - 25/01/2011 09:23:17 AM 1019 Views
There's a new objection Camilla - 25/01/2011 11:38:25 AM 945 Views
I didn't object... Nebhead - 25/01/2011 11:47:11 AM 833 Views
Re: I didn't object... Camilla - 25/01/2011 11:49:36 AM 798 Views
If you look at the bottom of that list... Nebhead - 25/01/2011 11:58:24 AM 881 Views
And Britain had to live with the Conservative Wilderness for 15 years before it could get there *NM* Roland00 - 24/01/2011 02:43:16 AM 483 Views
Should I start chiming in on Norwegian politics now that I'm here...? Joel - 24/01/2011 12:42:03 AM 918 Views
Why not? Camilla - 24/01/2011 08:49:07 AM 979 Views
'Cos I doubt you'll like what I have to say, for one thing. Joel - 26/01/2011 01:55:13 AM 998 Views
Re: 'Cos I doubt you'll like what I have to say, for one thing. Camilla - 26/01/2011 08:42:04 AM 1030 Views
I misconstrued your sarcasm, sorry. Joel - 26/01/2011 10:23:40 AM 1180 Views
That's been a while coming, hasn't it? Cowen seems to be losing it. Legolas - 23/01/2011 05:48:30 PM 951 Views
Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 06:27:27 PM 1027 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Legolas - 23/01/2011 06:33:26 PM 967 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 07:19:03 PM 1069 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Legolas - 23/01/2011 07:57:05 PM 920 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 09:29:03 PM 1026 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Legolas - 23/01/2011 09:46:20 PM 979 Views
I think Adams is an Irish citizen, and not a British one. Tim - 23/01/2011 11:45:34 PM 941 Views
Re: I think Adams is an Irish citizen, and not a British one. Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:53:12 PM 942 Views
The part that I find strange is... Tim - 23/01/2011 11:58:27 PM 917 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:45:39 PM 818 Views
I found out something else today which makes it even better. Tim - 24/01/2011 10:37:45 PM 1108 Views
I was reading your post and going "what about the Chiltern Hundreds"? Legolas - 24/01/2011 10:44:32 PM 937 Views
Today's news: it got better again! Tim - 26/01/2011 07:51:51 PM 994 Views
Oh, alternatively we could elevate him to the House of Lords. Tim - 26/01/2011 11:08:44 PM 953 Views
Awesome idea. Something like "Baron Adams of Londonderry", I'm thinking. *NM* Legolas - 27/01/2011 07:54:26 PM 467 Views
We made his arch-rival a Lord, after all, so it would only be fair. Tim - 28/01/2011 08:26:15 AM 897 Views
"This is the voice of a life peer" Michael - 28/01/2011 02:18:04 PM 1023 Views
Here you go Elaine - 25/01/2011 12:55:33 PM 1049 Views
That's the site I found too. Tim - 25/01/2011 01:25:56 PM 891 Views
Right. Elaine - 25/01/2011 01:42:49 PM 1124 Views
well, the only interesting thing in swedish politics is a wikileaks document and the reactions... jh - 23/01/2011 06:21:00 PM 1008 Views
That's interesting Stephen - 23/01/2011 06:32:05 PM 967 Views
What is inappropriate about trying to keep out barbaric unskilled people? Tom - 23/01/2011 10:59:53 PM 981 Views
The inappropriateness is the generalisation in the claim Camilla - 23/01/2011 11:16:52 PM 944 Views
Generalizations are inappropriate when they are disproven by statistics, and appropriate when proven Tom - 24/01/2011 07:33:14 PM 902 Views
I've looked into the statistics a bit more. Tom - 24/01/2011 09:11:52 PM 921 Views
I take it you're talking about the Middle East in its most narrow sense here. Legolas - 24/01/2011 09:56:22 PM 954 Views
... the fact that they are asylum seekers, and their skill certainly shouldn't matter in that case. jh - 24/01/2011 07:08:14 PM 845 Views
Schweden schafft sich ab, eh? Tom - 24/01/2011 07:31:33 PM 1111 Views
Not to mention... ßelals Girl - 26/01/2011 07:55:26 PM 838 Views
ßelals Girl - 26/01/2011 07:46:19 PM 963 Views
Hopefully they'll stop using Irish officially as a way to cut down on unnecessary costs. Tom - 23/01/2011 10:57:08 PM 900 Views
I'd support that Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:26:20 PM 970 Views
Ironically, if you de-officialised Irish you could get EU money to help preserve it. Tim - 23/01/2011 11:48:14 PM 874 Views
I never realised that Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:54:43 PM 903 Views
But why, why? Tom - 24/01/2011 08:35:43 PM 860 Views
Because it's the only thing justifying their insistence they're not British? Legolas - 24/01/2011 10:03:54 PM 916 Views
But all language learning should be purely voluntary (after what parents teach their children). Tom - 25/01/2011 03:05:28 AM 892 Views
What, so you don't think students in high school should be taught foreign languages? Legolas - 25/01/2011 06:34:21 PM 911 Views
Irish is the mother tongue of about 7,000-15,000 people at most. Tom - 26/01/2011 05:04:00 AM 928 Views
Wikipedia says it's more like 40k-80k. Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:41:41 PM 1312 Views
And Elaine, Stephen, or any other Irish people here: do feel free to comment. *NM* Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:42:36 PM 464 Views
Inflated statistics from what I've read. Tom - 26/01/2011 09:45:51 PM 865 Views
They might be, indeed. Elaine - 27/01/2011 01:08:09 PM 1107 Views
More to the point, are YOU interested in learning Irish? Tom - 26/01/2011 05:15:18 AM 856 Views
Calling Ireland the new Sodom and Gomorrah, are you? Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:02:05 PM 999 Views
I don't think it's as fun as Sodom and Gomorrah, at least not post-crisis. Tom - 26/01/2011 09:48:54 PM 965 Views
Re: I don't think it's as fun as Sodom and Gomorrah, at least not post-crisis. Legolas - 27/01/2011 08:42:21 PM 854 Views
Presumably because they agree with J.R.R. Tolkien and Tómas Sæmundsson about language's importance. Tim - 24/01/2011 10:16:05 PM 1008 Views
So Australians and New Zealanders are really English then? Austrians are just Germans? Tom - 25/01/2011 03:01:14 AM 957 Views
I never said I agreed . Tim - 25/01/2011 08:19:11 AM 933 Views
I would suggest that a distinct dialect does the job just as well majander - 25/01/2011 02:23:59 PM 964 Views
That's a very good point. Tom - 26/01/2011 05:06:32 AM 933 Views
Indeed. Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:06:00 PM 995 Views
The thing is, people who feel really strongly about that usually insist it's a separate language. Tim - 28/01/2011 04:20:57 PM 823 Views
It's really more about having a unique silly costume to wear at Miss Universe pageants. Tom - 26/01/2011 05:09:10 AM 801 Views
You're confusing what we sell to gullible American tourists with what we actually value . *NM* Tim - 28/01/2011 04:15:01 PM 413 Views
What the hell happened to the Celtic Tiger Country? *NM* Blaine - 24/01/2011 05:47:12 AM 536 Views
Thrown away on bling and tat, unfortunately. Elaine - 24/01/2011 01:01:27 PM 827 Views
The Celtic Tiger is dead, Ireland had a GDP contraction of 14% in the last two years. Roland00 - 24/01/2011 01:47:06 PM 920 Views
It's still there, but it aimed a bit too high and got a bit scorched. Legolas - 24/01/2011 10:07:36 PM 808 Views
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