Do people actually speak irish in ireland ?

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Linda84

In the Republic of Ireland, all national primary and secondary schools teach Irish as a language subject. So everyone learns how to speak it from the age of 4 up until about 18. But sadly it is rarely spoken outside of schools. However there are also some Irish-speaking schools where students are encouraged to speak in Irish at all times, and the subjects are all taught through Irish. There are also some Irish-speaking communities particularly in the west of Ireland, where everyone speaks Irish in everyday use. But English is the most widely spoken language in Ireland, and Irish is only the country's primary language 'officially speaking'...

stitcherkf

Everyone here learns Irish (Gaeilge) in school. Most people leave school with some knowledge of it but unable to speak it to any great extent, although you do have to pass an oral test in your final school exam, the Leaving Certificate.

Most people in the country speak English and this is what most of life is conducted in here. However, there are pockets of Irish speakers in traditional Irish speaking areas called Gaeltachts. These are in Donegal, Galway, Waterford, Cork, and Meath. There are also people throughout the country who chose to speak Irish with their family and friends. Anyone working in a government department used to have to be able to speak Irish but I'm not sure if that still holds. You can also request any form in Irish if you dont want to fill it out in English, e.g. driving licence application, passport form, etc.

I am highly amused at the answer which says we speak Celtic. That's not even a language!

When I was younger if you failed Irish in your final school exam then you failed the whole exam! Thankfully this is no longer a rule.

Hope this helps and please dont believe answers from non Irish people.

Hello

Yes.

Chuck M

Celtic, lol.... There are at least 6 different languages that fall under the "celtic" brand. Irish is only one of them along with scots gaelic, welsh, manx, cornish, breton... There may be more but I lose count after that.

In short, yes, Irish is spoken in Ireland.

Orla C

Yes. In parts of the west, like the Aran Islands, County Galway, Galway city sometimes, parts of Clare, Limerick, Kerry, Cork, Mayo and Donegal. There are even Irish-speaking enclaves in Dublin and Waterford.

I like to watch the Irish language channel - the first time I saw SpongeBob was in Irish! And you should see South Park as Gaeilge, it's a trip!

Emily

yes but not as their main language
main language in ireland is english
second most spoken language in ireland is polish believe it or not due to all the poles moving to ireland. irish is learnt in schools and is taken as an exam and there the gaeltacht region in ireland where a minority of people speak the language as their native language

Without Music U Hav No Lyf...

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE DO NOT SPEAK IRISH AS A FIRST LANGUAGE!!!!! IT IS COMPULSARY IN SKWL!!!!!!!!!

NÃl!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is fuath liom Gaeilge!!! Cad an cac is Ã© Celtic??? NÃ maith liom sibh daoine!!!!

Is mise AÃne. TÃ¡ me dhÃ¡ bhilian deag d'aois! FreastlaÃm mean scoil sa hEireann.

I should be doing something else

Yes, most places have English as the first and main language, but there are gaeltacht areas (Irish Speaking) and it is taught in all schools in the Republic of Ireland and in around 50% of schools in Northern Ireland.

Ulster Scots is nothing to do with it, and is more like some mad dialect. To me it is basically the Belfast accent, spelt as it is pronounced!

Katherine T. & Bryanna M.

Yes, and Gaelic, or even English.

Goo Goo Gjoob!

Yes they do. They also speak English, wich is their second language.

http://www.authenticireland.com/holiday/general_info/language.htm

greenorlagh

Yes - people actually do speak the language of the country! It has survived even after all those Penal Laws.

The Ulster - Scot 'dialect' is just that. It has nothing to do with Belfast but more to do with east coast of Antrim. It's a strange mixture of poor English and slang tho it does have many of it's own words, some of which have made it into everyday usage such as 'craic' (yes, I'm sorry it's not an Irish word), scunner, siouc, dander, farl and many more.

marky_fightthepower

Ach ar ndÃ³igh mo chara!!!

esoteric_noodles

it used to be the case that everyone in ireland spoke irish then irish people were forced to speak english and now irish people are forced to speak polish

James G

Yes.Ta mise abalta caint an Ghaliege ach nil me ro-mhaith ag e.Conas ma ata tu.?

You don't have to answer that assuming you know Irish.

'Er indoors!!

My dad couldn't speak a word of English. He came from Spiddal, in Galway, and they all speak Gaelic there, and all the road signs are in Gaelic too. ( No English translation )

My Dad's cousin was a very famous political writer called Martin O'Cadhain, who fought to keep the language alive. There is now a summer school in Spiddal, whereby kids from all over Ireland come to learn the language.

Haley

obviii. lol :]

James A

Somewhere in Ireland down south it's one town or county they only speak Gailec,The main language is English throughout only about 10-20% off Ireland can speak Gailec,But they teach it in schools and they teach it in schools now up North,There is even tv shows in Gailec so the language is growing and coming back,In the North they are also teaching Ulster Scots it's a Celtic language also,I can't speak nor even no a word off it but i would like to learn it,

deburca98

Sea, (yes) we do
personally I rarely use it but I can understand written Irish, I have problems understanding donegal Irish, but that takes practice.
ulster scots is not a celtic language its just badly spoken english(or a regional dialect of english, all entomologists agree that its just english). Ulster scots was made up because Irish was given a grant, so the loylists wanted some of it too so they made up ulster scots.
If it was a real language then the scots would speak it to but they dont.

Matt F

They speak either Celtic, Gaelic, or English.

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