Is Gaelic still spoken fluently in any of Ireland?

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Woodpigeon

It's still spoken fluently in places, but the population of native speakers is decreasing every year. Even within the Gaeltachts (Connemara, Dingle, Ring, N/W Donegal), English is commonly spoken. The native Irish-speaking population is only around 20,000 people, and almost all of them speak English fluently.

However, a lot of non-native speakers still speak very good or fluent Irish. There are probably up to 80,000 to 100,000 people in Ireland who can speak Irish to a very high standard - many of whom live in the cities such as Dublin, Galway and Cork. Ireland has it's own Irish language radio station, and an award-winning Irish language TV station (TG4) that is excellent. There are also a large number of Irish language schools throughout the country.

So it's not dead by any means, although the idea of Irish as a native language is fairly close to dead.

adriana

I once saw a documentary about Gaelic and yes, it is still spoken, even if by a very small population.

Irish_bi_female

There are area's in Ireland that speak Irish all the time, these are called Gaeltachts. Those of us from the English speaking area's used to get thrown down there for a few weeks of the summer to improve our Irish. Cue many parties and underage drinking. Ah, the memories!

P.S- Gaelic can also refer to Scots Gaelic. Its better to refer to the Irish language as 'Gaeilge', or simply 'Irish'

gnomef0cker

The french only do that to be special. Why can't the speak English like every other providence around them does? Gaelic is still spoken in parts of Scotland, urban areas.

starrygirl

only in gaeltacht area"s

irishgirl

They teach Gaelic in many schools, so a lot of the kids can speak it, but choose not to when they're older and lose some of it. There are areas where it is still spoken, referred to as the "Gaeltect". Most of these are in the west and the northwest of the country. The Aran Islands are fluent, and very beautiful and are accessed only by a ferry trip. There is a school there for those teens who want to become more proficient in it, where they learn it, practice it, and live it. There are places in Donegal that speak it fluently, as well. It's a really beautiful language.

bluestartx@sbcglobal.net

There regions called 'Gaeltachts' where Irish is used daily as the vernacular of the locals. Gaeltachts are predominately located in the West, around Galway, but there are others in Kerry and Cork, while there is one in Rathcairn, Co. Meath in the midlands and Ring, Co. Waterford, on the East coast.

ashy

yes it is. but not in any of the cities. its spoken most of the islands around Ireland as they are cut off from the rest of the island

cassicad75

I think I heard that some people still speak Gaelic in the Western parts of Ireland, because the culture stayed more Irish than in the East. The East, in Irish history, was the area more vulnerable to invasions, and also was better for trade because of the landscape being much less rugged. So the East had more interaction with other cultures than the West.

Tara

In addition to the information provided in the above answers, there is also a population in Ireland that is trying to revive Irish Gaelic to preserve native Irish culture, and some of them see teaching the language as progress towards making it a primary language in more areas.

When I was in Donegal, almost everyone I met was fluent and more than half of the people spoke it as primary, including children, but everyone seemed to be fluent in English as well.

Neil

There is a whole region to the west of Ireland where Gaelic is spoken.

As you enter it a road sign, in Gaelic, announces "Gaeltecht" and from then on all the road signs and those of the shops appear in Gaelic ( and often English too ).

Apologies if I have the spelling wrong!

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