Community responses

Language promotions

Irish is still taught in schools and is usually taught for 12 years, similar to how the English language is taught for 12 years here in America.  According to The Irish Times article titled "Why are students so poor at Irish after 12 years of school?", one of the main reasons that young adults and students are not becoming fluent in Irish Gaelic is because of how boring learning a language in a classroom is.  The article mentions a handful of influencers like the band Seo Linn and Sean Grief who believe that making Irish Gaelic fun will inspire more of the younger generation to want to learn the language.  Seo Linn is an Irish band made up of Irish Gaelic teachers who have decided to create covers of popular songs, and it seems to have worked because they are currently making a new album due to their success as rockstars.  Grief found through his own language adventures that immersing yourself in the language and having fun is the easiest way to pick up a new language.  

Below is a cover of Avicci's song "Wake Me Up" in the Irish Gaelic language performed by Seo Linn.  

Below is an example of a traditional Irish Gaelic song titled "Mo Ghille Mear (My Gallant Hero)" performed by the choral scholars of the University College in Dublin.  

Irish Gaelic is all over the internet, specifically social media.  I looked at Facebook first to get an idea of how prominent the language community would be and I found dozens of online groups ranging from people actually learning the language to people just sharing funny images, or memes, about the language.  Another example of media that I found was on TikTok, the new social media rage.  I was unable to find an appropriate video to share on this site but if you look up #Irishtok in TikTok's search bar, you will find hundreds of videos of people speaking in Irish Gaelic, showing off the beautiful scenery, or Irish natives talking about their day in English.  

Language policies

The Official Language Act for Ireland was created on July 14th in 2003.  This act made it possible to speak whatever language you would like in public settings, like in a trial for example.  

For more information on this act, I have provided the PDF link to view the entire document under the image to the left.