Polish as Irelands Third Offical language?

bottom line is that Polish is an everyday language here with English (to a lesser degree Irish).
Polish is available in the workplace, govt depts, schools already.

what the article wanted was to have it recognised as an offical language under the Irish Constitution, which is not required and as mentioned above, not even sought by the local Polish here, if it was sure no harm, it can go through the democratic process as all things.

As we are all in Europe anyway you see, it is redundant as English, Polish & Irish are official languages and as such, relevant depts are obliged by law to provide material etc that is required & requested by member citizens.

that sums it up nicely.. well said

Yup, certainly does.

My only gripe is that it's taking me ages to learn Polish! - I should have started when i was younger, say age 3 or so :D

yes definately before u knew the z -- zee sound not the many combinations we have

That England will have no English Born and Bred left in the next 50 years because a lot - just like me are thinking of moving out because we see a country that is being torn apart and ruined - just yesterday I read an article about black police officers being fast tracked only because they were black and there were not enough black officers at the top....didnt matter they didnt have the relevant qualifications or years in the job.....


Why?


Who pays for this relevant information and the cost of translating it?

you'll have to read the article to find out.
id imagine to legimise further the community as a new part of the national identity(?)
However, thats one of many possible intrepretations of the article.

I stand by post no.102


why, we all do - thats our taxes for you. the part our gov't pay to EU, this is part of the spend.
dont bother giving out about to me though, ive no say in that :)

its a needed function in a society with several languages though wouldnt you agree? (seeing as not everyone speaks English, French, German, Spanish, Itallan, Polish, Portugeuese, Czech, Slovak, etc etc till the cows come home.

google "offical EU languages" and you'll see how many.

Screw the language. Make them pay the special tax for us. We are poor.

Only if you learn how to speak Irish and sing all the songs the Cors ever released!

I know Kelly family. Does It count ?

You are always offensive so it should come quite naturally for you!

Ireland (Republic) has a population of 4m. This includes around 200000 Poles. I would imagine that next to English more people here would speak Polish than Irish. The number of Irish speakers is pretty small and, more or less, confined to small areas in the west of Ireland.

- And now the racist Polonophobic oinker pretending-to-be-English is playing the offended un. With its snout deep in muck.

You sure? Even the higher number of 380 million seems a bit on the low side to me.

60 Million in the UK. Plus Australia, Canada, South Africa, Zimbabwe, USA (close on 300 million alone there!) New Zealand, and not forgetting the penguins in the Falklands... or about a dozen other places that have English as a first language. I'd guess, and it is only a guess, that about 500 million speak English as their first language. Then there's things like Pilots, who use English. Or the Indian Civil Service, where English is used as a "lingua franca".

If it is 500 million, then 1/12 of the world speaks English. And with everyday that passes, more Poles here learn a bit more English.... neat! ;)

absolutely

But they only talk about fish.... boring sods really. :D

yah, I wonder what accent thay have.........

I m shocked, by this idea but I dont live in Ireland and I dont know reality there. Honestly I hope that this project will not influece negativly on our relationships

The majority of the 200,000 or so Polish folk here intend on staying temporarily. They are mainly here to make a better life for themselves by earning some money to go towards buying a home in Poland or setting up businesses. They will stay from anywhere from a few months up to about five years at most. I'm speaking from what Polish friends tell me, and what other Polish people i meet tell me, and from reading the Irish and Polish media.

It is not a permanent situation. Unless the majority of Polish folk settle here and have children with Polish/Irish/ or other foreign national partners, there will be no need to have Ireland list Polish as a third official language. People are not going to be here to care about it.

The Irish economy has come full circle since the 80's and now we are seeing the signs of a slow down; Ireland will no longer be as an attractive an option. With new government in Poland, change for progress (not retarding) for a country's prosperty is now possible. Why? Because prosperity of a nation is down to the mindset and emotion of its people. It is something that has not being cultivated in the right manner for some time. It is why so many left in the first place.

Time is changing, we will see. I for one, hope that most of the Poles stay in Dublin. I find it enriches and enhances our own culture by having the mix. Although, i do wish the Polish people here would integrate here like other foreign nationals. There are many Polish media outlets here that act as info points and support, and i feel it is a crutch that it is too easy lean on and be comfortable with. The Czech, Sloval, Lithuanian, Russian, Slovene folk for example don't have such resources, and whether they did or not, they seem quite happy living life and integrating without continuos contact their fellow countryman.

Many Polish here (Dublin) can spend their whole week speaking little English, as they work with/for, live with, and socialise with other Polish folk. There is not as much integration as i would like there to be. And, i always get funny looks of disbelief and suspicious question of 'why?' from Polish folk when i tell them i'm learning Polish.

Before i go off on a tangent, i'll finish by saying, that, as it is currently not a permanent situation, there will be no formal recognition of Polish as a 3rd language. It would be nice. But, there is Polish media here, people speak it freely and more than English; there is no need or mandate for it(?).

But, we will have to wait a few years and see. Will Poland be able to entice people back?

No, there are not three languages in Ireland as very few people speak Irish. In Wales their language is still strong with almost a million speakers but who speaks Irish? A few on the West Coast perhaps?

according focuses Irish is EU nation Poles like the most, I would like it not to change, just becase our relationship will change into worst because of that kind of projects ...

No, sorry - suggest you start learning Polands new unofficial language which will be Urdu

Actually, quite a lot of people in Ireland still speak Irish, certainly enough for it to be regarded as one of Ireland's three main languages!

In school they have to learn it but in practice....

Nuair ata tu ag bualadh le dadine i dtiortha eile, ta se tabhachtach no sanna na tire a chionneail i gcumhne agus aird a thabhairt othu.

have you been to Ireland ?

my irish wouldn't be the best, but that was a very strange translator you used. I know we have 3 main dialects and so subject to variation. but i have to say, lets stick to english ;)

Michal,

The Irish Consitution names Irish Gaelic as the primary national langage of the Replublic. English is the second national language, and the third language is ISL (Irish Sign Lanaguge - we had no sign as such until the Presentation Sisters brought back the sign language they had learned from France, which has since evolved locally).

The Irish language and culture was surpressed during the oppression of the English. Under Penal law acts, which were simply Irish, were deemed treason; it was almost illegal to live if one were a Catholic and speaking one's native language was punishable by death. It is not due to abondonment or relinquishment of our heritage that English became the most spoken language. In this day and age it is more practical for us to speak English, and probably has ironically been a benefit to us economically speaking.

In fact Michal, the 2006 CSO study has found that 41% of Irish people can speak Irish across the island; not just a 'few people in the west.'

Also, for anyone looking to get help with Irish translation try: irishgaelictranslator.com

But how much is it used as a day-to-day means of communication outside of these few areas in the west?

Most Irish people speak Polish after vodka!

this is complete rubbish...polish should NEVER be irelands 3rd language...never ever ever.......how about just getting rid of polish and making english a universal language that everyone has to speak...now thats a good idea

This bit doesn't work.
"is rud tabhachtach é" is what it should be...
Good effort though :)


Not sure what this bit is trying to mean. As it stands it could have several possible meanings.

I speak Irish from time to time when I am in the west and north of the country.
There are a lot of people who speak and use it.