Irish language to get EU status [Archive]

Switek

12-27-2006, 07:08 PM

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/bbc_logo.gif
Irish language to get EU status
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42390000/jpg/_42390765_irishflag.jpg
The EU recognises the Irish language's resurgence
The Irish language (Gaeilge) is set to get official status in the EU on 1 January, bringing the total to 23.
The European Commission says Bulgarian and Romanian are expected to get official status on the same day, when the two Balkan countries join the EU.
According to Ireland's 2002 census, 1.57 million of the four million population can speak Irish.
The commission says the EU will not have to translate all legislation into Irish, "mainly for practical reasons".
The EU will have a team of 29 translators and editors to handle Irish, as well as 450 freelance interpreter days annually, costing some 3.5m euros (£2.3m; $4.6m).
Despite the resurgence of interest in Irish, increasing numbers of students are choosing not to sit exams in Irish, the commission says. The language is compulsory in Ireland's schools.
The commission describes linguistic diversity as a "key theme" in the EU, noting that Catalan, Basque and Galician have been granted semi-official status.
If they become official the costs will probably be incurred by Spain, it says.
BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6212033.stm)

tippex22

12-27-2006, 09:45 PM

I wonder what presentage of that 1.57 million can hold a proper conversation in irish.An Irish speaking t.v reporter was recently kicked out of a pub in dublin because he refused to stop speaking in irish .It's a strange old world.

Paul in Saudi2

12-28-2006, 03:47 AM

MalteseFalcon

12-28-2006, 04:12 AM

I seem to recall that freakin' Maltese is an official language. You ever try to deal with Maltese? It isn't Italian, it isn't Arabic, it is not even much like Berber. I think it comes from Mars.

At some point the EU has got to adopt a couple of official languages. This is reaching a ridiculous point.

Thank god it isn't Arabic last thing we want to be confused for, and the EU is a representive of EUROPEAN NATIONS of which several language are being represented not just one, just means more jobs for Irish (Gaelic speakers) to translate EU law

maundy

12-28-2006, 04:33 AM

That's really cool.

I don't know how to spell it, but I know a few little Irish sayings. Phonetically,my favourite is;

Tommy ganas un colleen mure.

It means I ****ed a fat chick.

Paul in Saudi2

12-28-2006, 06:03 AM

Thank god it isn't Arabic last thing we want to be confused for, and the EU is a representive of EUROPEAN NATIONS of which several language are being represented not just one, just means more jobs for Irish (Gaelic speakers) to translate EU law

Of course if those people got jobs doing work that actually needed to be done, they could increase the wealth of the world, rather than decreasing it. If we continue at this pace, Welsh and Devonish will be official languages.

Mike Keenan

12-28-2006, 07:14 AM

Conas ata tu?

MalteseFalcon

12-28-2006, 07:24 AM

Of course if those people got jobs doing work that actually needed to be done, they could increase the wealth of the world, rather than decreasing it. If we continue at this pace, Welsh and Devonish will be official languages.

Your point being if the EU wishes to have a large multi-lingual language base, I say good on them who cares about how many languages are spoken and represented in the EU as long as the EU deems them to be represented.

Also I don't see how you have a problem with it and then to get really abusive about it the languages being represented because they may be small and have a low level of speakers say compared too English or German.

Ordie

12-28-2006, 12:42 PM

Question?

How could one verbally translate Maltese into Gaelic?

Or Latvian into Maltese?

Or Estonian into Catalan?

Ordie

12-28-2006, 12:43 PM

Conas ata tu?

Muy bien gracias..:)

SHAM

12-28-2006, 12:51 PM

juliuspret

12-28-2006, 07:35 PM

Jobs for the boys, 29 translator jobs for graduates. Encouraging more people to do 3rd level Irish.

And as for "Tommy ganas un colleen mure" no idea what tommy ganas means, but cailin mor does mean big girl.

Well...."Tommy ganas un colleen mure" ....sounds like

>>>>>>>>>>>>Ta me gnéas an cailin mor<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

As for the €3.5 million.....a TOTAL waste of money!

Im Irish and have only a basic understanding of the language AFTER 13 YEARS OF DOING IT IN SCHOOL!!!

There was never a good reason for us to learn it and I only ever used(sometimes!) it for my 3 weeks in Coláistí Chorca Dhuibhne when I was 14!!!!

Some county council translated a documented for ~€10,000 a couple of years ago and NO ONE purchased it.....and yes lots of people pu[/URL][URL="http://www.focal.ie/Search.aspx?term=gn%C3%A9as&lang=2"] (http://www.focal.ie/Search.aspx?term=gn%C3%A9as&lang=2)rchased the English version!!!

What a joke!

Ordie

12-28-2006, 08:04 PM

If the Israelis could resurrect the endangered Hebrew language, why couldn't the Irish resurrect Gaelic?

Though the Welsh have done a good job.

SHAM

12-28-2006, 08:14 PM

If the Israelis could resurrect the endangered Hebrew language, why couldn't the Irish resurrect Gaelic?

Though the Welsh have done a good job.

Probably becoz like the chap above, there are thousands who have vivid memories of getting it beat into them by the christian brothers for years.
I have a relation from the west of Ireland who has the very same opinion, thinks its a waste of money etc..and talks of having irish beat into him for years, and still not knowing a word of it.
The thing about irish spoken in gaeltacht areas is that its grown into itself, as english has done, slang words etc...so when you head out to the west or southwest, the irish your hearing bears very little resemblence to what you heard in your school, and what with the accents in the different parts of the country aswell, forget about it unless your going to imerse yourself.
But in saying that i did meet a chap living on the aran islands one time, inis oir,, from Japan, named "jimmy the jap" by the locals, who was living and breathing Irish and far more fluent than i, so there is hope for us all.
And considering the vast amounts of money being dumped into the luas etc in dublin, i think the 3.5 million is a good investment in our culture and history, probably better than most.

angry cow

12-29-2006, 03:23 AM

Since the EU consists of all European Citizens within its borders, it makes sense that any language spoken by EU citizens would be official. Day to day business-wise however, the languages are just a formality. English, French, and German are the only languages that are used most of the time, and mostly English. Alot of Commission decisions that are more obscure (or which the Commission wants fewer people to know about) are only translated into English until someone makes a fuss about it.

reya

12-29-2006, 12:57 PM

Ordie

12-29-2006, 01:21 PM

Isn't it, from Malta? An island off of, Greece. Therefore, it must be Greek?

Malta is an island between Sicily, Tunisia and Libya.

Maltese is considered as a branch of Arabic language.

Malta, a Catholic nation once ruled by the Crusader Knights of St. John, had a long lasting relationship with the West. Therefore, Latin and Romance languages are infused.

FYI. About 1/4 of the Spanish Language is based on Arabic.

reya

12-29-2006, 01:59 PM

If the Israelis could resurrect the endangered Hebrew language, why couldn't the Irish resurrect Gaelic?

Though the Welsh have done a good job.Who said, it was endangered. I read and speak it. You must be, referring to old testament
hebrew.

daily666

12-29-2006, 02:06 PM

Who said, it was endangered. I read and speak it. You must be, referring to old testament
hebrew.

WTF are you talking about?

Ordie

12-29-2006, 02:19 PM

Who said, it was endangered. I read and speak it. You must be, referring to old testament
hebrew.

Since the Roman Empire, Hebrew was not considered Lingua Franca among the Jewish Diaspora. Aramaic, Greek, Arabic, Farsi, Russian, English, Yiddish (German Based), and Ladino (Spanish Based) were the daily means of communication. Hebrew like Latin, were used only in religious settings.

It wasn't until 1948, when Hebrew along with Arabic and English were considered the official languages of Israel. A good amount of effort was done to modernize Hebrew and promote its use.

Reggie

12-30-2006, 04:39 AM

The only way for europeans to unite and prosper is to have only one language, english.

Kant

12-30-2006, 04:41 AM

The only way for europeans to unite and prosper is to have only one language, english.
You are trying to get banned aren't you?

Switek

12-30-2006, 04:48 AM

You are trying to get banned aren't you?

He has already accomplished his mision.... :)

Ordie

12-30-2006, 11:33 AM

High tech (Internet), commercial (goods and services) and administrative tasks (Air traffic control) are universally conducted in English.

Very much in the same manner how Latin and Greek was used 2,000 years ago.

I'm not a proponent in creating "official languages". It's very difficult to control its daily use. Language is very fluid like water. Always evolving, always merging and always adapting new terminology.

juliuspret

01-01-2007, 06:42 PM

High tech (Internet), commercial (goods and services) and administrative tasks (Air traffic control) are universally conducted in English.

Im positive that your first 2 examples are incorrect but I do think air traffic control is done through English.

alfigel

01-03-2007, 03:53 AM

Im positive that your first 2 examples are incorrect but I do think air traffic control is done through English.

English is by far the most important language in the IT industry. Having worked for a few Austrian software companies, the internal language for all internal documents has always been English. All the relevant documentation, whitepapers, conference proceedings related to any IT subject are primarily written in English.

MalteseFalcon

01-03-2007, 04:09 AM

Only because of the language being spoken as a second or first language alot more then say German,French and Spanish.

Also isn't alot of coding done in english

Lope de Aguirre

01-03-2007, 07:03 AM

FYI. About 1/4 of the Spanish Language is based on Arabic.

This figure is overestimated, the true one would be around 15% and most of them have been put in the vocabulary by the RAE (Academy of the spanish language) in order to homogenize the spanish language even when many of these words, that come from the South, are not understood at the North. Grammar and sintax come from Latin, most of vocabulary comes from latin - greek (75%) and many words have been inserted too from other languages like basque, german, french, italian or english.

Wodan

01-03-2007, 08:26 AM

English is by far the most important language in the IT industry. Having worked for a few Austrian software companies, the internal language for all internal documents has always been English. All the relevant documentation, whitepapers, conference proceedings related to any IT subject are primarily written in English.

Well... your example is interesting, the head of Deutsche Telekom just published a message to all his employees about how they should use german terms instead of english ones, other companys generally prefere german terms.. plus austria isn´t germany, austrians use much more english, even in TV spots, they often have the english version instead of the german one, which is used here, as example with the advertisement for the "Modus" car..

Only because of the language being spoken as a second or first language alot more then say German,French and Spanish.

Also isn't alot of coding done in english

English is spoken far less as first language in europe than german,

NATIVE german speakers in EU
15,000 danish
82 million germans
1.2 million in france
1,870 in estonia
333,000 italians
11,000 croatians
541 lithuanians
474,000 luxembourgians
386,000 dutch
8.28 million austrians
150,000 to 300,000 polish
45,000 romanians
5,500 slovakians
2,000 slovenians
50,000 spanish
30,000 czech
35,000 to 200,000 hungary

93.326 million german native speakers compared to 60 million english native speakers in EU..

(if switzerland came to EU it would be another 5 million, russia has 800,000 etc.)

For now:
English speakers in EU: native 13%, foreign: 38% => 51%
German speakers in EU: native 18%, foreign 14% => 32%
French speakers in EU: native: 12%, foreign 14% => 26%

alfigel

01-03-2007, 08:46 AM

Well... your example is interesting, the head of Deutsche Telekom just published a message to all his employees about how they should use german terms instead of english ones, other companys generally prefere german terms.. plus austria isn´t germany, austrians use much more english, even in TV spots, they often have the english version instead of the german one, which is used here, as example with the advertisement for the "Modus" car..

Big companies in Germany, at least in my experience, usually tend to use "Siemens-Deutsch" (i.e. German words and phrases that describe something that already has a catchy, well-understood word/phrase in English). And I guess this order only applies to texts that are written in German, anyway. So far, with all the companies I had to do with, be it O2 Germany, Sony, Vodafone (UK, ES, FR, IT, DE, PT), even some Austrian mobile phone providers, they all had English as _the_ language for internal formal communication. As soon as projects go international, and they often do, all your correspondence and documentation simply has to be in English, because it's the #1 language in this area. Or to get more technical, more low-level, when you have source code with identifiers and comments that aren't written in English, they are basically worthless when you're cooperating with international partners.

angry cow

01-05-2007, 11:22 AM

All international air traffic control (ATC) is conducted in English. Some of the more fussy countries still force domestic flights to use the local language, but even then the controllers themselves must know english in order to deal with international flights.

Switek

01-05-2007, 11:46 AM

Engish is and will be dominant language in current international and in some cases internal communication. But this why we, Euroepans, should resign from our heritage? language is a basic factor of national/ethnical identification.

Sad to say by according to some linguists some European languages can dissapear by the end of this century. Languages as a rare specimen should be protected.

Wodan

01-05-2007, 01:59 PM

Big companies in Germany, at least in my experience, usually tend to use "Siemens-Deutsch" (i.e. German words and phrases that describe something that already has a catchy, well-understood word/phrase in English). And I guess this order only applies to texts that are written in German, anyway. So far, with all the companies I had to do with, be it O2 Germany, Sony, Vodafone (UK, ES, FR, IT, DE, PT), even some Austrian mobile phone providers, they all had English as _the_ language for internal formal communication. As soon as projects go international, and they often do, all your correspondence and documentation simply has to be in English, because it's the #1 language in this area. Or to get more technical, more low-level, when you have source code with identifiers and comments that aren't written in English, they are basically worthless when you're cooperating with international partners.

get a brain

how big is the share of such companys among the german laborforce and among the german total profits?

0.0001%?
those aren´t even german companys
Vodafone is british, O2 is british, sony is japanese..

and they don´t really have many employees here

have fun with your trolling....

alfigel

01-05-2007, 06:52 PM

get a brain

You should better do that.

how big is the share of such companys among the german laborforce and among the german total profits?

0.0001%?

My argument is still valid: only small and unprofessional companies use German as an internal language for important things like specification and documentation. I'm not talking about some sh*tty 3-employee company with customers in a perimeter of 20 km. I'm talking about the real stuff, the multi-million euro companies, where the big projects are done (and sometimes f*cked up).

those aren´t even german companys
Vodafone is british, O2 is british, sony is japanese..

Here you have some sugar, you stupid little monkey.
O2 Germany is still a German company. They used to be called VIAG Interkom. Sony DADC and Sony NetServices (I worked for both of them), are Austrian companies with (mostly) Austrian employees and an Austrian management. Sony Japan is merely the parent company, owning the stocks and coordinating the business concepts of the different Sony companies.

Vodafone is british in the UK. Vodafone in France is actually SFR. Vodafone in Spain was Airtel before. Vodafone in Germany used to be called Mannesmann D2. Vodafone in Italy is what was once Omnitel. And for Portugal: Telecel.

Vodafone is in many of the cases a brand, in some countries Vodafone is only a minority stock owner. These specific companies are still local companies, even when they are called "Vodafone" and Vodafone International's (they sit in the UK, too, but are actually different from VF UK) has (sometimes very limited) influence on them.

and they don´t really have many employees here

Yeah, right. You don't know sh*t.

And my point remains: the IT sector and the Internet are primarily English-speaking, and you can only compete internationally when you're able to communicate in English. That's a matter of fact, even when you're too stupid to understand that. I've worked together with every single company mentioned above, and quite a few others, too, so contrary to you, I exactly know what I'm talking about.

Kaapeli

01-05-2007, 08:42 PM

Reggie was just trolling (just read his other posts... flamebait) so nevermind him.

Of course every language needs some official recognition & protection from extinction and quite obviously english is the lingua franca (ironic term... "frankish language") of modern Europe. I don't see the controversy in this. People can easily master at least two languages fluently and many more to a lesser degree. And they should because it's civilized.

Reggie

01-06-2007, 08:32 AM

Of course every language needs some official recognition & protection from extinction and quite obviously english is the lingua franca (ironic term... "frankish language") of modern Europe. I don't see the controversy in this. People can easily master at least two languages fluently and many more to a lesser degree. And they should because it's civilized.

Streamline and have one language for effective administration, economic prosperity and european integration/unity.

The most propserous nations are those that do not learn two+ languages , such as Japan, UK, U.S , France, Germany etc. woot

Only poor countries have to bother to learn more languages in order to reap the benefits of economic prosperity.

joka

01-07-2007, 06:43 AM

The only way for europeans to unite and prosper is to have only one language, english.

Nonsense, Europaio (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europaio) is the future p-)

Good for the Irish language though. But I think the EU could learn a lot from India, which also has 23 official languages, but the central government only uses 2 in official communication. Not only is it cheaper but legislation doesn't go through a endless amount of translation, in some cases translated twice, and potentially ending up as a law with a different spirit.

Ligreton

01-07-2007, 10:47 AM

Vodafone is british, O2 is british, sony is japanese..

O2 is spanish - Now Telefonica O2
:)

and i think that the communications in the company will be made in spanish and english.

angry cow

01-08-2007, 02:51 AM

I think language diversity in the information age looks increasingly endangered.

The less developed countries might have a better chance at retaining their linguistic heritage, since there are larger communities that still speak local dialects but remain isolated. Urbanization means that bilingualism is becoming the rule, rather than the exception. You just can't do business without knowing your local superpowers' language.

On the other hand it seems so hard to believe that a language like Mandarin will ever be endangered . . .

Man I don't know, this globalization stuff is complicated.