I rith Sheachtain na Gaeilge d’fhoilsigh nu-achtáin mhóra na hÉireann cúpla alt nó litir ó léitheoirí inar cuireadh tuairimí an-diúltacha i dtaobh na Gaeilge in iúl. Maidir leis an Irish Independent, bhí litir i gcló ansin a thug le fios gur mhaith leis an údar an Ghaeilge a ruaigeadh as lár an aonaigh toisc nár thaitin fuaimeanna na teanga lena phearsa mhórluachach féin!
An cineál seo frith-Ghaeilgeoireachta, is deacair gan é a chur i gcomparáid leis an gciníochas. An duine a deir gur chóir an teanga a chaitheamh i dtraipisí agus na cearta teanga a bhaint dá cainteoirí ós fuath leis blas na Gaeilge, an bhfuil mórán difríochta idir eisean agus an té a deir gur chóir a gcearta daonna a bhaint de dhaoine gorma, ó nach dtaitníonn lí a gcraicinn leis?
Cé go raibh fáilte roimh mo chuid Gaeilge féin ag muintir na hÉireann riamh, is minic a chuala mé ó lucht m’aitheantais in Éirinn gur féidir le lucht an aineolais foréigean a bhagairt ar dhaoine a labhraíos Gaeilge go poiblí.
Dúirt duine acu liom go raibh sé, bliain de na blianta beaga, ag ceiliúradh Lá Fhéile Pádraig i dteach tábhairne i gcuideachta cúpla cara, agus iad ag déanamh a gcomhrá as Gaeilge, ó bhí an teanga go líofa ag gach uile dhuine acu, agus iad i dtaithí a húsáide. Go tobann tháinig fear óg a raibh cuma bhagrach air ag áitiú orthu Béarla a labhairt, ó bhí siad ag maslú na nÉireannach lena gcuid ‘Polainnise’ ar lá náisiúnta na tíre. Ar mhí-ámharaí an tsaoil, níor chuala mé an chuid eile den scéal, an ndearna an fear óg a leithscéal, mar shampla, nuair a míníodh dó nárbh í an Pholainnis a bhí i gceist, ach teanga shinseartha na hÉireann?
Ach is é seach-chiall na tagartha don Pholainnis is mó is spéis liom anseo. Is éard a bhí an fear óg a mhaíomh ná gur teanga choimhthíoch í an Ghaeilge in Éirinn agus nach bhfuil cead a labhartha ag lucht a labhartha ina dtír dhúchais féin. Rugadh in Éirinn thú, tógadh le teanga stairiúil na tíre thú, ach má labhraíonn tú go poiblí í, brisfear do phus.
In áiteanna eile sna meáin, an bhean a d’ionsaigh an teanga ansin ar an Irish Times, is é an port a bhí á sheinm aici ná gur chóir gan na páistí a chéasadh leis an nGaeilge, toisc go raibh caighdeán an Bhéarla an-íseal sna scoileanna Éireannacha.
Ar dtús, ní léir dom an fáth gur céasadh nó fulaingt atá i gceist leis an nGaeilge thar aon ábhar scoile eile, an mhatamaitic mar shampla. Is í an Ghaeilge teanga stairiúil na huile Éireann, agus dá mbeadh an cainteoir deireanach dúchais ar shlí na fírinne, bheadh cúis le teagasc na teanga i gcónaí, ós cuid d’oidhreacht na hÉireann í. Nach múintear Laidin do na páistí Iodálacha ar chúiseanna cosúla?
Teanga bheo í an Ghaeilge áfach, agus cultúr spéisiúil ag baint léi. Thiocfadh le múinteoir dúthrachtach samhlaíoch tarraingt ar thobar an chultúir sin leis an teanga a dhéanamh tarraingteach – amhráin Ghaeilge a sheinm is a mhúineadh do na páistí. Ní féidir liom a shamhlú gur fulaingt mhór a bheadh ann dá gcaithfeadh na páistí cuid mhaith dá ranganna Gaeilge ag éisteacht le rogha na gceoltóirí Gaeilge – Clannad, mar shampla, nó Enya, nó Maria McCool.
Ar ndóigh, is féidir nach mbaineann na múinteoirí leas as an gcultúr Gaeilge sa teagasc mar seo. Más ea, is ar an scoil, ar an múinteoirí nó ar an gcuraclam náisiúnta atá an locht, seachas ar an nGaeilge féin. Ar an dóigh chéanna, mura bhfuil ag éirí leis na múinteoirí Béarla ceart a chur ar fáil do na páistí, ní féidir na torthaí a fheabhsú tríd an nGaeilge a chaitheamh i dtraipisí, ach trí theagasc an Bhéarla féin a leasú. Díol dubhiontais dom go gcaithfidh mé rudaí chomh follasach seo a mhíniú do dhaoine fásta.
Tá an argóint ann gur rud aiféiseach ann féin é teanga atá ag saothrú an bháis a athbheochan. Bhuel, cúpla bliain ó shin chonaic mé scannán doiciméadach faoin dóigh a raibh an teanga Miami-Illinois á teagasc do na páistí i Meiriceá – do shliocht sleachta na ndaoine a labhraíodh í, fadó.
Teanga Algancach í an teanga Miami-Illinois agus gaolta aici ar fud na Stát Aontaithe agus Cheanada. Fuair an cainteoir deireanach dúchais bás timpeall na blian 1950. Mar sin féin, tá an treibh – ceithre mhíle duine ar fad – ag iarraidh an teanga a ghairm chun beo arís agus iad ag comhoibriú le teangeolaithe ollscoile ó Ohio.
Iad siúd a chaitheas anuas ar athbheochan na Gaeilge, cén fáth nach gcaitheann siad anuas ar lucht athbheochana na dteangacha bundúchasacha Meiriceánacha ar an dóigh chéanna? Nó an bhfuil difríocht shuntasach úimléideach éigin idir athbheochan na Gaeilge agus athbheochan na dteangacha seo? Níor thug mise a leithéid faoi deara – agus is sochtheangeolaí oilte mé.
Tá Panu Höglund scríbhneoir Fionlannach ar líne agus aistritheoir
During Seachtain na Gaeilge, some of the biggest newspapers in Ireland published articles or letters to the editor expressing very negative opinions of the Irish language. One letter writer in the Irish Independent said that the language should be banished from public space because its sounds didn’t please his lordship!
It is difficult not to compare this sort of anti-Irish language sentiment with racism. If someone says that the language should be discarded and its speakers lose their linguistic rights only because he doesn’t like how the language sounds, is he really that different from someone who says that black people should be denied their human rights because the colour of their skin does not please him?
I have myself always been welcomed by Irish people as a foreigner who speaks better Irish than English, but my Irish-speaking acquaintances in Ireland have often told me that if you speak the language publicly, you can be threatened with violence by ignorant people.
One of them told me that some years ago, when he was celebrating St Patrick’s Day in a pub with a couple of Irish-speaking friends, their fluent conversation in the language was interrupted by a tough-looking young man who told them to speak English, as they were insulting Irish people by speaking ‘Polish’ on the Irish national day. Unfortunately I never heard the rest of the story: did the young man apologise, for instance, when he was told that what was spoken was not Polish, but the ancestral language of Ireland?
But it is the connotation of the young man’s reference to Polish that is of interest here. What he was effectively saying was that Irish is a foreign language in Ireland and that its speakers are not allowed to speak it in their own native country. You were born and bred in Ireland, you were brought up to speak the historic language of the country, but if you speak it publicly, you’ll have your face smashed.
Elsewhere in the media, the lady who attacked the language in The Irish Times was of the opinion that children should not be tortured with Irish, because the standards of English were so low in Irish schools.
To start with, I fail to see why only Irish should be seen as torture and suffering. There are other subjects: mathematics, for instance. Irish is the historic language of all Ireland, and even if the last speaker would be dead and buried, there would be a reason to teach Irish – it is part of the national heritage. Don’t they teach Latin in Italy for similar reasons?
But Irish is a living language, and it has an interesting culture. A committed and imaginative teacher could use that culture in teaching to make the language attractive: he could play Irish-language songs to the children as part of the tuition. I cannot imagine it would be a particularly inhuman kind of torture to make children listen to Clannad, Enya or Maria McCool.
Of course, it is possible that teachers don’t make use of the Irish language culture in such a way. If it is so, it is hardly the language’s fault, but that of teachers, of the school, or of the national curriculum. In a similar way, if teachers find it difficult to make standard English accessible to the children, results will hardly get any better by jettisoning Irish – they will improve if English is taught in a better way. I find it singularly puzzling that I should need to explain such self-evident things to grown-ups.
There is the argument that language revival as an idea is somehow inherently ridiculous. Well, a couple of years ago I saw a documentary about the way the Miami-Illinois language is being revived in the US by teaching it to children whose ancestors spoke it.
Miami-Illinois is an Algonkian language with linguistic relatives all over the US and Canada. The last native speaker died around the year 1950. However, the 4,000-strong tribe is trying to bring the language back to life, co-operating with linguists from a university in Ohio.
Those who are poking fun at the revival of Irish, why aren’t they ridiculing similar attempts among the original inhabitants of America? Or is there a relevant, fundamental difference between those attempts and the revival effort of the Irish language? I don’t see any such difference – and I am a professional sociolinguist.
Panu Höglund is a Finnish online writer and translator
