Do you speak EU?

by Iva Skoch on

Once again the EU has found a way to create more jobs. Hallelujah!

This time, it will need people to translate documents to Irish Gaelic because the old Celtic language has become one of the 23 official EU languages (though only about 5% of the 4-million inhabitants of Ireland use it actively.) Irish Gaelic (or simply Irish) is often confused with Gaelic (aka Scottish Gaelic) which is not yet an official EU language, but it is probably just a matter of time. Catalan and Basque are considered “semi-official”.

As of the New Year, three new languages joined the family of the EU official languages: Romanian, Bulgarian and Irish Gaelic. With all of EU’s efforts to be culturally and linguistically diverse, it has managed to achieve the opposite effect. According to The Economist, in the beginning of EU integration, about one half of official documents were in English, now it is two thirds.

Word for the Travel Wise (10/25/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Ireland is a place you can most certainly get around with knowing one language and that is the English language. However, if you should fancy learning Gaelige you can do that too and with a certain amount of ease I assume. Check out the info below and while you’re at it head to Neil’s recent piece on IRA tours.

Today’s word is a Gaeilge word used in Ireland:

síocháin – to keep the peace

Gaeilge is the first official language of the Republic of Ireland and has official recognition in Northern Ireland. There is a estimated total of 250,000 fluent Gaeilge speakers mainly in the west and north-west. According to Wikipedia, EU foreign ministers decided to make Irish an official language of the European Union, where the new arrangements will come into effect on January 1, 2007. Other much recommended background and history of the Irish lang can be found in the wiki as well. To learn online, start with English to Irish dictionaries or visit this beginner’s guide to Irish Gaelic pronunciation. Interactive Irish on the Internet offers some serious lessons and has some audio as well. Head over to nightcourses.com and search for a course that’s best for you. They seem to offer many. If channel surfing is a leisure activity of yours pause on TG4 to sample some Irish TV. My last recommendation is always my favorite and that is to take a trip to Ireland and go for full on emersion. Know of any others? Please share.