How many people play Gaelic worldwide?

Answer 1

Most Irish people have some words of Irish, as it is a compulsory school subject.

In the last census, in 2006, 41.9% of the population said they speak Irish to some extent.

Around 10% are fluent speakers. Estimates suggest it is the first language of around 2 or 3% of the population.

It is difficult to quantify it in percentage terms. Most Irish people would have some Irish, as it is a compulsory subject in schools, and many words are commonly used in Ireland by English speakers that are actually Irish words. For example, the word used for a head of government in Ireland is Taoiseach, pronounced Tee Shock. You wouldn't often hear the words Prime Minister being used to refer to an Irish head of government, so when you do hear it, it is normally associated with the British Prime Minister. Taoiseach doesn't mean Prime Minister; it is an old Irish word for a leader or chieftain. There are lots of words like that that are used on a day to day basis by English speakers in Ireland. The Irish language is present in other ways too, like in placenames and the names of some organisations. However, the amount of people that speak Irish fluently and as their first language is quite small. An Irish speaking area, where the language is spoken on a daily basis as the first language, is known as a Gaeltacht. These are small areas, nearly all of which are on the west coast in counties like Donegal, Galway and Kerry, amongst others. You will get some more information on some websites. Try the two related links below for a start.

The Irish government has been less than candid about the state of the language and a recent government study (leaked to the media) gave the language another 20 years at the present rate. The language really only serves a symbolic function, The idea that the language is doing well is a pious fiction. Aidan Doyle's book states that for "Propaganda reasons" the Irish government wildly exaggerates the number of speakers as well as the unreliable census reports. People with little Irish reporting themselves as Irish speakers. "There are not more than 10,000 native speakers left, most of then over the age of 40". The reasons given for the decline of Irish are:

- Modern communication and suburbanisation of the last Gaeltachtaí

- A large influx of English-speaking vacation-home owners

- Competition from video, internet, mobile phone

He states the language seems doomed to extinction within a few decades as a language of everyday communication.

As a comparison, Scottish Gaelic had 58,000 speakers and the Celtic (but not Gaelic) Welsh had over 200,000 speakers.

Answer 2

There are three languages that might be described as 'Gaelic'; Scottish Gaelic, Manx and Irish. Manx died out in the twentieth century. The language has been revived, but there are still only a small number of speakers. Scottish Gaelic never died out, but it is spoken by only a minority of Scottish people, although there are regions of west and north Scotland where it is the first language of the community. Irish is the most prevalent of the three. In the Republic, the majoirity of people probably have some bit of Irish, and it is a compulsory school subject. However, according to the latest census, the number of Irish people in the Republic who can speak the language is slightly over 40% of the population (the population is a bit more than four million). In Northern Ireland (population a bit more than a million) little more than one in ten of the population describe themselves as Irish speaking. That gives a figure of something like 2 million Irish speakers, although this may be rather a high figure and not all of those would be fluent. People in certain regions (mainly in western counties such as Mayo, Clare, Kerry, Galway, Donegal and Cork) speak Irish as their first language, although they are almost always fluent in English as well. These areas where Irish is the main language of the community are known as the "Gaeltacht". The only Gaeltacht area in Northern Ireland is the 'Gaeltacht Quarter' in Belfast. A lot of primary and secondary schools (especially in the Republic) are now Irish-speaking "Gaelscoileanna", as every lesson apart from English is in Irish. In the Republic, you also get extra marks if you do your school-leaving exams in Irish. So the children grow up bilingual. However, you are still more likely to hear people speaking English than Irish in most areas other than the west coast.

Answer 3

The number of daily speakers of Irish is estimated to be 20,000; the number of Scottish Gaelic speakers was about 59,000 in 2001.

Previous Answer:

No one is really sure, but about 1,954,500 people in the world today have some knowledge of Gaelic. This includes speakers of Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx (which is undergoing a revival). There are at least 1,000,000 people who are truly fluent in some Gaelic language, and as many as 2,000,000 have some knowledge.

Answer 4

Yes. It is a compulsory subject in schools, from the start of a child's schooling. However the language is not the first language of most Irish people, and only a small amount are fluent. There are a number of parts of Ireland, mainly on the west coast, where Irish is used as a first language.

The Irish language also has a large influence on things like placenames and streetnames. All signs for these are always in English and Irish. Many placenames appear to be similar in both languages. Some are just an English pronounciation of the Irish name. You will commonly see "Kill" as part of the English version of a name and "Cill" as part of the Irish version. Cill is an old Irish word for church. Similarly you will see some of the following:

Bally - Baile (Irish word for town or place)

Dun - Dún (Irish word for fort)

Knock - Cnoc (Irish word for hill)

There are many more such examples.

Others placenames are tranlations, and appear different in the two languages. Some are actually completely different names referring to the same place. The best example of that is Dublin. Dublin comes from "Dubh Linn" meaning Black Pool. But the Irish form used for Dublin is "Baile Átha Cliath" which is the town of the hurdle Ford. The difference is due to the fact that the two names referred to two ancient settlements where Dublin now is, that were very close to each other and then expanded to become one larger place and eventually became the city we now know as Dublin.

There are Irish language TV and radio stations, as well as the Irish TV and radio stations that work in English. Many words used in Ireland when speaking English are Irish words. The head of an Irish government is known as a Taoiseach pronounced "Tea-shock". Taoiseach is an old Irish word for leader or chieftain.

So while most Irish people do not speak it as a first language, the Irish language pervades Irish day to day life in many ways, like those above.

Answer 5

Mainly in the highlands of Scotland.
of the Irish people

Answer 6

About 1.3 % mainly in the highlands in Scotland.

Answer 7

in excess of 50,000