Why is it nice to have the Irish language?

Answer 1

A language is part of a country's culture. Without the Irish language, Ireland would be a different country. Although not many people speak it fluently as their day to day language, most Irish people have a little Irish. You will also see it in Ireland in many ways. Street name signs and sign posts always have the name in both English and Irish. Sometime the names are similar, as if they have been mispronounced when spoken by English speakers. Other times they are translations. Other times they are actually two different names for the same place. The Irish language is used in the names of many national organisations, like the national broadcaster, which is RTE, which stands for Raidio Teilifís Éireann, which is literally the radio and television of Ireland.

There are many other ways the language comes into day to day usage even by English speakers. You would hear words that are actually Irish words or which come from Irish when people are speaking English. The head of the Irish government is also referred to as the Taoiseach. It would be the equivalent of a prime minister in other countries, but Taoiseach is an old Irish word for chieftain or leader. The direct translation for prime minister is príomh-aire, but that is never used to refer to the Taoiseach.

Then there is all the Irish literature that is in Irish. There is the Irish music that is from the Irish language. It is very important for the Irish people to have the Irish language, even if they don't speak it much, as it is part of their cultural identity. It can also be useful when travelling, as very few people outside of Ireland would understand it. So this means Irish people can speak to each other without anyone knowing what they are saying. Even if their knowledge of Irish is not very good, they can still communicate in broken Irish, enough for others around them not to understand them.