We have put the original language in a box on the right so people can follow the text as Bríd speaks it if they wish!
What is wrong with us anyway?
| Céard atá cearr linn ar aon chaoi? An bhfuil ár gcloigne sáite chomh fada sin suas ár gcuid tónacha nach dtuigeann muid go bhfuil an todhchaí tagtha cheana féin? An bhfuil ár dteanga caillte againn? Sin sin! Ró-mhall! Chaill muid an cath. Nó ar chaill? An cath a bhí ann ar aon chaoi? Cé a dúirt gurb ea? Nach mbeadh sé iontach a bheith in ann do theanga féin a labhairt is gan a bheith ag streachailt leis i gcónaí? Gan a bheith ag troid ar son cearta? Gan a bheith ag éileamh seirbhísí? Gan a bheith dod' chur féin soir leis? Gan a bheith go síoraí á cosaint? Nárbh fhearr i bhfad an t-airgead a chaitheamh ar ospidéil, nó bóithre, aon rud eile, deir siad linn. Níor chóir go mbeadh iachall ar dhaoine í a fhoghlaim ar scoil, dar leo. Iachall? Tá mé a cheapadh go bhfuair a chuile dhuine a chaith coicís saoire riamh i Sasana an "exemption". Seans go bhfaighinn féin ceann dá mbeinn á iarraidh. Agus céard atá fágtha dóibh siúd atá ag iarraidh staidéar a dhéanamh ar an nGaeilge? Leagan chomh cúng, chomh bunúsach, chomh simplí gur ar éigin go bhfuil aon bhlas dár litríocht, dár bhfilíocht, dár saibhreas teangan fágtha chun go gcuirfeadh ár scoláirí aithne uirthi, go mbeadh deis acu titim i ngrá léi. Tá sé i bhfad níos éasca gan a bheith i do ghaeilgeoir, gan aon dualgas ort foirmeacha dothuigthe a líonadh isteach ar líne, gan a bheith ag fanacht le "do ghnó a dhéanamh trí Ghaeilge", agus ar deireadh thiar thall nuair a fhaigheanns tú duine, nach mbíonn a fhios ag an diabhal bocht céard atá á rá agat? Ba bhreá liom éirí maidin eicint agus nach mbeadh orm m'ainm a litriú go deo arís, nach gcuirfeadh éinne ceist orm "Cad é an béarla air sin?" Gread leat! Is é m'ainm é! Is é an t-aon ainm amháin atá agam. Ní ghéillfidh mise. Is í mo theanga í! |
Are our heads so long stuck up our arses that we don't understand that the future has already come?
Have we lost our language (tongue)? That's that! Too late! We lost the battle. Or did we? Was it a battle anyway? Who said it was?
Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to speak your own language and not be always struggling? Not to be fighting for rights? Not to be demanding services? Not to be driving yourself mad with it? Not to be constantly defending it? Would it not be a lot better to spend the money on hospitals, or roads, anything else, they tell us. It is not proper that people should be forced to learn it at school, according to them. Forced? It seems to me that everyone who ever spent a fortnight's holiday in England got the exemption. Perhaps I would get one myself if I wanted it.
And what is left for those who want to study the Irish language? A version so narrow, so basic, so simple that there is hardly anything of our literature, of our poetry, of our linguistic richness left in order for the students to get to know it, so that they might have an opportunity to fall in love with it.
It is a lot easier not to be an Irish speaker, no duty to fill out unintelligible forms online, no waiting to "do your business through the medium of Irish" and finally when you do get somebody, that the poor divil does not know what you are saying.
I would like to get up some morning and not have to ever spell my name again, that no one would ask me "What is that in English?"
Feck off! It's my name! It's the only name I have!
I will not yield.
It's my language!
Bear in mind that some of the subtleties of language are always lost in translation and indeed words regarded as unacceptable in English polite society are fine in other languages (and vice versa!). Emphasis in one language may be lost in the second, for example "Mise" is a far more emphatic word than "mé" though both are usually translated as the English word "I."
• See translation here too with word/phrase guide.
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