Languages of the Republic of Ireland
Encyclopedia
There are a number of languages used in Ireland
. Irish
is the main language to have originated from within the island, while others have been introduced through foreign settlements. Since the late nineteenth century, English
has been the predominant first language. A large minority claims some ability to use Irish, even though it is the first language only for a small percentage of the population. Within the Republic of Ireland
, under Bunreacht na hÉireann, the Irish constitution, both languages have official status, with Irish being the national and first official language.
s or Gael
s are now irretrievable, although there are some claims of pre-Celtic
traces in Irish toponymy
.
was first introduced by the Cambro-Norman settlers in the 12th century. It did not initially take hold as a widely-spoken language, as the Norman élite spoke Anglo-Norman
. In time, many Norman settlers intermarried and assimilated to the Irish cultures and some even became 'more Irish than the Irish themselves
'. Following the Tudor conquest of Ireland and the 1610–15 Ulster Plantation, particularly in the old Pale, Elizabethan English became the language of court, justice, administration, business, trade and of the landed gentry
. Unilingual Irish speakers were generally of the poorer and less educated classes with no land. Irish was accepted as a vernacular language, but then as now, fluency in English was an essential element for those who wanted social mobility and personal advancement. After the legislative Union of Great Britain and Ireland's succession of Irish Education Acts that sponsored the Irish national schools and provided free public primary education, Hiberno-English replaced the Irish language, as it did in Wales and Scotland. Since the 1850s, English medium education
was promoted by both the U.K. administration and the Roman Catholic Church
. This greatly assisted the waves of immigrants forced to seek new lives in the U.S.A. and throughout the Empire after the Famine. Since then the various local Hiberno-English dialects comprise the vernacular language throughout the island.
The two main dialects of English spoken natively in Ireland are Hiberno-English (mainly found in the provinces
of Connacht
, Leinster
and Munster
) and Mid Ulster English
or Ullans (mainly found in Ulster
). The 2002 census found that 103,000 British citizens were living in the Republic of Ireland, along with 11,300 from the USA and 8,900 from Nigeria, all of whom would speak other dialects of English. The 2006 census listed 165,000 people from Britain and 22,000 from the USA.
, and the Isle of Man
through the 12th century, when it began to evolve into modern Irish in Ireland, Scottish Gaelic in Scotland, and the Manx language
in the Isle of Man. Today, Irish is recognized as the first official language of the Republic of Ireland
and is officially recognized in Northern Ireland
and in the European Union
. Communities that speak Irish as their first language, generally in sporadic regions on the island's west coast, are collectively called the Gaeltacht
. According to more detailed census data, in 2006 22,471 Gaeltacht dwellers used the language on a daily basis, up from 21,626 in 2002 (both these figures exclude children using the language on a daily basis in the education system). Outside the Gaeltacht (and again excluding usage in the education system) Irish was used on a daily basis by 49,500 people in 2006.
In the over 80 years since the independence of the South, efforts to revive Irish as an Active daily vernacular of most of the nation have relied on compulsion and have generally failed thus far however in trying to achieve this, more and more people are becoming passive speakers
of Irish (who watch Irish language TV, listen to Irish language radio, read Irish language newspapers and magazines) with an estimated 10% (400,000+) of the population of the Republic who would be classified as fluent, near fluent or reasonably good passive speakers.
Although the use of Irish in educational and broadcasting contexts has soared with the 600 plus Irish-language primary/secondary schools and creches, English is still overwhelmingly dominant in almost all social, economic and cultural contexts. In the media, there is an Irish language TV station TG4
, Cúla 4
a children's channel on satellite, 5 radio stations such as the national station RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta
, Raidió na Life
in Dublin, Raidió Fáilte
in Belfast as well as youth radio stations Raidió Rí-Rá
and Anocht FM
and three newspapers, Lá Nua a Belfast daily, Foinse
a weekly, Saol
a monthly. There are also occasional columns written in Irish in English-language newspapers, including The Irish Times
, The Irish News
, The Irish Examiner, Metro Eireann
, Irish Echo and Evening Echo
. All of the 40 or so radio stations in the Republic have to have some weekly Irish language programming to obtain their broadcasting license. Similarly, RTÉ
runs Nuacht, a news show, in Irish and Léargas, a documentary show, in Irish with English subtitles. The Official Languages Act 2003
gave many new rights to Irish citizens with respect to the Irish language, including the use of Irish in court proceedings. All Dáil debates are to be recorded in Irish also. In 2007, Irish became the 21st official language of the European Union.
spoken in some parts of County Donegal
and Northern Ireland
. It is promoted by the Ulster Scots Agency, a cross-border body. Its status as a recognized language as opposed to a dialect of Scots is still under debate.
community.
than to the British Sign Language
.
Northern Ireland Sign Language
is used in Northern Ireland, and is related to both ISL and BSL in various ways. ISL is also used in Northern Ireland.
, Polish
, Lithuanian
, Latvian
, Spanish
, Cantonese, Japanese
, Mandarin, Hindi and Arabic
.
was introduced by the early Christians by c.500. It remained a church language, but also was the official language after the Norman conquest in 1171. It was used by the Roman Catholic church for services until the Vatican II
reforms in 1962-65.
settlers introduced the Norman
or Anglo-Norman language
during the Norman invasion of Ireland
of 1169. From it derived "Law French", that continues to be used today for certain legal purposes in both jurisdictions on the island.
was a dialect of Middle English, surviving in County Wexford
up to the 19th century.
was similar to Yola but spoken in Fingal
up until the mid-19th century.
and English
. The vast majority of schools teach through English, although a growing number of gaelscoil
eanna teach through Irish and English. Most students at second level choose to study English as an L1 language
and Irish and other Continental European languages as L2 languages
. Irish is not offered as an L1 language by the Department of Education. Prof. David Little (November 2003) said that there was an urgent need to introduce an L1 Irish Gaelic Curriculum. He quoted from a report by An Bord Curaclaim agus Scrúduithe (The Curriculum and Examinations Board) Report of the Board of Studies for Languages, Dublin 1987: "It must be stressed … that the needs of Irish as L1 at post-primary level have been totally ignored, as at present there is no recognition in terms of curriculum and syllabus of any linguistic differences between learners of Irish as L1 and L2.". The Continental European languages available for the Junior Certificate
and the Leaving Certificate
include French
, German
, Italian
and Spanish
; Leaving Certificate students can also study Arabic
, Japanese
and Russian
. Some schools also offer Ancient Greek
, Hebrew Studies
and Latin
at second level.
Students who did not immigrate to Ireland before the age of ten may receive an exemption from learning Irish. Pupils with learning difficulties can also seek exemption. A recent study has revealed that over half of those pupils who got exemption from studying Irish went on to study a Continental European language.
The following is a list of foreign languages taken at Leaving Certificate level in 2007, followed by the number as a percentage of all students taking Mathematics for comparison (mathematics is a mandatory subject).
Total Mathematics students in 2007 was 49,043.
is English. The ULTACH Trust
coordinates the promotion of Irish in some schools, and some promote the use and study of Ullans.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
is the main language to have originated from within the island, while others have been introduced through foreign settlements. Since the late nineteenth century, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
has been the predominant first language. A large minority claims some ability to use Irish, even though it is the first language only for a small percentage of the population. Within the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
, under Bunreacht na hÉireann, the Irish constitution, both languages have official status, with Irish being the national and first official language.
Prehistoric languages
The earliest linguistic records in Ireland are of Primitive Irish, from about the 5th century AD. Languages spoken in Iron Age Ireland before the arrival of the CeltCelt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
s or Gael
Gaël
Gaël is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department of Brittany in north-western France.It lies southwest of Rennes between Saint-Méen-le-Grand and Mauron...
s are now irretrievable, although there are some claims of pre-Celtic
Pre-Celtic
The term pre-Celtic refers to the period in the prehistory of Central and Western Europe postdating the emergence of Proto-Celtic and predating the expansion of the Celts, or Celtic culture, in the course of the earlier Iron Age . The area involved is that of the maximum extent of Celtic languages...
traces in Irish toponymy
Toponymy
Toponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word "toponymy" is derived from the Greek words tópos and ónoma . Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds...
.
English
Middle EnglishMiddle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
was first introduced by the Cambro-Norman settlers in the 12th century. It did not initially take hold as a widely-spoken language, as the Norman élite spoke Anglo-Norman
Anglo-Norman language
Anglo-Norman is the name traditionally given to the kind of Old Norman used in England and to some extent elsewhere in the British Isles during the Anglo-Norman period....
. In time, many Norman settlers intermarried and assimilated to the Irish cultures and some even became 'more Irish than the Irish themselves
More Irish than the Irish themselves
"More Irish than the Irish themselves" is a phrase used in Irish historiography to describe a phenomenon of cultural assimilation in late medieval Norman Ireland....
'. Following the Tudor conquest of Ireland and the 1610–15 Ulster Plantation, particularly in the old Pale, Elizabethan English became the language of court, justice, administration, business, trade and of the landed gentry
Landed gentry
Landed gentry is a traditional British social class, consisting of land owners who could live entirely off rental income. Often they worked only in an administrative capacity looking after the management of their own lands....
. Unilingual Irish speakers were generally of the poorer and less educated classes with no land. Irish was accepted as a vernacular language, but then as now, fluency in English was an essential element for those who wanted social mobility and personal advancement. After the legislative Union of Great Britain and Ireland's succession of Irish Education Acts that sponsored the Irish national schools and provided free public primary education, Hiberno-English replaced the Irish language, as it did in Wales and Scotland. Since the 1850s, English medium education
English medium education
An English medium education system is one that uses English as the primary medium of instruction - in particular where English is not the mother tongue of the students....
was promoted by both the U.K. administration and the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. This greatly assisted the waves of immigrants forced to seek new lives in the U.S.A. and throughout the Empire after the Famine. Since then the various local Hiberno-English dialects comprise the vernacular language throughout the island.
The two main dialects of English spoken natively in Ireland are Hiberno-English (mainly found in the provinces
Provinces of Ireland
Ireland has historically been divided into four provinces: Leinster, Ulster, Munster and Connacht. The Irish word for this territorial division, cúige, literally meaning "fifth part", indicates that there were once five; the fifth province, Meath, was incorporated into Leinster, with parts going to...
of Connacht
Connacht
Connacht , formerly anglicised as Connaught, is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the west of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for...
, Leinster
Leinster
Leinster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the east of Ireland. It comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Mide, Osraige and Leinster. Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the historic fifths of Leinster and Mide gradually merged, mainly due to the impact of the Pale, which straddled...
and Munster
Munster
Munster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the south of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial purposes...
) and Mid Ulster English
Mid Ulster English
Mid Ulster English is the dialect of Hiberno-English spoken by most people in the province of Ulster in Ireland. The dialect has been greatly influenced by Ulster Irish, but also by the Scots language, which was brought over by Scottish settlers during the plantations.Mid Ulster English is the main...
or Ullans (mainly found in Ulster
Ulster
Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...
). The 2002 census found that 103,000 British citizens were living in the Republic of Ireland, along with 11,300 from the USA and 8,900 from Nigeria, all of whom would speak other dialects of English. The 2006 census listed 165,000 people from Britain and 22,000 from the USA.
Irish
The original Primitive Irish was introduced by the Celts. Primitive Irish gradually evolved into Old Irish, spoken between the 5th and the 10th centuries, and then into Middle Irish. Middle Irish was spoken in Ireland, ScotlandScotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, and the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
through the 12th century, when it began to evolve into modern Irish in Ireland, Scottish Gaelic in Scotland, and the Manx language
Manx language
Manx , also known as Manx Gaelic, and as the Manks language, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, historically spoken by the Manx people. Only a small minority of the Island's population is fluent in the language, but a larger minority has some knowledge of it...
in the Isle of Man. Today, Irish is recognized as the first official language of the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
and is officially recognized in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
and in the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. Communities that speak Irish as their first language, generally in sporadic regions on the island's west coast, are collectively called the Gaeltacht
Gaeltacht
is the Irish language word meaning an Irish-speaking region. In Ireland, the Gaeltacht, or an Ghaeltacht, refers individually to any, or collectively to all, of the districts where the government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant language, that is, the vernacular spoken at home...
. According to more detailed census data, in 2006 22,471 Gaeltacht dwellers used the language on a daily basis, up from 21,626 in 2002 (both these figures exclude children using the language on a daily basis in the education system). Outside the Gaeltacht (and again excluding usage in the education system) Irish was used on a daily basis by 49,500 people in 2006.
In the over 80 years since the independence of the South, efforts to revive Irish as an Active daily vernacular of most of the nation have relied on compulsion and have generally failed thus far however in trying to achieve this, more and more people are becoming passive speakers
Passive speakers (language)
A passive speaker is someone who has had enough exposure to a language in childhood to have a native-like comprehension of it, but has little or no active command of it....
of Irish (who watch Irish language TV, listen to Irish language radio, read Irish language newspapers and magazines) with an estimated 10% (400,000+) of the population of the Republic who would be classified as fluent, near fluent or reasonably good passive speakers.
Although the use of Irish in educational and broadcasting contexts has soared with the 600 plus Irish-language primary/secondary schools and creches, English is still overwhelmingly dominant in almost all social, economic and cultural contexts. In the media, there is an Irish language TV station TG4
TG4
TG4 is a public service broadcaster for Irish language speakers. The channel has been on-air since 31 October 1996 in the Republic of Ireland and since April 2005 in Northern Ireland....
, Cúla 4
Cúla 4
Cúla 4 is branded children's block on Irish language public broadcaster TG4. The strand was first established in 1996 as Cúlabúla; with the rebrand of TnaG to TG4 in 1999 Cúlabúla was renamed as "Cúla 4"....
a children's channel on satellite, 5 radio stations such as the national station RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta
RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta
RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta , abbreviated RnaG, is the Irish-language radio service of the public-service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. The station is available on FM in Ireland and via satellite and on the Internet.- History :...
, Raidió na Life
Raidió Na Life
Raidió na Life 106.4FM is an Irish-language radio station founded in 1993 and broadcasting to the Greater Dublin area, Ireland. In addition to being transmitted on FM, the station's output is available worldwide via the internet at .- History :...
in Dublin, Raidió Fáilte
Raidió Fáilte
Raidió Fáilte is an Irish language community radio station, broadcasting from Belfast, in Northern Ireland. It started broadcasting under its current licence on 15 September 2006....
in Belfast as well as youth radio stations Raidió Rí-Rá
Raidió Rí-Rá
Raidió Rí-Rá, founded in 2008, is an Irish language chart music radio station broadcasting on the Internet and, for approximately one month a year, on FM radio.-Information:...
and Anocht FM
Anocht FM
Anocht FM, founded in 2005, is a national Irish language radio station broadcasting across Ireland.Anocht FM broadcasts between 9 pm and 1 am weekdays and shares the same frequency as RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta...
and three newspapers, Lá Nua a Belfast daily, Foinse
Foinse
-History:Foinse was first published in October 1996 as a weekly Saturday newspaper. It was published in Carraroe, County Galway and printed in Tralee. It was first published in October 1996....
a weekly, Saol
Saol
Saol is an Irish language newspaper released on a monthly basis.It is printed by Connacht Tribune.Its headquarters are in Dublin.- External links :*...
a monthly. There are also occasional columns written in Irish in English-language newspapers, including The Irish Times
The Irish Times
The Irish Times is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Kevin O'Sullivan who succeeded Geraldine Kennedy in 2011; the deputy editor is Paul O'Neill. The Irish Times is considered to be Ireland's newspaper of record, and is published every day except Sundays...
, The Irish News
The Irish News
The Irish News is a compact-sized daily newspaper based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is perceived as being broadly Irish nationalist in outlook...
, The Irish Examiner, Metro Eireann
Metro Éireann
Metro Éireann is Ireland's multicultural newspaper. It is published by Metro Publishing and Consultancy Limited.-History:The tabloid-format paper was established by two Nigerians , Chinedu Onyejelem and Abel Ugba in April 2000...
, Irish Echo and Evening Echo
Evening Echo
The Evening Echo is an Irish evening newspaper based in Cork. It is distributed throughout the province of Munster, although it is primarily read in its base city of Cork. In Limerick, an altered local edition of the paper is sold...
. All of the 40 or so radio stations in the Republic have to have some weekly Irish language programming to obtain their broadcasting license. Similarly, RTÉ
RTE
RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...
runs Nuacht, a news show, in Irish and Léargas, a documentary show, in Irish with English subtitles. The Official Languages Act 2003
Official Languages Act 2003
The Official Languages Act 2003 is an Act of the Oireachtas of Ireland. The Official Languages Act sets out rules regarding use of the Irish language by public bodies, establishes the office of An Coimisinéir Teanga to monitor and enforce compliance by public bodies with the provisions of the...
gave many new rights to Irish citizens with respect to the Irish language, including the use of Irish in court proceedings. All Dáil debates are to be recorded in Irish also. In 2007, Irish became the 21st official language of the European Union.
Ulster Scots
Ulster Scots sometimes called Ullans is a dialect of ScotsScots language
Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...
spoken in some parts of County Donegal
County Donegal
County Donegal is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Donegal. Donegal County Council is the local authority for the county...
and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. It is promoted by the Ulster Scots Agency, a cross-border body. Its status as a recognized language as opposed to a dialect of Scots is still under debate.
Shelta
Shelta is a cant, based upon both Irish and English, generally spoken by the Irish travellerIrish Traveller
Irish Travellers are a traditionally nomadic people of ethnic Irish origin, who maintain a separate language and set of traditions. They live predominantly in the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States.-Etymology:...
community.
Sign languages
Irish Sign Language is the sign language of most of Ireland. It has little relation to either spoken Irish or English, and is more closely related to the French Sign LanguageFrench Sign Language
French Sign Language is the sign language of the deaf in the nation of France. According to Ethnologue, it has 50,000 to 100,000 native signers....
than to the British Sign Language
British Sign Language
British Sign Language is the sign language used in the United Kingdom , and is the first or preferred language of some deaf people in the UK; there are 125,000 deaf adults in the UK who use BSL plus an estimated 20,000 children. The language makes use of space and involves movement of the hands,...
.
Northern Ireland Sign Language
Northern Ireland Sign Language
Northern Ireland Sign language is a sign language used mainly by Deaf people in Northern Ireland.NISL is described as being related to Irish Sign Language at the syntactic level while the lexicon is based on British Sign Language and American Sign Language .A number of practitioners see Northern...
is used in Northern Ireland, and is related to both ISL and BSL in various ways. ISL is also used in Northern Ireland.
Immigrant languages
With increased immigration into Ireland, there has been a substantial increase in the number of people speaking languages (the top ten listed) such as GreekGreek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, Lithuanian
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
, Latvian
Latvian language
Latvian is the official state language of Latvia. It is also sometimes referred to as Lettish. There are about 1.4 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad. The Latvian language has a relatively large number of non-native speakers, atypical for a small language...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, Cantonese, Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, Mandarin, Hindi and Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
.
Extinct languages
None of these languages were spoken by a majority of the population, but are of historical interest, giving loan words to Irish and Hiberno-English.Latin
LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
was introduced by the early Christians by c.500. It remained a church language, but also was the official language after the Norman conquest in 1171. It was used by the Roman Catholic church for services until the Vatican II
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
reforms in 1962-65.
Norman language
NormanNormans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
settlers introduced the Norman
Norman language
Norman is a Romance language and one of the Oïl languages. Norman can be classified as one of the northern Oïl languages along with Picard and Walloon...
or Anglo-Norman language
Anglo-Norman language
Anglo-Norman is the name traditionally given to the kind of Old Norman used in England and to some extent elsewhere in the British Isles during the Anglo-Norman period....
during the Norman invasion of Ireland
Norman Invasion of Ireland
The Norman invasion of Ireland was a two-stage process, which began on 1 May 1169 when a force of loosely associated Norman knights landed near Bannow, County Wexford...
of 1169. From it derived "Law French", that continues to be used today for certain legal purposes in both jurisdictions on the island.
Yola
YolaYola language
Yola is an extinct West Germanic language formerly spoken in Ireland. A branch of Middle English, it evolved separately among the English who followed the Norman barons Strongbow and Robert Fitzstephen to eastern Ireland in 1169....
was a dialect of Middle English, surviving in County Wexford
County Wexford
County Wexford is a county in Ireland. It is part of the South-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Wexford. In pre-Norman times it was part of the Kingdom of Uí Cheinnselaig, whose capital was at Ferns. Wexford County Council is the local...
up to the 19th century.
Fingalian
FingalianFingalian
Fingalian is an extinct language formerly spoken in Fingal, Ireland, an area to the north of Dublin. A West Germanic dialect, it descended from the Middle English introduced following the Norman invasion of Ireland. It was extinct by the mid-19th century. It was similar to the Yola language spoken...
was similar to Yola but spoken in Fingal
Fingal
Fingal is a county in Ireland. It is one of three smaller counties into which County Dublin was divided in 1994. With its county seat located in Swords, it has a population of 239,992 according to the 2006 census...
up until the mid-19th century.
Republic of Ireland
In primary schools, most pupils are taught to speak, read and write in IrishIrish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. The vast majority of schools teach through English, although a growing number of gaelscoil
Gaelscoil
A gaelscoil is an Irish-medium primary school in Ireland, of a sort found outside the traditionally Irish-speaking regions, especially in urban areas....
eanna teach through Irish and English. Most students at second level choose to study English as an L1 language
First language
A first language is the language a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity...
and Irish and other Continental European languages as L2 languages
Foreign language
A foreign language is a language indigenous to another country. It is also a language not spoken in the native country of the person referred to, i.e. an English speaker living in Japan can say that Japanese is a foreign language to him or her...
. Irish is not offered as an L1 language by the Department of Education. Prof. David Little (November 2003) said that there was an urgent need to introduce an L1 Irish Gaelic Curriculum. He quoted from a report by An Bord Curaclaim agus Scrúduithe (The Curriculum and Examinations Board) Report of the Board of Studies for Languages, Dublin 1987: "It must be stressed … that the needs of Irish as L1 at post-primary level have been totally ignored, as at present there is no recognition in terms of curriculum and syllabus of any linguistic differences between learners of Irish as L1 and L2.". The Continental European languages available for the Junior Certificate
Junior Certificate
The Junior Certificate is an educational qualification awarded in Ireland by the Department of Education to students who have successfully completed the junior cycle of secondary education, and achieved a minimum standard in their Junior Cert. examinations...
and the Leaving Certificate
Leaving Certificate
The Leaving Certificate Examinations , commonly referred to as the Leaving Cert is the final examination in the Irish secondary school system. It takes a minimum of two years preparation, but an optional Transition Year means that for those students it takes place three years after the Junior...
include French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
; Leaving Certificate students can also study Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
and Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
. Some schools also offer Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
, Hebrew Studies
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
and Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
at second level.
Students who did not immigrate to Ireland before the age of ten may receive an exemption from learning Irish. Pupils with learning difficulties can also seek exemption. A recent study has revealed that over half of those pupils who got exemption from studying Irish went on to study a Continental European language.
The following is a list of foreign languages taken at Leaving Certificate level in 2007, followed by the number as a percentage of all students taking Mathematics for comparison (mathematics is a mandatory subject).
| Language | Higher Level | Ordinary Level | Total candidates | % of Maths |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| L1 English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... |
31,078 | 17,277 | 48,355 | 98.79% |
| L2 Irish Irish language Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of... |
13,831 | 25,662 | 44,018 | 89.94% |
| L2 French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts... |
13,770 | 14,035 | 27,805 | 56.695% |
| L2 German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... |
4,554 | 2,985 | 7,539 | 15.372% |
| L2 Spanish Spanish language Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the... |
1,533 | 1,127 | 2,660 | 5.424% |
| L2 Italian Italian language Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia... |
140 | 84 | 224 | 0.457% |
| Latin Latin Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and... |
111 | 111 | 0.226% | |
| L2 Japanese Japanese language is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an... |
90 | 90 | 0.184% | |
| L2 Arabic Arabic language Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book... |
117 | 13 | 130 | 0.265% |
| L2 Russian Russian language Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics... |
181 | 181 | 0.369% | |
| L2 Latvian Latvian language Latvian is the official state language of Latvia. It is also sometimes referred to as Lettish. There are about 1.4 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad. The Latvian language has a relatively large number of non-native speakers, atypical for a small language... |
32 | 32 | 0.065% | |
| L2 Lithuanian Lithuanian language Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they... |
61 | 61 | 0.125% | |
| L2 Dutch Dutch language Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second... |
16 | 16 | 0.033% | |
| L2 Portuguese Portuguese language Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095... |
27 | 27 | 0.055% | |
| L2 Polish Polish language Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries... |
53 | 53 | 0.108% | |
| L2 Romanian Romanian language Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova... |
25 | 25 | 0.051% |
Total Mathematics students in 2007 was 49,043.
Northern Ireland
The predominant language in the education system in Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
is English. The ULTACH Trust
ULTACH Trust
The ULTACH Trust is a charitable trust established in 1989 aimed at promoting the Irish language in Northern Ireland. Its current director is Aodán Mac Póilin.-Name:...
coordinates the promotion of Irish in some schools, and some promote the use and study of Ullans.