Sir, - The new Irish language television channel is greatly welcome. But two points must be made:
1. Spelling in Irish should be phonetic. In Spain, for example, school children after a few weeks never again make spelling mistakes because a state academy ensures that spelling follows current pronunciation if you can say it you can spell it, and vice versa. Spelling which isn't phonetic only became widespread some 200 years ago, it is a relatively modern snobbery, mainly arising in England - that most class conscious of countries! - because, as the general population struggled to overcome their illiteracy, difficult non phonetic spelling acted as a new barrier and indicator which differentiated the well educated middle classes from the less educated lower orders. Most English speaking adults (however reluctant to admit it) have encountered this subtle status pressure lurking behind the errors constantly made in spelling English.
There is a similar whiff of snobbery among some middle class adherents of the Irish language movement who oppose phonetic spelling. The petty status to be gained through overcoming the difficulties of Irish spelling should be exchanged for the wisdom that speech allied to phonetic spelling is by far the easiest - and most democratic - way to learn a language.
2. A simple scientific international language, such as Esperanto, is essential if small languages are to survive. This could be introduced for a start in primary schools in the EU area, where it could be acquired in a year or so. We then could all retain our local cultural languages, be they Irish, Basque, Swedish, French - and begin using the new international language for wider communication. This would entirely lift the pressure off the similar groups.
A new language would not lack excitement, it would quickly acquire its own slang, idioms, puns, sayings, whatever: inputs from such a English football managers, queuing Muscovites, French intellectuals, New York cops, Mexican generals, Jewish mothers, would be eagerly awaited! The fact that Ireland, though containing scarcely 1 per cent of the 300 million speakers of English yet provides a substantial part of the best English writing suggests that a new language with actually billions of speakers can only be meat and veg to Ireland. Like Riverdance ambushed the Eurovision, what a challenge!
But seriously, if both these propositions are not swiftly taken up, I think there is realistically no more hope for your Irish than there is for my own home language of Welsh. - Yours, etc.,
Rosehill,
Lee Road Cork
