If we rethink our language teaching, we can ensure what is essentially Irish is not lost to us, writes Dáithí Mac Cárthaigh
An education system can impart the skills of multilingualism to a population. In many societies in the EU, education systems achieve just that. The examples of Sweden, the Netherlands, and Finland encouraged European leaders to adopt proficiency in three languages for all citizens as their objective. This is also the objective of Conradh na Gaeilge.
Many voices have been raised advocating a de facto English-only language policy in education. While English (or American) is beautiful and useful, being the current international language, it is not sufficient to maintain a national identity at home, or promote our economic and diplomatic interests abroad.
The Irish State cannot endure without an Irish identity beyond colour, creed or ethnic background. Without Irish as the cornerstone of Irish identity, we have the appalling vista of Irishness being reduced to an exclusive provincial ethnicity. Language is a skill, acquired by practice. Language subjects are more time-consuming and need core hours dedicated to them in the timetable. Were Irish optional for the Leaving Certificate, students would be under tremendous pressure in the context of the points system to drop Irish in favour of an "easier" subject. Were a student who wished to study medicine forced to choose between Irish and biology or chemistry, that student would be left with no choice but to drop Irish.
Fewer students would study Irish and fewer would achieve honours. The ability in Irish of students in teacher training colleges would decline and soon there would not be a supply of teachers for Irish-medium schools. More and more students would take Irish at foundation level for the Junior Certificate. This collapse in academic standards would also affect the learning of Irish at primary level. This collapse would also happen in the case of third languages.
A language cannot be taught efficiently without an intimate knowledge of that language. Many of our language teachers concede that they do not have the ability to teach through their target language, although this is the recommended methodology. Teachers are not to blame: they receive neither the proper training nor the proper support.
We need mini-colleges in Gaeltacht areas to provide year-long immersion courses in Irish for trainee teachers of Irish. Let them get to know each other through Irish, being trained in and through language immersion, with the option to complete the entire B.Ed degree through Irish. Students of foreign languages should spend at least one academic year in that language's heartland.
Pupils achieve when taught through the target language. Approximately 30,000 primary school pupils are taught through Irish at present. An additional 116,000 primary school pupils are taught a second subject through Irish. By providing training and support, drama, art or sport could be taught through Irish to all pupils and students over time. The resulting uplift for pupils, parents, and teachers would be profound and revolutionary.
The teaching of Irish as a second language at second level is not infrequently associated with frustration. Both Junior and Leaving Certificate syllabuses fall between two stools: being too easy for native/habitual speakers and too difficult for some learners, especially at honours level. A solution would be to create two subjects: "Irish language" (for language learners) and "Irish literature" (for native/habitual speakers).
The exam structure for Irish as a second language already exists. NUI Maynooth has developed "Teastas Eorpach na Gaeilge", the European "drivers' licence" in Irish based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, which tests ability in speaking, listening, reading, and writing, rather than in essay writing or literature.
Were Irish taught in the first class period to all students in all schools, students could be grouped together according to ability rather than being grouped by age or year. All students would leave school with some qualification in Irish which would be recognised all over Europe.
The CAO could award points based on the common European framework, which would encourage students to take extra courses and extra exams in Irish, for example during summer holidays. This would lead to rising standards. While Gaelscoileanna, Gaeltacht schools and some English-medium schools would teach "Irish literature", students could also sit the "Irish language" examinations, in the same way that many with a flair for maths and physics sit maths-physics as an extra subject.
Irish may once have been in retreat, but that trend is reversing. Irish is not on any list of endangered languages. Every language carries a unique understanding and outlook on life and humanity. Cluain Meala (meadow of honey) is not the same thing as Clonmel. Cill Bhríde (the Church of [ St] Bríd) is not the same thing as Kilbride.
It is not a question of whether a separate identity or society can survive the loss of its language. The question is: how long can a separate identity or society subsist after such loss? What became of the Cumbrians of northern England whose language was lost in the 10th century? What became of the eastern European Germanic Goths? Answer: assimilation.
Had the Poles abandoned Polish as their language following the partition of their country between Prussia, Russia and Austria, would Poland have reappeared on the map of Europe? Of course not. For a society, the loss of language is the loss of self.
Dáithí Mac Cárthaigh is uachtarán of Conradh na Gaeilge