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My native language is Arabic, it's a language is officially spoken in 22 countries , isn't an interesting language? obviously yes.. hehe
I wish you to learn my language
surely you will enjoy it..
Original, that seems so close of Russian ! It's a good guess ?
Yeah, they're pretty close. In Western Ukraine however the language has been greatly influenced by Polish so we speak with a very distinct dialect over there. Even folks from other parts of Ukraine were having hard time understanding us.
I was raised with two languages Irish and English.
Do many people still speak Irish? I have never gotten a straight answer from the Irish people I have met. They always say they learn it in school. But I want to know how much of a living language is it, not how many people learn it the way one would Latin. How many people actually use Irish as their first language?
Do many people still speak Irish? I have never gotten a straight answer from the Irish people I have met. They always say they learn it in school. But I want to know how much of a living language is it, not how many people learn it the way one would Latin. How many people actually use Irish as their first language?
Its a strange situation with the Irish language. Its no wonder you have never gotten a straight answer. Yes it is a required language in the schools. Most at least have a basic knowledge of the language. From an early age and into the high school years. After that its rarely used or studied. If Im not mistaken one must pass an exam in Irish for university. I could be wrong on that Im not sure. I could not say for sure what percentage of Ireland is fluent in the language any longer. I would say it is a small percentage. Also many outside of Ireland refer to the language as Gaelic, but in Ireland it is generally referred to as Irish.
The language when used with any fluency seems to be primarily in the small towns, and the islands off the coast of Ireland. The older residents and to a smaller extent the younger ones. In the cities Dublin, Cork, Galway it is heard somewhat but not the majority of times. Engish is definitely the primary language spoken by the majority of Irish. I believe Gov't workers need to have familiarity with Irish.
There is interest in retaining Irish as the native language, as it is well on its way to becoming extinct. Unfortunately I think the majority of Ireland prefers the English language. As the older generations die out I think the Irish language could very well fade away. I do hope the new interest in keeping it alive will do some good. As for me I rarely ever use it as I have no one to speak the language with. Since my parents and other relatives in the USA have died I never get to speak it now. When I visit Ireland which is in smaller communities I use both languages.
English is my native language, but have been studying Russian since 1995, I'm not really *fluent* but understand normal conversation, read at nearly full speed, write OK, speak pretty well.
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