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While I was in Ireland two of the students in my media workshop had a long conversation with Thomas Johnston, a retired teacher and current radio broadcaster about the Gaelic language. It is one thing to read about the diminishing numbers of languages and speakers of minority languages but quite another to learn about what that decline means in practice. I have included the interview with Tom Johnston as the main part of the current Absolutely Intercultural show and it is chastening to hear him speak of being punished for speaking Gaelic when he was young when Ireland was under British rule. It is also thought provoking when he mentions that his grandparents could not speak English.
Gaelic is now very much promoted in Ireland with all towns having at least one Gaelic school and all children doing Gaelic lessons in their primary years. This in turn creates a demand for lessons from the parents who want to help their children with their homework but it can’t be denied that the missing generation which only speaks English is a huge impediment to the re-establishment of the language. The mainstream media do their bit, at least some of them do, with Gaelic medium radio and TV but not so much print media.
One way of preserving the language is through music and part of the podcast features Kate O’Malley teaching the Borrowed Identities students a song called the Island which she sang for us so beautifully last year.