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How people react when you try to speak their language (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/map_enthusiasts@sopuli.xyz
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[–] 0 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Oh come on, "coercion" is a bit of a stretch. Have you heard a Brit say they're coerced to speak English because of the Anglo-Saxon invaders? With a few centuries' difference it's exactly the same.

It's your language, time to own it. Or maybe rename it, like the Yugoslavs did!

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    A few centuries? It wasn't until 2006 that the British government gave the Irish language a legal status in Northern Ireland. But, to date there has been no political progress on passing an Irish Language Act there.

    This followed the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 with the British government committed to “recognise the importance of respect, understanding and tolerance in relation to linguistic diversity … including the Irish language”.

    I'm pretty sure it is owned, just has obstacles still in place by the same people that attempted to force people to stop using it, and succeeded for the most part. The recentness of both of those milestones shows that. It also shows that it is not the same thing as your example.

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  • [–] -2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 child)

    For obvious reasons Gaelic is even less "the" language of Northern Ireland, as of course you are well aware.

    Back on topic, I'll just repeat my point: in a country where 99% of people speak language A on a daily basis and where nobody is preventing them from talking language B (quite the opposite), it is silly histrionics to talk of "coercion". It's water under the bridge.

    The largest ethnic group in the USA is Germans. Do you hear Americans complain about being "coerced" to speak English? Come on.

    PS: Yeah, a lot of performative virtue-brigading from the latecomers here, but my argument (if you actually read it) would in fact be endorsed by large numbers of Irish people. Whatever.

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