Having lived in "destination" towns for most of my adult life, I really do get where people would get tired of being asked to accommodate what amounts to "linguistic tourism." I can definitely relate to the "zoo animal" analogy (I'll never forget the time I was walking my dog early in the morning along Ocean View in Pacific Grove, CA, when a busload of Japanese visitors stopped so that everyone could take a photo of us. On the one hand it's kind of sweet to think that Cedar and I have been immortalized in about two dozen photo albums -- most likely labeled as something along the lines of "Californian and dog in native habitat -- it also felt like a terrible imposition at the time).

Redwolf

What standard of Irish must one have in order to not irritate a native with it? I'm thinking maybe this time next year I'll take a trip to Ireland and I'd love to visit the Gaeltachtaí, and I should have worked my way through Ó Siadhail by then at the very least, but I wonder if I should even bother trying to speak it to anyone if I'll just be annoying. Is it a matter of good pronunciation, general fluency, or just having a legitimate reason to talk to someone and not just treating it as practice?

I'd say it depends on the person, and to some extent on the time of year and location. Some people are more comfortable speaking with outsiders than others. In areas that host language summer schools, locals will typically be a little more likely to speak Irish with you, but even then you may run across people who simply aren't inclined to, or who are perhaps a bit burned out after a summer of visitors eager to try out their cúpla focal.

There is a reticence about speaking Irish with outsiders that goes beyond the resentment of being "used" that the person in the article expresses. Historically Irish hasn't been used with outsiders, and people may be reluctant to speak with you even if you're very fluent. On the other hand, you never know when or where you may find someone who's willing to have a conversation with you! I actually had a very nice chat once with the former Anglican archbishop of Limerick in the crypt of Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin during the post-church tea/coffee hour! (Not a Gaeltacht, nor a native speaker, but a pleasant surprise nonetheless!)

The best you can do is be polite and friendly. Try a greeting or a simple question in a shop or bar...if the person responds in English, there's your answer.

I've only ever had one person refuse to speak with me in Irish when I was on an immersion course, and she wasn't at all rude about it. She was working in the local pub in Gleann Fhinne and, when I started to order in Irish, she simply said "I'm not the one to be speaking Irish with, I'm afraid." I found out later that she was a local and a native speaker, but, for whatever reason, just wasn't interested in speaking Irish with an outsider. No problem...there were plenty of other people to talk to!

One thing I would recommend, particularly if you're' in the Gaeltacht, is to be sure to use the local greeting. It's not that someone in Connemara wouldn't understand "Cad é mar atá tú?," for example, but using "Cén chaoi a bhfuil tú?" is a bit more respectful of the local dialect.

If you want a bit of a chuckle, check out this clip of Stephen Fry playing an English visitor to Ros na Rún staggering through his cúpla focal! Not as far-fetched a scene as you might think!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgL802oG7-k

Yeah, my plan is to save myself the trouble of dialects etc. by going to Cois Fharraige and Ros Muc (I listen to Caint Ros Muc almost constantly) so I'll be in familiar linguistic territory. Thanks for the tips. I'm not aiming for a kind of linguistic tourism thing, I've just always wanted to go to Ireland in general, the Gaeltachtaí seem like some of the most naturally and culturally interesting places to visit, and I figured this would be a great opportunity to have a fluent conversation with someone in another language, which I have never done. In any case, I'd better keep studying. And I'll definitely keep an ear out for Irish speakers in Dublin or anywhere else.

Well, learning the usual greeting in each dialect isn't a difficult thing (and something any learner should do anyway).

Redwolf

Another thing for visitors to be aware of is there are varying attitudes toward foreigners learning Irish. Some people are supportive, some are indifferent, some really don't like the idea (I've actually been accused of cultural appropriation on-line, though never to my face). The first person you meet may be one of the latter, and the very next one of the former...you just never know. So if one person rebuffs your attempt to speak Irish, while you should respect his or her choice, don't let that deter you from trying again with a different person!

Redwolf

My experience is that people in the Gaeltacht are no different to people in other bilingual areas in Europe. Some don't want to speak Irish, some will but dependent on you level and some will not speak English unless you really have no Irish (and I know a lady who won't even then)

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The dialect I use is Cork Irish.
Ar sgáth a chéile a mhairid na daoine, lag agus láidir, uasal is íseal

The more native speakers there are who resent having to speak Irish to 'blow ins' and learners the closer the language will be to a semi-living tongue spoken in the future almost exclusively by Dubliners (with an Anglo overlay), Belfast republicans, and foreign hobbyists. A group of people who generally speak English with greater ease and idiomatic range but who choose to speak Irish amongst themselves.

Clearly the number of habitual, native Gaeltacht speakers is such that the community is not even capable of maintaining current numbers, never mind revitalising and expanding as a distinct, organic linguistic entity. How much blame do they deserve for allowing this to happen?

Consider the history of the Poles, Finns, Lithuanians, Estonians, Slovaks, etc...they too experienced oppression and coercion by colonial powers over centuries (arguably worse than in Ireland, in the case of the Poles) but their languages are thriving today. It seems to me that Irish speakers have historically been much more quick to abandon their mother tongue. A kind of communal linguistic suicide...

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Is foghlaimeoir mé. Is fearr liom Gaeilge Chonnacht. Corrections always appreciated.

We, as the people who abandoned it or come from community who have abandoned it could be blamed for allowing it to happen.

In our defence, we were one of the longest subjugated nations in Europe, incredibly close to what was arguably the most powerful empire in the world.

They, like most empires, were hell bent on eradicating anything that might oppose that empires dominance, like other cultures and distinct identity's.

Cut off as we were from the rest of Europe and overwhelmed with such force, its amazing that we are a separate nations today. We are still dealing with the legacy of the great famine and the massive impact it had.

Look at the other nations on these Islands, they were almost equally obliterated.

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Bíonn rudaí maithe mall