Language Learning: An Irish Language Revival

Today is St. Patrick’s Day, and the day is celebrated across communities worldwide. It also provides an opportunity to explore the Irish language.

According to an article in The Economist (subscription required), Irish is making an incredible comeback. UNESCO designated Irish as a “definitely endangered” language a century ago when 18 percent of Ireland’s population spoke the language.

Today approximately 40 percent of Ireland’s population or 1.9M people speak Irish. According to the article, social impacts have helped make Irish cool. This includes social media influencers and actors Cilliam Murphy and Paul Mascal speaking Irish, while the Irish-language hip-hop group Kneecap has become globally popular.

Plus, Ireland’s policies have contributed. The government set a 20 percent recruitment quota for Irish speakers in the public sector by 2030. In addition, Irish became a working language of the European Union in 2022. On this day we celebrate Irish culture and the revival of its ancient language. Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

CETRA has an office in Limerick, Ireland and provides language services for Irish. For more information, please contact us at info@cetra.com.