Cultural And Language Revitalization: Celtic Languages

Name: Institution: Course: Date: Cultural and Language Revitalization Languages develop, and some become extinct. Many cultures desperately attempt to ensure that its language survives because it plays a significant part in its preservation. CITATION Wil15 \l 1033 (Wilson, Johnson, & Sallabank, 2015) claims that ‘the outset of the twenty-first century, the survival of many minority and indigenous languages are threatened by globalization and the ubiquity of dominant languages such as English in the worlds of communication and commerce.’ It is estimated that almost half of world’s languages could disappear in a few decades CITATION Lau17 \l 1033 (Paisley, 2017). Gaelic languages are some of the languages whose usability has greatly reduced in the past few decades, and it has necessitated government intervention to preserve the cultural and lingual identity of the Irish people. Loss of a language is a loss of knowledge, and it is important that they are preserved for future generations. If possible, they need to be extensively used to reclaim their role in the society as the preferred language of communication. Some of the measures instituted by the Irish government to preserve their heritage is instituting policies that require the teaching of Gaelic languages in public funded schools. Though it is a national language just like English, its speakers are about 80,000 today which signifies it could become extinct soon CITATION Lau17 \l 1033 (Paisley, 2017). This number has continuously reduced despite being a national language. The most effective strategy to ensure revival of the language is through teaching it in schools and developing the necessary framework to develop it to accommodate contemporary terminologies. The Irish government has instituted policies that necessitate government-funded schools to teach the Gaelic language. The Irish Language Act stipulates that it must be taught in all public schools and has become a necessary subject when seeking third level education. This is the most effective strategy though it is undermined by globalization and cultural diffusion. Teaching Celtic languages in schools has been a desperate attempt to ensure the language is preserved. People perceive the government efforts as an unnecessary and outdated policy which has no significant value to the people. They feel the government is forcing learning the Irish language down their throats because they find no significant value out of it CITATION Lau17 \l 1033 (Paisley, 2017). Education seems to the main avenue through which the adoption of Celtic languages could grow. The government envisions an international use of the language, and it has been trying to expand its reach to other countries and continents to facilitate learning of these languages. The government in the 1970s instituted policies that necessitated learning of these languages as a way to promote their use. In the 1970s the education system required the teaching of the Irish language in preschool and primary school as a subject. The government also explored efforts to teach other subjects such as mathematics, economics and finance through Irish medium. These measures led to increased prevalence of the language and lately it has led to the demand for third level Irish...