Like many other languages around the world, the Irish language is among the top languages to go through serious revival programmes especially since the 19th century. Irish language was known as the national language decades back in Ireland with very few people having been interested in any other languages until the invasion of English speakers from other regions of Europe and United States of America (Garcia 2011). When the interest to revive the Irish language arose, people concerned have since put so much effort on the project resulting to remarkable results.
However, the ability by the people in Ireland and other regions to achieve desirable results has gone through other challenges, which are seemingly overpowering the success of reviving the language. The government of Ireland has made it possible to work together with the Ireland people in promoting and making the programme a success. This was a bold and remarkable decision by the government. This has been achieved because of the fact that the language was introduced slowly into schools to make the young generations grow as they familiarise with their native language (Hale & Hinton, 2001). The language can now be heard being used in other places apart from classrooms and even some schools abroad, for instance in the US some colleges have given the language a chance by allowing it to be taught there. It has been taken as an additional language apart from English and is working well in most places.
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The programme whose aim is to revive the Irish language and give the people of Ireland a cultural identity that is recognized well has its positive and negative aspects. Revitalizing the Irish language will be a good thing for the Ireland people because is it a plan that will eventually bring back the recognition of the Ireland people as people with their own language (Garcia 2011). The people of Ireland need to discover themselves and identify their native and motherland language and by reviving the language, it will promote their culture and make them own a culture in terms of ethnicity. It will make it possible for them not to depend on other languages even while at home in Ireland, while they familiarize themselves with their society and culture. Having a native language is what every person takes a pride in; it shows the roots of a nation or a society.
If the Irish language was to be successfully revived, another positive aspect by it is the promotion of learning in school where students in schools teaching the language would benefit from knowing the language for future use for instance, students who may end up in tours and travel field. The languages could be of use just as other languages used in that field despite the fact that it may be a language not so popular(Hale & Hinton, 2001). This language might also promote historic studies and it is capable of revealing some rich history about the culture and the language in schools or other learning institutions.
On the other hand, the Irish language revival may not really have much positive impact. This is because its revival would affect the economy of Ireland in different ways. The revival where many participants have put so much effort in making it successful has been seen to be affected by various things in the country(McRae & Carter, 2001). An example is the fact that most businesses in Ireland cannot be done using the language because using Irish there would mean losing clients. In as much as the concerned people have tried to bring the language back to life successfully, most of the time the clients buying and transacting other businesses in the country happen to be foreigners who must be communicated to using English and not Irish. The use of Irish in the entire country could discourage clients and tourist hence, detrimental to the national economy.
Another negative aspect that might arise due to the revival of this language will be the effect on young people whose career pursuing might be hindered by the centralization in the language. If young people are forced to focus so much on learning this language and putting it as first priority, the technology of today may not allow them to venture in their respective career choices. Young people need to learn the famous languages in order for them to fit in the present society, and this is because work for all people in the society does not necessarily have to be at home but even abroad. Most people get jobs overseas nowadays and the Irish language for instance might not be relevant in such a case (Hale & Hinton 2001). This will imply that if a person is conversant with only one language, chances of working abroad is minimized.
In as much as the revival of the Irish language which must come with the culture and traditions has a negativity in the tour business due to language necessities, the programme has a positive aspect in the sense that apart from the language spoken between tourists and their guides, the entertainment where the Irish tradition is concerned for instance, the Irish dances and such like things will be a good aspects from the revival programme (McRae & Carter, 2001). Therefore, promoting the revival programmes of the language will greatly bring a positive facet to the tour industry. The language is definitely expected to accompany the other aspects of the culture and traditions of the Irish people, and for that reason, the country of Ireland can benefit in those terms.
According to some authors, years back before 1970’s, children in school were forced to pass the Irish language in order to move to the next level. This was such a discouraging way of trying to revitalize the language, and it is one good way of discouraging children from having any other dreams apart from struggling to know Irish(Garcia, 2011). It is something that would negatively affect the learners in serious ways because it seemed to have been a way of discouraging concentration on other commonly used languages which can be helpful even outside home. This is one of the negative facets that would pull back the efforts of children to pursue their ambitions in other fields, and it is also an issue that would affect the entire country.
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Generally, the programme to revitalize the Irish language in Ireland may not have been a bad idea at all. However, it is seen to have had so many ups and downs while it also came about with its pros and cons. It is still possible though to revive the Irish language for as long as all the aspects are investigated well and strategies drawn out to ensure the language revival is done successfully without having many negative challenges (McRae & Carter, 2001). Irish language can be revived successfully if it is ensured that everyone is willing to participate and restrict its speaking in particular environments. Once this has been achieved, then learning the language in schools can be naturally taught as a necessary lesson, but English and other popular languages, which might be useful in future must be taught also so that the previous patterns of learning do not change.