Ireland Enacts Law Banning English On Maps, Roadsigns

AP/Newsday ^ | 3/28/05 | SHAWN POGATCHNIK

[kiriath_jearim]

Ireland Enacts Law Banning English on Maps

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK Associated Press Writer

March 28, 2005, 3:19 PM EST

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Tourists, beware: Your guide book may tell you the way to Dingle in County Kerry, but all the road signs will be pointing you toward An Daingean in Contae an Ciarrai instead.

In an age where many people bemoan English's growing global influence, advocates of local languages scored a small victory Monday when Ireland enacted a law outlawing English in road signs and official maps on much of the nation's western coast, where many people speak Gaelic.

Locals concede the switch will confuse foreigners in an area that depends heavily on tourism, but they say it's the price of patriotism.

"The change is nice for the locals, but if a stranger's coming in without one of the new Dingle maps, it can be quite difficult," said Sarah Brosnan, assistant manager of the Dingle Bay Hotel, which -- like most things connected to the tourist trade -- won't be changing its name.

In all, more than 2,300 towns, villages, fields and crossroads that traditionally had both English and Gaelic names have had their previously bilingual road signs changed to Irish only. The change chiefly affects three far-flung regions of the western seaboard called the Gaeltacht, which has long been nation's last stand in the battle against English dominance.

There, English place names no longer have legal standing and may not be used in government documents or on official Ordnance Survey maps. The switch also applies in a few official Gaelic-speaking pockets of County Meath, northwest of Dublin, and County Waterford in the southeast.

[tfecw]

"In all, more than 2,300 towns, villages, fields and crossroads that traditionally had both English and Gaelic names have had their previously bilingual road signs changed to Irish only. "

They really have so much money that they need to waste it on replacing perfectly good roadsigns?

[Petronski]

Locals concede the switch will confuse foreigners in an area that depends heavily on tourism, but they say it's the price of patriotism.

Sheesh. We have enough trouble with the accent!

[Unam Sanctam]

Ridiculous. I have traveled through those parts and most people speak English. Make the English smaller and below the Gaelic, but don't outlaw it. And I must say, Gaelic spoken never seems remotely like the way it's spelled.

[sionnsar]

Amusingly, swritten by Shawn Pogatchnik.

[Psycho_Bunny]

No worries....if you're drunk you can still read them.

[506trooper]

Hey, their country, their rules, nothing to see here.

[azhenfud]

It's their right, and mine not to go.

[Publius6961]

More power to them.
It would be polite, however, if they could have shared a map of the affected area with us, so we could determine which areas to stay away from; or not, depending on personal preference.

A perfect example of an internal affair...

[rhombus]

The Irish seem as out of step with the realities of their language as the French. Imagine the day when English will be removed from all roadsigns in the US in favor of Spanish.

[sionnsar]

An Daingean in Contae an Ciarrai

Is that correct, or did they switch to English? I expected to see "An Daingean ann an Contae an Ciarrai."

[mel]

Gee, I wish America would keep to English instead of Spanish everywhere.

[Drango]

Luckily us guys never look at maps.....

[Truth29]

This sounds like Quebec, but more extreme. If they make it too difficult, then they can do without English speaking tourists.

[azhenfud]

Yeah, but Gaelic? there's gonna be a lot MORE screwed drivers.

[LincolnLover]

I agree with this insofar that they (a) understand it's a bit of an inconvenience to tourists yet (b) see it as a price worth paying for patriotism.

It's their heritage, it's their country, it's their right.

[zook]

Way to pull the country into the 18th century!

[sionnsar]

And I must say, Gaelic spoken never seems remotely like the way it's spelled.

Gaelic, at least Scots Gaelic, has a very phonetic orthography. The rules are different from English, but once learned pronunciation is little problem.

[royce4]

GPS locator! Problem solved!

[dead]

I've been to Dingle and the small Gaelic speaking towns that surround it. Gorgeous is an understatement. Dingle is the greatest city I've ever been to. Fishing, pubs, seafood and great music literally everywhere. Sweet.

The Irish-only names will be appealing to tourists, not an insult. The tourists are interested in seeing Ireland as Irish as it can be.

Regarding the problem with the maps, this will be solved by a wonderous invention called a printer that will enable them to churn out magical new maps that have the gaelic name of the location the tourist is looking for.