I want to know how to say "spanish sucks" in Irish so I can print up a t-shirt to wear around town.

Mary

Not sure I agree with using one language to batter another.
So I shan't translate.
Besides, attacking what will soon be the majority language of the south of the US doesn't seem very clever.

Tá an Spáinnis an-tréan faoi láthair toisc go bhfuil an oiread sin daoine ag teacht isteach ó Mheicsiceo agus ó na tíortha eile ó dheas. Bhíodh an Iodáilis an-láidir i SAM céad bliain ó shin ar an ábhar céanna. Ach ní mhaireann na teangacha seo ó ghlúin go glúin. Bíonn an Béarla mar chéad teanga ag na páistí a thógtar anseo, de ghnáth, agus bíonn an Spáinnis imithe ar fad sa tríú glúin. Tá California lán le daoine óga le sloinnte Spáinnise agus gaolta i Meicsiceo nach bhfuil in ann an teanga a labhairt. An inimirce amháin a bheathaíonn an Spáinnis ansin. Bhí alt suimiúil ar an NY Times Dé Domhnaigh faoi réigiúin i Meicsiceo atá bánaithe ar fad ag an imirce: baile amháin nach bhfuil ach cúpla seanduine ina gcónaí ann; d'aistrigh an pobal uilig go Tulsa, Oklahoma! Scéal Mheiriceá é seo.

An Spáinnis abú. Spanish is great. I'm glad I learned in high school. It's becoming more useful and as it becomes more real, I appreciate it more and more. It's a lesson to us -- we should make Irish more real. In any case, if we are going to have official English, then I propose that we make Spanish the official second language of the country.

Tá an Spáinnis ag fáil bháis insna codanna den tír ina bhfuil sí ann ó dhúchas go traidisiúnta, dála achan teanga eile seachas an Béarla. I gcorráit, bíonn an Spáinnis ábalta troid leis an Bhéarla ar son an dara glúin, ach ní hiad ar na háiteanna a bhí ar intinn agam maidir le Spáinnis dhúchasach. Go dtí cupla glúin ó shoin siar bhíodh sé mar nós ag a lán de na tuismitheoirí de shliocht Meicsiceach in Texas a glcann a thógáil le Spáinnis mar phríomhtheanga. Ach ní ag cairde m'athar, ainneoin gur chónaigh siad in El Paso, caitheamh cloiche ón teorainn in áit a thugtar uaireanta 'an pobal dátheangach uirbeach is mó ar an domhain' air. Thóg siadsan na páistí, atá ar chomhaois liomsa, le Béarla amháin. (Tá barúil agam nach raibh an Spáinnis in uachtar sa teaghlach sin chomh fada sin go mbeidís ródhílis di -- Zapotecs a bhí iontu.) Ach tá an Spáinnis thar a bheith úsáideach agus suimiúil chomh maith.

The discrimination against the Irish in America is more than I ever imagined possible. Thanks for enlightening me. My grandfather, a first generation Irish American, spoke Spanish too. His mother from the Aran Islands refused to teach him (and his brothers & sisters) Irish because of the discrimination against them in America. Lose your language, lose your soul.

I'm sure you won't mind then if I print up a t-shirt that says "Irish sucks" in Spanish.

Of course we'd mind. Why dump on either language? The only thing we should condemn is forcing people to give up their native language and culture. Spanish speakers have probably been as bad as English speakers in that regard, although indigenous languages in Mexico and elsewhere are now being widely taught in local schools there. I tell you what -- we'll do up an Irish-Mixtec solidarity t-shirt with 'Spanish sucks' in those two languages. That narrow context would allow it. But I hope you're learning Irish and Spanish in your grandfather's memory.

It's interesting that many Irish immigrants thought that they had to obliterate their language entirely. And not just here, but in their homeland as well. A more rational approach would be to ensure that the children spoke the language of their own family and heritage in addition to the English that would inevitably become their primary language here in any event. Some Irish in America did that -- The first Irish-American governor of New York (1890s) spoke Irish and said that the Irish-American kids in the neighborhood he grew up in all spoke it. I've encountered a couple of young adults who were raised speaking Irish at home in New York, both very fluent, and I have heard of a couple of others. It's a great advantage.

Déan do rogha rud, Mary, má tá tú in inmhe é sin a rá as Spáinnis. But rather than bash any language, or nurse some sad old grudges over past wrongs, how about just learning to say something pleasant "as Gaeilge". If you think you've lost your soul, you can begin to regain it, word by word. The Daltaí site has resources to get you started. Déan rud éigin dearfach!