Parlez Vous Ulster Scots?
249 ViewsToday’s news is that Jacques Chirac made the decision to walk out of an EU summit after a French business leader abandoned his mother tongue. For some reason that gesture led me to thinking about Ulster Scots.
My Aunt often told a story that tickled her about my great granny’s response to “How are you?” being “Guy lee bae thunkit”. That was the way the Larne yins talked. I suppose it explains how I was half familiar with some Ulster Scots words before I lived in any of the areas that use the language. My grandmother never lost her Larne accent even though she lived her entire married lifetime in Co. Armagh.
You can now take the test on the Ulster Scots Agency website to see if you’re the real McCoy!
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Hi, Chirac did not walked away because M.Seilliere spoke english (Chirac is fluent in english and has certainly no problem with the language!), but because M.Seilliere, who started his speech in french, suddendly turned to english because he said “english is the language for business”. English is no more the language of business than french is the language of poetry, or italian the language of arts. Any speech can be given in any language, in other words, a language is not used according to the content of a speech but according to your audience. In this case, the audience was the european council and as far as I know, the very vast majority of attendants don’t have english as their mother tongue. All speeches are translated anyway and english was absolutely not necessary. M. Chirac was right to point out this anomaly, but wrong to walk out, he should have said to the audience “Et maintenant, mesdames et messieurs, we are going to hear M.Seilliere speech”. That would have had much more impact…
I understand the problem Patrick.
In Northern Ireland we’ve had similar problems in the Assembly where politicians insist on speaking Irish Gaelic and having the language represented in all official documents even though English is their first language. The Ulster Scots speakers then insisted that their language be equally represented. All of this wasting time and resources on something which has no place in the daily running of the country. It is of course a nonsense to speak a different language than your audience understands, or one that is irrelevant!
French has been the chosen language of diplomats because it is less ambiguous than English. That considered, perhaps English truly should be the language of business, leaving large legal loopholes of ambiguity for big business to further sidestep responsibility.
Perhaps M. Chirac should not have walked out, as you say but then a milder response from him may not have been considered so news worthy and we would not be having this conversation.
I have to agree with Caroline’s example. It’s the first language bit there that makes it an act of flouting the proceedings. Regardless of history in English long ago overtaking Gaelic it has been relegated to a language for color. I only hear it in music and poetry here. I understand the need for preserving it, just as I understand the need for diversity in nature. The Ulster Scot language parity slowing goverment down makes an appropriate statement. And when it comes to business everyone knows that in having to wade through cultural considerations color ought to take a back seat. It all depends on whether or not one wants efficiency in government or baroque ornamentation.
Encore le matin. Du vent. Les ombres
des nuages creusent et remplissent le terrain vague.
Une clarté difficile chancelle sur l’éteule.
Les corbeaux trainent leurs scies vers les arbres.
On sait qu’ils exagèrent leurs supplices.
Si l’on commence “je me souviens….”
il faut traduire “seuil qu’use le pied,”
faut admettre que ce champs soit l’avenir.
Ma lectrice qui je ne reverrai jamais,
le soleil jette ses hameçons dans le givre,
et, parmi les éternités de vent, la lumière vient et va,
vient et va.
Oui, je suis d’accord avec Oink Oink. Le francais est vraiment la langue de la poesie. Comme si l’irlandais et l’ecossais d’Ulster.
Je vous prie/Is mise le meas/Thon’s me name
Northern Sole/l’Ame du nord/Anam na Tuaisceart/Tha Sowl o’tha North