Sir, – In his article “Why do people in Ireland speak so few languages?,” (Opinion, July 27th), Paul Gillespie writes with characteristic verve and frustration on a subject that has interested me for years. But he won’t mind my saying that he, in effect, answers his own question.
With the exception of the tiny numbers born and raised in the Gaeltacht, the Irish grow up speaking English as their native language, and it cannot escape their attention that most foreigners they meet, including shopkeepers, waiters, barmen and hoteliers, are happy to address them in English.
Not only that, but which language or languages should they adopt? French, German, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Russian? What about Arabic, Chinese or Hindi? Is there any that has the same utility as English?
This is not to say that those who show an interest in languages should not be encouraged. They obviously should. But as Gillespie observes, few Germans speak French and very few French outside of Alsace speak German. And hardly anyone speaks Italian.
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Closer to home, expect most third-generation Poles and Lithuanians to end up as linguistically challenged as the rest of us.
Would I like to read Marcel Proust in French? Yes, but it’s hard enough in English. – Yours, etc,
WALTER ELLIS,
Plusquellec,
France.
