The English Language Let Me Down Quiz

Answer: Welsh

The Goidelic languages are also known as the Gaelic Languages; the Irish word for the Irish language is 'Gaeilge', the Scottish Gaelic word for the Scottish Gaelic language is 'Gàidhlig', and the Manx word for the Manx language is 'Gaelg'. Note the similarities. Cornish and Welsh are both languages of the Brythonic family. Irish and Manx are not often referred to as 'Irish Gaelic' or 'Manx Gaelic' because it's somewhat of a tautology; Scottish Gaelic is called that to differentiate it from the Scots dialect of English. Goidelic originated in Ireland and spread into Scotland via the Kingdom of Dal Riata during the 6th century.

The Isle of Man's inhabitants originally spoke a Brythonic language, but began to transition towards Old Irish, an ancestor of Manx, due to an influx of Irish immigrants.

The Manx language is also influenced by Norse languages, as a result of Viking invasions.

Answer: 1974

Ned Maddrell was a fisherman born in the mid 1870s who had spoken Manx all his life; he apparently learned it from his great-aunt. As a teenager, when he first went to sea, he kept up his Manx by talking to Gaelic speakers; the village he came from, Cregneash, was full of Manx speakers, but very few people spoke it in the more urban areas. Eamon de Valera, the Taoiseach of Ireland, met Maddrell on visiting the Isle of Man in 1947 and sent over a team from the Irish Folklore Commission to record Maddrell talking, in the hope of preserving the language.

However, the Manx language did not completely die with Maddrell; he taught the language to younger citizens, and schools began to teach the language, with the Manx Language Unit being formed in 1992. UNESCO declared the Manx language extinct in 2000, but later changed its status to Critically Endangered, due to the fact that there were still several Manx speakers on the Isle of Man. According to the 2011 census, approximately 2.27% of the population had some knowledge of Manx.

Answer: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

'Ealish' is the Manx equivalent of 'Alice'. As well as 'Contoyrtyssyn Ealish ayns Çheer ny Yindyssyn', Stowell also wrote a Manx novel, 'Dunveryssyn yn Tooder-Folley' ('The Vampire Murders') in 2006, which was the first full length novel in Manx to be recorded. He learned Manx by spending time with a group who were recording the conversation of native Manx speakers, and later learned Irish and translated Irish language courses into Manx. He was awarded the Reih Bleeaney Vanannan (Manannan's Choice of the Year), an award for making an outstanding contribution to Manx culture, in 2008.

An explanation for the name of the award: Manannán mac Lir, or Manannan mac y Leir, was a Celtic god of the sea and King of the Otherworld, and the Isle of Man is thought to either be named after him or the place that gave him his name. The award is a statue of him made from marble from the Pooilvaaish quarry in Castletown.

Answer: Freedom for Cornwall now

'Kernow' is the Cornish word for 'Cornwall'; Mebyon Kernow, or 'Sons of Cornwall', is the Cornish name of the Party for Cornwall, a Cornish nationalist party who wish for Cornwall to become an independent state. The episode was broadcast by Channel 4 as an alternative Christmas message, and 'Simpsons' executive producer Tim Long requested a translation from the Cornish Language Fellowship. Lisa also says, "Kernow bys vykken", which means "Cornwall forever". Matthew Clarke, a member of the Fellowship, revealed that Long had got the idea from a comedian saying he was Cornish, not English. (An article in the 'Independent' states that Bart would have responded, "Bydh kosel, den", or "Don't have a cow, man.")

Answer: Kernewek

'Kernewek' or 'Kernowek' is the Cornish language word for the language itself, with 'Kernow' being Cornwall. Like Manx, native speakers died out - albeit much earlier, by the end of the 18th century - but the language experienced a revival in the early 20th century and UNESCO ceased to classify it as an extinct language in 2010.

Some Cornish parents have attempted to raise native speakers by teaching their children the language from birth. Cornish organisations such as Agan Tavas ('Our Language') and Kowethas an Yeth Kernewek (the Cornish Language Fellowship). ('Cernyweg' is Welsh, 'Còrnais' is Scots Gaelic and 'Choirnis' is Irish.)

Answer: Breton

Breton is another member of the Brythonic family; it is spoken in Lower Brittany, or 'Breizh-Izel' in Breton, while the eastern Upper Brittany area is a Romance language area (Gallo is a language spoken there). The Breton word for the Breton language is 'Brezhoneg'. Breton is closer to Cornish than Welsh, as both languages are descended from Southwestern Brythonic, while Welsh is Western Brythonic; Breton is a descent of the language brought over to France by migrants from southwest Britain.

There are several words in all three languages which are similar, such as 'gwir' (true), the Breton 'melen' and the Welsh/Cornish 'melyn' (yellow) and the Breton 'houarn', Cornish 'horn' and Welsh 'haearn' (iron).

The Breton equivalent of 'good health' or 'cheers' is 'yec'hed mat', similar to the Welsh 'iech yd da'.

Incidentally, 'Asterix' fans may be interested to know that the books have been translated into Breton, as Asterix's home area of Armorica was in what is now Brittany.

Answer: To promote the Welsh language among children and young adults aged 25 or below

Urdd Gobaith Cymru ('League of the Hope of Wales') was set up by Sir Ifan ab Owen Edwards in 1922, to protect the Welsh language from the dominance of English. He was concerned that Welsh children were forgetting they were Welsh. Up until the late 19th century, the speaking of Welsh had been stigmatised in some Welsh schools and children caught speaking it were made to hold a stick known as the 'Welsh Not'; whoever had the Welsh Not on their person by the end of the day would be punished. According to the Labour politician Susan Jones, some schools carried on using it in the 1930s and 1940s.

However, the use of Welsh in schools became more commonplace from the 1880s onwards, and Edwards' father set up a Welsh children's magazine called 'Cymru'r Plant' in 1892.

The first branch of Urdd was set up in Abercynon in 1924, and the organisation began to grow; by the 2010s, it had over 50,000 members. The organisation holds its own Welsh-language Eisteddfod every May, and also hosts camps at its various residential centres in Wales.

Answer: Yes

While Irish has official status in the Republic of Ireland, it is a minority language in Northern Ireland; it was given protected language status in 2001. The first Irish-language primary school, Bunscoil Phobal Feirste, was opened in Belfast in 1970, after a group of Irish-speaking families established a Gaeltacht (an Irish-speaking area) in the Shaw's Road area of Belfast, which has since grown. Foras na Gaeilge ('the Irish Institute') was set up in 1999 to promote the Irish language in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. According to the 2011 census, around 10% of the population had some knowledge of Irish, and 0.2% spoke it as a home language.

The Donegal dialect is the most commonly spoken version of Irish in Ulster.

Answer: Prime Minister

'Taoiseach' (plural: 'Taoisigh') literally means 'leader' or 'chief' and was formally adopted as the title for the Prime Minister of Ireland in the 1937 Constitution of Ireland. The first Taoiseach was Éamon de Valera of the Republican Fianna Fáil party, who had previously split from Sinn Féin. One of de Valera's opponents, Frank MacDermot, proposed an amendment against the use of 'Taoiseach' instead of 'Prime Minister' on the grounds that most people would pronounce the word wrongly, and that it would alienate the people of Northern Ireland, but the amendment failed. (The President is 'Uachtarán', the Deputy Prime Minister is 'Tánaiste', and the Chancellor of the Exchequer is 'Seansailéir an Státchiste'.)

Answer: Beul Feirste

Beul Feirste is the intruder - it's a Northern Irish city, not a Scottish one! It's the Scottish Gaelic word for 'Belfast'. 'Glaschu' is Glasgow, 'Sruighlea' is Stirling and 'Dùn Èideann' - which is also the Irish name, incidentally, albeit with different accents - is Edinburgh. Note the similarities between the Scottish names and the Irish names of 'Béal Feirste', 'Glaschú' and 'Sruighle'.

However, while Irish and Scottish Gaelic do look similar, they are not mutually intelligible, i.e. an Irish speaker would not immediately understand what a Scottish Gaelic speaker is saying, although Irish speakers from Donegal sometimes have less difficulty understanding Scottish Gaelic due to Donegal's proximity to Scotland. One way to tell the difference between Irish and Scottish Gaelic is the accents; in Scottish Gaelic, they are grave (pointing to the left, as in 'Dùn Èideann'), while in Irish, they are acute (pointing to the right, as in 'Dún Éideann'). Irish also has letter combinations that Scottish Gaelic does not have, and vice versa.