If there were only 100 people in Ireland, 55 of them would be speaking only English, 39 of them would be speaking mainly English, and occasionally Irish, 2 of them would be speaking mainly Irish and one would be speaking Polish. Three would be speaking other languages.
Michal Boleslav Mechura collected these and other data from the Irish Census 2006, and crafted them into a few interesting cartograms.
Many thanks to him for sending in this map. Visit his website here for more, reflecting immigration, religion and residence intrapolated (if that’s the right word) from Republic of Ireland’s 4.24 million actual residents (Census 2006) to only 100 representative ones.
According to Wolfram Alpha, that means that 86,018 people speak mainly Irish.
http://www77.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=ireland+population+2%25
Comment by Iain Cheyne — June 11, 2009 @ 12:47 pm
The map is wrong – if there were only 100 people in Ireland, there wouldn’t be anyone speaking Polish as the only speaker wouldn’t have anyone to talk to……
Comment by Rich — June 11, 2009 @ 1:07 pm
Lovely cartogram. From a design point of view though, I find the peninsula of 3 red people jutting out above Dublin a bit odd. I think moving two of them up to the next line might be better.
Also, it’s a bit unfair to reduce Northern Ireland to 20 people. If the Republic was 100 people they should be around 42.
I’m sure the good people of Kerry in the southwest of Ireland would be disgusted that they didn’t have a green man. But sure you can’t please everyone.
Comment by jcwexford — June 11, 2009 @ 1:58 pm
The green men in Kerry are too busy hiding their pots of gold to be on a map.
Comment by Konrad Talmont-Kaminski — June 11, 2009 @ 2:09 pm
#2: I imagine that 1 would be a crazy old Polish hermit who lives in a cabin somewhere in the middle of the woods, like Baba Yaga.
Comment by El Santo — June 11, 2009 @ 3:06 pm
The green man in the Burren should be moved to Connemara, unless he’s supposed to be an Aran Islander.
The 39 blues should really be purple, as with the U.S. red-blue divide. Or rather, the red-blue-green should be red-brown-green, with most of the browns more rust than olive.
Comment by mollymooly — June 11, 2009 @ 5:03 pm
Just goes to prove that reviving moribund languages by state fiat is the pointless piece of crypto-fascism it always looked like.
Comment by alex — June 11, 2009 @ 5:44 pm
If the vast majority are speaking English, well isn’t Ireland really England 2?
:D
Comment by dj — June 11, 2009 @ 6:58 pm
#8 Come on! Would that make the majority of Americans English too? Or is it Spanish nowadays?
Comment by Pat — June 11, 2009 @ 8:48 pm
I always disliked these “100 people” simplifications as being, well, (gratuitous over)simplifications.
Comment by Lurker — June 11, 2009 @ 8:58 pm
@9:
We don’t spell things like that. In a similar way, although the English and Irish Englishes are mutually intelligible (barring an overly strong accent), there’s NO way one would be confused for the other, even by a complete foreigner.
Comment by Lurker — June 11, 2009 @ 8:59 pm
And presumably the 21 little grey men in the North East say “NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!”
Comment by James D — June 11, 2009 @ 9:29 pm
@11:
ever been outside of the british isles? ;)
Comment by kollau — June 11, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
In my experience, the people who represent “occasionally” speaking Irish vary widely in how much they actually speak it.
The Irish language is still held up as a symbol of national identity, and rightly so, but this does lead to people saying they often speak it when what they mean is that, at a push, they would be able to hold a conversation.
Or that they’re still in school, where it’s compulsory.
Comment by Karl — June 12, 2009 @ 1:10 am
An mhaith le fhios agam – an bhfuil aon duine anseo le gaeilge acu??
Comment by Caoimhe — June 12, 2009 @ 6:37 am
@11 You’ve clearly never met the sad but sizable proportion of Americans who can’t easily tell the difference between English, Scottish and Irish accents. Some even confuse the above with Australian and Kiwi accents.
Comment by Lakeman — June 12, 2009 @ 6:40 am
#10 – how can showing something as a percentage be ‘(gratuitous over)simplifications’?
Comment by andrew — June 12, 2009 @ 7:13 am
@15 Tá beaganín Gaeilge agam, ach ní feidir liom mórán a labhairt faoí láithear.
Actually even the 80,000 Irish speakers surprises me. It is a language rarely heard spoken in this country these days. I heard once that there are far more Irish speakers in Dublin than there are in all the Gaeltachts (Irish language speaking areas) combined.
Comment by Colm — June 12, 2009 @ 8:17 am
Why is Gael the primary language here though?
Comment by Tyr — June 12, 2009 @ 8:30 am
@16 – Can you identify the following American dialects: New Jersey versus Brooklyn? Alabama vs. Tennessee? Boston vs. Cape Cod? Northern New England ‘yankee’ vs. Middle New England? Upper Midwest vs. Chicago?
If not, then please keep your condescending attitude to yourself
Comment by Art — June 12, 2009 @ 2:13 pm
the link to “other maps” goes to a site in Gaelic… how useful to 80,000 out of 5,000,000,000…
Comment by Tony Picco — June 12, 2009 @ 2:39 pm
@20: The only one of those I’d have trouble with is Boston v Cape Cod, and then only because I don’t believe I’ve heard anyone speak with a CC accent.
Most British people have a decent grasp of American accent and idiom, because we see and hear so much of it on TV and film. I’d go so far as to say I can spot an American actor faking a regional US accent with little difficulty.
And when I acted in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof a couple of years ago, my Floridian stepmother said my Mississippi accent was pretty good!
Comment by JamesD — June 12, 2009 @ 3:23 pm
Percentages are fine, and in this case, this is probably a treasonable use of them. My complaint is more against the “world as a village” one where I’m strongly suspicious of any group of less than ~30 000 000 being wiped out by rounding down. Also it imposes an unrealistic mental image of all these “100 people” being able to live in a functioning “village” when many of them wouldn’t exist because of the loss of the ones rounded off (EG. The one Polish dude on the above map not having any other poles to talk to).
Comment by Lurker — June 12, 2009 @ 5:38 pm
@19 In fairness, Queen’s English vs. Scottish more like New Orleans vs. Minnesota accent-wise. There are sizeable proportions of English and Irish people who have trouble picking out individual words in a thick Glasgow accent.
I support your point though, knowing things about one locale doesn’t make you better than people who don’t because it never came up.
Comment by Karl — June 12, 2009 @ 6:46 pm
Oops, meant @20
Comment by Karl — June 12, 2009 @ 6:47 pm
[...] interesting linguistic cartogram from Strange Maps today. The most common language in Ireland is English. Then Gaelic. But what [...]
Pingback by JohnFrat.us » Today’s Report – June 11th — June 12, 2009 @ 7:53 pm
@Lakeman (post #16)
It would be interesting to see a map of the various dialects in the areas you listed. Any books/links that illustrate the differences throughout the Commonwealth would be appreciated.
@Art (post #20)
To be fair, someone from Chicago would not be able to hear any differences among Southern accents or among New England accents.
Comment by Bourgoises Pig — June 12, 2009 @ 7:54 pm
I think this map is cool but a little misleading. I have a GF from Dublin and she would probably say she occasionally uses Irish when she really doesn’t much at all. Her and her friends will occasionally (to rarely) use tiny bits of Irish if they don’t want people to hear what they saying. If they can get away with that in Ireland it shows how few people really know Gaelic.
@20 I’m from Brooklyn and couldn’t tell you the diff between a Brooklyn and NJ accent, probably cause I didin’t know there was such a thing as a NJ accent
(who would know, no one likes jersey). Besides the differences in American accents are so minor that its not fair to use that as an excuse to not know the difference between Irish, Scottish, English or down under accents. Its like apples and oranges.
Comment by Brooklyn — June 12, 2009 @ 9:40 pm
Presumably the Northern Irish are not down as speaking a language because they only say ‘No’?
Comment by disgruntled — June 13, 2009 @ 9:27 am
Given that the vast majority of Irish prefer to speak English, why isn’t the text in this image in English first with Irish translation underneath?
Comment by Ashley Yakeley — June 13, 2009 @ 10:56 am
The green people are dotted slightly with small black specks, is this for color blind people?
Comment by fdashb — June 13, 2009 @ 2:20 pm
@30: If you visit his site (Linked) it appears that that’s HIS primary language.
Comment by Lurker — June 13, 2009 @ 8:38 pm
[...] As to to what they speak in Ireland… (Strange Maps) [...]
Pingback by In The Newz — June 13, 2009 @ 10:13 pm
@20 – “Can you identify the following American dialects: New Jersey versus Brooklyn? Alabama vs. Tennessee? Boston vs. Cape Cod? Northern New England ‘yankee’ vs. Middle New England? Upper Midwest vs. Chicago?”
Not only that I can place them right down to neighborhood and in some cases by street!
Comment by Professor Henry Higgins — June 16, 2009 @ 4:13 pm
@20 As a well-traveled and generally curious American, I can indeed identify the dialects you listed.
Comment by Lakeman — June 17, 2009 @ 6:33 am
The main problem here is the source of the data – the Census is obviously filled in by people at home. Typically by people who are proud of being Irish and subconscously embarrassed by the fact that they don\’t speak the language in any meaningful way. Given that no-one is going to ask them to prove it, they often take a fairly loose interpretation of the level they speak. More realistic survey\’s (such as those conducted through the Irish language) reveal a far lower competency. That said, nothing will get in the way of certain groups who are so fanatical about the language that they cannot see that they are killing it off. sad
Comment by Donal — June 17, 2009 @ 10:35 am
@36 Donal: Plus if it’s anything like it was 15 years ago, you get MONEY and special BENEFITS from the government if you speak Irish.
Comment by DG — June 17, 2009 @ 3:40 pm
@37 indeed you do, well if you live in one of the very loosely defined ‘Gaeltachts’ – bring your kids to a government office and there’s about 700 dollars in it for you if they can chat to the nice lady in irish
@19 @21 @30
like most thing about the irish language this map and the website that promote it is ideologically motivated to convince the shrinking ‘gaelgoir’ community that their short-sighted actions are not killing the language when it is clear that they are.
Comment by Donal — June 17, 2009 @ 9:36 pm
@34 aka ENRY IGGINS:
<3! You could place my streets anytime!
Comment by Eliza Doolittle — June 18, 2009 @ 8:01 am
I spent some 10 days in Ireland in 1996. The only time I heard Gaelic spoken was at the Gaillimh (Galway)McDonald’s.
Comment by Wulfahariaz — June 18, 2009 @ 11:57 am
#15–There’s one who can read you but can’t answer in Irish.
Comment by Rodger — June 18, 2009 @ 6:03 pm
It might be because I’m American but I dont understand how making more people speak Gaelic is killing the language…
Do you mean to say that it is the forcing non-natives to speak a language that degrades it compared to how it is spoken among those who have it as their native tongue?
(does teaching americans spanish kill the language? what if americans were the only ones left [hypothetically] able to be taught spanish? would that not keep the language alive in some form at the very least? Gringo Spanish is not the best, but hey.)
Despite the fact that it is ridiculous to pay people to speak a language (monetarily), why is it so bad to reward those who can keep a language alive?(-give them a government job, better placement in university etc.)
It may be an extinct language but keeping alive a peice of Celtic identity (so much of which was lost under English rule) should not be thought of as a waste. Scottish Gaelic is pretty much extinct because of the proximity/dominance/alliance to England. Even if I can’t speak a word of Irish I’m glad it is not, and will not be, lost forever…
Comment by Brooklyn — June 19, 2009 @ 4:40 am
*Sláinte
Comment by Brooklyn — June 19, 2009 @ 4:42 am
That map while well meaning is not exactly a reflection of the truth. You’re very unlikely to hear irish spoken on the street anywhere in Ireland at this stage, with the possible exception of a few villages on the west coast. On the other hand Polish can be heard all the time.
At the moment the current trend is to say Irish is Cool. This is helping to kill it off. It’s like when you came home and your mom saying you were cool!
Comment by ED — June 19, 2009 @ 6:00 pm
Great representation! Someone should do one for Canada or the US.
Comment by Dr Bebel — June 20, 2009 @ 1:15 am
[...] as 100 people has an amazing little stat. Hint: it’s about the third largest group of language speakers [...]
Pingback by Are we there yet? « Capillary Refill: Old Blood, New Perfusion — June 20, 2009 @ 5:28 pm
Awesomeness.
Comment by michael5000 — June 22, 2009 @ 4:04 am
I’m assuming readers of Finnegan’s Wake on this map would be represented by: 0
Comment by biffburley — June 25, 2009 @ 5:40 pm
I like this way of displaying statistics. It’s much easier to digest than that census document must have been. I’m going to have a go at making one of these but maybe tweak the design slightly although I think this one is very clear and quite striking.
Comment by Benjamin — June 29, 2009 @ 8:05 am
[...] in Strange Maps (Ireland As 100 People), that seen it in this post of [...]
Pingback by Irish language as 100 people « Social networks and languages — August 13, 2009 @ 10:27 pm
[...] a Strange Maps (Ireland As 100 People) que ho havia vist a este apunt de [...]
Pingback by Les llengües a la república d’Irlanda com si foren 100 habitants « Xarxes socials i llengües — August 13, 2009 @ 10:30 pm
Just got back from first visit to Ireland – most impressed by Gaelic signs & TV channel etc., which (despite knowing several other languages, even a smattering of Welsh) meant absolutely nothing to me. Wonderful feeling of being a foreigner out of my depth: long may it prosper!
Comment by Bugmenot — October 31, 2009 @ 9:07 pm