Irish has long struggled with non-white descriptions. Black person It can refer to people with dark hair or dark skin of any color. When capitalized, Black person Also mentioned demons.
For generations, Irish speakers have used a strange alternative, Blue man (The blue person) means a person who is not white.Other uses People of color (People of color).
One version evokes the creatures in the movie “Avatar”; the other echoes the language associated with apartheid South Africa.
The guardian of the Irish language has now entered a new term in the national terminology database: People of color (People of color).
“We are very happy to use it. This is a case where concepts are constantly emerging and changing,” said Donncha Ó Cróinín, the chief terminologist of Foras na Gaeilge, a public agency that promotes the Irish language in the Republic. Ireland with Northern Ireland.
A Coiste Téarmaíochta, the Foras na Gaeilge committee, responsible for developing new terms and expressions, approved last week People of color, Now included in an online dictionary and database, Tears.
Ó Cróinín says this adoption reflects the evolution of concepts and Ireland’s transition from a monoracial society to a growing African, Asian and Latino communities.
“This concept has wider applications. You cannot call Hispanics black. For people of color, you mean any skin color that is not white.”
Ola Majekodunmi, broadcaster and board member of Foras na Gaeilge, suggested the new terminology.The daughter of a Nigerian immigrant, she was educated in Ireland and felt the conditions People of color with Blue man It’s outdated.
“blue Not completely offensive or racially slanderous, but it does not refer to people like me. I remember when I was in school, I wanted to know: Who are these people? I am not blue. “
Committee on People of color focus on preposition.It considered People with colors (People of color) and People of color (Colored people) as a substitute, and then accept the literal translation of colored people.
Majekodunmi thinks Black person (Black person) It is good to describe black people, because Ireland has become secularized, and the word no longer risks contact with the devil. “Today people should not be afraid to say Black person,” she says.
Replace the traditional greeting Hello there (God and Mary are with you) Many Irish speakers now speak Hager (Hello there).
According to census data, less than 2% of people speak Irish, but Motherfoclóir podcasts and other Irish language content (including movies) fueled the revival Arakht.
