Speakers from Ireland, Catalonia, Sardinia, the Basque Country and Kernow/Cornwall meet in Béal Feirste on March 14th. They reflected on international best practice and the many associated cultural, economic, educational and social benefits of legislating for language rights. The conference was organized by Conradh na Gaeilge at the St Mary's University College. "Language discrimination is a form of both direct and indirect racism. Language legislation acts to uphold our fundamental human rights", said Cornishman Davyth Hicks from ELEN. "Bilingual schoolchildren have higher grades, lower drop-out rates... bilingualism linked to lower suicide rates, there are cognitive and health benefits". The question of bilingual signage as part of Irish Language Act was discussed. Speakers said that signage as a language right and say visibility increases normalisation and confidence - bilingual signage "central" to effective legislation. International aspects of Language Revival were discussed as Local and International Models of CnaG and Féile an Phobai.Basque speaker, from Kontseilua, stated that: “The four pillars of language recovery are 1. Adequate legislation, 2. Planning, 3. Adequate resources, and 4. Strong society”. “For languages without legislation, their language recovery effort is constantly under threat”. Catalan speaker analized the benefits of Language Immersion in the Catalan schools.
