Edited sentence: (Irish is not alone in this: See also endangered language and language death.According to the language survey, levels of fluency among families is 'very low', from 1% in Galway suburbs to a maximum of 8% in parts of west Donegal.All sides, irrespective of their view on the methodology used by independent Ireland in its efforts to preserve the language, agree that such a loss would be a cultural tragedy on a monumental scale.The death of the Gaeltacht would make a break forever between one of Ireland's cultural pasts and identities, and its future.While the language will continue to exist among English speakers who have learned fluency and are bilingual (though mainly English-speaking in their everyday lives), Gaeltacht areas embody more than just a language, but the cultural context in which it is spoken, through song, stories, social traditions, folklore and dance.With such sharp decline, particularly among the young, the real danger exists that Irish will largely become extinct within two generations, possibly even one