Lighter fare

New Gaelic school planned for Glasgow
The Scotsman via Gaelport.com
7 Feabhra 2013

A new Gaelic school is to be created in Glasgow following an £800,000 investment from the Scottish Government.

The primary school will be part of the existing Glendale Campus in Pollokshields. Alastair Allan, the minister for learning, said:

“The continued increase in demand for Gaelic medium education in Glasgow clearly demonstrates that parents are not only recognising the impressive learning benefits that come with a bilingual education, but that we are securing a sustainable and vibrant future for the language in future generations.

“I am delighted to announce this latest funding and look forward to work beginning on the school to create an environment that will inspire pupils and school staff throughout their time there.”

More at Gaelport.com


All about my mother tongue – one man's struggle to keep the Irish language alive
Irish Independent via Gaelport.com
2 Feabhra 2013

Manchán Magan grew up in Dublin 4, lived for a while in a cowshed in the Himalayas, became a celebrity on Irish-language tv, and is now writing Irish plays for English-speaking audiences.

As befits a published travel writer, his life story has been quite a journey.I asked him to explain it. “It all goes back to one moment,” he said, “on the morning of Easter Sunday, 1916.” Magan’s great-granduncle was The O’Rahilly – a founder of the Irish Volunteers and an ardent Irish-language revivalist. That morning, as O’Rahilly kissed his wife goodbye (he would be killed in the Rising), he was watched by his niece, Sighle Humphreys – Magan’s grandmother.

More at Gaelport.com

First the bad news

Deireadh leis an nuachtán Gaelscéal
Galway Advertiser via Gaelport.com
7 Feabhra 2013

Cuirfear críoch le foilsiú an nuachtán Gaelscéal ag deireadh mhí an Mhárta.

Tháinig an scéal seo aniar aduaidh ar phobal na Gaeilge an deireadh seachtaine seo caite, nuair a fógraíodh go raibh Foras na Gaeilge ag cur deireadh leis an maoiniú a bhí á gcur ar fáil do Thorann na dTonn, an comhlacht a bhí i mbun an nuachtáin.

More at Gaelport.com


Foras na Gaeilge le críoch a chur le maoiniú Gaelscéal
Irish Times via Gaelport.com
6 Feabhra 2013

D’fhógair Foras na Gaeilge Dé hAoine go raibh siad le deireadh a chur le maoiniú an nuachtáin, Gaelscéal. Tá an foras le héirí as an chonradh a bhí acu leis an chomhlacht Torann na dTonn leis an nuachtán a fhoilsiú.

‘Luach ar airgead’

I ráiteas a d’eisigh an foras, dúradh gur “i gcomhthéacs luach ar airgead” a tógadh an cinneadh ag cruinniú dá mbord ar 25ú Eanáir.

Dúradh sa ráiteas gur léirigh cinneadh an bhoird “nach é an fhormáid chlóite an bealach is oiriúnaí le seirbhís nuachta a sholáthar do phobal léitheoireachta na Gaeilge”.

Dhéanfaí staidéar ar riachtanais agus ar mhianta phobal léitheoireachta na Gaeilge sula ndéanfaí an cinneadh sin, a dúirt sé.

More at Gaelport.com

News from deireadh na míosa, only slightly stale

Totally thought I put these up already. Huh. Plus, I totally blew past the 500th post a few back. Ah, well.

English-Irish dictionary to be completed by 2015
http://tinyurl.com/ad9n9et
25 Eanáir 2013

Cyberbullying, retweet, and cloud computing — just some of the words we can now say as Gaeilge.

It’s all thanks to the launch of www.focloir.ie — the first major English-Irish dictionary since the publication of Tomás de Bhaldraithe’s dictionary in 1959.

More (including translations of the words mentioned above) at Gaelport.com.


NW man edits first dictionary since 1959
http://www.gaelport.com/nuacht/NW-man-edits-first-dictionary-since-1959/
29 Eanáir 2013
Londnderry man Dr Pádraig Ó Mianáin has edited the first major English-Irish dictionary since Tomás de Bhaldraithe’s over 50 years ago with ‘ghost estates,’ ‘cyberbullying,’ ‘retweet,’ ‘defriend’ and ‘cloud computing’ amongst words now included in the lexicon.

More at Gaelport.com.

News items for 30 Eanáir

Céard? 17 words from modern Ireland, in Irish
http://www.thejournal.ie/17-words-modern-ireland-in-irish-770728-Jan2013/
January 26, 2013

The latest edition of the official English-Irish dictionary was formally launched this week – and was marked by the relaunch of focloir.ie, its official website run by Foras na Gaeilge.

The modern dictionary – the first update since 1959 – includes a series of new words, like a formal Irish translation for ‘tweet’ among others.

More at thejournal.ie .


VIDEO: The Hunger Games gets an Irish makeover
http://thedailyedge.thejournal.ie/video-the-hunger-games-gets-an-irish-makeover-750574-Jan2013/
January 27, 2013

The Hunger Games as Gaeilge? How would that work?

Twenty-three Sixth Class pupils at Gaelscoil Nás na Ríogh took up the challenge before Christmas and came up with some impressive results.

More at The Daily Edge.


Film-maker Éamon de Buitléar dies
http://www.rte.ie/ten/2013/0128/debuitleare.html
January 28, 2013

The death has taken place of the wildlife film-maker, conservationist and former Senator, Éamon de Buitléar.

He was 83 and died at his home in Delgany, Co Wicklow on Sunday night.

Ireland's best known independent wildlife film-maker since the 1960s, Éamon de Buitléar also promoted the Irish language and traditional music.

More at RTÉ.


VIDEO: Want to take a trip around Dublin city in 1965? Now you can…
http://www.thejournal.ie/video-want-to-take-a-trip-around-dublin-city-in-1965-now-you-can-773664-Jan2013/
January 29, 2013

If you have ever wanted to see what Dublin was like back in the 1960s, now you can.

This incredible 10-minute video of a bus driver journeying around the capital in 1965 is something very, very special.

More at thejournal.ie.

Irish documentary tells story of iconic photo

Classic Irish mystery comes to big screen
http://tinyurl.com/b7tfgbz
RTE.ie ~ 24 January 2013

The IFTA-nominated documentary Men at Lunch (Lón Sa Spéir), which tells the story of one of the most iconic photographs of the 20th century, Lunch Atop a Skyscraper, and explores its links to a Galway village, opens in cinemas next month.

Lunch Atop a Skyscraper was taken in 1932 and shows workers on their break on a girder 850ft above Manhattan during the building of the Rockefeller Centre.

In 2007, brothers Eamonn and Sean Ó Cualáin came upon a special framed copy of the photograph in Whelan's pub in the Galway village of Shanaglish and began their fascinating investigation into two local men who had emigrated from the village in the 1920s.

More at RTE.ie.

New English-Irish dictionary launched today

from the Irish Times: 

English-Irish dictionary launched
http://tinyurl.com/bczbb57
January 24, 2013

A new online English-Irish dictionary will be launched today by President Michael D Higgins.

The free dictionary, available at focloir.ie, is published by Foras na Gaeilge and has been adapted to work on desktop computers and on mobile devices.

More at IrishTimes.com.

A few news items for January 2013

Is it more sad that I post these so infrequently, or that I keep trying instead of just giving up?

Celtic Connections 2013 marks 40 years of centre for Gaelic culture Sabhal Mòr Ostaig
http://www.gaelport.com/nuacht?NewsItemID=9188
17 Eanáir 2013

This year’s 20th Celtic Connections is a double celebration, marking the 40th year of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the renowned centre for Gaelic culture that began as a simple farm steading.

Forty years ago, in what seemed to many at the time to be an act of madness, the merchant banker, entrepreneur and Gaelic enthusiast Sir Iain Noble established an embryonic Gaelic college in a converted 19th-century farm steading – the “Great Steading of Ostaig” – which he had bought from former MacDonald estates on the Sleat peninsula in south-west Skye.

Today Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the striking contemporary architecture of its campus overlooking the Sound of Sleat, has become not just a college, but a nationally and internationally respected centre for Gaelic culture, catering – directly, or through distance learning – for more than 1,100 students.

More at Gaelport.com.


Labelling medicine in Irish ‘could cost jobs’
http://www.gaelport.com/nuacht/Labelling-medicine-in-Irish-could-cost-jobs/
21 Eanáir 2013

The compulsory labelling of medicines in both English and Irish would add up to 10pc to the cost for patients and lead to the withdrawal of some products, according to a new report.

More at Gaelport.com.


An Foclóir Nua Béarla-Gaeilge
http://www.gaelport.com/nuacht/An-Focloir-Nua-Bearla-Gaeilge/
22 Eanáir 2013

Seolfaidh an tUachtarán Mícheál D. Ó hUigínn An Foclóir Nua Béarla Gaeilge ar an Déardaoin beag seo, 24 Eanáir 2013.

Tá fáil saor in aisce ar an bhfoclóir nua, ina bhfuil 7,000 ceannfhocal, 40,000 frása samplach, mar aon le comhaid fuaime agus treoracha cuimsitheacha gramadaí, ó www.focloir.ie .

Cuireadh tús leis an togra, ag a bhfuil buiséad iomlán de €6.088m, sa bhliain 2000 agus tá foireann 70 duine ag forbairt an fhoclóra nua ó shin.

Tuilleadh: Gaelport.com.


Gaeltachts losing out due to poor broadband
http://www.gaelport.com/nuacht/Gaeltachts-losing-out-due-to-poor-broadband/
22 Eanáir 2013

Companies are paying exorbitant premiums to base their businesses in Gaeltacht areas.

But despite forking out, in some cases, tens of thousands of euro on telecommunications, high- speed broadband access remains a challenge in many areas. The broadband problem is inhibiting efforts to attract employers to Gaeltacht regions. The claim was made by Anna Ní Ghallachoir, the chairperson of the state development agency, Údarás na Gaeltachta.

More at Gaelport.com.


Gaeltacht firms lost more jobs than created in 2012
http://www.gaelport.com/nuacht/Gaeltacht-firms-lost-more-jobs-than-created-in-2012/
23 Eanáir 2013

Companies based in the Gaeltacht lost more jobs than they created in the last year, amid warnings that the lack of infrastructure in Irish-speaking areas was holding back investment.

More at Gaelport.com.

An Béal Bocht ar fáil mar leagan grafach

More catching-up....

An Béal Bocht ar fáil mar leagan grafach
Gaelport.com, Dec 11 2012
http://www.gaelport.com/nuacht/An-Beal-Bocht-ar-fail-mar-leagan-grafach/

Seoladh leagan grafach den mhórshaothar clasaiceach ‘An Béal Bocht’ le Myles na gCopaleen an tseachtain seo caite agus é ar fáil díreach in am don Nollaig!

Is é Colmán Ó Raghallaigh (Cló Mhaigh Eo) a chóirigh, Breandán Ó Conaire a chuir in eagar, agus John McCloskey a mhaisigh an leabhar álainn seo atá ar fáil anois ar www.leabhar.ie   ar an bpraghas íseal de €12 le haghaidh cóip bhog agus €20 do chóip chrua.

Foilsíodh An Béal Bocht den chéad uair sa bhliain 1941 agus Myles na gCopaleen a d’úsáid Flann O’Brien mar ainm cleite air. Déanann an t-úrscéal cur síos magúil agus searbhasach ar chás na nGael ag tús na haoise nua, ag tagairt do shaothair ar nós ‘ An tOileánach’ le Tomás Ó Criomhthain agus ‘Peig’ le Peig Sayers, úrscéalta a bhfuil cáil orthu de bharr na síorchainte ar dheacracht an tsaoil sa Ghaeltacht.

Samplaí anseo.

‘Cheers as Gaeilge’ may be on way

This is a slightly older article but I see the news is making the rounds again:

‘Cheers as Gaeilge’ may be on way
Irish Times via Gaelport - tinyurl.com/bww5f5v

An Irish-language edition of the popular US sitcom Cheers could be on its way to television screens.

Dublin-based company Sideline Productions has been given permission by CBS to rework a series of the critically acclaimed US show which ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. 

More at Gaelport.com.

News tidbits for 29ú Bealtaine

Cogar - Digital news service for Irish language radio

(Gaelport.com - 29 Bealtaine 2012)

"Cogar, a news service for Irish language broadcasters has been re-launched for 2012 and has brought social media platforms to the core of its communications strategy.

"The service is a joint-project between Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge which provide award-winning digital media projects such as Gaelport.com and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland."

More at Gaelport.com.

Cá bhfuil an Obair?

(Gaelport.com - 29 Bealtaine 2012)

"Cá bhfuil an obair or Where is the work is the theme of a new radio series examining employment opportunities within the Irish language sector."

More at Gaelport.com.

Nationwide Irish language picnic day

A bit far away for some of us, but if it succeeds in Ireland as an annual event, it could be fun to try a bit of replication closer to home.

Nationwide Irish language picnic day

http://www.gaelport.com/default.aspx?treeid=37&NewsItemID=8128

(Gaelport.com - 23 Bealtaine 2012)

"Fun and games through the Irish language will take place across Ireland on May 27th as young Irish language speaking families meet for the national picnic day organised by Comhluadar."

Full story at Gaelport.com.

More about National Picnic Day at www.comhluadar.ie.

More news items, sort of recent

New Language Support Scheme to replace Scéim Labhairt na Gaeilge

(Gaelport.com - 1 Bealtaine 2012)

"A new government scheme to promote the Irish language will focus on Gaeltacht families but information will available to other families wishing to raise their families through Irish."

Massive Shortfalls in implementing Official Languages Act

(Gaelport.com - April 24 2012)

"The latest annual report of An Coimisinéir Teanga exposes ‘massive shortfalls’ in the implementation of the Official Languages Act, according to Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge."

‘The Hobbit’ Irish translation available soon

File under "Important things you miss when you take a mental vacation":

.

‘The Hobbit’ Irish translation available soon

(Gaelport.com, 24 Aibreán 2012 - http://tinyurl.com/6q3pm5v)

.

Peter Jackson won’t be the only one to express his take on JRR Tolkien’s epic novel, The Hobbit as the Irish language translation, An Hobad, will soon be available at An Siopa Leabhar, Conradh na Gaeilge.

.

More at Gaelport.com.

Spike [Milligan]’s infamous epitaph gets the last laugh in survey

Spike’s infamous epitaph gets the last laugh in survey 

(Irish Examiner, May 19 2012 - http://tinyurl.com/7y4fmgl)

"Goon Show creator and comedian Spike Milligan’s infamous epitaph, 'I told you I was ill', has been named as the best parting line.

"Milligan who died in 2002, aged 83, gets the last laugh again after he received nearly two thirds of the vote in a survey."

More at irishexaminer.com. 

What the article doesn't mention (unless I missed something) is that the epitaph is actually in Irish. GRMA to irishcultureandcustoms.com for pointing out the Gaeilge and the tombstone image: http://tinyurl.com/7gvfok5

Why don’t the Defence Forces make recruitment ads like this any more?

File under: "I didn't know this was missing from my life." And there's video!

Video: Why don’t the Defence Forces make recruitment ads like this any more? 

(TheJournal.ie, May 12, 2012 - http://tinyurl.com/6toxsq5)

This week the Defence Forces posted a collection of old recruitment ads to its YouTube account, extolling the benefits of a life in the army.

“Tar isteach ‘sna Fórsaí Cosanta agus ar aghaidh leat,” the ad from the 1980s proclaimed, translating as ”Join the Defence Forces, and go places!”

With shots of a military marching band, tanks, rifles, small guns, big guns, planes, ships and having the craic with your fellow recruits all spliced with music from Walter Murphy’s disco take on Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony – A Fifth of Beethoven – it is hard not to be enticed to sign up.

More at TheJournal.ie

Proud voice of the Gaeltacht 40 years a growing

(April 3, 2012)

The technology was creaky, the schedule limited to just two hours a day, and the prospect of sabotage lurked in the background.

But 40 years on from its "venture into the unknown", Raidio na Gaeltachta has overcome its inauspicious and chaotic beginnings to become an Irish institution.

And it almost didn't happen. Engineers worked feverishly through the night to get the studio at Casla in Connemara ready so the national Irish-language station could go to air for its maiden broadcast on Easter Sunday, April 2, 1972.

Construction work was only beginning on its two other studios, in Kerry and Donegal, and it would be another year before they were ready.

Meanwhile, extra gardai were drafted in from Clifden over fears that a dispute about the moving of a post office -- which housed the local telephone exchange -- could lead to the new station being targeted by saboteurs. Fortunately, the telephone lines were not cut by disgruntled natives, and the broadcast went ahead as planned.

More at Independent.ie.

Raidió réalteanna: Raidió na Gaeltachta marks 40 years

(April 2, 2012)

Limited transmission, poor roads but virgin territory – such was the landscape explored by the seven broadcasters hired for the State’s first Irish language radio station which marks its 40th birthday today.

When Raidió na Gaeltachta came on air at 3pm Easter Sunday, April 2nd, 1972, notions of wi-fi enabled digital audio broadcasting, online media players, podcasts or smartphone apps were but a distant dream.

In some locations the Irish language audience did not have wireless sets and neighbours gathered in kitchens to hear history being transmitted.

One Sunday newspaper even reported that the Easter Mass broadcast with Seán Ó Riada’s music was from “a pub”, having misunderstood the station’s reference to the “teach an phobail” or church in Carraroe.

Kerry journalist Breandán Feiriteár, who became ceannaire or head from 1985 to 1994, recalls that the first dedicated studio in Casla was not quite ready. And the Kerry and Donegal studios were still under construction.

More at irishtimes.com and gaelport.com.

Number of Irish speakers up by 7.1%

(March 30, 2012)
Irish Times via Gaelport
http://www.gaelport.com/nuacht?NewsItemID=7870

The Census recorded a 7.1 per cent increase in the number of self-declared Irish speakers.

Some 1.77 million people said they could speak Irish – 41.4 per cent of respondents.

More women than men answered “yes” when asked if they could speak Irish. Almost 45 per cent of women said they could speak Irish compared with almost 38 per cent of men. The Central Statistics Office noted that more women than men consistently identified themselves as being able to speak Irish.

Almost 31 per cent of 10-19-year- olds said they could not speak Irish. That increased to 36 per cent for 17-year-olds and 18-year-olds.

Of the 1.77 million who said they could speak Irish, just 1.8 per cent said they spoke it daily outside the education system.

This was an increase of 5,037 people since the previous census. A further 2.6 per cent said they spoke it weekly while 12.2 per cent spoke it within the education system.

Some 14.3 per cent said they spoke it less often – this was an increase of 27,139 and was the largest increase of all categories.

One in four said they never spoke Irish.

Of the 77,185 people who spoke Irish daily, outside the classroom, one in three lived in Gaeltacht areas.

The census recorded a 5.2 per cent increase in the Gaeltacht population. Some 96,628 people were living in Gaeltacht areas on census night 2011 compared with 91,862 in 2006.

Some 68.5 per cent of Gaeltacht dwellers said they could speak Irish and 24 per cent said they spoke it daily, outside the education system. This was an increase of 2.9 per cent on the number of daily Irish speakers in 2006. However, the number of Gaeltacht dwellers who said they spoke Irish less than weekly increased by 6.6 per cent.

The findings were welcomed by Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Dinny McGinley. He said the increase in the number of people able to speak Irish was a positive development in terms of the 20-year strategy for the Irish language.

“The increase in the number of daily Irish speakers in Gaeltacht areas is good news, particularly since the 20-year strategy has set a target of a 25 per cent increase in this area over its lifetime,” said Mr McGinley.

The Irish Times/This is Ireland, Census 2011 - Alison Healy

RTÉ News: Irish is third most used language - Census

(March 30, 2012)
http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0329/divorce-rate-up-150-since-2002-census.html

Nearly 82,600 people (1.8% of the population) speak Irish every day outside of school according to the first definitive results of the 2011 Census. This makes it the third most used language in the country.

The Census figures, released by the CSO today, show that 119,526 of people in Ireland speak Polish at home while 56,430 speak French.

Meanwhile, 35% of people in Gaeltacht areas said they spoke Irish on a daily basis outside of the education system.

In addition to Irish and other languages, the Census recorded the standard of English among those who spoke foreign languages.

It found that those from Denmark had the highest ability, while people from Lithuania had the lowest.

Today's publication is the first of 13 reports on the Census results that will be published between now and the end of the year.

More at RTÉ News.

BBC News: Can foreign speakers help the Irish language survive?

(March 16, 2012)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17373880

For over a century, activists have been trying to save the Irish language. Can foreign speakers help keep it alive?

At a dimly-lit bar in Washington DC, a smattering of professionals gathered around a table to drink beer and speak Irish, with levels of varying success.

They all represented current or former students of Ronan Connolly's Irish language classes. Mr Connolly, an Irish native, has been teaching evening Irish classes for more than two years.

The students live thousands of miles away from Ireland. Some haven't visited in years, if at all. The group is not much bigger than a rambunctious family dinner party. Their language skills vary from fluent to very basic. But at a time when scholars are pondering the fate of the Irish language, could these American students play any role in its revival?

Losing strategy

Despite much effort to revitalize Irish, some activists are frustrated.

"Irish is surviving as opposed to thriving." says Mait Ó Brádaigh, a principal of an Irish language immersion school in Ireland's Galway County. As early as 1366, there have been records of Irish language under attack, and there has been a formal group in place devoted to preserving the language since 1893. But despite more than 100 years of effort, the campaign to save Irish has met with limited success, while other Celtic languages have made more progress.

More at BBC News.