Unuo Esperanto-Libro en Kimra

...de la BBC:

Harry Barron has published the first Esperanto text book in the Welsh language. In March 2010 he told us more about his labour of love.

Ever tried to learn a foreign language and got your head in a mess over conjugations, declensions and idioms?

Or even tried to learn Welsh but almost mutated working out those soft, nasal and aspirant mutations?

Gone abroad, spoke loudly and slowly at waiters and got just what you didn't ask for?

Frustrating, isn't it?

Well it was until now, at least for Welsh speakers! It has been demonstrated in various studies that learning Esperanto can improve your language learning abilities!

The first ever text book in Welsh designed to teach the international language Esperanto has just been published....

* Informoj pri la okazonta Esperanto Kongreso en Llandudno (14-17 Majo) estas havebla ĉi tie. La tagordo inkluzivas enkondukon la kimran lingvon.

Sean Ó Riain

…de la European Voice:

The man whose career as a diplomat has taken an unorthodox turn as a translator.

Sean Ó Riain is the first to admit that it was “unusual for a senior diplomat to become a translator”, but looking at his career, it does not seem such an odd decision.

When he joined the Irish department of foreign affairs in 1978, it was out of a love of speaking different languages and a passionate interest in Europe. …

…Depth as well as breadth characterises his language capabilities – he speaks 13 languages, eight of them fluently, and his mastery of Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Esperanto indicates that he sees foreign languages not only as a functional necessity but also as enjoyable studies in their own right.

Unsurprisingly, he welcomed the acceptance of Irish as an EU official language in January 2007 as an extremely important development….

…During his four-year secondment as website translator, he is tasked with having EU documents translated and on the website within a few hours of publication so that they can be read in Irish straight away….

…As well as translation and language policy issues, Ó Riain is heavily involved in linguistic projects elsewhere: he contributes to Irish language newspapers and lectures on the Irish language, as well as promoting Esperanto as an aid to language-learning.

“Esperanto is not a replacement language; it is most useful in teaching,” he says.

“Students who learn some Esperanto are significantly more likely to succeed in other language studies because success in Esperanto is easy due to its streamlined grammar, and that success creates a confidence in approaching other, harder languages.”

Kimra kaj Klingona Lingvoj

…de la Daily Post:

Welsh speakers are more likely to be able to master the difficult Klingon language beloved of all Star Trek fans.

Computer expert Alex Greene of Wrexham, one of a select group of people who can speak Klingon fluently, believes that’s because the creators drew on several languages, including Welsh, for the intergalactic dialect.

The 46-year-old Star Trek fan said: “I do believe that if you can speak Welsh, you have an advantage where Klingon is concerned as some sounds are similar such as ‘ll’ and ‘ch’.”

Alex began learning the language in 1986 and took a year to master its intricacies.

He added: “Star Trek is one of my hobbies. My other hobby is languages.

“I have always enjoyed foreign languages, listening to them and communicating with them. Up to 1986 it had been French, Japanese and Esperanto...

William Shatner, Savanto de la Gaelaj Lingvoj?

…de la Cape Breton Post:

Gaelic, as a language, is facing its mortality on two fronts: it could lose its place in our modern world, and the last generation, both here in Cape Breton and in Ireland and Scotland, who grew up in a Gaelic culture are disappearing.

The documentary that was screened at Empire Theatre's Sydney Cinema Ten, Is Mise An Teanga ("I Am The Tongue"), makes its clear that Gaelic will not go gently into that dark night…

…The writer of the documentary, Kevin Anderson, was present at the screening and, after it screened, spoke to the audience and genially answered their questions….

…And, Anderson also acknowledged that there is debate between more traditional Gaelic speakers and younger, more innovative, users of Gaelic. One Irish poet, Anderson joked, called these newer strains of Gaelic "Esperanto".

Which brings us to how William Shatner can help save Gaelic.

William Shatner stands alone in cinematic history as having acted in two films that featured two different artificial languages: Incubus, which used Esperanto, and Star Trek: The Search for Spock, that introduced Klingon (And let us pause for a second and consider how un-endangered Gaelic would be if Kiingons spoke Gaelic). So, Shatner is used to promoting non-mainstream languages. He has cool appeal and recognition that cuts across generations and he has already made a movie in Cape Breton (The Third Walker).

A Gaelic language film set in Cape Breton with William Shatner on its own might put Gaelic in the mouths of Terrans everywhere.

And I would bet real money that somebody somewhere has already rendered into Gaelic the phrase, "Beam me up, Scotty."

Kimra Au Pair

...de la Western Mail:

parent is Welsh, the other is Spanish, but they speak French to each other.

Meanwhile, their one-year-old son speaks Spanish to his mother, Welsh to his father, attends a Dutch creche and will also need to learn French and English as he grows up.

And the multilingual family is now looking for a Welsh-speaking au pair to go and live with them in their Brussels home for a year to look after young Aran Iago ab Dafydd Hernandez.

The successful applicant will get a room in a nearby flat, an allowance, a Brussels metro ticket, a course in Spanish or Flemish and the chance to spend a month in Bolivia, which the family visits once a year.

The job is being offered by Dafydd ab Iago – a journalist from Abergavenny who has lived in the Belgian capital since 1995, when he attended Universite Libre de Bruxelles – and his partner Ana Hernandez.

Himself able to speak Welsh, French, Spanish, Esperanto, German and Flemish, Mr ab Iago, 39, said it was important his son grew up speaking Welsh.

G.B. Shaw kaj la Irlandalingvo

...de la New Statesman:

It is not very long since I stood on the coast of Donegal and asked two boys how many languages they had. They had three. One was English, which they spoke much better than it is ever spoken in England.

The second was Irish, which they spoke with their parents.

The third was the language invented by the Gaelic League, which I cannot speak (being an Irishman), but which I understand to be in its qualities comparable to a blend of Esperanto with fifth- century Latin. Why should not Ulster adopt this strange tongue? Its very name suggests Scotland, which is what the present vernacular of the north also suggests.