Meas air Chrannaib

….de la Herald:

A unique literary work will be launched in Edinburgh tomorrow night which brings together the Gaelic, Scots and English languages.

The Skye-based poet Angus Peter Campbell's first poetry collection for 15 years contains 67 new Gaelic poems, alongside Scots-language versions by the renowned scholar and translator J Derrick McClure, and English-language translations by the poet himself…

… The work, titled Meas air Chrannaib in Gaelic, Fruit on Branches in Scots and Fruit on Branches in English, will be launched at the Scottish Book Trust HQ, Sandeman House, on Edinburgh's Royal Mile…

Bremaik

...de la Agence Bretagne Presse:

Lennit Bremaik, ur gelaouennig hollvrezhonek embannet bep Lun war ar Gwiad ! Abaoe 2004 e c'hell ar vrezonegerien lenn pennadoù berr war lec'hienn Bremaik, a ginnig meur a rubrikenn : arzoù, sportoù, sonerezh, sinema... Pennadoù berr, aes da lenn, a vez savet bep sizhun gant ur skipailh tud a labour ivez evit ar gelaouenn Bremañ, embannet gant Pol brezhoneg Skol an Emsav.

Tu zo deoc'h kas ho chomlec'h postel da : bremaik@free.fr hag e viot kelaouet bep Lun pa vo bet embannet ar Bremaik nevez !

La Irlandalingvo en Miĉigano

...de la Times Herald:

Growing up in Ireland, Debbie Freeman learned Irish dancing from her mother and father...

...In addition to teaching dance moves, Freeman tries to teach her students Irish heritage and culture. During the classes she gives lessons on how to play Irish music, and she's choreographed dances to teach about Irish history.

She's also hoping to add lessons about Irish language and poetry.

"We wanted to have a whole Irish cultural program," Freeman said. "All the details of the Irish background."

“Tumoideachas”

...de la Nenagh Guardian:

Half of all Gaelscoileanna, of which there are five in County Tipperary, 46 in Munster and 168 throughout Ireland will be directly affected by Minister of Education Mary Hanafin's proposal to end the practice of early immersion education.Gaelscoileanna Teoranta has this week launched a campaign fighting for the right to maintain early Immersion as an education policy in Irish medium schools.

Half of all Gaelscoileanna, of which there are five in County Tipperary, 46 in Munster and 168 throughout Ireland will be directly affected by Minister of Education Mary Hanafin's proposal to end the practice of early immersion education.

Gaelscoileanna Teoranta has this week launched a campaign fighting for the right to maintain early Immersion as an education policy in Irish medium primary schools...

PTI Cymru

...de la Daily Post:

Welsh speakers are to get travel advice in their own language after a Porthmadog company won a contract to run a National Rail Enquiries hotline.

Call centre operator Galw has taken over the Welsh speaking service from a Newcastle firm which previously handled calls from across the UK – but only had one Welsh speaker.
Twenty-five full and part-time staff at Galw – Welsh for “call” – are now working under the new contract called Traveline Wales.

It means rail customers calling from anywhere across the UK are guaranteed they will talk to a Welsh speaker between 7am and 10pm.

Norman Gillies

…de la Press & Journal:

The director of Scotland's only Gaelic college is to be honoured by the Highland branch of the Saltire Society.

Professor Norman Gillies will receive the award for an outstanding contribution to Highland culture at the Culloden Visitor Centre on St Andrew's Day, on Friday.

Mr Gillies has been involved with Sabhal Mòr Ostaig at Sleat on Skye since the advent of its full-time courses in 1983. Under his leadership, the college has successfully expanded its academic provision and is now recognised as the National Centre for Gaelic Language and Culture.

Llanelli Scarlets

...de la Scotsman:

"In many ways, Llanelli is like the Borders in that it is the main town in a rural area, and the rugby club is the hub of the community. Everywhere west of Swansea is Welsh-speaking, and Welsh is the first language for at least half of the team and most of the supporters. When I go to do corporate things, everyone's always chattering away in Welsh, and after training you'll get little groups of players sitting, talking to each other in Welsh. It reminds you that this club is more than a job to them: it's part of their culture."

Seirbhis Dhigiteach na Gàidhlig

...de la BBC:

The BBC Trust has withheld approval of plans for a new Gaelic Digital Service (GDS) until more evidence of its wider appeal has been demonstrated.

The trust also said further evidence of educational benefits must be shown.

The service has been planned in partnership between BBC Scotland and the Gaelic Media Service (GMS).

Giving its provisional conclusions, the trust said the new channel could deliver public value but that more information was required...

Koda Ŝalti

...de icWales:

Welsh speakers slipping English into their speech should not feel guilty because it keeps the language alive, language campaigners and academics said yesterday.

Fears that Welsh is being watered down by English are unfounded, they said.

The comments coincided with the start of a major new research project into bilingualism in Wales.

Experts at Bangor University’s new Economic and Social Research Council’s Centre for Research on Bilingualism, said the fact that a language was constantly changing proved it was alive....

Scrooge en Lios na gCearrbhach

...de la Andersontown News:

Bow Street Mall in Lisburn is refusing to hang an Irish language Christmas banner in the shopping centre – a year after telling the Andersonstown News it would.

Last December we photographed centre manager Les Hopson with the banner proclaiming a ‘Merry Christmas’ to shoppers in seven different languages including Irish – Nollaig Shona.

The photo was taken after readers of the Andersonstown News contacted the paper to say that they had been shopping in Bow Street Mall in Lisburn and although there were banners displaying Christmas greetings in several languages, there were none in Irish.

BBC Trust kaj Scotgaela

...de la Guardian:

The BBC Trust has given the corporation's management four weeks to provide evidence that its proposed digital Gaelic language service is worth its £21m-a-year price tag.

The BBC Trust, which today published its provisional conclusions into the planned service, said that "unless further evidence is provided by the BBC executive … the trust was not satisfied it should approve the service".

BBC management has been told that the service is too expensive compared to the public value that it would provide - unless evidence can be provided that it will appeal to a wider audience and attract new speakers.

SALT Cymru

...de la Daily Post:

A new project is being launched by Bangor University's Language Technologies Unit to provide businesses with opportunities in the multilingual global market.

The aim of the Speech and Language Technologies Wales – SALT Cymru – project is to form a specialist interest group that will partner researchers from Welsh higher education with small and medium sized businesses, public organisations and individuals in Wales.

SALT provides techniques for the computer processing of text, speech and knowledge, based on human language…

… The university's Language Technologies Unit, which develops language resources for the Welsh language, Celtic languages, and multilingual situations, is heading the SALT Cymru project.

The unit has already developed a number of software products such as spell checkers, grammar checkers and simple automatic translation, websites that speak Welsh through synthetic voices, and dictionaries.

Anyone interested in opportunities presented by the SALT Cymru can register at www.saltcymru.org to be kept in regular contact with the project.

Delyth Prys, leader of the Language Technologies Unit, said: “The project will answer existing questions as well as raising new ones. It will present the state of play for SALT in Wales and internationally, and analyse the needs in Wales with special reference to SMEs and their potential markets.

“We live in an information society and the world-wide web is increasingly multilingual. This gives rise to new challenges and opportunities. We believe that SALT surmounts language barriers for e-commerce, education and international co-operation.”

Irlandalingvo en la Eŭropa Unio

...de Radio Telefís Éireann:

Government ministers have been reminded to use the Irish language when possible on EU business.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, briefed the cabinet today on the serious problem of getting qualified legal translators to translate European legal documents.
He said that it is an issue that needs to be addressed.

Bairbre de Brún

...de UTV:

Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward should move now to introduce measures to promote the Irish language, a former Stormont minister insisted today.

Sinn Fein MEP Bairbre de Brun said as Irish language activists lobbied the European Parliament and European Commission officials about the need to protect the rights of Irish speakers in Northern Ireland that Mr Woodward could take measures for the language at Westminster.

"There is a need for specific measures at Westminster, measures relating to the media," Ms de Brun said.

"A lot of help has been given to languages in Scotland and in Wales and that has been done through Westminster.

"These are things that Shaun Woodward can and should do as of now.

"There are steps both the British Government and the Stormont Executive need to take as of now."