Britio kaj Aliaj Lingvoj

...de Ulster's Doomed:

Why do unionists oppose the public display of Irish, though?

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Is it because they think it is somehow 'un-British'?

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If so, why do the signs below not arouse any opposition from those Brions who live near them and drive past them?

"La Nova Interkonsento"

...de la Demokrata Unuecisma Partio:

There will be NO Irish Language act.

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Apelacio por la Irlandalingvo

...de la BBC:

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The Court of Appeal has been urged to overturn a ban on the use of Irish in the courts in Northern Ireland.

Caoimhin Mac Giolla Cathain is challenging the dismissal of a legal case he took after being informed his application in Irish for an occasional drinks licence could not be considered.

Under the Administration of Justice (Language) Act of 1737, all proceedings in NI courts must be in English.

The appeal was adjourned until Tuesday.

Mr Mac Giolla Cathain was seeking a liquor licence in connection with a musical concert in the Culturlann arts centre on the Falls Road in west Belfast....

Jim Allister

…de Ulster’s Doomed!:

What makes the promotion of the Irish language a 'bad thing' for Mr Allister? He doesn't explain his opposition to it – the reasons seem (to him) to be too obvious to need explaining.

To anybody else, though, Allister's visceral hatred of Irish can only seem to stem from a prejudice bordering on racism. Irish is just a language, a medium of communication. No-one is proposing to outlaw the speaking of English in Northern Ireland, and the incarceration of recidivist Anglophones in re-education camps. There will be no requirement to speak the Irish language to get jobs, education, or anything else. The costs of bilingual signage will be insignificant (and certainly a tiny fraction of the cost of other cultural activities). So what is Allister's problem?

École Bisson

…de Ouest France:

Cinq familles seraient pour l'instant intéressées par la filière français - breton. Mais il en faudrait quinze pour avoir droit à un professeur...

Y aura-t-il une classe bilingue français - breton à la rentrée prochaine à l'école maternelle Bisson de Quimperlé ? Cela n'en prend pas le chemin. Cinq pré-inscriptions auraient pour l'instant été enregistrées. Mais il en faut quinze au moins pour qu'une classe soit ouverte.

Normalement, l'inspection académique arrête définitivement les cartes scolaires des nouvelles rentrées vers la mi-mars. Si ce délai est respecté, les parents intéressés par la formation bilingue vont devoir faire vite : les vacances de février se terminent le 28.

Ce projet de filière breton - français est porté par l'association Div Yezh (parents d'élèves pour l'enseignement du breton à l'école publique), la mairie et l'Éducation nationale. Ils travaillent conjointement à la possibilité de mettre en place cette filière à Quimperlé depuis la rentrée 2009 pratiquement….

Máirtín Ó Muilleoir en Nov-Jorko

….de Irish Central:

The New York Irish Center--situated a train stop from Grand Central Station in Long Island City--is many things to all those who volunteer, work and use the splendid facilities, but it has become an especially important hub for the Gaeilgeoirí of New York City and their friends.

Paul Finnegan is the center's director and was host to an interesting evening of bi-lingual talks about Irish language revival in Belfast's Gaeltacht Quarter, where multi-tasking leaders like Máirtín Ó Muilleoir found freedom by adopting Irish amidst an occupation by soldiers from England. Irish is now a major draw that brings untold tourist dollars to the city, because the renaissance there is unique and fascinating….

Sinn Féin kaj la Irlandalingvo

…de Léargas, la blogo de Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh:

Sinn Féin is serious about the Irish language. Even our political opponents acknowledge this. That means on a day to day basis that in councils across Ireland, in Teach Laighean, in the Assembly and in the European Parliament we are doing our best by the language. Sinn Féin has fought, marched, argued and cajoled for the rights of Irish speakers. We have spent hours and hours with both governments and the unionists explaining why we believe that those who wish to live their lives through the medium of Irish should be free to do so unencumbered by legislation dating back to the Penal Laws or prejudices imposed by outdated notions of colonial superiority....

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….Sinn Féin put Acht na Gaeilge and an Irish language strategy and the 1737 Administration of Justice Act, which bans the use of Irish in the courts, on the agenda. The British government resisted this. Presumably for fear of alienating the unionists or in a tactical decision to focus only on the transfer of policing and justice powers and parading issues….

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…I am pleased to be able to reveal that Gordon Brown has committed the British government to carry on funding the Irish Language Broadcasting Fund for a further four years after 2011, and will provide resource to continue the development of Irish language infrastructure. The resource, including the extended funding for the Broadcast Fund will amount to £20 million….

Interkelta Festo Noz

...de BZH Novjorko:

BZH New York has organized the first Interceltic Fest Noz which will take place in New York on Saturday, January 30, 2010 at Connolly’s Times Square.

The Fest Noz is a celebration of music, dance, and culture of Brittany, Galicia, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and will feature 40 musicians from the 5 Celtic nations, dance sets from the different Celtic cultures and a silent auction.

In addition, the evening will celebrate the Celtic festival of Imbolc. Imbolc is one of the four principal festivals celebrated among Celtic peoples, either at the beginning of February or at the first local signs of Spring.

The current lineup of performers includes the following:

Bretagne: Duo Morgane Labbe and Francois Tiger - Bagad de New York - Marie Martin

Ireland: Washington Square Harp and Shamrock Orchestra Led - Tony DeMarco and Friends - Niall O'Leary School of Irish Dance

Scotland: Wild Thistle featuring Mary Morrisson Abdill and Hannah Maire Marcus – Aodhagán - Capital Region Celtic Pipe Band,

Wales: Honey and Biscuits featuring Helen Ellis and Mary Morrisson

Galicia: Nosa Terra

Silent auction from 7pm to 10pm: Artists Capucine Bourcart and Christophe LeGris will auction 6 photographies with all proceeds going to Action Against Hunger and its Relief Efforts in Haiti...

Teastas Eorpach na Gaeilge

...de la Kilkenny Advertiser:

The fact that it is never ever too late to start something is evidenced by the increasing numbers of adults who are determined to finally make a fist of learning Irish. Reasons abound, whether personal or professional, and numbers attending Irish-language classes and conversation groups in various parts of the county remain firm.

Teastas Eorpach na Gaeilge (the European Certificate in Irish), run by the Language Centre in NUI Maynooth, offers adult learners of the language a series of examinations at six competency levels, from Beginner 1 to Advanced 2, which will act as a structure for their path to fluency. Successful exam candidates are awarded a certificate indicating clearly their level of proficiency in the language.

Until 2009 there were TEG exam centres in four locations in Ireland – in Maynooth, Co Donegal, Co Galway and Co Cork. Year on year there has been growing demand for new centres, leading in 2010 to the opening of five new centres in Kilkenny, Letterkenny, Castlebar, Cork city and in Limerick city, giving Irish language learners an opportunity to test their level of Irish in a centre close to them....

"Filistro kiel Kulturo Ministro"

La Irlandalingvo en Kvinzo

…de Irish Central:

More than 20 Irish speakers and readers gathered in Long Island City to have a raucous round-table talk together this past Saturday. The impressive turn-out had come to discuss the novel “Sobalsaol,” written by the popular author and screenwriter Pádraig Standún.

"Irish speakers make excellent use of the Internet," said Daithí MacLochlainn who organizes Club Leabhar for Irish language book-lovers (hence the name). It's how he explained the group's unexpected size. The club uses a Facebook page; while club member Séamus Blake described the reading material and has promoted the gathering on his bi-lingual Irish language radio program Míle Fáilte on WFUV -available on-line.

The Irish Center of Long Island City plays host to Club Leabhar and is also the home of Maura Mulligan's Irish language school, where she teaches the teanga using total immersion techniques in two classes divided according to different levels of introduction...

Kornvala Infanvartejo

…de la BBC:

A new creche has opened teaching toddlers how to speak Cornish.

Movyans Skolyow Meythrin, Cornish for the Nursery Schools Movement, aims to teach children the language through play while parents also get lessons.

Seven children were registered for the Saturday creche at Cornwall College, Camborne.

The language fell out of use in the 19th Century but there are now believed to be several hundred fluent Cornish speakers in Cornwall.

The first session included lessons in Cornish and songs well-known throughout the county.

Organiser Rhisiart Tal-e-bot said: "This is an idea which I have had for several years.

"This is about teaching parents how to bring up their children alongside our local heritage.

"There will also be classes run at the same time as the creche so that adults can learn a little about the county."

The Cornish creche is the latest in a number of initiatives designed to boost recognition of the Cornish language....

Irlandalingva Skismo?

…de la Irish Times:

A new survey indicates that Gaeltacht and urban Irish speakers are finding each other increasingly more difficult to understand. Could this rift further weaken the language?

Recently, I’ve been meeting a lot of urban speakers of Irish, and was thinking about the Government’s plan to boost the number of daily speakers of Irish from the current 83,000 to 250,000 within 20 years. A threefold increase in daily speakers is a bold proposal, and there’s little doubt that these speakers are going to have to come from the towns and cities, rather than from the Gaeltacht, whose entire population (including several solidly anglophone suburbs of Galway city) is currently 91,000.

This got me thinking. Is there a city version of the Irish language? And if there is, how different is it from Gaeltacht Irish? A conversation I recently had with a speaker from Limerick, who is raising her daughter in Irish, revealed a fascinating fact. She never listened to Raidió na Gaeltachta. Was it that it was a Gaeltacht station and irrelevant to her, I asked? Only partly, she admitted. It was actually because she found the presenters very difficult to understand.

Yet this woman spoke fluent Irish. How could a fluent speaker of Irish have such difficulty with the national Irish-language radio station? What did she listen to?

“Oh, the usual. RTÉ, Today FM, Live95.” Surely she listened to some Irish-language media. Maybe she watched TG4?

“No. Not TG4, sometimes Hector and the sports.” And she let her young daughter watch the kids’ programmes.

My conversations with Gaeltacht people met with a similar bias, but in the other direction. When presenters with so-called “school Irish” came on the radio, my Gaeltacht friends say they tend to tune out, finding the Irish unpleasant, or difficult to understand. They tolerate much of TG4’s output, but grimace or change channels when city speakers come on. As for the hordes of Irish-speaking teenagers and parents who descend on the Gaeltacht during the summer months, they absolutely prefer to speak English with them. They say that the city folks’ Irish is simply too strange...

"Gorm"

...de la Irish Times:

"Is blue the new black?" asked the headline on a recent blog entry by the BBC’s US correspondent.

He was writing about the film Avatar which, while making fortunes at the box office, has also set off a debate about racism.

Apparently some critics are irritated by its patronising portrayal of a blue-skinned race of noble savages, who need a white man to lead them against their (also-white) oppressors.

I haven’t seen the film yet so (a) I can’t comment and (b) I can’t give away the plot (something for which fans of The Wire -on-DVD may be sarcastically grateful).

But the aforementioned headline reminded me of a quirk of Irish-language vocabulary, about which an American reader inquired recently. In this sense, the answer to the BBC man’s question is No. Far from being the new black, blue is the old one.

In Irish, “black person” is translated as “duine gorm”. Thus, in the mother tongue of at least one of his ancestors, Barack Obama’s skin colour would be described, technically, as “blue”....


* "La Vorto Krŝn ( कृष्ण) signifas "la malhela", tial li estas ĉiam bildigita teorie malhelblua, kiel vespera ĉielo; sed ĉar en Hindio rasisma (antaŭ) juĝo favora al blanka haŭto daŭre mergiĝis (angle "pervading"), tiu "malhelbluo" ofte estas tre hela." ~ Vikipedio.