Séamus de Blaca

...de Irish Central:

Séamus Blake's Míle Fáilte is New York City's only bi-lingual Irish Gaelic radio program, broadcast from his native Bronx across the tri-state region and across the world. An archive of his broadcast is available on-line--here.

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His program is chock full of media from the world of Irish language music and literature, while connecting up the Gaeilgeoirí and their friends to what's the latest from Ireland's most interesting cultural movement--the re-popularization of our heritage's language.

I sat down with Séamus in Manhattan to learn about his life, his family from Clare and to pick his brain for better insight into the Irish language movement. I've broken the interview, which was four hours of enlightening conversation, into morsels that you can play and listen-in on yourself….

Yn y Ddinas

…de la Western Mail:

A Welsh indie rock band is hoping to become one of only a handful of acts to get a non-English language song into the UK top 40.

Welsh-language single Yn y Ddinas (In the City) by Masters in France went on sale on Monday and the band will discover tomorrow whether they have broken into the charts.

Only a select few have scored hits in the UK charts with non-English tracks.

Luciano Pavarotti’s classical aria Nessun Dorma (None Shall Sleep) made it to No 2 in 1990 and three years earlier Los Lobos topped the chart with La Bamba.

A Facebook page encouraging members to get Yn y Ddinas into the top 40 has almost 10,000 members...

Eastáit na Sí

...de la Irish Times:

Ghost Estates are a recent phenomenon. Housing developments lie empty throughout the country, thanks to the magical disappearing act of the Celtic Tiger. Being a recent Irish phenomenon, it has taken a little time for Irish language wordsmiths to come up with a translation.

“Eastáit na Si” or “Fairy Estates” is, of course, open to misinterpretation in today’s sexually-oriented parlance, but is an elegant Gaelicisation of this modern landmark feature and can be linked to the longstanding regard in which the Irish have held the “little people” or those from an “domhan eile”…

...My proposal is to designate a number of these estates as new Gaeltachtaí. There hasn’t been a new Gaeltacht, officially, since 1956, when the current boundaries for the Irish- speaking areas were set in legislation by Patrick Lindsay, the then Minister for the Gaeltacht.

There have been other attempts to establish Gaeltachtaí by dedicated communities in Cork and Belfast and these have had spectacular success with a significant benefit to society as a whole – though they haven’t received official recognition…

Jill Evans

…de la Western Telegraph:

The Welsh language takes another step to becoming an official language of the EU today (Thursday) with Welsh translation being used for the first time at the European Parliament.

Plaid MEP, Jill Evans will be speaking in Welsh, with translation, in a seminar on language policy.

The event, called Language diversity: A Challenge for Europe, is organised by the European Free Alliance Group in the European Parliament, of which Jill Evans MEP is President.

Mrs Evans believes that this historic step for the Welsh language could be a springboard for Welsh to be recognised as an official EU language...

Ciorcal Comhrá en Nov-Jorko

…de Máire Ní Mhaoileagáin:

Starting March 21st from 3:00 -5:00 p.m, the NY Irish center invites you to join our Ciorcal Comhrá (conversation circle).

This will be a monthly or by weekly (depending on interest) informal gathering led by Maura Mulligan.

Whether you are a beginner, an advanced learner, or somewhere in-between, join us for our 1st session on 3/21/10 & enjoy a cup of tea while you practice your Gaeilge.

This experience can serve as a supplement to your Irish language study.

You'll meet others interested in improving their conversation skills.

It's FREE. Bí linn!

Bladair

…de la Mayo Adverstiser:

A new Irish language blog, www.bladair.com, launched in Mayo to help primary and second level students improve their proficiency in the Irish language, is to be launched to a national audience following its success in Mayo.

The brainchild of Art Ó Súilleabháin, director of Mayo Education Centre, Bladair was developed to encourage Mayo’s post primary school students to engage with the Irish language using the latest internet technology.

The project is aimed directly at students and teenagers using technology that they understand and use in their everyday lives.…

£5,000 Puno

...de la Daily Post:

Mobile phones, energy and water companies in Wales could face a penalty of up to £5,000 in future for failing to supply proper services in Welsh.

Proposed new laws published yesterday will establish for the first time legally enforceable standards of services through the Welsh language.

A new Welsh language commissioner will be appointed to police the new standards, with the powers to investigate complaints.

This includes grievances from Welsh speakers who believe their freedom to use Welsh with one another has been prevented.

The proposed measure by the Assembly Government would also confirm the official status of the language in Wales...

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….