Tag: Gaeilge

The Irish Language: A Cereal Troublemaker Hits the Gaeltacht

I joined my son (aged 13) for breakfast and asked him if he knew the Irish for "cereal". Officially, the term would be "gránach bricfeasta" or similar, but he simply said, "calóga" (which basically means "flakes"). But I immediately thought he said "Cellógga", my Dublin urban Irish ear already tuned into expecting to hear brand names and slang as terminology.

The Only Irish Language Act in Town

If you’ve been reading Thomas Gilmartin‘s great piece on MultiLingual Insights about the deadly seriousness of the status of the Irish language in Northern Irish politics, or been amazed by the kind of mighty passions that can arise over the Irish for “selfie”, then you might consider that RuPaul is exactly the kind of language act we need to see more of on the island of Ireland.

Catch the Pidgin at the BBC: Digital Flight of Fancy?

So what is pidgin, exactly? The BBC describe it as "a mix of English and local languages enabling people who do not share a common language to communicate".

Unicode Jewels: Ogham Alphabet Made Personal

I've just had a super new ring made for me by Irish designer Breda Haugh. It's in sterling silver with a single pink sapphire stone set...

An Cód: Craicing the Code in Irish

It's often assumed that computing coding lessons are always taught in English because most (though not all) programming languages use English language syntax. Not so. Take...

A Cute Irish Accent

Irish accents, dontcha love 'em? In this case I'm talking about Irish language (Gaeilge) orthography, specifically the Irish language equivalent of the acute accent, the fada...

Kudos and Comhghairdeas* to Duolingo’s Irish Language Volunteers

The Irish President (Uachtarán Na hEireann) Michael D. Higgins (Micheál D Ó hUigínn) (@PresidentIRL) has publicly recognized seven volunteers for their work in building up the Irish...

Blue, Gorm, Elektrisches Blau: David Bowie in Irish and Transcreation

Táimid ann sa mhóimint dhraíochtach seo Sin é an stuif as a bhfitear brionglóidí  . . .  * I'm mega-fan of the music of the late...

The Importance of Translated Public Health Information Comes Home

Spotted these notices in the arrivals area at Dublin Airport as I returned from abroad. The information is about the outbreak of the Ebola virus disease. These notices are in...

The Politics of Irish Language: Gaeilge (Never Gaelic)

I was going to write about the politics of the Irish language (Gaeilge) in the North of Ireland/Northern Ireland (see? in trouble already). But I won't. The...

Ich Bin Ein Taoschnó

Yes, taoschnó. That's the answer to the Twitter question (asked by @patricox) "How do you say donut in Irish? Some Irish cops want to...

Saint Patrick and Twitter

Just love this story on ReadWriteWeb: Using Twitter to Preserve Minority Languages. It's about Indigenoustweets.com,  launched on Saint Patrick's Day by Professor Kevin Scannell...