Tvuítáil, Tweetáil, Tuítáil, nó Giolcadh?
A chara, – Peter McGuire (“G’tweet? G’wan ourra
that, say students”, June 6th) will be glad to know that members of the
Irish language community have been arguing about a good Irish version of
“tweet” for several years now. The official recommendation is “tvuít”,
which is in line with the Irish phonological system, but most of us have
gone with the ungaelicised “tweet” (“Tá Peadar ag tweetáil arís”). A
creative rearguard insist on “giolcach”, however, since that’s what a
bird actually does!
This will all come as news to
the Department of Education, which assumes we don’t exist and simply
makes up words to suit its presentation of Irish as an unauthentic and
artificial second language. Its presentation is, alas, grist to the mill
of uninformed journalists, who tell us without evidence that “Irish has
always struggled to fit in with the popular kids” and who apparently
see the language as little more than Peig and a few seanfhocail.
In
fact, Irish is spoken vigorously across the country and around the
world. We have our own cool kids, thank you very much, and don’t feel
the remotest need to “fit in” with speakers of other languages. – Is
mise,
BRIAN Ó BROIN, PhD, Department of English,
William Paterson University,
New Jersey, US.
Labels: Cool, Department of Education, Éire, gaeilge, Ireland, irish, Irish language, Irish Times, Peter McGuire, Social Media, Tweeting, Tweets, Uncool
Peter McGuire, an Ghaeilge, agus an Irish Times
A snide idiot by the name of Peter McGuire published a foolish attack on the Irish Language in the Irish Times several days ago. I responded with
this letter.
Judging from
this blog entry (an unpublished letter to the Irish Times several months ago), it seems to me that this Peter McGuire fellow is developing a track record. Worst of all, he appears to be a FOLKLORE lecturer at UCD! Given that he lectures in a university department that safeguards one of the biggest folklore collections in all of Europe, most of it in Irish, does he feels inadequate?
God help his students.
Labels: Béaloideas, Folklore, gaeilge, Irish language, Irish Times, Peter McGuire, UCD, University College Dublin
Irish-Language Quangos and Peter McGuire
Regarding
Peter McGuire's comment ("So Many Quangos, So Little Irish", 19th
March, 2013) that major International companies are hiring staff from
Continental countries rather than from Ireland "due to the lack of
qualified European-language graduates from within Ireland", I'd like to
remind him that Irish is actually a modern European language. Furthermore,
almost exactly as many students take Continental languages in the Leaving Cert
as take Irish.
On top of that,
Ireland hits well above its weight when it comes to employment in technology
and international business (for which English is the unquestioned lingua franca anyway). If Google is
employing Germans ahead of Irish people, it's only in cases where they need
native German speakers. Nothing in our education system will change that.
Regarding Quangos (a much-abused word) I'm
amused to see McGuire characterize Comhluadar, the wonderful and hard-working
Irish-language parenting organization, as "significant and powerful".
They employ three people and operate out of a single third-floor office in
Harcourt Street.Labels: AE, Aontas Eorpach, Brian Ó Broin, Comhluadar, Éire, EU, gaeilge, German, irish, Irish Times, Language Pedagogy, Languages, Peter McGuire, Quangos, Teangacha
Fishing for an English Sign Irish Times 2nd June 2012
A chara, – Well done to Alex Findlater (May 31st) for turning a story about a trout about into one about the Irish language.
And
pity the poor tourists in north Galway, driving around looking for a
place called Clonbur when all the local signs say “An Fhairche”. Why in
heaven’s name would we expect visitors to Ireland to know that there is
another language spoken in Ireland? I mean, it’s only our national
culture.
A solution springs to mind: if it’s a Gaeltacht area,
you’d think the village, the Gaeltacht authorities, the county council,
the Department of the Gaeltacht, the Ordnance Survey, and whoever else
has a stake, would write to the mapmakers of the world asking them to
use the official name of the town when mapping the area. The Indians did
it with Mumbai and the Chinese with Beijing. Then the headlines of the
world would read “Huge trout caught in An Fhairche”. That would solve Mr
Findlater’s problem in a jiffy, wouldn’t it? This would be made even
easier if Irish newspapers (The Irish Times included) chose to use Irish
placenames when reporting on Gaeltacht stories. – Is mise,
BRIAN Ó BROIN,
Bloomfield,
New Jersey, US.
www.irishtimes.com Labels: An Fhairche, Clonbur, gaeilge, Gaeltacht, Irish language, Irish Times, Logainmneacha, Placenames
