[ From the Daily Ireland ] A Professor of Semitic Languages in Tel Aviv University, Israel, identified two prerequisites for the survival, revival and flourishing of the Irish language in Ireland, namely idealism and necessity. Fascinating article.
Respect is lacking.
I pointed earlier to a statement by Northern Ireland’s chief electoral officer Denis Stanley where he insisted that all correspondence to him be done in English only. The Daily Ireland suggests that Mr Stanley should be asked to write out 100 times, in Irish, the following section from the Good Friday Agreement: “All participants recognise the importance of respect, understanding and tolerance in relation to linguistic diversity, including in Northern Ireland, the Irish language, Ulster-Scots and the languages of the various ethnic communities, all of which are part of the cultural wealth of the island of Ireland.” Perhaps it should…
Student asked to change out of kilt seeks dress code change.
I bet my Celtic cousin Scott will get his kilt out of kilter over this one.
Official refuses to answer in Irish.
A letter from one of the North’s top civil servants to an Irish-language rights group has been described as evidence of the need for language legislation that would guarantee the rights of Irish speakers in their dealings with the state. Chief electoral officer Denis Stanley sent the letter to the Irish-language umbrella group Pobal, making it clear that he wanted correspondence to his office in English only. Pathetic.
Words new ammunition up the North. (From the Irish Independent – subscription required)
It seems that the Wikipedia history of podcasting debate is not the only Wikipedia battleground. Unionists/Loyalists and Republican’s are busy changing each other’s entries regarding Northern Ireland/The Six Counties.
Shalini Sinha on the importance of the Irish Language.
Slugger O’Toole carries a wonderful post by Cathal O Foirreidh, pointing to a piece that advocates the elimination of compulsory Irish, followed by a moving piece by a Canadian immigrant of Indian (not Native American or First Nation’s Canadian) ancestry, on the importance of the language. I love this quote: Thus, one of the first things I did when I moved to Ireland was begin the journey of learning Irish – not because I thought it would be easy or was “fascinated”, but because I felt that this was the only way I would really understand the country that was…
Frapper is an interesting concept for building online communities.
Mahalo to Conn at An tImeall for inviting me to his Gaeilge Frappr site. I’m the little pin out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. If you’re a speaker or student of Gaeilge, I encourage you to sign up. Alternatively, if you are a Hawaiian music fan you can join my NahenaheNet Hawaiian music Frappr group. I still download and list to the An tImeall podcast regularly, but sadly my language studies have faltered due to an increasing work load and considering my Ph.d. prospects.
Firefox Rules!
I just did something that I never thought I would – I removed Safari from my OS X Dock and have moved completely to Firefox for everything I do. And I couldn’t be happier with it.
It’s been too long.
Over a month, that is, since my last post here. Bad Keola. I’ve been busy with work and relocation Nahenahe.net from Manila to a new WordPress server. I’ve also been working with some friends on a new community podcasting project that has me excited.
eBay has a sense of humor.
I was checking out this story about the Minnesota Vikings reputed “orgy cruise” on MSNBC.com, and checkled a bit at the eBay ad at the bottom. The first two were Vikings memorabilia, s complete set of 1976 Viking trading cards and a freezer mug, followed by a couple of yachting cap and a boating sports watch. Strange that no sexual paraphernalia showed up.