The Mayo News reports that the status and funding granted the Gaeltacht regions of Mayo will soon be lost. It brings a new dimension to the old phrase “Use it or lose it.”
I got a very postive reply to my inquiry to the University of Sheffield in England.
It sounds as though my desire to spend a year abroad and then making subsequent visits to their campus aligns well with their Joint Location Program. Also, one of their lecturers has taught at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. I’ve also sent an inquiry to the University of Oxford. Of course, my first choice remains the music program at “Cork”, but they have still not replied to my inquiry. It’s not going to be feasible for me to enter any program until fall of 2005, but I’d like to identify and apply to programs by the fall so that…
Slugger points to a very compelling argument against making Irish and official EU language.
There do seem to be few valid reasons to do it, other than they can and it would make people feel good.
Two years ago today my wife and I arrived in Dublin for a month stay in Ireland.
I documented the trip, in Hawaiian, to fulfill a requirement of the MA program I graduated program from last December. We have fond memories and met some great people there. I’m still hoping that something will come through for us to return. No reply from anyone at UC-Cork yet, but we’re hopeful.
No place for guitars and bodhran in Irish traditional music.
“Mayo Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann secretary, Seamus Duffy, who hosts his own music show on Mid-West Radio, described guitars and bodhrans as instruments of ‘low musical quality that are destroying the integrity of pure traditional music.’” Hmm. Reminds me of a joke I was told in Ireland: “What’s the best way to play a bodhran?” Answer: “With a knife.” Ouch!
The search for a Ph.d. moves back toward the Emerald Isle.
I’ve been spending a lot of web time recently investigating various Ph.d. programs, admittedly without a firm idea of a research topic. Our campus, the University of Hawai’i at Hilo, does not offer any Ph.d. programs. UH-Manoa does, but to be perfectly honest I’d rather relocate out of the state than move to O’ahu in order to pursue a Ph.d. One of my problems is that I have too many areas of interest, but fewer in which I have both interest and formal education. After meeting with a lot of people, the concensus is that I probably will not be…
I’ve been enjoing a bit of ‘Guinness Therapy’ recently.
Who cares that they can’t claim any health benefits, a pint a night has been keep my spirit up for the past week. Guinness claims that in blind taste tests subjects could not tell the difference between Guinness brewed in Ireland and aboad. Still doesn’t taste the same to me. Maybe it’s the lack of the proper ambience. Reminds me of a joke I heard in Ireland: An Australian, American, German and Irishman all pull up chairs at a pub. The Australian orders a Foster’s and declares it the finest on the planet. The American orders a Budweiser and declares…
Mystery solved just in time for St. Patrick’s Day!
Guinness bubbles really do float down. Slainte!
Slugger points to an interesting essay from the Luxemburgish European Commissioner responsible for education and culture.
It essentially states that the Irish shoud be using the language more and be less concered about giving it official status in the EU. Why not both?
More interesting Irish language discussion on Slugger.
Is the intent of the EU’s policies on language simply to facilitate communication between members, or to foster cultural identity? Of all of the new countries joining the EU, are there any that are largely monolingual in their own language? If the majority can also speak English, German, French, Spanish or whatever, what is the justification of designating their languages as officially recognized EU languages? We go through a bit of this in Hawai’i as well. Hawaiian is an official language of the state, however, while election ballots can be found in many other languages, they are not available in…