Gaeilge.ie

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Gaeilge.ie is an online website that was developed to support Irish language speakers and provide them with resources. Upon visiting the page, you will be given various options that will help to improve and maintain your Irish speaking. The website posts dates and times to Irish language group classes and meetings so that the general public can attend if interested. They also keep us up to date with ongoing events that support the Irish language. As a student studying the Irish language, I find it difficult to find people who are interested in speaking the language with me. This service provides me with the opportunity to meet with people who enjoy communicating as Gaeilge and who are interested in keeping the language alive. The site also provides us with a database of Irish language books. Making resources so easily available can help maintain the Irish language in a time when it is so difficult to do so. Providing online books means that people can visit the site and improve their Irish at the touch of a button. There are books for both adults and children ranging in category from novels to short stories. This tool provides not only fluent Irish speakers with the opportunity to express themselves through the Irish language, but also gives non speakers the chance to meet up and attend classes to learn the language.

An Siopa Gaeilge

There are many people who are looking to support and promote the Irish language in the country today. The difficult task in doing so is finding resources that will provide us with Irish language material that we can use to promote the language. ‘An Siopa Gaeilge’ is an online shop that gives people the chance to buy Irish language materials. The shop sells Irish language books, Irish language films, Irish language greeting cards, dictionary’s etc. This online website is quickly accessible to anyone around the world. With the click of a button, the buyer can purchase an Irish language resource and have it delivered to their door. The shop provides for many different categories. Some of these categories are children, schools, music, literature, greeting cards, folklore and history, Irish interest and adult learners. It caters for the young and old to help improve and maintain a good standard of Irish among the people of Ireland. With the resource being so easily accessible, it is more likely that people will visit the page and stumble upon something that they might find useful, whether it be a book for their child or for themselves. Providing this source online brings the Irish language into the new era of modern technology. It will benefit and maintain the language in the country for years to come

Is Féidir Leat

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In this country, learning the native language begins when a child first attends primary school and continues all the way through their education until the end of secondary school. Students may find the language difficult and need extra help in the study of it. The development of a website called ‘is feidir linn’ or ‘yes we can’ in English provides an excellent service to the young people who are preparing for exams and focuses on the leaving certificate in particular. The site helps with the learning of the language and concentrates on topics that are featured in the exam. However, this resource is not only of interest  to leaving certificate students. Learning a language is the same process for everyone therefore the website will help various different types of people to extend their vocabulary or improve their grammar. As a third level student, I regularly use the resource to practice the language. It provides tips on essay writing also, which hugely benefits me. Providing websites like the one in question to the public greatly improves the learning of the language in schools and in homes across Ireland. Irish society benefits from this as this used to be the vernacular language used in the country and by providing resources like this it can prevent it from becoming extinct.

Foclóir.ie

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Key to any individual learning a language is a good dictionary that provides a vast amount of words and definitions to help the reader chose the correct term when using the language. In the Irish language, the main dictionary that has been written is by Niall Ó Dómhnaill which is an Irish to English translation and by Tómas de Bhaldraithe which is an English to Irish translation. These dictionaries both costly and are huge in size which makes them awkward to carry around. However, with the development of Irish language resources in the media, an foclóir.ie provides an online version of both of these dictionaries. Once on the homepage of the website you will be given the choice of choosing either the Irish to English version or the English to Irish dictionary. You can then enter your word into the search bar and you will be redirected to the results page. Here you will be provided with the word in many different sentences to help you chose the correct terminology. This site helps students to learn the language correctly and the way to use certain words as one word can have many meanings. This information that is available online free of charge provides people learning the language with the material in the comfort of their own home making learning the language effortless and more accessible than ever.

An Foclóir Beag

The development of Irish language tools through the media has improved the learning of the language immensely. With the use of online dictionary’s and downloadable spell checkers available at the touch of a button, we are now able to expand our knowledge of our native tongue. One major resource I avail of as a student studying the Irish language is the online grammar dictionary An Foclóir Beag. This website contains all the verbs in the Irish language in every tense. As grammar is key to learning any language this site is extremely beneficial to anyone, old or young, trying to learn the language. Using the website is an easy process also. Once you are on the homepage of the site you can input the verb you are looking for into the search bar and press the button ‘cuardaigh’. You will then be redirected to the page containing the verb. Here you will be provided with information on that particular verb such as every tense of the verb. You will also be giving the option to click into another page, which will provide the verb in the negative form. The site has hundreds of verbs and is an extremely useful tool for anyone involved in the language. The development of these media resources and the way in which they can be accessed at our leisure in turn helps to develop and promote the Irish language and encourages it to continue to grow.

Raidió na Gaeltachta

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Raidió na Gaeltachta is an Irish language radio station set up to promote and use the Irish language through the medium of radio media. The station was founded in 1972 by the company RTÉ and was the first of its kind in publicizing the language in this way. The station is based in Casla County Galway and has branches in Gaoth Daobhair (Donegal), Baile nan Gall (Kerry) and Castlebar (Mayo). At first, the station broadcast to only the three main Gaeltacht areas in Ireland but soon became available to the majority of the country. The main audience for the station are fluent Irish speakers however, it is a useful resource for anyone who is interested in the language or trying to learn it. The programs on the station are purely through the national language however, in the later years there was an introduction of English language songs due to the popularity of the music. In setting up an Irish language station, this helped native Irish speakers to continue to use their language. In doing so the language has not become extinct in the Gaeltacht areas and continues to go from strength to strength. Natives can easily access programs that practice their tongue and because of this continue the old traditions of our nation.

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TG4 – Irish Language Television Broadcasting Company

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Television media is one of the main forms of providing information to a wide audience. Therefore when the Irish language television company TG4 was formed there became a vast interest in the language with a larger number of people becoming curious about their native tongue which most people don’t use. TG4 was established in 1996 under the name Teilifís na Gaeilge (TnaG). It changed its name in 1999 to TG4. The aim of this station was to provide the nation with television programs that were in the Irish language. The station was the first of its kind as no other Irish television station was in operation. Society started to benefit from the development of the station as the awareness of the Irish language spread throughout the country. People who had little or no interest in Irish started to tune into to the programs and because TG4 provide English subtitles for their programs people started to pick up some words  they had never known or used before. The station also provided the creation of jobs through Irish language, which made vacancies for third level Irish language students upon the completion of their degree. TG4 is going from strength to strength and continues to develop the station each year. It is available to 98% of homes across Ireland and for anyone who is interested in the language outside of the country the programs are available internationally on the TG4 player online which is available 24 hours a day seven days a week.

Focal.ie – Irish Terminology Dictionary

 

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An Irish language media resource used among the vast majority of Irish language students is the online dictionary focal.ie. This website is was developed by Fiontar in Dublin City University and was set up in 2006.  Foras na Gaeilge, one of the key organisations to promote the Irish language in Ireland is assisting the progress of the website. This site provides terminology in the Irish and English language. A word in either language can be put in the search bar and the results will appear once the search button is pressed. A large number of variants of words are provided to ensure you choose the correct term you are searching for. Focal.ie also provides the word in different forms such as plural, the verb, the tense etc. The database continues to grow for this website. You may ask what is the use for this resource? Why do we need an online Irish terminology dictionary? Like most Irish resources it helps to keep the Irish language alive in a time where fluent Irish speakers are becoming extinct. Whether you are an Irish language student or just looking to use the ‘cúpla focal’, focal.ie helps to provide people with the words they are looking for. The website has won awards for ‘Best Irish-Language Site’ at the Irish Web Awards in 2008 and the European Language Label in 2007.

 

Ceart Irish Spelling and Grammer Checker

In my previous blog, I welcomed you all and explained to you how I learned how to blog and the steps I followed in setting up my blog. I am now going to focus in on the topic I am going to look at. The topic I have chosen is Irish language resources that we find in media. I am very interested in this topic because I am an Irish language student and a media student so I would like to combine the two subjects together for my blog topic.

 

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As a student studying Irish, I rely on certain resources to complete assignments and to improve my fluency in speaking Irish. One of the main Irish apps I use is an Irish grammar and spell checker called ‘Ceart’ that I have downloaded to my computer from there website.  I first heard about this app from one of my lecturers who advised it as a useful tool to check assignments spelling and grammar. Ceart can be purchased from the website www.cruinneog.com. Upon visiting the website, you can select to purchase Ceart for €29.99, which can be paid for via PayPal so it is a secure and safe way to buy online. The download will automatically begin once the payment is made. It is a simple process to install the download and once you follow the step by step procedure your download will be ready to use.

 

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This app is extremely useful for students studying Irish in third level education as I already mentioned. However, this is not the only use for the app. Every child in the education system in Ireland from the age of five years old right up to the age of eighteen learns the Irish language. This app allows these students to improve their knowledge of the languages syntax. This can be extremely beneficial for students or anyone else who is trying to learn the language. Using this gives people a better understanding of the language, which in turn promotes the language and helps it to flourish and become more widely spoken and understood. Apps like this improve the nations understanding of the structure of their national language.

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Welcome!

 

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My name is Sonya Kelly and I have just launched a new blog based on my college course Irish and New Media Studies. Each week I will be keeping you informed about my learning experiences, the challenges and the highlights that I encounter in my college week. Firstly, I would like to extend a warm welcome to all my lovely readers. I hope you will follow my journey through this semester and that you will enjoy my blog posts each week.

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This week is the second week back for students in the University of Limerick. This is when the work starts as during week 1 most lectures consisted of going through the module outline. One of my modules consists of a blog assignment. I have to keep a blog and add a new entry each week. Because of this, I have been learning to set up a blog in class this week. I am completely new to the blogging scene so all this talk blog layout and design, navigation and blog rolls sounded like Double Dutch to me! However, with the help of the lecturers and tutors, I started to get into the swing of things and my blog has started to come together. Don’t get me wrong, there is still a lot of improvements to be made but as the weeks go on I am hoping my blog and blog posts will continue to improve under the guidance of my lecturers. In my lab for this module, we were guided on how to set up a blogging account. As you can see, I chose the blogging site WordPress. Looking into some other blogging sites, I found this the most convenient and accessible for me. We were guided step by step through setting up an account with the guidance of our tutor. Setting up an account was not as difficult as I had expected. I was asked to put in some of my details such as name, email address and choose a username I would like to use. I then had to pick a template for my blog. This was extremely useful for a beginner. A confirmation email was sent to my address and once I confirmed my blog was ready to use. I have yet to experiment with creating blog rolls and links but I will keep you updated in my next blog posts. I hope you have enjoyed my first entry and do not hesitate to provide feedback. See you all next week.

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