The Welsh Flag Logo Pic: Language Trainers

Wendy Wong, from the Language Trainers Blog remebers that from a recent article (Google translates into Welsh as ‘No’): IT’S just the latest in a long line of tools designed by one of the world’s best-known internet companies to make our lives that little bit easier. But users of Google Translate – which has followed in the footsteps of the firm’s maps, images and news functions – have spotted one significant flaw: it won’t translate into Welsh. Well, I use Google Translate via (Mozilla add-on) Ubiquity all the time, but I’d never noticed the lack of Welsh, to be honest.

Bethan Williams, chair of the Language Act Group – Cymdeithas yr Iaith, said: “For a multi-national company like Google failing to consider the Welsh language with translating tools is disgraceful.

“They offer translation services in Arabic, Hindi, Maltese and a host of other languages so why not Welsh?

Google Translate is currently available to work between 42 languages, and the Google search page is already available in Welsh.  Now, before any angry Welsh language speakers email me about my insensitivity, I’d just like to point out that not only would it take an awful lot of man hours to add more languages to an already quite comprehensive and free translation service, but that other languages may have a more pressing need.

According to a 2004 survey, there are approximately 600,000 Welsh speakers living in Wales, while another survey indicated about 130,000 living in England.  Very, very few of these speakers are monoglots (only speak one language, i.e. Welsh).  Therefore, any translation services would likely only be needed by non-Welsh speakers, and not the other way around.

Read the full article by Wendy on the Language Trainers Blog.

Our reponse is that the Celtic Languages are part of our heritage, a heritage that spreads across the world, and adding them to Google Translate should be a priority and not just a luxury. If you are involved in Celtic STudies at any kind of serisou level, the study of the language becomes a necessity to understand not only the culture but the poetry of the everyday life of the Ancient Celts, a poetry that has continued to the modern day and shows not signs of dying out.

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Descripition Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Appbrain at http://www.appbrain.com/app/celtic-myth-show/tv.wizzard.android.celticmythpodshow841 or by using the QR code opposite.
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Welsh Logo Pic: Language Trainers

The Welsh Class, derived from the Say Something in Welsh lessons and Podcast makes the following well-stated points about entering Welsh as one of your spoken languages on the 2011 Census in the UK. They say: How many Welsh speakers are there in Wales? This year’s Census will try to find out, but if you don’t answer accurately, we still won’t know even when the figures are in!

A comment on the SaySomethinginWelsh forum (see on the Welsh Class page) seems to show that lots of Welsh learners don’t consider their Welsh to be good enough to tick the “I speak Welsh” box in the Census. Come on people! Your collective ticks will decide Welsh language policy for the next 10 years, so make sure you tell the truth!

You speak Welsh if you are able to put useful sentences together. These may be about your opinion, your wants and needs, your everyday life. Does that sound complicated? Well it’s not really. If you can make up sentences like “I like speaking Welsh”, or “I’m trying to go”, then you are able to speak Welsh (and anyone who has completed lesson one of SaySomethinginWelsh is able to do just that!). The trick is in the “making up” bit. If you have learnt some sentences off by heart – “I like coffee” (dwi’n hoffi coffi) is one of the favourites – and can say “bore da” and “diolch” then you are not really speaking Welsh, you are repeating phrases, just as if you were singing “Sosban Fach” or “Hen Wlad fy Nhadau”. You can’t really use your Welsh except in a very few pre-set situations.

On the other hand, if you know how to change “Dwi’n hoffi coffi” into a negative, and talk about something other than coffee, or add a bit about milk and sugar, then you are speaking Welsh. You must admit it on the census form – it is a criminal offence not to.

“But I can’t take part in conversations!” say some. I hate to disagree, but you can. What you are concerned about is that conversations easily get too complicated for you to keep up. There are two things at work here. One is that you don’t have all the vocabulary you need yet and the other is that your brain isn’t up to speed with listening and understanding. (The Say Something in Welsh listening practices are designed to overcome this. Click here to find out more).

When people discuss things in English that you don’t understand, I doubt that you’ve ever considered that you “don’t really speak English”. Accept that you need to build your vocabulary, but don’t ever think that you “can’t speak Welsh” just because you don’t understand everything!

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Descripition Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Appbrain at http://www.appbrain.com/app/celtic-myth-show/tv.wizzard.android.celticmythpodshow841 or by using the QR code opposite.
If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

Cornish Crafts Pic: Kenra Craft

June 18th, 19th & 20th Crasken Farm, Helston , Cornwall. Medieval Fayre, Hog Roast, Amazing Stalls, People, Sponsored by Haunted Cornwall. Tarot, Aura Imaging, Witchcraft, Crystals, Healing. Live Bands, Ale Tent………. See you there……………..

Sponsored by Haunted Cornwall

They say:

We are professional and experienced event organisers, incorporating the companies HAUNTED CORNWALL & HAUNTING EXPERIENCES. We have been operating paranormally based events since 1999, long before a lot of recent companies jumped on the bandwagon.

Our ghost walks, nights and other events are fun, professional, informative and enjoyable… that’s why the vast majority of our customers come back time and time again.

Rest assured that, unlike many “ghosthunting” companies, we do not adopt silly gimmicks or sensationalism and give our customers plenty of opportunity to experience locations under a genuine environment.

Haunted Cornwall

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Descripition Page.

If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

Originally posted 2010-06-10 23:00:27. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Pic: The BS Report

Labour and Conservative MPs united to keep ‘Cornish’ off the 2011 census last night, as the Government voted down a proposal from North Cornwall’s MP, Dan Rogerson, to have it included, Cornwall 24 reported on the 4th December. Mr Rogerson said the Cornish national identity should be recognised with a tickbox, just as the Scottish, Welsh, English and Northern Irish identities will be.

He tabled an amendment to the legislation which enables the census to happen, and gained backing for his initiative from the Liberal Democrat leadership. Labour MPs voted against, while Conservatives sat on their hands.

Commenting, Mr Rogerson said:

Cornish is an identity of its own, distinct from that of the English, and it should be recognised as such. We have already made progress by getting the Government to ‘code’ any answers where a citizen writes that their national identity is Cornish, but this will still vastly underestimate the number of Cornish people since many will simply tick ‘British’ or ‘English’.

It makes sense to include a tickbox, so that every Cornish person makes their identity known.

Andrew George, MP for the West Cornwall constituency of St Ives and the Isles of Scilly added:

We made an important and useful step forward at the last census in 2001. We should recognise and celebrate the different groups, identities and peoples of the world. Cornwall wants to put itself into the celebration of diversity. Not cut itself off.

Read the full article on Cornwall 24.

Originally posted 2010-01-02 08:01:58. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

If you were lucky enough to be in Wales on March the first, you would find the country in a festive mood. Every self-respecting man, woman and child would be celebrating St. David’s Day in one way or another. But who was St. David, and why is he so important to the Welsh? And just how is St. David’s Day celebrated in Wales today? Well, Saint David, or Dewi Sant, as he is known in the Welsh language, is the patron saint of Wales. He was a Celtic monk, abbot and bishop, who lived in the sixth century. During his life, he was the archbishop of Wales, and he was one of many early saints who helped to spread Christianity among the pagan Celtic tribes of western Britain.

For details of the life of Dewi, we depend mainly on his biographer, Rhigyfarch. He wrote Buchedd Dewi (the life of David) in the 11th century. Gerallt Gymro (Giraldus Cambrensis), who wrote a book about his travels through Wales in the 12th century, also gives some information about Dewi’s early life. Dewi died in the sixth century, so nearly five hundred years elapsed between his death and the first manuscripts recording his life. As a result, it isn’t clear how much of the history of Dewi’s life is legend rather than fact. Continue Reading »

Originally posted 2009-03-01 18:09:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

CNN reports that Bretons are fighting to save their language from extinction. They say:

At a busy creperie amid the cobbled medieval streets of Quimper in Brittany, northern France, a lunchtime crowd is enjoying hearty galettes packed with combinations of meats, cheeses and eggs. The crepe has become a staple of French cuisine, but another aspect of Brittany’s culture — the region’s unique language — is in danger of dying with an aging generation of Breton speakers.

Almost two million people spoke Breton at the beginning of the 20th century, according to Ofis ar Brezhoneg, the Breton Language Office. That number has now declined to around 250,000 according to UNESCO, which lists the language as severely endangered.

But the latest figures may already be out of date. Most Breton speakers are now in their 70s or older and the language is estimated to be losing around 10,000 speakers a year.

The Breton language is the main aspect of our culture, our identity.

Fulup Jakez, head of Ofis ar Brezhoneg, told CNN.

If we lose our language we lose everything.

Brittany — or Breizh in Breton — has always had a seperate identity to the rest of France. The northwestern peninsula was settled by Celtic migrants who arrived from Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries AD. The region remains proud of its heritage with a rich tradition of Celtic music and culture that shares more in common with Cornwall, Wales or Ireland than France.

Although Brittany came under French rule in the 16th century, it was only after the French Revolution in 1789 that the country’s regions were properly incorporated into a unified state.

Central to that process was the use of French as the country’s official language, with revolutionary thinkers stating that regional languages represented the “barbarism” of the past and needed to be “obliterated.” Brittany and other regions, such as Corsica, Alsace and Basque areas in the southwest, are still living with the consequences today.

According to article two of the French constitution, there is only one language of the republic. Collective rights are not recognized; the Basque speakers in France are invisible.

Paul Bilbao, a Basque language campaigner, told CNN.

Bilbao said the situation in France was worse than in many other European countries with linguistic minorities such as Spain and the UK. France is one of few states not to have ratified the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages; a treaty which is considered crucial by campaigners for the protection of the continent’s linguistic diversity.

Some go further still, drawing a comparison between the lack of official recognition for Breton and other regional identities and French attitudes to minorities highlighted by the recent deportations of Roma migrants and the banning of Muslim headscarves.

France is not at ease with diversity at all. It’s part of the French political culture to be scared of the outside and to be scared of the inside as well.

says Breton journalist Yann Rivallain, editor ofArMen magazine.

For Breton speakers, the lowpoint in the region’s relationship with the French state came after World War II. Many activists were accused of collaborating with the German occupiers — and killed. For years afterwards, the language was banned in schools, with playground notices reading: “No spitting on the ground or speaking Breton.” Jakez says:

At that time, Breton did not exist in society. It was a private language you spoke at home or with your friends. There was no place for the language in public life. It was something hidden.

Many parents simply chose not to pass on a language which was seen as representative of a backward culture, fearing it would give their children a disadvantage in life. Rivallain sees parallels with the struggle of recent immigrant groups, such as those from Arab backgrounds, to integrate into French life.

Eliane Bramley, a parent at the Skol Diwan, is one of those who never had the chance to learn Breton as a child, even though it was her father’s native tongue. Now she is learning the language with her four-year-old daughter, Aziliz.

We want her to have some Breton roots, out of respect for her grandfather who was punished at school if he spoke Breton.

says Bramley.

She’s started to sing a lot in Breton, and to count. We see a blackbird or a dog and we say it in Breton and she corrects me. And my father is absolutely delighted to hear some Breton songs at home. I can see he is a little bit emotional about it.

Read the full story at CNN.com along with some frightening statistics and some examples of the Breton language.

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Descripition Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. There are some issues with the App on HTC phones, but we are assured by Wizzard, the programmers, that they are working on solving the problem. You can find it on Appbrain at http://www.appbrain.com/app/celtic-myth-show/tv.wizzard.android.celticmythpodshow841 or by using the QR code opposite.
If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

Pic: iguana jo

Scotland’s oldest settlement, dating back 14,000 years, was near Biggar, in South Lanarkshire, archaeologists say. The site may have been a camp used by hunters following migrating herds of reindeer or wild horses across plains that are now covered by the North Sea. Its discovery by the Biggar Archeology Group means humans have lived in Scotland for 3,000 years longer than previously thought. Until now the earliest evidence of human habitation in the country was at Cramond, near Edinburgh, which had been radiocarbon-dated to about 8400 BCE.

A large scattering of flints was first found in the field near Biggar a few years ago but the site was initially thought to be late Neolithic and was later classified as an Iron Age settlement after radiocarbon dating of charcoal found there. However, recent analysis of more of the flints revealed that they were from the end of the Upper Palaeolithic period, 14,000 years ago.
Their true significance was realised by Torben Ballin, an expert in stone finds, and Alan Saville from the National Museums of Scotland. Mr Saville said: “There would have been a temporary camp site where the flints were found, so there’s a faint possibility that there might be post holes and waste pits there.” He added that the chances of finding that evidence were “fairly slim, but we live in hope”. He said the diggers from Biggar were planning to go back to the site in the summer to explore it further.
Saville hailed the discovery as “a breakthrough that we have been hoping to find for years and years”. He added: “We always thought that there must be Upper Palaeolithic occupation in Scotland but we never actually found material which was conclusive enough, so it is a breakthrough that we can now say there is absolutely no doubt that people were here.”
“The tool types involve particularly a couple of tanged points (projectile heads), but also burins, end-of-blade scrapers, and a piercer of so-called Zinken-type, as well as there being evidence for a certain type of blade-core preparation technique known as en eperon,” Saville said. A burin was a flaked rock tool with a chisel-like edge probably used to remove flesh from bone. “Eperon” means “spur” in French. Here it refers to a blade with a thick-ended butt at one end. The toolkit suggests there were at least two major technologies in early Britain: Hamburgian and Creswellian. The latter was characterized by “Cheddar points,” tools with trapezoidal-backed blades.
The flints, which included end-of-blade scrapers and piercers, were found to date from around 12,000 BCE. They are similar to those found in southern Denmark and northern Germany, which have been dated accurately to that time. It’s now believed people from those regions made their way to Scotland via a large land bridge called Doggerland, which connected the island of Great Britain to mainland Europe during the last ice age. The individuals in this case likely belonged to the Hamburg culture, known for its reindeer-hunting prowess.
The settlement may be ancient for Scotland but it is positively modern compared with finds in England, where there is evidence of a human settlement near Lowestoft on the east coast that dates back 700,000 years. The Biggar Archaeology Group now plans to carry out further excavations at the site to see what other artefacts it can find.

Source

Originally posted 2009-05-17 10:41:10. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Pic: BBC

The BBC reports that the chief executive of MG Alba will ask the BBC Trust to consider allowing the broadcast of the new Gaelic digital television channel on Freeview. Programmes, launched a month ago, are available on Sky and Freesat, but it was not planned to show them on Freeview for another two years.

Culture Minister Linda Fabiani said the Scottish Government had been very impressed at the reaction to the programmes. She added:

As we consider the recommendations of the Scottish Broadcasting Commission’s report, it’s great that BBC Alba has launched with such distinctive and high quality programming.

The culture minister said she would support efforts to secure the coverage.

[Source]

Originally posted 2008-10-24 09:38:59. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The Gristhorpe Man Pic: Dr  Alan Ogden

Reporter Dan Bean of  The York Press tells us : Academics in Yorkshire  England, have given a voice and a face to a man who died more about 4,000 years ago. Using state-of-the-art computer programme and forensic techniques, scientists have reconstructed the face of the Gristhorpe Man. The skeleton of the Bronze Age man, thought to be a warrior chief, was discovered in Gristhorpe, near Filey, in 1834, and boiled in horse glue to preserve it.

It was displayed in the Scarborough Museum, now the Rotunda Museum, until 2006, when it was moved to the Division of Archaeological Sciences at Bradford University, where a series of tests and investigations were carried out on the remains.

Dr Alan Ogden used the results of the tests and his skills as a dentist and osteologist to build a facial reconstruction of the man, and modern software to animate the model and give him a voice.

“I hope that the visitor to the museum can visualise him as a living man, a senior figure in his society, used to being obeyed and probably even revered,” he said.

Source

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Descripition Page.

If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

Pic: Simon Welsh

Wales Online tells us : Generations of Aleds, Geraints and Gwenllians could be about to make way for a new brood of Sarans, Cynwyns and Trofanas. That’s the verdict of a new book which confirms that the recent trend for invented English names has migrated into the Welsh language. The celebrity trend for calling their children unusual names has seen the emergence of babies named Apple, Cruz and Princess Tiaamii

But as well as inventing their own names, Welsh parents have been dipping into ancient texts like the Mabinogion to give their offspring original monikers.

Publisher Y Lolfa has released an updated version of its book Welsh Names for Children after calling on the public to suggest new names for the book to reflect the latest trends.

Among the new names suggested were for boys are Eban, Manaw, Cynwyn and Eirwg, and for girls Saran, Nanw, Trofana, Eldeg and Dolgain.

Heini Gruffudd, the Swansea- born author of Welsh Names for Children, said there are approximately 2,000 Welsh names in the book.

And he said there is a trend now for names that would not have been considered previously.

“These include names connected with Welsh mythology, for example, Cai, one of Arthur’s knights,” he said.

“And names based on nature, such as Seren (star) which is now very popular. Blodeuwedd and Cêt, Dylan and Jac sit very happily together.

“And some Welsh names are very popular in America, such as Dylan, possibly as a result of Bob Dylan.”

He said it was rare to give children Welsh names a century ago but they have become more popular since the 1960s.

“Parents are now choosing names that are part of our history and mythology, our land and religion,” he said.

“Add to these, names which are connected with literature, those from the natural world and foreign names that have been Cymricised and you will see that we have a wealth of them.”

While compiling the book, Mr Gruffudd read the Mabinogion, the collection of Welsh folk tales dating from around 1100.

And he studied the work of the late Peter Clement Bartrum, a genealogist whose magnum opus was the 26-volume Welsh Genealogies AD300 to 1400 and Welsh Genealogies AD1400 to 1500.

Bartrum spent most of his career as a meteorologist in the Colonial Service in Bermuda and West Africa but learned to read Welsh to understand the medieval manuscripts in which the descent of prominent families is set out.

“Bartrum recorded a huge collection of Welsh names from history, mythology and the Saints,” said Mr Gruffudd

“Names from history and mythology give us a connection with our past and a specific identity in a globalised world.

“They also give Welsh people a different identity in a British context, in a period that has seen a growth in Welsh national consciousness and the development of a separate Welsh national identity.”

He said explaining names can be difficult because meaning can seem obvious but the origin can be from different elements, which are sometimes foreign.

“We have however, attempted to explain most names and link names with famous people, or geographic features.

“My favourite name is Gwenllian, she fought and died in a battle in the 12th century defending Kidwelly against the English in Carmarthenshire, when her husband was away fighting up north.

“And my son is Gwydion, named after a Welsh magician who is mentioned in the Mabinogion and made Blodeuedd out of flowers.”

Source

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Descripition Page.

If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.