Hello lovely Google People. I like your project, I really do. I think it is well done and a great concept to have something built into a browser like this.
However, there is one problem. The Translate programme keeps confusing Irish with Gàidhlig. What on earth is the difference you may ask? Well, there are a lot of similarities, yes. A speaker of one can usually understand the other enough to get by, yes. However, they are two separate languages. So much so in fact, that the Irish Government specifically says that their language is to be referred to in English as "Irish." Not as Gaelic or Irish Gaelic. Gàidhlig na h-Alba, or Scottish Gaelic, is the native language of Scotland. It is considered an endangered language, yet is currently experiencing a revitalisation of interest and efforts to preserve this incredibly important part of Scottish culture and history. Despite this renewed interest, The 2001 UK Census figures say there are 58,652 Gàidhlig speakers in Scotland. There are approximately another 1000 or so in Canada. Irish, or Gaeilge, is however not under so much threat. The Irish census for 2002 has 331,047 people who speak Irish on a daily basis. My point is, it is imperative that the difference between the two languages is made clear. Furthermore, it would be more beneficial to the efforts of those of us trying to preserve Gàidhlig if the general public were informed that it exists, rather than being told by a translation programme that everything is in Irish. What can you do about it? Well, I would gladly volunteer to help you out but unfortunately I do not speak enough Irish to be able to give you some key words or phrases that would easily help your programme differentiate between the two. What I can do, is point you in the direction of some Gàidhlig resources: Bòrd na Gàidhlig - A statutory Non-departmental Public Body, formed to promote and preserve the language: http://www.gaidhlig.org.uk/en Sabhal Mòr Ostaig - Widely recognised as the most in depth resource and College for studying the Gaidhlig language: http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/index_en.html I hope that helps and I will be more than happy to answer any questions you developers may have, to the best of my abilities. Tapadh leibh agus mar sin leibh an dràsda! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "General" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/google-translate-general?hl=en.
