Month: October 2013

An t-Alltan, Clilstore, agus Guthan nan Eilean

~ Gordon Wells ~ 5 Comments

Seo an taisbeanadh a bh’ aig Caoimhín Ó Donnaíle o chionn treiseag aig co-labhairt nàiseanta airson tidsearan. Tha An t-Alltan air a bhith a’ ruith o 2008, ach b’ e seo a’ chiad chothrom aig Caoimhín an obair a tha e a’ dèanamh airson Pròiseact TOOLS air Clilstore, Wordlink, agus Multidict a shealltainn. Cha robh aige ach 20 mionaid, ach rinn e an gnothach glè mhath – le “plug” airson Guthan nan Eilean san òraid aige cuideachd. Taing mhòr, Chaoimhín!

 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ETt9g1Ul70&w=400&h=300]

 

Here is Caoimhín Ó Donnaíle’s recent presentation at a national conference for Gaelic teachers – An t-Alltan – speaking about his work for TOOLS on Clilstore, Wordlink, and Multidict. He only had 20 minutes but still managed a plug for Island Voices….

Benbecula and the Bonnie Prince

~ Gordon Wells ~ 5 Comments

Today was the first day of recording of local Bonnie Prince Charlie stories for Stòras Uibhist. Tommy Macdonald “compared notes” with Alasdair Maceachen, who has a family connection with the Prince’s companion Neil MacEachan, on the accounts of the Prince’s movements around Benbecula after the defeat at Culloden.

The discussion took place at Nunton Steadings. As the conversation reveals, there are historical connections with the story.

Tommy and Alasdair spoke first in Gaelic:

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/616526271″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

 

And this is their “reprise” in English:

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/616527756″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Tug of War

~ Gordon Wells ~ 2 Comments

The Bi Beò songwriting partnership of Kevin de Las Casas and James MacLetchie featured with one of their earliest songs in Series 1 of the Guthan nan Eilean project. Extracts from subsequent recordings were also used on the soundtracks of various Series 2 Outdoors, Generations, and Enterprise films. Later still, the Bi Beò band “went the way of the Beatles”, and is no longer performing.

However, the original writers have kindly consented to having a selection of their compositions placed online, in case they may be of benefit as listening material for Gaelic learners. Here, as an experiment, is “Tug of War” – from the “Ma Sgaoil” collection – rendered as a Clilstore unit. You can listen and read at the same time, and click any word for an instant dictionary entry. What do you think?

And there’s an extra challenge for Island Voices afficionados! On which Series 2 documentary were extracts from this track used on the soundtrack? (Clue – think “outside” the box…)

PS. Here’s the “raw” track if you want to hear it first before reading the lyrics on Clilstore:

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/115636817″ width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Robert Burns on Benbecula

~ Gordon Wells ~ 3 Comments

As rumours circulate that Prestwick Airport is to be renamed “Robert Burns International Airport” the Island Voices project expands its linguistic scope still further, placing local recitations of two of Scotland’s national bard’s most famous poems on the online Clilstore platform. Clicking on any word will take you directly to a choice of Scots, rather than English, dictionaries.

It’s true that the Hebrides are traditionally much more closely associated with Gaelic than with Scots, but here’s another reminder that people are much more mobile these days – even if they do still like to hold on to speech patterns acquired in younger days…

Dumfries-born Denis Johnston addresses the haggis, while simultaneously wielding the knife here, serving up a tasty verbal hors d’ oeuvre: http://multidict.net/cs/1454

And Rob Keltie, in a prodigious feat of memory, takes his audience through the very substantial main course with a dash of Doric seasoning, delivering Tam O Shanter in inimitable style here: http://multidict.net/cs/1451

Clilstore remains “work in progress”, being taken forward by a multinational partnership through the TOOLS project, in which Sabhal Mòr Ostaig plays a key part. Comments and suggestions for improvement are always welcome!

A Crofter’s Life on Clilstore

~ Gordon Wells ~ Leave a comment

Mary Morrison’s revealing chat with Iain Trimsgarry has now been uploaded to Clilstore. This means that Gaelic learners who can’t follow everything that is said just by listening will be able to listen and read at the same time, simply by scrolling down the transcript as the video plays.

What’s more, if there’s a word you don’t know in the transcript you can simply click on it, which will take you to straight to the appropriate entry in an online Gaelic-English dictionary. What could be easier?!

You can access the unit on Clilstore by clicking on the picture or by following this link: http://multidict.net/cs/1411

1000 Facebook Followers

~ Gordon Wells ~ Leave a comment

Island Voices passed another numerical milestone today. A warm welcome to Štefan Zábojník from the Czech Republic, who became our 1000th follower… Vítejte!

Putting that in Gaelic that feels properly hospitable requires some amplification – Ceud Mìle Fàilte! (One Hundred Thousand Welcomes.) It will be some time before we reach that number of Likes on our Facebook page, but it’s not now an unrealistic prospect for views on our YouTube Channel. Watch this space…