Whether you are a fluent Irish speaker, frustrated by the inability to text in your native tongue, or an occasional user of the cupla focal you picked up at school, it is now possible to send text messages in Irish.
Whether you are a fluent Irish speaker, frustrated by the inability to text in your native tongue, or an occasional user of the cupla focal you picked up at school, it is now possible to send text messages in Irish.
The service has been further enhanced by a Tralee Institute of Technology academic who has set about compiling a database of the most commonly used phrases.
The predictive text service means that Irish has joined the elite group of fewer than 80 of the world’s 7,000 languages which are available at the user’s fingertips.
Vodafone customers can now download the texting software directly to their handsets. The service is available across all networks by downloading Téacs from http://wap.teacs.ie.
Launched on January 26th in Dublin by native Irish speakers Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabhán and Kerry football team captain Dara Ó Cinnéide, the new service has been described by consumer director at Vodafone Ireland, Carolann Lennon, as making a hugely positive impact on the language.
Speaking at the launch, Ms Lennon expressed hope that the new software, available free of charge to all Vodafone users, will be of particular benefit to young people who use texting as their primary means of communication.
Vodafone is one of Ireland’s leading mobile phone service providers, with a customer base of over 2.3 million, including business and personal subscribers. The mobile phone company has collaborated with Foras na Gaeilge, an organisation responsible for the promotion of the Irish language in Ireland.
The launch of the sms service has been the result of a joint scheme lasting several years. Ferdie Mac an Fhailigh, CEO of Foras na Gaeilge, stated that his company’s approach to the development of the language is to encourage access to and usage of the language.
“This initiative is really about empowering more people to use the ‘cupla focal’ in what is the communication age”.
Indeed the new software, comprising over 25,000 Irish language words and phrases will be a welcome resource to the country’s growing number of Irish speakers. TCD’s Cumann Gaelach representative, James Pelow, pointed out that Vodafone’s new software is a necessary response to a generation more familiar with our native language thanks to the Irish language television channel TG4 and the increasingly popular Gael Scoileanna. “As we are now seeing, the children who were first influenced by TG4 have reached maturity and are entering college and the workforce and collectively pushing enthusiastically for more and more things in Irish”.
Pelow also indicated the growing popularity of Irish on campus, referring to a surge in membership of Cumainn Ghaelacha around the country. Trinity College now has the largest Irish speaking student society in the country, and the enthusiastic reaction to the predictive text service, or Téacs as Gaeilge, has already inspired further research and advances for the third-level sector. A Kerry-based linguist, Dr. Muiris O’Laoire began compiling a list of the most commonly shortened phrases in order to promote the language and make its use more practical for the mobile-phone generation.
As the project is only in its infancy, Dr. Muiris, of Tralee Institute of Technology, has indicated that a research post may also be offered for a student to record how people text in the Gaeltacht areas.
Those already familiar with text-speak have become accustomed to code-like abbreviated phrases, and Irish words can now be used in more concise spellings. For example GRMA = Go raibh maith agat = Thankyou.
Irish texters will also be able to suggest phrases online. By logging onto a British-based website suggestions for ‘txt spk’ can be submitted to www.mutones.co.uk.
Dr. O’Laoire points out that the evolving use of Irish can only have a positive influence on the survival of the language. However criticism is inevitable from those who regard text speak as disfiguring the language.
In response Dr. O’Laoire insists that the project is creative and is an effort to make the language more vibrant. Echoing the sentiments of Foras na Gaeilge, he maintains that it is important to tap into youth culture.
While technology-based advances in Irish have been welcomed by the Irish speaking community, huge advances have also been made in the academic field.
NUI Galway and Letterkenny Institute of Technology recently outlined proposals for future collaborations between the two institutions.
The anticipated partnership is the outcome of three years work, involving a multi-disciplinary task-force. The work between staff and management of both colleges was aimed at identifying ways in which the relative strengths of each institution could be used for the benefit of the Irish language and the Gaeltacht community.
The product of this joint initiative was announced last week, when Presidents of both institutes signed a Memorandum of Understanding, paving the way for a joint-degree programme in Irish.
It is hoped that the new degree programme will meet the recognized need and increased demand for highly-trained, professional services in Irish. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in positions for third level graduates who can function effectively in a bilingual environment.
The new BA Riarachán Gnó (Business Administration) is a four year degree programme, which will be taught through the medium of Irish at NUI Galway’s external campus in Ghaoth Dobhair, County Donegal. The course will be facilitated by staff from both LYIT and NUI Galway.
The aim of the degree is to provide bilingual graduates with the practical and analytical skills necessary to work effectively in a business and administration environment in which Irish and English are used.
The programme will involve a combination of academic studies and training, with the prospect of developing well educated and highly trained young graduates, who are capable of aspiring to professional level in Irish and English.
The outlook for the future of the Irish language looks positive, as significant steps are taken to integrate its use into the daily and professional life of 21st century Ireland. However Trinity’s Cumann na Gaelach representative, James Pelow, claims that more organisations need to adapt their services to Irish speakers.
“The plethora of services ‘as Gaeilge’ that have come on stream in recent times are very welcome, but we need more and more companies to wake up to the Irish language.”
When asked if he saw texting in Irish as a threat to the purity of the language, Mr. Pelow was adamant that such modern advances are far from damaging. “Using short-hand in Irish is nothing new and can be seen in even the earliest manuscripts where space on velum was at a premium. In SMS we only get 160 characters, txt speak is a practicality, not an attack on the language!”
