Smiling under Buses

Welsh Langage Board tried to ban Duffy - or did they?

2008-06-29T12:35:00.002+01:00

I read on maes-e this morning about an article in the Western Mail, titled Welsh Board wanted English-song Duffy banned. In the article, someone named Paul Brett (probably trying to claim credit for discovering Duffy) claims that six years ago, the Welsh Language Board offered £100 towards a music talent show in Pwllheli, but withheld the offer once they found out not all the bands/individuals would be singing in Welsh. He goes on to claim that once he heard this he told the Welsh language board where to go.

“On the day of the show in the morning, I had a nervous and somewhat embarrassed call from Rhys to tell me that the Language Board had insisted that Duffy was taken off the show because she was singing in English. The other eight bands were singing entirely in Welsh, their choice.

“I took a deep breath, thought about it and told Rhys that it was not in our remit to dictate to young talent what they should perform, or in what language they should sing. He wholeheartedly agreed. I then spoke directly to the local guy from the Language Board who had called Rhys and he passed the buck, saying it wasn’t him but his boss in Cardiff who had insisted on Aimee being taken off the show.

Apparently this is a load of bollocks. This is what a contributor on maes-e had to say:

It was he himself [Paul Brett] that insisted that all the bands would be performing in Welsh and so wanted money from the Board. It was obvious he intended to put Aimee Duffy on from the beginning, although her set was shorter than what the others had, and if she'd performed part of her set in Welsh, which is what the Board's money should support, there'd be no problem. But you can't claim money intended to promote the Welsh language to pay artists who only sing in English.

I remember the incident as I was the officer in question. And far from telling me where to stick the money, he'd put Aimee and her English only set on in the hope that no-one would say anything. The reason I remember is that I got quite cross about it and phoned him on the Sunday (for the first time) after the event to point out to him his 'misunderstanding'. After the call, he obviously didn't dare claim the money, even though I hadn't told him that he'd no longer be eligible. That must have been his own conclusion.

Funny how people forget certain details over time. Hat's off to the Western Mail once again for their high quality journalism.

Anti-Welsh Conspiracy?

2008-04-08T10:00:00.007+01:00

There was a very disturbing story on the BBC's website recently about a horse being injured and graffiti being sprayed on the owner's building.

A horse's nose was cut and anti-English graffiti daubed on a stables owned by a Cardiff woman who had moved to a village in west Wales.
Alison Hayes, who was born in the Welsh capital, found her seven-month-old pony with a wound to its nose.
As she helped the animal at her land in Tegryn, near Crymych, Pembrokeshire, she also noticed graffiti written in slang Welsh saying "English out".

This is quite a disturbing story, but it sounds a bit strange. The graffiti message 'Cai Maes Saes' is'nt actually Welsh or Welsh slang, it's jibberish.

There's been quite a lot news stories in Wales about Welsh signs been translated by translation websites, which give out nonsense phrases. Oh, hang on, how about we type, say 'Get out Englishman' into tranexp.com and see what we get. Well well, who'd have thought, it only gives 'Ca i maes Saes'.

The respeced media of Wales can't even agree what it's supposed to actually mean as Hen Ferchetan point's out:

Clearly someone up in Trinity Mirror has realised something is wrong, they just havn't quite put their finger on it. The South Wales Echo would have us believe that it's common slang for "English Out" while icWales disagrees and tells us it's actually very old Welsh for "English Out". The Western Mail disagrees again, telling us that the writing doesn't say "English Out" but "English Out of This Field". Top prize for awful reporting must go to BBC Newyddion Arlein (Welsh BBC News) which actually quotes the graffiti as saying "Sais Mas" (English Out) even though the picture of the actual words used above comes from the BBC!

This hasn't stopped Daily Mail readers and anti-Welsh blogger wonkotsane from having a field day - 'field' day - get it? Thankfully, not all English nationalists are thick as shit.

"Hope loved being around people but now I can't get near her. She is terrified." says Hayes as she stands next to the horse. hmmm

George Galloway shows his Respect

2008-02-12T22:00:00.006Z

In a rant about the proposed new Gaelic channel by the BBC, he only managess to call the Gaelic language 'obscure' twice in the artice, which was dissapointing.

Language is a living thing or nothing at all if you ask me. And the rest of us, by a stroke of luck, are in possession of a tongue worth the weight of Ben Nevis in gold.

This is often an argument used against any money being spent on the Welsh language, that it shouldn't be supported in any way by the state and that it should be left to fight it out with other languages, which is an argument that one can understand. But then he goes on to say:

The English language is our greatest asset and the government spends far too little spreading it even wider.
The money spend [sic] on Gaels and their obscure language could be spent by the British Council teaching, for example, the people of China to speak English with infinitely more returns.

Which is a total contradiction of what he just said. A language like Gaelic shouldn't be supported financially, but the English language should. He then tries another trick favoured by the language haters, which is to use the presence of immigrants (Galloway's political career is based on this anyway).

There are more people who speak Punjabi in Scotland than have the Gaelic. Can you imagine the outcry if the government gave £50 per week per head to subsidise Lahore TV?

And more people speak Polish in Scotland than speak Gaelic but Gdansk TV could only dream of such a subsidy.

For your information Mr Galloway, the Polish government fund around 10 Polish language channels, plus one in Belarusian. TV Polonia is available worldwide, so Polish speakers in Scotland are already catered for. There are Punjabi state funded channels in both Pakistan (on PTV) and India (DD Punjabi).

I sometimes visit the Wales/Cymru section the Urban75 forum, which has it's fair share of nut jobs. Here's the latest post by (sadly) a rather noisy Respectoid:

St David's Day - COUNTER DEMO

As we know over the last few years the nationalists have stepped up their attempts to impose conformity and their bigotted ideology on our locale, they will be using St David's Day to impose the idea that Wales is a nation cosily united - rich and poor - against English oppression and waving their flags. They will be attempting to construct a 'welsh identity' that never existed and various other ideas that mystify social reality, class division and block the forming of genuine grassroots culture based on solidarity and diy principles.

Needless to say, everyone rips the piss out of him.

Cardiff Web Scene Meetup, 26.2.08

2008-02-11T12:32:00.001Z

I recently discovered a Facebook group for Cardiff Web Geeks. I liked the sound of what they were about:

Hey there. Cardiff Geeks was recently formed due to the common feeling amongst many passionate geeks in Wales that there was a lack of community between them.

We are comprised of researchers, computer scientists, web professionals and enthusiasts though are open to just about anyone who has an interest in the topics we discuss.

While there's a strong (but very small) on-line community of Welsh speakers, usually referred to as the Rhithfro, there's no obvious Welsh (i.e about Wales) on-line scene, neither social or for business, something I find quite frustrating, but I suppose it's not all that surprising. Hopefully, this will change.

I wasn't sure if Cardiff Geeks was still going, but I received a Facebook invite on the weekend (ok, so there might well be a point to the damn thing after all), to attend the Cardiff Web Scene Meetup at Cafe Floyd on Tuesday the 26th of Feb. Unfortunately I teach Welsh on Tuesday night, but I might pop in afterwards if I'm not too late and tired. Anyone else fancy it?

"World's largest love spoon" attempts, Cardiff

2007-12-16T10:18:00.000Z

The BBC news article saying it would be finished this weekend, but as I walked past yesterday the world record attempt to create the world's biggest love spoon still had a far bit to go.

Should look good when finished. While searching Flickr for an other/better photo than my own, I discovered there's already a bench in Bute Park in the style of a love spoon.

Digg me you bastards!

2007-12-03T16:04:00.001Z

A while back I blogged about the choice of books on the facade of Cardiff Central library's facade.
Now it seems a blog post containing the photo has been Digged. Sadly there's no link to my blog on the blog post, although a polite Italian did leave a comment on my Flickr photo to say she'd used the photo and asking where I'd like the link pointing too.

Not surprisingly, as my original post mentions, the reading tastes of Cardiffians are being seriously questioned.

I could have been famous :-)

Different language - same story

2007-11-30T14:11:00.001Z

Not that it's any comfort, but it's seems that it's not just the Welsh language that's attacked and be-littled by ignorant large media groups. The was recently an article in the Wall Street Journal under the title; Basque Inquisition: How Do You Say Shepherd in Euskera? (article in full copied here on Susatu - the Basque Slashdot)

The same old accusations are rolled out against the Basque language which sadly we Welsh speakers are more than familiar with: "only X amount actually speak it", "they steal words from other languages", "it's terrible that these people are forced to learn it as it's useless", "it's not a real language"...blah blah blah blah blah etc.

As you can imagine, it's pissed off a few people in the Basque blogosphere. Here are two excellent replies, which are full of brilliant arguments that can be used by Welsh speakers (if we're silly enough to get into a futile on-line debate with the many bigots out there).

Anyway if people want to wallow in their ignorance, who can stop them. In the meantime irratia.com ("a weekly broadcasted then podcasted live radio show in Basque about new technologies, music and social issues") will be celebrating their 100th podcast with a Basque Digital Shepherds' Meeting in Bilbo - here's a clip promoting the event on EuskalTube (yup - those nasty Basques even have time in between terrorizing non-Basque speakers to come up with their own YouTube clone).

As a farmers son who enjoyes the company of sheep as mush as blogging in his dead language, I wish I could be over there with my velcro gloves and laptop.

"Reading that is only going to make you angry"

2007-10-25T16:22:00.000+01:00

Those were the words of my wife as she look over my shoulder at what I was reading on the web. Sarah was right...
It was the comments section of a Comment is Free article by Hywel Griffiths, chairman of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (Welsh Language Society). He'd been asked to write about
Cymdeithas' proposals for an improved Welsh Language Act. It's a sensitive issue in Wales, and one that needs to be debated seriously, something that hasn't happened so far.
There's only so many remarks about "Klingon" and "more languages mean more barriers to communiation".
....so I stopped reading.

But where was Sarah this morning when I needed her?
As I turned on the car radio I caught the tail end of the Today Programme, where they were reading out e-mails commenting on the mornings subjects. They'd been discussing the Welsh language. The BBC have had a bit of a thing about the Welsh language since panelists pulled out of a show called Hecklers (the title gives it way). The reason people pulled out was because the BBC wanted to give a stage for a washed up 'playboy' and former UKIP Assembly candidate Dai Llewellyn, to spread his insults.
I've just used the 'listen again' facility to listen to the bit where the debate the Welsh language being promoted too much. Apparently, as speaking out against the Welsh language is so dangerous, they had to interview someone anonymously, in a remote layby and distort the person's voice. The guy (possibly quite delusional?), was making all sorts of claims about discrimination, and so did another person. Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM was questioned and he said it was nonsense and that the demand for Welsh medium education far outstripped demand. The presenter of the programme then starting having a go at him saying that it's only because parents didn't want there children being discriminated against in the work place in the future!
People go on about all the jobs in Wales requiring the Welsh language. Rh G T pointed out that, on any given Thursday, out of a 100+ jobs in the Western Mail only 5-6 might state that Welsh is essential or even just essential.
Some people can't get their heads round the fact that people want to speak Welsh for a variety of reasons. I teach a class of 17 adults in Ponypool (19 after half term as there's too many in the other class). We've only just started learning what people do as work. In my class there is a builder, greenkeeper, factory worker, landscaper, Quantity Surveyor, cook, a few grandparents, none of these people need Welsh for their jobs, they just want to experience Welsh life to the full.

I should be used to this sort of attitude by now, but I used to rate Radio 4, until I heard this sensationalist reporting and interviewing. What a shower of cachu.

2007-10-15T20:38:00.000+01:00

After Luistxo was greeting in Irish on Flickr, he asks "And Basque? ". Robert has been greeted in Welsh.

If you happen to log into your Flickr account and are greeted with "Ongi etorri [your name]", then take a screen capture, I'm sure it will make Luistxo's day!

Tyrfe Tawe: FREE music festival in Swansea (9-13.10.07)

2007-10-07T18:38:00.000+01:00

I've not been to this before, although it's been going since 2004 I think. I hope to catch Derwyddon Dr Gonzo on the Friday.

Full line up here.

'Word of Mouth' on Radio 4 discusses Bilingualism

2007-09-10T16:41:00.000+01:00

I've not listened to Word of Mouth before (it's on too late for me), but tonight it discusses bilingualism:

Next programme

Michael examines the language situation in Wales, Northern Ireland and Canada, and looks at the different ways in which laws can be used to protect minority languages.

Word Of Mouth this week looks at bilingualism. What exactly is meant by a bilingual society? And how do you create one?

This sound like it's going to be really interesting, although I'm not sure what kind of constructive contribution there's going to be from Wales' 'representative'!

The contributors are Rob Dunbar (Does legislation help?), Professor Dennis Baron (A bilingual USA), the Official Languages Commissioner of Canada Graham Fraser, Janet Muller (A bilingual Northern Ireland), and Chris Bryant (A bilingual Wales).

Oh well. But the question of "what is meant by a bilingual society" is one I often ask myself. Of course I have an idea in my head of what it is/could/should be, but what do others think? And do people who speak more than one language think differently about it to one's who only speak one?

Thanks to Nic (via Pat) for the link.

Welsh Blog Awards 2007

2007-09-05T10:02:00.000+01:00

Just realised I've not blogged about the Welsh Blog Awards. Sanddef has organised the competition where people vote for their favorite Blogs from or about Wales. I'm not a huge fan of such awards, but it's certainly an opportunity to introduce people to new blogs. I think anyone can vote (or maybe it's restricted to bloggers, I'm not too sure), but if you do want to vote, you must cast a vote for each category. Voting closes Saturday the 8th of September.

This is carzy stuff

2007-09-04T15:16:00.002+01:00

In Wales, when there's any suggestion by the public or campaigners that private companies should be covered by a Language Act that require them to provide some Welsh language service, we're told by politicans that we need to show there's a demand. How were supposed to do this they don't say - I assume we're all expected to write a letter to every busienss which we use or are likely to use sometime in the future. This will require a lot of pens and a lot of stamps, but it's something we have to do it seems.

I remember reading about 14 year old Èric Bertran from Lloret de Mar, who in 2004 sent an e-mail to three companies who operate in Catalonia asking them to provide bilingual (Catalan/Spanish) labeling in their stores. He made the mistake of signing his e-mails with 'Army of the Pheonix' (being a huge Harry Potter fan). The reason it made the news was because the police turned up at his home as they considered it to be a terrorist threat.

I heard no more about it, but apaprently a book about the whole affair has been published and a documentary as been made and is available on YouTube with English subtitles (in parts 1,2,3,4 and 5).

The story is quite remarkable and well worth a look.

Even though the authorities knew that the e-mail had come from a 'minor', they sent 20 members of the Spanish Civil Guard to the house in the middle of the night and questioned him and his family then took computers away. He was asked to make a statement the following day at the station. As the family explained what had happened, they thought that was the last of it.

Much to their surprise, Èric, and his parents were told they had to go to Madrid two month later to testify in the High Court before a juvenile prosecutor. She accused him of making terroist threats, he denied that and asked if she'd point out which part of the e-mail contained the threat. She replied she couldn't as she didn't understand Catalan, but Èric pointed out the e-mail had been sent in Spanish! This angered the prosecutor, who then went on to lecture him saying he should be proud to be Spanish. He replied by saying that he considered himself Catalan not Spanish, and the prosecutor then threatens to lock him up unless he called himself Spanish!

Afterwards he is sent to see a psychologist and a psychiatrist (part 4). After questioning him and again being given a lecture about how wonderful the Spanish constitution is, Èric replies that this was his first visit to Spain which makes them go nuts. They write a 6 page report suggesting he's a violent child and needs to attend a 'non-violence program'. The cause of this violent nature they concluded was that he spoke Catalan in the home and only watched Catalan TV! This is the attitude of profesional people in Spain towards people who wish to speak Catalan.

On top of all this, unrealated to the case, but another example of attitudes towards Catalans was when the family went out for lunch during the case. When his father tried to pay for the meal with a Caixa de Catalunya (a Catalan Bank), they restaurant initially refused saying they wouldn't accept it, although the bank has chains all over Spain, even across the street to the establishment.

So next time I write to my bank to enquiring if I can have a bilingual cheque book (and a left handed one please), I'll be sure to sign it with my own name!

Thats not funny (or true)

2007-09-04T12:01:00.000+01:00

I watched Something for the Weekend on Sunday, and Ruth Jones was on it as a guest. She's been on telly a lot recently, but my favorite will always be Linda from Nighty Night. Her character was so funny, especially the way she says 'Thank you' every time she was verbally a physically abused by Jill (don't know if it was supposed to symbolise the Welsh nation in any way!).

I know I'm going to sound over sensitive here, but I was a bit disappointed by her and one of the presenter's (Simon Rimmer) remarks.

Tim Lovejoy asked Ruth if she spoke Welsh, and she replied in Welsh that she did. He then asked her more about the language and I was pleased that it was being discussed on such a program which goes out UK wide and is aimed at a young(ish) audience. Then Ruth spoils it all by saying that the Welsh spoken in the north of Wales is a completely different language to that spoken in the south. That pissed me off as it's not true at all.

Then she goes on to say that people from the north don't consider south Walians as proper Welsh, "they call us Half-Taffs" she said. Now this is complete bollocks as well, for two reasons: Firstly, she's just regurgitating the Labour lie who like to split Wales north/south, welsh speaking/no-welsh speaking. And secondly, even if it were true these evil welsh speaking nashis certainly wouldn't refer to fellow countrymen (and women) as 'Taffs of all names - it's a derogatory term used by the English for Welsh people!

But to top this all off, Simon Rimmer goes on to say that he really enjoyes going out in Cardiff and Swansea, but "you have to be careful when going to pubs in north Wales". Careful of what exactly? He makes the place sound really sinister. I'd be interested to hear whar happened to him, or is he referring to the nasty local habit of speaking Welsh in pubs?

I've been spat at and threatened in Shrewsbury as my mate had a Wales hat (although this was on a footy match day v Wrecsam - not that it excuses the behavior) and I've had a glass bottle hurled at me in York (by a complete stranger from the other side of the street) but these are completely isolated incidents. I'd never go on national television and tell people to be careful when visiting England!

Am I over reacting?

My Eisteddfod

2007-08-27T11:52:00.001+01:00

This year I spent more time on the Maes then any other Eisteddfod. This was because jobs-cymraeg.com, along with 7 other members of the Association of Welsh Language Software (CMC) had clubbed together to have a stall. We actually shared a 3 unit stand with The Association of Welsh Language Translators and Interpreters.

Monday
First day on the stall, and got to meet up again with Dewi and Delyth who are the chair and secretary of CMC and who both work for the Language Technology Unit at the University of Wales, Bangor (see their blog). I was also introduced to Ambrose and David who work part time with the unit and part time for private companies. Ambrose works with Draig, while David works from home (in York) for a firm in the English Midlands.
David had another reason to be present at the Eisteddfod as he'd reached the final round of the Welsh Learner of the Year competition. His Welsh is impressive, even more so considering he's never lived in Wales. In addition to his work he's done a lot of work in his free time helping out with the localisation of OpenOffice into Welsh with Meddal volunteers, and he's also developed a 18,000 word English/Welsh dictionary that can be installed on a mobile phone, called Geiryn. Sarah and I promised to meet up with him when we're next up in York visiting her parents as he doesn't have anyone to practice his Welsh with up there, although he did meet someone who visited the stand that's studying a Computer Science degree now at York Uni.
I mis-read a poster and nearly sent Sarah to a flower arranging session at Maes D (Welsh learners tent) , when she thought she was going to a book launch, only a last minute intervention from my cousin saved her.
Watched Sarah's current favourite band, Brigyn perform on one of the out door stages on the Maes while eating lunch.

Tuesday
First thing was CMC's AGM, which was poorly attended. It was followed by an 'install-fest' where demonstrations were given on how to install the Welsh versions of Windows XP/Office, OpenOffice and show how easy they all are to switch from one langugae to another. One of the criticisms of the 1st Welsh Language version of XP/Office was that it was difficult to switch languages. The is now a new Language Control Centre, which not only switches Microsoft products you've installed, but also Firefox and Thunderbird. Annoyingly, it seems that a separate application called dotNETfx has to be downloaded from Microotf as well for this to work.
In the afternoon, I'd been asked to make a presentation on behalf of CMC in the Societies Tent (where may societies/organisations hold an 'annual lecture'). Mine was about 'Blogging and Social Newtowrking' (see slides/photo). I was worried as to who would turn up, but there were 20+ there, and not just my mum and fellow bloggers! At the end, a few people in the audience asked questions, mostly about Wicipedia.

Thursday
Got back from a York in time for the gig at Mold Rugby Club , where Cymdeithas yr Iaith had organised gigs all week. That night I saw Sibrydion, Genod Droog and Mr Huw.
Friday
In the morning I went to see a collection of Welsh language short films in the Theatr Tent by those busy people who run Pictiwrs.com. This meant that I missed a presentation into a study by Bangor Uni into how Basque is taught to adults in the Basque Country, but I picked up a copy of the report which was very interesting.
I then finally put pen to paper and paid for an annual subscription for Y Byd. Y Byd will be the first ever daily newspaper in Welsh. It's been a long time coming, with plans being announced years ago, with many doubting whether it would ever see a light of day especially as the lunch date kept being moved. I even paid £25 as supporter around 3 years ago (which entitled me to a £30 discount once it was launched. My and other people's reading patterns have changed completely in that period, and Y Byd will now be offered on-line. As on-line subscription is only £80, compared to £120 odd for paper copy, plus my discount and the fact it entitles you to a free add, it was silly not to go for it.
In the afternoon I went to the launch of the latest issue of Tu Chwith in the Literature Tent.

This had a Basque flavour too as Basque poets Bernardo Atxaga, Rikardo Arregi and Miren Agur Meabe read their poetry and then young Welsh poets read their Welsh translation of each one under the Literature Across Frontiers programme. As it happend, Bernardo Atxaga's poem was translated by Aneirin Karadog who also raps with Genod Droog!

Saturday
Last day, chance to buy anything I'd not yet got and chase up anyone who I intended to speak to. In the afternoon there was a blog-meet. As not many had responded to the idea of holding one this year, I hadn't made any firm arrangements, but I met with Meilyr and Rhodri at one of the bars in the afternoon where we had a good chat about the potential of getting income from blogging, plus Rhodri mentioned he was about to start on a project of creating an on-line directory of all Welsh films. We were later joined by Ray and Iestyn. The last Saturday is when the male voice choirs compete, and I must say there's nowhere better than in one of the bars afterwards when all the choir members have downed a few pints and join in together for a huge singsong - I pitied the poor bloke on the performance stage near by as he didn't stand a chance.

Are we talking about the same Eisteddfod?

2007-08-24T15:29:00.001+01:00

I've been thinking of writing a post about what I did at this year's National Eisteddfod in Mold, but haven't got round to it yet, in the meantime, there's a particularly nasty article in the highly respected South Wales Echo by Dan O'Neill titled Let’s tell these dotty druids to byrger off!.

This columnist likes to think of himself as controversial, and his article about the festivals visit to the capital next year annoyed a lot of people, and understandably so. If it was an article 'taking the mick'* out the Eisteddfod it would be fine, I find some of it a bit strange myself, but it was basically an attack on people who speak Welsh - he really goes for it and it's a shame that the echo allowed such hatred towards a language be expressed in it's pages. It starts off fairly mild:

Let’s face it, apart from a few people in Pontcanna does anybody really want it here?

He's a bit behind the times here, most young Welsh speakers live in other parts of Cardiff like Canton, Riverside, Grangetown and Splott while the older ones live in Llandaf and other northen 'burbs. The TV studios moved from Pontcanna decades ago.

in Wales there are indeed two nations: the Welsh who don’t speak the lingo (us); and the far fewer Welsh who do and decree that anyone who doesn’t is not only not Welsh but a second-class citizen as well.

This is the typical garbage that Labour have been spouting for years, and it does nothing for bring Wales together. There may be one or two idiots with such a view, but that's certainly not the attitude of Welsh speakers I know.

He takes offence (quite rightly) at a comment made 6 years ago by one person that compared the threat to the Welsh language to the destruction of Swansea during WWII, but has no qualms at using the word 'fascists' to describe Welsh speakers. hhhmm!

*Hope he doesn't find that too offensive, seeing as he's so proud of his Irish ancestry!

Edit.
The editor responds on his blog.

It's not the 'poking fun' at the Eisteddfod that's annoyed people Richard, it's his claims about ALL Welsh speakers.

Look out Facebook

2007-08-21T21:30:00.000+01:00

Someone posted a link to Lle Aeth Pawb? (Where did everyone go?) on maes-e recently. I don't think it's intended to be launched yet, particularly as the word 'test' appears in the url. Anyway, it's a website to coincide with a series that will appear on S4C next year. The idea behind the series is that long lost friends are reunited, what a great idea! Yes, this could turn out to be another lame S4C program, and it's obviously been inspired by the Facebook revolution.

Having said that, the site looks really good. I've created an account to have a bit of a nose. You then create your profile. Every primary and secondary school, college and university in Wales is listed as default. You're then encouraged to up-load old photos with keywords/tags in both Welsh and English, which other users can leave comments on. This classic photo from 1987 will do nothing to dispel the myth that all Welsh Speakers are farmers!

As you'll have noticed, the site is fully bilingual (although while browsing in Welsh, many pages direct you to English versions at the moment, I guess it's work in progress). Also, it would be useful to be able to click on your school name on your profile to see who else went there.

Even if the program will be complete pants, it at least has a decent website, the first proper social networking site available in Welsh. The only thing is, if it become popular (40+ have signed up already before it's even launched), will it still be kept live once the show is over?

The company behind the show and the website are Cwmni Da from Caernarfon. I've noticed the make use of new Web2.0 technologies to compliment the shows they're commisioned to do for S4C. During the Eisteddfod they were responsible for the Sioe Gelf (The Arts Show), and the website to coincide with the show (now taken down sadly) included blogs by different people at the Eisteddfod (competitors, judges, band members, commentators etc). Although Cwmni Da themselves don't seem to have a website of their own!

Teaching Welsh in Gwent

2007-07-28T08:05:00.000+01:00

I've been wanting to teach Welsh for Adults for some years, but have always been put off by the fear that my knowledge of grammar (Welsh or English) is virtually nil. In recent years, Coleg Gwent, who are the main providers of of 'Welsh for Adults' in the south east have been very short of tutors, so I've been attending training sessions to become a tutor, with the hope of being given a class in September, ideally in the county of Caerphilly.

As normal classes have now finished for the summer, there's no opportunity for me to sit in a class observing, but fortunately there was a summer school at The Hill. I had the chance to sit in two classes, one for complete beginners and one for students who'd already completed one ear of study

There were classes for 7 different levels, and the Summer Schools and Saturday schools run by Coleg Gwent are extremely popular, so much so that some people are regularly turned away. this year the summer school was full up with 164 people attending - I later found out that a further 140 had been turned away, which is a big shame. Next year they hope to offer two weeks of Summer School to accommodate everyone. You often hear people say that the people of Gwent have no interest in the Welsh language, but apart from a young woman from Holland on her second year and a lady from France in the beginners class, the rest were local people.

During our training sessions, the organisers of the various courses:

normal weekly classes in community centresl
Welsh for Parents
Welsh in the Workplace
WLPAN

have been trying to persuade us to teach in their classes when we'll be trained. At the moment I'd like to teach the Wlpan, but there's not as many of these classes being held. The reasons I'd prefer Wlpan are:

I feel that it's the most determined students who'll take this course as they've commited themselves to attend classes many times in a week (between 2 and 5)
Students are more likely to pick up more vocab in a short period of time and less likely to feel that they're not progressing as I've seen with a few students in the past
more emphasis on speaking, less on grammar

We'll see what happens in September

dotCYM Forum, July 19 in Bangor

2007-07-12T17:10:00.000+01:00

Taken from Murmur blog:

On Thursday, July 19th a special dotCYM forum has been organised and sponsored by ITWales and CMC. The event will be held in the evening at the Technium CAST on Parc Menai, Bangor.

The following members of CMC are kindly sponsoring the location and buffet. ReadSpeaker.com, Draig Technologies, Language Technologies Unit (Canolfan Bedwyr) and Meddal.

The forum will be an opportunity to learn more about the dotCYM bid, to hear of the success of the first successful year of puntCAT and how and why software developers from CMC are supporting the bid.

The event is FREE to attend, however advance booking is required.

To book your place e-mail ITWales@informatics.bangor.ac.uk or go online to www.itwales.com/events. Alternatively you can contact Rob or Judith at ITWales Bangor on 01248 388245

1730 : Registration and buffet

1800 : Presentations

(i) Sion Jobbins from dotCYM

dotCYM is a grass-roots initiative to gain .cym as a sponsored Top Level Domain (TLD) for the Welsh linguistic and cultural community of interest.

The .cym TLD is the only viable and credible bid to represent the Welsh community. It will be available for websites in Welsh, partly in Welsh or of Welsh interest but in English or another language.

dotCYM promises an excellent way to promote the use of Welsh language online and of branding Welsh services and products in a readily, easy recognisabile identifier for the Welsh IT sector .

Siôn Jobbins, is a co-founder and Chairman of the dotCYM, Siôn works in the Marketing and Access department at The National Library of Wales. He writes a regular media column for Cambria and Barn magazines and was founder and editor of Ffocws Welsh media magazine. Siôn has worked both as a freelance journalist and television researcher and also in various capacities as a press officer. Siôn graduated in History at Aberstywyth in 1989 and was Mayor of the town in 1999.

For more information : www.dotcym.org

(ii) Dewi Bryn Jones from CMC

The Association of Welsh Language Software (CMC) has been created following exciting developments in the field of information technology and the Welsh language. It brings together those involved in Welsh language information technology from the private, public and voluntary sectors, in both open and closed source technologies

It encourages :

· the use of the Welsh language in every sphere of information technology.
· the development of original Welsh language software and language technologies
· the translation and adaptation of high quality software into Welsh
· the creation of high quality content in the Welsh language
· the creation of training material and courses in information technology through the medium of Welsh

CMC was launched officially by Councillor Dafydd Iwan at the National Eisteddfod (Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Eryri a’r Cyffiniau), 2005. CMC wishes to thank Gwynedd Council for initially sponsoring CMC.

Dewi Bryn Jones, is the current chairperson of CMC and works at the Language Technologies Unit in Canolfan Bedwyr. He is also a member of Meddal.com, a team of volunteers who localise Firefox, Thunderbird, Opera, Mandriva Linux, OpenOffice.org and other popular software into Welsh. Dewi has worked for a number of years in Finland with Nokia where he first encountered popular IT use in a non-English speaking environment and thought why not for Welsh as well. Dewi graduated in Computer Science from the University of York in 1994.

For more information : www.meddalweddcymraeg.org

1900 : Discussion

2000 : End

Prion on Nestoria

2007-07-12T15:54:00.000+01:00

While searching unsuccessfully on Google a Flickr for photo's of my old school (Ysgol Pantpastynog, Prion), I came across Houses for sale in Prion on Nestoria. Nestoria is an on-line service for advertising houses for sale/rent, which uses a 'mashup' of information from various sources which might be of interest to potential purchasers/tenants. I'm familiar with the name Nestoria as it's a company called CodeSyntax (creators of Tagzania) that's responsible for the mapping side. You can make selections so that the map shows:

nearest train stations
local schools
the local MP (but not the local AM, possibly as they're not covered by TheyWorkForYou)
pictures of the area
the local council tax band (compared to the English! average)

I really like the way it works and looks, although it has some way to go to be fully relevant to Wales. Maybe I'll e-mail them with suggestions, or they might read this post after receiving 1000's of hits (maybe not).

I think it started concentrating on London, and if you search for the postcode SW11, there's even more info like:

nearest police station (because it's such a dangerous place to live!)
and more importantly where's the nearest pub (from Beer in the Evening)

But if I search via the post code LL16 rather than the name 'Prion', it then also shows pubs in the area - not that I need any introduction.

Nestoria are also responsible for the first Facebook application to be in a language other than English. Hopefully this will encourage Facebook to get their shit together regarding internationalisation/localisation.

and... you can also get RSS feed or e-mail notification for any search (place name or postcode)

Prion - property for sale

Nestoria DropIn Map

Pob lwc Mick

2007-07-01T22:03:00.001+01:00

My friend Mick and his mate Sean are going to be taking part in Le Tour Challenge to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust a Latch. The race follows the route of the Tour de France, an takes place two days prior o the big race itself. Mick has been training hard for the race, spending most evenings and all weekends cycling all over the south east - he's lucky he lives in Wales where there are plenty of hills to replicate cycling in the Pyrenees!

They've been give a camera by BBC Wales to record their experiences, and you can keep track of them via their blog. If you can spare a quid or two, please consider donating, what they're doing is a bit more challenging than sitting in a bath of beans.

No Welsh please we're British

2007-06-12T20:33:00.000+01:00

While visiting my parents for a few days I received a phone call from a colleauge saying that John from the Courts Service in londan had rang, wanting me to call back urgently. I've been called to do jury service next weekDwi wedi cael fy nghalw i fod ar reithgor yn yr wythnosau nesaf. The bilingual letter came informing me, and I naturally completed the Welsh side and returned the form. I then received an info pack which was mainly in Welsh, apart from a bilingual leaflet and a loss-of-earnings form in English only. As I work in a work place where Welsh is the normal language, I e-mailed (in Welsh) asking if I could have the Welsh version of the form. Anyway I rang john back and this is our discussion:

Me: It's Rhys Wynne here, I understand you called my work wanting to speak to me
John: Yes, you've sent us an e-mail but it's in Welsh and we don't understand Welsh
Me: I was under the impression that I'm allowed to contact the Courts Service in Welsh if I prefer to.
John: But then we have to send it to be translated and it takes time. What does the e-mail say?
Me: You've sent me a loss of earnings form in English, I work for organisation that operates through the medium of Welsh and I'd like a form in Welsh for my employer.
John: I don't think we've got one in Welsh
Me: Oh (I wasn't in an arguin mood)
John: I'll see what I can do
Fi: Thank you very much

Typical me, and typical of most Welsh speakers - I phone them, get told to translate my own e-mail, then hear it's unlikely that I'll get a form in Welsh and then I THANK the guy!

Anyway, by the time I get back to Cardiff, a Welsh form was waiting for me on the mat (sent from their Cardiff office). Ok, so everything worked out fine in the end, but again one has to go through some hoops just to get something really simple in Welsh.

Eisteddfod 2007 gigs announced

2007-06-05T22:19:00.001+01:00

Cymdeithas yr Iaith's gigs (scroll down for line-ups) are going to be held at Mold Rugby Club

Maes-B gigs will be held at Maes B (obviously!), the youth site which will be situated near the main Maes on Wrexham Road.

Thinking of going along?
It depends what you like of course, but I'd recommend trying to see the following:

Radio Luxemourg (physycadelic/pop/rock)
Euros Childs (pop/rock/alt-folk)
Sibrydion (indie/electro rock)
Cofi Bach a Tew Shady (hip hop) - check out the 'Gobzilla' video
Fflur Dafydd (acoustic/blues, also jazz when with band)
Mattoidz (indie/rock)
Cowbois Rhos Botwnog (pshyco-billy)
Derwyddon Dr Gonzo (funk/ska/FUN!)

Some video's from the above on my YouTube favourites.

If you're thinking of going to some of the gigs, or to the Eisteddfod itself in the daytime, feel free to leave any questions in the comments.

..to create the holiday home by the sea you have always sought

2007-05-15T17:48:00.000+01:00

Neil took a photo of flats being advertised in an estate agents window in West Kirby.

They were for £250,000, and not actually on the Wirral in north west England itself (as you'd expect), but 98 miles away in Pwllheli, north Wales.

Here's how they're described on the website:

A visit to 'Tywod Arian' will be enough to convince you ; not only will you discover apartments of distinction and quality, you'll find surroundings which will irresistibly invite you to create the holiday home by the sea you have always sought.

Now, you'll always have properties in any area that are going to be more expensive than others, which inevitably means that only certain people will be able to afford them, but it seems this development was built solely for the second home market. I think it's quite sad. How must young families in the area feel when something like this is built, and they can't afford their own first home?

Chris Cope on the box tonight

2007-05-15T14:22:00.000+01:00

That's all - well you might catch a glimps of me on it somewhere (either at the Eisteddfod or in a pub)