by Emily McEwan | Oct 30, 2019 | Linguistics, Tattoos
Emily McEwan What’s the Gaelic word for ‘tattoo’? In modern Irish, it’s ‘tatú’. In modern Scottish Gaelic, it’s ‘tatù’. But these modern words were borrowed from the English word ‘tattoo’, which in turn was borrowed from the original word in one or more Polynesian...
by Emily McEwan | Sep 18, 2019 | Dictionaries
This month it’s an eDIL takeover! I’ve asked my good friend and fellow word nerd Dr. Sharon Arbuthnot to talk to us again about a major Irish historical dictionary project that she has worked on, and the ways that it’s relevant to Scottish Gaelic. Sharon and I first...
by Emily McEwan | Aug 21, 2019 | Media, Nova Scotia
Gaelic filmmaking in Nova Scotia takes another step forward in 2019 with the new short film “An t-Inneal Espresso” (The Espresso Machine), which premieres in September 2019 at FIN Atlantic Film Festival here in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The 16-minute film, set in the...
by Emily McEwan | Jun 12, 2019 | Awareness, Literature, Minority Languages, Nova Scotia
We’re Translating Anne of Green Gables into Gaelic! This post contains affiliate links. I’m writing a rare crossover post this month, talking about my Gaelic publishing work with my company Bradan Press. During the month of June 2019, Bradan Press and I are raising...
by Emily McEwan | May 22, 2019 | All Posts, Language Learners, Literature
I’m very pleased to introduce a guest writer for this post, science fiction author Iona Datt Sharma! This month’s post is a continuation of the theme from the previous month’s post, “How (Not) to Use Gaelic in Your Novel: A Guide for Authors”. Iona, a published author...
by Emily McEwan | Apr 28, 2019 | Literature, Minority Languages
This post contains affiliate links that help support the blog. In this post I’ll give some guidance on how to incorporate elements of Scottish Gaelic language into an English-language work of fiction such as a historical novel, fantasy novel, or short story. This post...
by Emily McEwan | Feb 13, 2019 | Design, Linguistics, Songs
Let’s talk about love. No, not the Céline Dion album. I mean one of the most well-known seanfhacail or proverbs in Scottish Gaelic: Thig crìoch air an t-saoghal, ach mairidh gaol is ceòl. What does that mean? Here are two different translations for this proverb, one...
by Emily McEwan | Jan 16, 2019 | Design, Media, Nova Scotia
Today we’re looking at Gaelic filmmaking in Nova Scotia, through an interview with Jenny MacKenzie, the writer, director, and producer of the 2018 Gaelic language short film “Slighe Agnais – A Journey for Agnes.” Prior to 2018, two Gaelic-language short films were...
by Emily McEwan | Jun 15, 2018 | Awareness, Media, Minority Languages
Since long before the days of internet trolls, the Scottish media have given a platform to ethnic and linguistic stereotypes, prejudice, and hate speech against Gaelic and its speakers in the name of journalistic “balance.” For decades the BBC and most of Scotland’s...
by Emily McEwan | May 17, 2018 | Language Learners, Technology
If you’re an English speaker, or more to the point, an English-language keyboard and phone user, you may have noticed a problem the first time you tried to type words in Scottish Gaelic. Gaelic has accented letters that are not found in English: à, è, ì, ò, and ù....
