Media

Ealasaid loaned her expensive espresso machine to Ailig’s girlfriend Una… but she now needs it back. Unfortunately, Ailig and Una broke up, so Ealasaid must get them back together or never get a taste of that heavenly coffee again. I interview Iain MacLeod, former writer on the “Trailer Park Boys” and director of the new Gaelic short film “An t-Inneal Espresso” (The Espresso Machine), made in 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.”

The Scottish media give a platform to anti-Gaelic prejudice, supposedly for “balance.” Here’s some background and a new bingo card to help you fight back.

Gaelic language groups have recently started to use crowdfunding for fundraising. The Gaelic.co blog interviews Dr. Andrew Gossen, former Gaelic researcher and current social media professional, about crowdfunding for Gaelic revitalization projects.

“All but a dead language”? “Never native to the North-east of Scotland”? Let’s play anti-Gaelic bingo again! Aberdeen is not in the Highlands or islands of Scotland, which are traditionally thought of as the Gaelic-speaking areas of the country. But as Art Cormack describes, Aberdeen and the surrounding areas have had Gàidhlig gu leòr (plenty of Gaelic) from the distant past right up through the present. And this is a linguistic legacy that north-easterners can be proud of.

Minority languages like Scottish Gaelic got 99 problems and information technology is one. I interview Michael Bauer about the challenges of Gaelic software localization and the problems of English-Gaelic machine translation.

A satirical look at anti-Gaelic prejudice and stereotypes in the Scottish and British media — why won’t these tired old lies about Gaelic just die already? In the meantime, download the free gamecards and let’s play bingo with them!

Celtic Life International, which is based here in Nova Scotia, published my article on the use of Gaelic in Disney/Pixar’s film “Brave” in their Spring 2013 issue. The online version also includes a sidebar with the interesting transatlantic history of the Gaelic song “Tha Mo Ghaol air Àird a’ Chuain” which was featured in a trailer for “Brave”. I’ve also created a free YouTube playlist with real examples of how Gaelic was used in the film, including a trailer. The playlist features introductions and analyses that expand on some of my points from the article.