Welsh/Gaelic Names

[akerbeltz]

I've just noticed that in Wales the Pirate Party uses a Welsh name and also does some material in Welsh. I think we should follow suit and agree a Gaelic name, something like Pàrtaidh Spùinneadairean-Mara na RA.

I'd be quite happy to provide more Gaelic (within reason).

[scuzzmonkey]

has anyone looked in to this?

[plooterman]

The areas we are standing in at this election do not have many Gaelic speakers. This would worth looking into though, especially when we are standing in the Highlands.

[akerbeltz]

Actually that's wrong, Greater Glasgow has the highest number of Gaelic speakers for an area its size, there are aver 10,000 speakers in this area, plus its home to Gaelic hubs such as BBC Alba and the Gaelic school.

It's a common misconception in general that only the Highlands and Islands are "Gaelic", in fact just over half of ALL speakers are in the Central Belt these days. That doesn't mean that doing something for the Highlands and Islands wouldn't make sense either but for starters, web based stuff is location independent. I'm not suggesting a blanket bilingual policy but a few doable things here and there. Having a Gaelic name would be a start, then maybe some web-based info.

[Gavman]

Actually that's wrong, Greater Glasgow has the highest number of Gaelic speakers for an area its size, there are aver 10,000 speakers in this area, plus its home to Gaelic hubs such as BBC Alba and the Gaelic school.

It's a common misconception in general that only the Highlands and Islands are "Gaelic", in fact just over half of ALL speakers are in the Central Belt these days. That doesn't mean that doing something for the Highlands and Islands wouldn't make sense either but for starters, web based stuff is location independent. I'm not suggesting a blanket bilingual policy but a few doable things here and there. Having a Gaelic name would be a start, then maybe some web-based info.

I agree that it us worth considering, not committing to yes or no but could you perhaps offer some translations of the party's name?

[akerbeltz]

I did so in my first post in this thread

[glambert]

I do think this is worthwhile if we are to be standing in the Scotland region in 2014, which is certainly on the cards if I'm CO.

I'm sure it would turn heads in a positive way and even persuade some to at least read about what our policies are, even if they don't vote for us - the latter being what we have to persuade them to do!

[Gavman]

I did so in my first post in this thread

hah yes you are indeed correct! I must apologise for not mentioning it!

Can you provide an English translation for 'Pàrtaidh Spùinneadairean-Mara na RA' ? I am asking because it is genuinely worth considering, can you also offer any other translations such as for plain PPUK?

[akerbeltz]

Pàrtaidh Spùinneadairean-Mara na RA is "Pirate Party UK", word for word "party (Pàrtaidh) pirates (Spùinneadairean-Mara) of (na) UK (RA)" - bearing in mind that Gaelic grammar is different from English grammar of course, so it does NOT carry the meaning that "party pirates" would carry in English.

such as for plain PPUK?

I'm sure I can but I don't quite get the question. Can you rephrase that please? If you mean the abbreviation, that would be PPUK > PSRA.

[glambert]

I think he means, we have PPUK as our English abbreviation, would we have an abbreviation in Gaelic?

[akerbeltz]

Ok so in part I've answered that above. Whether we should/would isn't up to me I guess but I personally believe in doing bilingual policies properly so I'd say yes.

One thing just occurred to me - we localised the phpBB user interface into Gaelic some time ago. That's one thing we could do, we could add a choice of languages for people (i.e. the admin can set the default language but people can choose a different interface language manually). Doesn't cost a thing but would be a significant step.

[akerbeltz]

Did we ever get anywhere with this? Just thinking of May 3rd and doing something sensible with Gaelic could help us get some extra exposure. No other party does leaflets in Gaelic, for example.

[aramoro]

No other party does leaflets in Gaelic, for example.

There is a reason for this.

[topperfalkon]

No other party does leaflets in Gaelic, for example.

There is a reason for this.

They don't care about Gaelic Scots?

Just because there's a reason doesn't make it a good one.

[aramoro]

People don't do it because it's a waste of money. There are less than 60K Gaelic speakers in Scotland, most of whom live in the Western Isles, there are now no reported solely Gaelic speakers. So if you print up some leaflets and stick them through doors or hand them out in Glasgow, less than 2% of the population can actually read them. you're looking at more Chinese speakers in Glasgow than Gaelic. I mean if you have money to waste then go for it, but if you're on a budget it's just not cost effective.

[akerbeltz]

Every heard the lovely quote by Mandela which says If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart? Anyway. Your facts are wrong for starters, just over half of Gaelic speakers live in the Central Belt, over 10,000 in the Greater Glasgow area alone.

The fact that none of the other parties are doing anything like it should, even from a purely selfish point of view, make it attractive because it will draw attention...

[aramoro]

It will not draw attention because no body cares, it's sad in a way but just true. You'll find my figures are correct if you choose to check your census information. I'm taking about percentage of the population who are speakers, you'll see how that scales when you do a little maths with it. With the Population of Glasgow being 592K people and your figure of 10,000 speakers means it's ~1.7% of the population. 1.7% is less than 2% last time I checked. I mean that is higher than the national average of 1.2% but not really making many inroads.

I have heard that quote before, in relation to this topic as well, but the fact is there are virtually no monolingual Gaelic at all, anywhere. Outside of the Western Isles etc everyone learns it as a second language, so it's not their language as such. Historically it never has been either, Lowland Gaelic died out by end of the 18th C so learning Highland Gaelic to someone from the central belt is no more 'their language' than French is if they learn it.

Like I say if you can do it for free or you have money to burn then go for it,