Scillonian John Goody has been made Bard of the Gorsedd for his promotion of the Cornish language on the Isles of Scilly

 

A Scillonian has been made Bard fo the Cornish Gorsedd for his 'energetic promotion of the Cornish language on the Isles of Scilly'. John Goody of St Mary’s was initiated in absentia because of family health reasons and will be presented to the Grand Bard in September 2021 when the Gorsedd meets in Bude. John's bardic name is Jan Penrose a Syllan, (aka “John Penrose of Scilly”), Penrose being a family name traceable in St Just and St Buryan to the earliest written records. 

He joins shipwreck historian and author Richard Larn – bardic name Gonyas an Mor (‘Servant of the Sea’) – who was initiated in 2006, as the second living Scilly bard. John, 69, whose father was born in Newlyn, Cornwall and mother from St Buryan, said: “I’m over the moon. I knew about it back in February but there was an embargo on releasing the information.”He admits having worked hard for the distinction and looks on it as “a sort of lifetime achievement”.

He added: “It is the highest award Cornwall can give its own and means so much to me." His family came from Cornwall to Scilly in 1963 when his father Jesse – a renowned footballer – was appointed postmaster after a previous stint in the islands in the late 1950s.

John has been active over the past decade in the Cornish language sphere writing a Cornish-English dictionary and also a conjugated verb database. He is currently working on a dictionary for Mac computers. He was christened Penrose after his uncle who was a rear gunner in Lancaster bombers in the Second World War, surviving being shot down and incarceration in – and two escapes from – Stalag Luft 111, only to lose his life in a motorcycle crash at Newbridge while on his way to meet his girlfriend in St Just.

 

Read more »

20 new primary education sites in Breton language open

Despite very specific preparation conditions linked to the COVID-19 health crisis and the spring confinement which greatly disrupted the dissemination of information within families by the OPLB teams, the start of the 2020 school year confirms the dynamic booming Breton-French bilingual education.

For the first time, the bar of 20 new openings has been crossed in the first degree, all sectors combined. These new sites are spread over the 2 academies and the 5 departments. Concretely, 18 new sites are opening in the Brittany region and 2 in Loire-Atlantique. Diwan opens a third school in Quimper. Public education opens up 11 new pathways. In Finistère, the National Education is expanding its offer to the following municipalities: Rosporden, RPI de La Feuillée / Brennilis / Loqueffret, Brest (5th public site) and Plourin-lès-Morlaix. In Morbihan, 2 new sectors are opening in Lauzach and Ploemeur (2nd public site). In Côtes-d´Armor, the public is open to Ploubezre and Prat in Trégor. Finally, 3 new sectors are emerging in Ille-et-Vilaine in Rennes (5th public site), Vitré and Pleurtuit. Insofar as 19 openings were registered on the academic map of the poles, it is regrettable that only 11 new public sites were finally validated during this re-entry into the Rennes Academy, while 15 had opened last year. It will be a matter of remaining vigilant to maintain a good level of openness if we want to see the number of bilingual children really develop and thus hope to stabilize the number of Breton speakers in the future.

We must salute in this new school year the work of Catholic education which opens 6 new courses in the first degree in Plouedern and Trégunc in Finistère, in Plerin in the Côtes-d'Armor, in Mordelles in Ille-et-Vilaine and in Monterblanc and Kervignac in Morbihan. It has been 15 years since Catholic education opened up so many new courses in a single start to school.
In the Nantes academy

National Education is opening 2 new courses in Nantes (3rd public site) and in Saint-Nazaire where only Diwan had been present for 29 years. In the Loire-Atlantique department, the National Education Department has never opened 2 new public sites in a single start. After opening a branch in Blain last year, this is also the first time that public sites have opened in this department two years in a row. This inflection is remarkable. It is clearly the fruit of the work of the OPLB in the field with all the actors, groundwork that will have to be continued and deepened further in the years to come in this academy which still does not have a development plan. bilingual education.

All these openings confirm the strong growth dynamic of Breton-French bilingual education with an increasingly dense network of schools (in Finistère, for example, there are only 2 municipalities of more than 5,000 inhabitants left without any bilingual education: Penmarc'h and Plouigneau) and an ever more pronounced interest of families in learning Breton.


The second degree is also developing

Bilingual streams also continue to be structured in secondary education. The big news for the start of the school year is the opening of a second Diwan high school in Vannes, the result of several years of work by the Diwan network with the support of Breton communities.

For its part, national education opens a new course at the college of Callac. Finally, Catholic education is also strengthening its network by opening 4 new courses. First in middle school in Fouesnant and Carhaix in Finistère as well as in Vitré in Ille-et-Vilaine but also in the high school of Sainte-Anne d´Auray in Morbihan.In all, between the two academies, there are therefore 26 new courses that are emerging in this new academic year (20 in the first degree and 6 in the second).

Read more »

No money for Cornish Language this year

 

Doubling down on the criticism they have recently received from the Council of Europe for not supporting the Cornish language enough, Cornwall Council have been given notice that there will be no money to promote the Cornish language this year. In his Leader’s announcements at this morning’s Cornwall Council cabinet meeting Julian German said

“Unfortunately the Prime Minister seems to have forgotten his Cornish roots” – referring to the PM’s father Stanley Johnson, who was born in Penzance – “as we have seen, the government has been criticised by the Council of Europe for not meeting its international obligations to the Cornish under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. We have also received from government a letter saying that they will not be providing any funding for the Cornish language in this financial year.”

The council leader, who is a fluent Cornish speaker himself, continued “I’ve raised this with our MPs and have also asked government direct how they will be meeting their international obligations under the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages to support and promote Cornish”

The government provided £200,000 for the promotion of Cornish language and culture in the 2019/20 financial year.

In reference to the Cornish language the Council of Europe said in its recent report that the Government should “devolve the necessary responsibilities to Cornwall Council enabling it to effectively promote Cornish”.

It said that “immediate action” was needed to devolve responsibility and provide funding to Cornwall Council to promote the Cornish language.

But in response to the proposals the Council submitted to government for funding of Cornish culture and language projects in the 2020/21 financial year, the Department of Local Government and Communities responded,

“I regret to inform you that we will not be providing direct funding to Cornwall Council for such projects in the 20/21 financial year”

The letter continues,”Though this will not be the news you were hoping for in regard to the funding of specific projects, I do want to reiterate our commitment to continuing to support and  promote Cornish language and heritage under both the European Charter for  Regional or Minority Languages and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.”

“The UK Government will also continue to formally represent Cornwall on the British-Irish Council’s Indigenous and Minority Languages working group. While full membership of the British-Irish Council remains available only to devolved nations, we will continue to work with you and regularly attend meetings at an official level to ensure that Cornwall Council’s views are considered, as we know that this forum is a great place to share best practice and ideas with others on the preservation and promotion of minority languages.”

Read more »

Breton Students Protest: Breton as a living language at the baccalaureate and not as an option.

Breton as a living language at the baccalaureate and not as an option. At the Kreisker high school in Saint-Pol-de-Léon, the students do not give up and reaffirm their wishes, supported by the teachers, their parents and KLT.

The mobilization to defend the possibility of passing Breton into a living language B has been going on for almost a year. The 22 Kreisker high school students concerned, their teacher, and their parents received the support of Kerne Leon Treger (KLT), the federation of Breton associations in the country of Morlaix. Hervé Lautrou, its president, who wrote to the rector of the academy at the end of August, was present on Thursday, October 8, with Kristian Le Mener, director of KLT, to support the students. 

Protest in Montroulez

Read more »

Dizale launch children fiction productions in Breton language

The Kemper/Quimper dubbing association, Dizale, adds children's fiction to its productions. The Welsh series, "Deian and Loli", can be found on local television throughout the summer.

"It is a great pride to see the project come to fruition," said Laors Skavenneg, artistic director of Dizale, the Breton dubbing association. She and his team have been working on the twenty-six episodes of the children's series, “Deian and Loli”, for a year. Since Monday, she has been meeting her audience on the local channels of Tébéo, TébéSud, TVR and Brezhoweb.

Read more »

Misneachd want speakers of the language protected under hate crime legislation

Pressure group Misneachd has submitted a response to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill calling for the term ‘minority language’ to be adopted to protect all linguistic minorities from language-based hate.
It says the Scottish and UK Governments should consult on having linguistic minorities seen alongside race, religion, disability, sexual orientation and transgender identity for legal protection.
The same would apply to speakers of Scots, British Sign Language and immigrant community languages, as well as indigenous minority languages of other parts of the UK such as Welsh, Irish and Cornish.
The Bill is a response to the recommendations made in Lord Bracadale’s independent review of hate crime laws.
Lord Bracadale had said some consultation responses referred to discrimination and prejudice against Gaelic speakers.
While attitudes had improved, they noted there were fairly common examples in social media and in mainstream print media of hostility to the language and its speakers.
It was suggested mockery and criticism of the Gaelic language were not taken as seriously as equivalent statements towards other protected groups would be, including about public spending decisions.
Lord Bracadale said the evidence put forward highlights some “deeply unpleasant behaviour” but would not generally appear to reach the threshold of criminal behaviour.
But he said there is a fairly strong argument that Gaelic speaking Gaels belong to an ‘ethnic group’ within the meaning of the current race aggravation, and where hostility towards Gaelic speakers amounted to a criminal offence, prosecution should be considered.
Misneachd spokesman Màrtainn Mac a’ Bhàillidh said: “Our proposal to make language a protected characteristic would be in line with the UK and Scotland’s international human rights commitments, and would cover Gaelic, Scots and British Sign Language as well as immigrant community languages.
“With respect to Gaelic, it would give a clearer protection than Lord Bracadale’s “fairly strong argument” that Gaelic speakers constitute an ‘ethnic group’, which is yet to be tested in court, and has been complex to prove with respect to other groups.
“It would protect all speakers of Gaelic and other minority languages, including second-language speakers, regardless of whether they consider themselves as belonging to a particular ethnic group.
“It would also send out a clear statement against widespread ignorance about language issues and multilingualism in our diverse society, and would offer protection in cases where the accused has, for example, objected aggressively to the use of the language but without referring to the race or ethnicity of the speakers.”

Read more »

Sinn Féin’s Gaeltacht spokesperson says that the HSE has shown a “scandalous and narrow-minded” attitude towards Irish language advertising

Sinn Féin’s Irish and Gaeltacht spokesperson, TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh, says that the HSE has shown a “scandalous and narrow-minded” attitude towards Irish language advertising.

It was reported on this site this week that heads Health Service Executive not to broadcast announcements about the pandemic in Irish because they think that the Irish language is more verbal than the English language and that the announcements would be 35% more expensive as a result.

The HSE said this after a Sinn Féin Irish language spokesperson inquired about the lack of Irish language content issued by health authorities since the start of the pandemic.

Speaking about the situation, Ó Snodaigh said that the response he received from the Health Service Executive was “ass shit” regarding the Irish language being more verbal and Irish language advertisements being more expensive as a result.

Deputy Ó Snodaigh said that the HSE’s approach to advertising in Irish was unfounded and that the rights of Irish speakers were being “trampled”.

He said that the answer he received to the questions he asked the HSE about Irish language advertising showed that the language was “always rethinking”. The HSE has decided not to broadcast pandemic announcements in Irish because they believe that Irish is more verbal than English and that the announcements would be 35% more expensive as a result. The HSE spent only 1.5% of its advertising budget on Irish language television and radio advertisements during the pandemic

Read more »

Two new Manx Gaelic books released

 

Two new books in Manx Gaelic were released on the island this weekend. A special edition of the popular children’s novel series ’Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ has been produced in Manx Gaelic and was released at the Yn Chruinnaght Celtic Gathering family day at the Corrin Hall, Peel this Saturday, July 25.

Also being released this weekend is a Manx Gaelic reading aid book for beginners to speaking the language .’Teach Your Cat Manx’ contains several useful phrases in Manx and has been produced by the Welsh publishers Y Lolfa, priced at £5.99.

Read more »

DUP’s Gregory Campbell again accused of mocking Irish language

The East Derry DUP MP Gregory Campbell has been criticised by Sinn Féin for a revisiting of his “curried yoghurt” comments about the Irish language.

Sinn Féin Assembly member Emma Sheerin described as “crass and offensive” a Facebook comment posted by Mr Campbell about an Irish language BBC programme broadcast on Sunday night.

The documentary, Nazi sa Ghaeltacht, made by BBC journalist Kevin Magee told the story of German scholar Prof Ludwig Mühlhausen who before World War II went to Donegal to learn Irish while allegedly also secretly gathering information for a potential invasion of Ireland by Hitler’s German army.

The programme also recounted how he went on to broadcast Nazi propaganda to Ireland during the war.

Mr Campbell in his Facebook post wrote he was informed that “BBC 2 had a programme on tonight about a suspected German spy who lived in the RoI during the war.

“The humorous bit was that he was supposed to have spoken Irish with a German accent,” said Mr Campbell.

Mr Campbell appeared unable to resist adding, “I vill not be tempted to ask vot is dis curried yoghurt, mein herr.”

Some people commenting on his post found it amusing but others were critical, viewing it as a repeat of his 2014 remarks in the Northern Assembly when he said to the speaker, “curry my yoghurt, a can coca colyer.”

This was seen as a semi-phonetic parody of, “Go raibh maith agat, a Ceann Comhairle.”

It caused considerable controversy at the time and led to charges that the DUP was being deliberately disrespectful to both the Irish language and Irish people. It also galvanised Irish language activists campaigning for an Irish language Act. Such legislation is promised in January’s New Decade, New Approach deal that restored the Northern Executive and Assembly after a three-year collapse.

Read more »

Cornish Language online taster sessions for beginners

If you have ever thought about learning Cornish, this is the ideal opportunity to try a taster session online. If you decide you would like to continue, An Kylgh Kernewek haa full lessons starting online in September. Sessions are free, but numbers are limited, so booking is essential. No previous knowledge is necessary. Each session will last 40mins and will be a fun introduction to the language.


Date and Time

Thu, 27 August 2020

20:00 – 21:00 CEST

Read more »