BBC Alba alive and kicking

mjsmyth

Well BBC Alba went live tonight. Just watched a movie about a punk rocker who has Elvis appear to him on the day he died (Elvis that is, not the rocker!)

Anyway, whilst not to everyones taste, it is there and does seem interesting. I was surprised at just how similar Scots Gaelic and Irish Gaelic are. I always heard they were close, not like Welsh, but I didn't think it would be that close!!

11954.00 H 27500 2/3

MJ

barnicles

Sky 168(uk only ffs) freesat 110 and afaik it was shown on BBC 2

culabula

Have to say, I'm enjoying it tremendously (on FreeSat)

loyatemu

afaik - Scots Gaelic, Irish Gaeilge and Manx are all very close, having all descended from old Irish - though the Manx use a simplified spelling so it looks quite different on paper.

culabula

Scots Gaelic and Manx are really just dialects of Irish, the language having been brought there by raiding (i.e. marauding) parties hundreds of years ago. The languages are closer to the dialect of Ulster than any other and the language as spoken in East Antrim and Rathlin were very close to the dialects of modern Scottish.

We can see the traces of the Irish raiding parties by placenames such as that of Carreg-y-Gwyddel in the Llyn peninsula in north Wales which means 'Rock of the irish'. Most peoples name themselves after what others call them and the Gaels got their name from the retreating Welsh -Gwyddel or Gaedheal (Gael) which actually meant "savage".

Manx is a pain in the tóin because although the language is immediately comprehensible by a speaker of Ulster Irish, their decision to base its spelling partly on English and partly on Welsh has wiped out the immediate connection and introduced confusion.

Scottish Gaelic is easy to read by any fluent Irish speaker and easy enough to follow and it is therefore regrettable that the "reforms" of the Government in 1966 as regards spelling and syntax have eroded a lot of the natural connections (cf. Gaeltacht (IR) and Gaidhealtachd (SC))

Although Irish and Welsh have much in common -vocabulary (carreg/carraig) and syntax - they are not mutually comprehensible; whereas Irish and Scottish Gaelic are sister languages, Welsh (Breton and Cornish) are cousins of Irish and not on speaking terms.

BBC Alba is a nice addition to the fold and Sony's PlayTV even nicer -as the interface is in Irish.

mjsmyth

@culabula

Any chance you are receiving Irish DTT on the Play TV? I saw a posting on another website saying that mpeg4 is not supported at the moment.

mj

culabula

Regretfully, no. I am using it to record and view Freeview. It is my understanding that it will not work on MPEG-4 as evidenced by other users in Poland, Latvia, Estonia. However the presence of the Irish-language interface is not only nice but augurs well for an eventual firmware update.

mjsmyth

I don't suppose you would like to post some screen shots somewhere????

culabula

Of? The interface? I thought screen grabs were only coming to the PS3 in the next update, 2.50?

mjsmyth

Really? That would be cool. I actually meant with a camera phone or other type of digital imaging device

culabula

mjsmyth wrote: »

Really? That would be cool. I actually meant with a camera phone or other type of digital imaging device

Oh fair enough, I'll get my iPhone on the case. I hear screen grabs are coming in the next update. We better mention BBC ALBA in passing, I was just watching An La (the news) just now......

culabula

mjsmyth wrote: »

I don't suppose you would like to post some screen shots somewhere????

No idea if this will work but here's a few:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1490410&id=679479438

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1492517&op=1&aid=47688&auser=679479438&id=679479438&ref=mf

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1492511&id=679479438

mjsmyth

No workie gotta log in to facebook....

culabula

Hope this works, then.

culabula

See I managed to cock one up, so here's the missing one. Sorry about dodge quality.

culabula

Can't figure out where the promised screen grabs are in latest update.

mjsmyth

Looks nice and in Irish too Thats actually quite cool. Thanks for the pics, I am looking forward to it being compatible down here.

MJ

culabula

mjsmyth wrote: »

Looks nice and in Irish too Thats actually quite cool. Thanks for the pics, I am looking forward to it being compatible down here.

MJ

Incredibly well translated for once, they got someone who cares. Pity the Irish Government wouldn't employ him........