http://www.gaelport.com/index.php?page=clippings&id=1661&viewby=date

quote:

A number of students who attended Irish language classes in Donegal plan to set up the first permanent Gaeltacht in the world outside of Ireland.

Cumann na Gaeltachta in Kingston, Canada, recently purchased a 60-acre parcel of land to establish their permanent Gaeltacht site.

That's nothing short of amazing.

they produced a small DVD about the project and I have to say that it looks quite impressive...they are determined to really develop this project.

Is é scéala deas é! Cen canúint a úsaid na daoine sa Gaeltacht sin?

Feicim go mbeidh "deireadh seachtaine" i Kingston in Aibreán seo chugainn.

http://www.daltai.com/events.htm

FRC-GRMA

(Message edited by mac_léinn on January 23, 2007)

(Message edited by mac_léinn on January 23, 2007)

(Message edited by mac_léinn on January 23, 2007)

Ó Ceanada, anseo tagaim! (O Canada, here I come!)

chuile chanúint... ach tá suim ag na daoine insan canúint Ulaidh mar togann an formhor an chursa in Oideas Gael.

Tá suil agam go mbeidh mé ann in Aibreán.

(hmm... having some problems with the fadas..)

Is é scéala deas é! Cén chanúint a úsáideann na daoine sa Ghaeltacht sin?

NB: You put in "é" when the following term is definite:

Is é an múinteoir é. (the teacher)

BUT: Is múinteoir é. (a teacher)

Is é Seán an captaen. (proper name)

GRMA a Dennis.

Conas a dtéitear go dtí Carnegie Hall?
Cleacht, cleacht, cleacht!

I think its brilliant.Cogar tá Breatnais á labhairt ag 5000 i bPatagonia na hAirgintín agus tá Gaidhlig na hAlban á labhairt i gCeap Breatainn Nua Alban.Ceapaim gur áit níos oiriúnach é Talamh an Éisc do cheantar Gaeltachta ach fair play dóibh.Tá Rath Chairn fós beo beathach i gContae na Mí.An mbeidh siad ag lorg stadás Gaeltachta go hoifigiúl? Imagine a Raidió na Gaeltachta studio there and first Gaelscoil outside of Ireland how historic!!!I do think they should agree on the one dialect prob Donegal Irish.Will they be looking for Irish speakers from Ireland UK and USA to come and live there and Do they intend to build a decent sized town 2000 on the 60 acres?I
think we'd be all interested in having a look at the plans.

That is completely neat! Two notable things come to mind here,

That land was dirt cheap! Only a thousand dollars an acre, and since Canadian dollars are worth a tiny bit less than American dollars then its even cheaper!

The second thing: With land that cheap, we should all move up there and start an Irish speaking "commune" of sorts. :)

Beir bua agus beannacht

quote:

That land was dirt cheap!

Pun intended, a Riona?

Céard faoi Oregon nó Wyoming. An bhuil taobh saor ann freisin?

Gabh mo leithscéal, a Aonghuis. Ní raibh mé ach ag magadh. Mo dhearmad. Níl na seanfhocail seo agat mar againn i Meiriceá. Tuigim na focail i nGaeilge.

California Here We Come!
http://score.kings.k12.ca.us/lessons/jhcalifornia.html

Oh Canada, Here We Come!
http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/Canada/canada.htm

(Sorry, Aonghus. I was only joking. I forgot. You do not have these sayings as we have in America. I understand the words in Irish.)

Land is expensive in Oregon, or at least it is in and near Portland as well as at the beach. In the deserts of the east though it probably would be cheap enough because many people don't want to live in the middle of nowhare.

Beir bua agus beannacht

" With land that cheap"
tá sé daor go leor, i gcomparáid le talamh seo. ach, is mise "in áit ar bith"


frc ldte

Maidhc

Here I come = seo chughat mé OR táim ag teacht

As regards the dialect to be spoken in this Canadian Gaeltacht... looks like we'll be looking at:

Gaeilge na Mumhan
Gaeilge Chonnacht
Gaeilge Uladh
Gaeilge Cheanada

It'd be interesting to see whether the Canadian accent creeps into it.

What accent !! We don't have an accent...it starts south of the border :)

My understanding is that there are a handful of Irish speakers left in the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland from the times of Cod fishing inductry and their Irish is basically a Waterford Irish.

There tends to be a leaning towards Donegal Irish but there is a fair number of Dublin folk and people from other parts of the country to keep a mix... hey this might be an opportunity for us to all learn the Irish of Tourmakeady (didn't someone say that this should have been the standard?)

I plan on attending the Gaeltacht weekend in April so I will find out more about the plans. I know that a brochure is being prepared for the weekend and they may have one for the property.

You can e-mail Aralt Mac Giolla Chainnigh at
for more information.

While I love the idea, I am curious what they expect to come from this.

I live on a 150 acre farm here in Iowa and we are considered a "micro farm" because we are so small? What type of Gaeltacht are they planning?

Or are they hoping to make an area outside of Ireland that might draw in more "gaeliphones" from the US and Canada? For myself, Ireland is a long way away even for someone really interested, but Canada is a quick plane ride away so to speak.

60 acres really isn't that much land, maybe just big enough for a couple of buildings or a neighborhood...so I can't see a "gaeltacht." More like an Irish "Chinatown."

Don't let my statements above mislead anyone...I think this is a great thing, and I will definitely go see it now that I know about it. I am just curious as to what are their plans?

And also, good for them. At that price I might move to Canada. We just added 50 acres to the farm for $3000 US an acre. (2315 Euro and 3540 Canadian Dollars)

A Do chinniúint, b'fhéidir béidh Gaeltacht agaibh in Iowa, nach bhfuil? Cen saghas barr ata agaibh? Is féidir na daoine ag dul go dtí do fheirm agus ag cuidiú libh agus ag cainte as Gaeilge (chomh Tom Sawyer agus ag péintail an "white-picket fence").

Is maith d'fhear sneachta, a Mhac!

A Do Chinnúint, d'fhéadfadh sibh Gaeltacht a bheith agaibh in Iowa, nach bhféadfadh? D'fhéadfadh na daoine dul go dtí d'fheirm agus cuidiú libh agus bheith ag caint as Gaeilge (cosúil le Tom Sawyer agus péinteáil an fháil chuaillí bháin)



(Message edited by aonghus on January 24, 2007)

féadachtáil [ainm briathartha][cúntach]
bheith in ann, bheith ábalta (ní fhéadfainn é a dhéanamh); cead a bheith agat (féadann tú imeacht); é a bheith de cheart agat (féadann tú áthas a bheith ort).

fál [ainmfhocal firinscneach den chéad díochlaonadh]
balla cloch no sceach thart ar gharraí nó ar pháirc; gort, garraí.

cuaille [ainmfhocal firinscneach den cheathrú díochlaonadh]
polla (adhmaid, miotail nó coincréite) ina sheasamh cruinn díreach sa talamh; staic, post.

I think the plan is to initially have seasonal use during the late spring and summer and early Fall...it would be too cold for winter use ( -10c at the moment), at least until the cabins and community centre is built.

At the present time people can buy "shares" and be able to use the facility. Apart from language courses I believe that it is hoped that people would come and spend time there renting the cottages and being surrounded by Irish speakers...I would assume this would include anyone from both sides of the border.

In terms of permanent residence I don't know what is planned and when. I will find out more in April at the Gaeltacht weekend although there may be people here who have more knowledge of what's going on. As I pointed out above, Aralt is the man to contact.

A Aonghuis, go raibh maith agat as do chuidiú; tá sé sin an togha! Feicim an focal féad sa foclóir. Is focal an suimiúil agus úsáideach é! Ní fhaca mé an focal sin riamh.

Is maith d'fhear sneachta, a Mhac!..... Is é mo chara é. Tá sé ina chonaí in Éireann agus tá Gaeilge liofa aige agus is é dóigh mhaith mná (baitsiléir inphósta - eligible bachelor?). Tá sé ag fheiceáil le bean óg Meiricanach a phosadh.

quote:

the plan is to initially have seasonal use during the late spring and summer and early Fall

Rud éigin cosúil le church camp mar sin? Is reiligiún í an Ghaeilge, tar éis an tsaoil!

is fior duit ! Nach bhfuil an Ghaeilge an teanga a labhairt ar neamh?

Mac...

You will have to forgive me, I am new to Iirish...I think I understood you.

A Do Chinnúint, d'fhéadfadh sibh Gaeltacht a bheith agaibh in Iowa, nach bhféadfadh?

This means something along the lines of the "Gaeltacht existing in Iowa" "there was a Gaeltcht exixting in Iowa?"

D'fhéadfadh na daoine dul go dtí d'fheirm agus cuidiú libh agus bheith ag caint as Gaeilge (cosúil le Tom Sawyer agus péinteáil an fháil chuaillí bháin)

This sentence was a little easier to put together...something along the lines of "Perhaps people could go to your farm, and help and be able to speak Irish (like Tom Sawyer and the painting of the white fence)?"

To which I would say that it is a very intersting idea, but I don't think the best tourist people could make coming to an area surrounded by nothing but corn seem like good idea after all the scary movies taking place in corn fields these days ;0)

I would hope that something like this might catch on and maybe happen here in the US. Sadly the area I live in is like 90% German ancestry.

A neat little historical side note about Iowa is that in the 1800's several towns were established just for the Irish to get them out of the eastern cities. But during the US Civil War, most of these towns became ghost towns or vanished altogether because so many Irish joined to fight. Some of the more famous, or at least known, Irish towns were Hinkletown, Lytle City, and Armah.

A Do Chinniúint,

You've got the gist of what I was trying say, thanks to Aonghus' help.

quote:

.. d'fhéadfadh sibh Gaeltacht a bheith agaibh in Iowa, nach bhféadfadh? You would be able to have a Gaeltacht in Iowa, wouldn't you?

We have plenty of cornfields here in New Joisey (we're kinda proud of our Jersey sweet corn), so I don't find cornfields scary at all. But scarecrows.... that's a different story!

Ah. I apologize for not getting that first part correct.

I supose if people can make a "gaeltacht bheag" on 60 acres...150 must seem ideal. I really wish those Irish towns had survived. When I first started researching the town of Armah, I was amazed to find out that it's orginal intent was to section off "those Irish who have limited English" according to the towns founding charter. I can only assume "limited English" meant "Irish speakers." I guess the song says it all, "War, what is it good for, absolutely nothing." :)

I was hoping that maybe the idea of this gaeltacht section was to create a summer school program like the ones in Ireland. That would be a dream come true for me. However, it is still in its formation stages correct? I guess I will just have to wait and hope.

My only experience in Iowa was staying the night in Debuque on the upper Mississippi. It was bad because noone in my family wanted to do anything fun with me and so I did nothing all evening and I felt dejected. However the next morning we took this cable car up the only hill in Iowa :) and that I admit was interesting.

Beir bua agus beannacht

A Riona,

Maybe Iowa and Oregon are just the locations for gaeltachts in the US.

One of the reasons this Canadian Gaelacht really catches my attention is that this is the first thing I have seen to any serious degree outside of Ireland.

I can't imagine it was easy to get such an idea into reality. I do not even know if, or how, I would even have approached such a venture. I tip my hat to those pulling it off.

It is a wonder that with major players like United States, Canada, and Australia continually taking pride in their Irish heritage, that something like this is just now happening. I can't speak for the other countries but it is sort of sad that the United States doesn't give its Irish heritage its full credit. I have fun on St. Paddy's Day like everyone else, but this hardly does the Irish any justice for what they did for the United States in her beginnings through today.

It might be neat to see little Irish "rannóga (sections)" or something to the like of "Chinatowns" in cities with major Irish populations here in the US.

Here is the "problem" with the way that the Irish assimilated to America. Some groups of immigrants or minority populations made it their aim to assimilate as quickly as possible into their new environment. Fitting in to one's new home isn't bad, but these people, including the Irish, were in such a hurry to intigrate that they left many aspects of their culture, mainly language by the wayside, thinking that this was just the sacrifice they must make. On the other hand some populations were very reluctant to assimilate. They kept to themselves and so we see these Americans having a better link with their past and more of a culture to draw on. There is no denying that some of the populations with more culture of their own were those who were forced to stay isolated.

I think that when someone moves to a new country they should do something inbetween these two extremes. They should learn the language of their new country, participating and adding to society in the best ways they can, but at the same time they should maintain their culture and language and pass it on to their children. If everyone had done this, then people now adays of certain herritage or who afiliate with certain herritage would no more about it and have more oppertunities to explore it.

Just my rather uninformed 2 cents.

I wish their were Irish districts in cities too.

Beir bua agus beannacht`

And I will agree with what you said, however, something that is very neat to see happening in the US these days is the revival of interest in one's cultural past.

It seems, at least to me anyway, that after all the work the US has done to get rid of the "Hyphenated Society," we are actually starting to take pride in it.

Someone once made the joke, but I think there is something to this, that America is not "a melting pot, but more like a tossed salad."

There is a third group that includes what you would like to see happen. I think group A (the group willing to sacrifice in order to assimilate) would be like the Swedish and Germans. Group B (the group willing to maintain cultural identity at the cost of isolation) would have to be like the Chinese and Japanese. But there is a group C (the group who fully assimilate and maintain cultural identity) and this would be the the Mexicans and other Hispanic groups.

They have managed to fully intergrate into US society and maintain their cultures especially their language. And I think the reason they have been able to do this is because for one reason or another, the United States had areas that allowed cultural preservation and growth. The Southwest, West Coast, and South East were areas that were friendly to their culures and acted as homebases if you will, that allowed for further progression into the United States. This allowed them the freedom to openly partake in their ancestral cultures while assimilating into the US's society.

Look at New York, not an area that naturally consisted of Hispanic populations but small pockest formed and now there major populations of Puerto Ricans there. And boy can they party ;0)

Imagine if Boston or Chicago could do the same for Irish?

Do Chinnúint, I believe that the group in Kingston has a summer course ( a camping week ) if I am not mistaken, and the plan is to have courses as they have in Ireland with teachers from Oideas Gael attending, which they have had also in the past. I would assume that not only would there be people at the classes but also people staying at the cottages during the summer who would be speaking Irish so you would be immersed in the language all the time.

But don't forget that Daltaí also has week long courses in the summer (correct me Daltaí people if I am wrong) in Esopus NY, so there is a lot going on, especially in the Eastern States.

Like everything, the creation of the Kingston Gaeltacht is through the hard work of individuals and often it only takes one person with determination to make a difference. Groups such as Daltaí and Conradh na Gaeilge were founded by very small groups and yet the impact is international in effect.

(cue the music) So all it takes is a young guy from the cornfields of Iowa with a dream... a dream to create the Iowa Gaeltacht and the gumption to do it...oh and 60,000 dollars or so.

A Phádraig,

LOL...are you telling this Iowan, "If you buid it...they will come?"

Where have I heard this before :-)

you just never know.. it could grow into a major deal.

In the meantime you can check out with what Daltaí and Canada has to offer before you hit Ireland.

to see the news on this go to

http://play.www.tg4.servecast.net/ppv/tg4/webt/webt.htm

hit web TV, select

cúrsái reatha - cartlann

and click on 23/1/2007

This is the news in Irish from 23 January. They have a piece on on Gaeltacht. It starts at 14:38 and ends at 17:00 for those who want to just focus on that story.

(there are 4 settings under options...if the program doesn't work at first try all the settings one at a time.)

Go raibh maith agat, a Phádraig. Is álainn an talamh atá acu, pé scéal é. Agus bhí mé in ann an Ceanadach a thuiscint gan dua, bail ó dhia air! ;-)

na habair é...Nach bhfuil an píosa talún go hálainn? Bhí scéitimíní orm nuair a chonaic mé an clar agus an agallamh. Tá suil agam roinnt "shares" a cheannach in Aibreán.

tuilleadh eolais anseo -- tá scar agamsa agus silim go bhfuil scaranna fós ar fáil
http://gaeltacht.ca/


More info at this site - I'm proud to say I have a share in the Canadian Gaeltacht -- I think there are still shares available for purchase.