I am curious if TG4, with all of its programs and services, tends to have people from one region more than others?

I have been watching TG4 online more and more, and I cannot really hear the differences when I am watching the shows like I can when I am listening to the radio. While this is a good thing, I am trying to understand why. Is this because they tend to have more actors from a particular region, are they sticking to a more standard script Irish...or is there something else?

For example, when I listen to regional radio, I can always hear certain features such as in Blas when the presenter said a definite meye vs. mah. But I don't often hear those types of differences when I watch the television shows and I am wondering if I am not hearing them because I am using more than one sense to perceive the information? Which is also a possibility...

Perhaps most of the actors and actresses are coming out of their training with an actor's dialect so to speak?

Now I will be the first to confess that my ears are not trained enough to hear subtle details in Irish dialects. In truth, when people are speaking Irish, it sounds like Irish to me. But as I said, I can usually pick up on differences when I listen to the radio. But for some reason I cannot when I am watching TG4.

Does this happen with anyone else here?

No they come from all areas - even outside ireland.

True, but I would've thought there would be at least a slight Conamara bias.

There is a pretty big Conamara bias.

I was watching 'Cedric' the cartoon for the first time recently and it was pretty much all Conamara Irish, and so rich. Inis Cúil was similar- a lot of the actors in Ros na Rún do the voices of the cartoon characters.

I think Mayo Irish is gravely under represented on TG4, then again, I guess TG4 reflects the vibrancy of the language that exists in each of the Gaeltachts and Galway is the biggest Gaeltacht after all.

Its a bit more complicated than that.

TG4 is based in Conemara, so many of the staff will be from there.

But a lot of its output is produced by small independent companies, based in the various Gaeltachtaí and outside them, which influences the choice of presenters. A lot of the cartoons are produced/dubbed by Telegael. But at least some are very Ulster influenced, e.g. Bo ag Bogadaí

RnaG is different - it has studios in [almost every] each Gaeltacht, and is based around regional programming, so that programs will have a much more uniform use of dialects.

(Message edited by aonghus on October 23, 2009)

We cannot overlook that there are not many Irish speaking actors in this world. And it shows when we see the same faces over and over again. Which isn't really a bad thing considering acting is hard enough...let alone to do it in a language like Irish.

I understand that a lot of the actors come from Galway, but their location doesn't change the fact that they are reading from a script. Where are those scripts coming from? I wonder if all the writers are coming from the same area and it is bleeding into their scipts, or are they writing the scripts with the actors in mind?

For example, if an actor comes from Donegal, do they have to read the script as is...even if it is full of Connacht tendencies?

I was told by someone in Hughes in Spiddal when 'Mícheáil' was sitting near us that the actors can add their own stuff to the script- they say 'Séamus' ad libs a lot! I guess it is clear from the authenticity and consistency of what Johnjoe from Donegal and Séamus from Conamara say..

being based in conamara and it being the largest gaeltacht

that is acceptable and obvious