Showing posts with label Raidío Rí Rá. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Raidío Rí Rá. Show all posts

Monday, June 21, 2010

You have ways of showing contempt for all things Irish

This is a response from Julian de Spáinn, General Secretary of Conradh na Gaeilge (Bilingual) to an article which appeared in the Sunday Independent on 9th May 2010.

To imply that there is any comparison between Irish-language summer camps and concentration camps, where millions of Jews suffered unspeakable horrors and were systematically murdered, is shameful, irresponsible and wrong in the most extreme sense of the word.

To insinuate that parents are displaying a “subservient streak” and subjecting their children to the equivalent of clerical child abuse by letting them go to a Gaeltacht summer course is not only an affront to the integrity of the mná tí and staff of the Irish colleges, but an insult to the judgement Irish parents everywhere, and an extremely dangerous accusation.

Eilis O’Hanlon’s article entitled Ve haf ways of making you talk - as Gaeilge in the Sunday Independent (09 May 2010) incensed members of Conradh na Gaeilge, the Irish-speaking community in general, parents, and indeed countless students who may not consider themselves “Gaelgoirs”, but who have thoroughly enjoyed and benefitted from spending time in Gaeltacht summer camps and courses at some time or another.

With regards to Ms O’Hanlon’s “anecdotally” informed issue with teenagers returning home having lost weight after attending Gaeltacht courses “because there was so little food on offer”, she would do well to take a little time to research the matter and consider the fact that students in most Irish colleges do a few hours sport every morning that might account for a healthy loss of weight, before falsely accusing decent, hard-working mná tí of depriving their hosts of food. “Mortification of the flesh” indeed!

Whatever about the varying rules from college to college, some of which the author calls “petty and outdated”, with thousands of young people under the care of the summer college staff, most parents would much rather be assured that there are rules and regulations in place that will not only keep their children safe, but will also ensure that they get the most benefit from their immersion in the Irish language. Ms O’Hanlon is right to say that “No enterprise ever lasted long by ignoring the demands of the paying customers”, and the paying parents that send their children to the Gaeltacht year after year are the happy customers that know a good thing when they see it.

Ms O’Hanlon may also fail to see the “linguistic purpose” in asking students to relinquish their iPods, MP3s and mobile phones to immerse themselves in Irish for the duration of their stay in the Gaeltacht, but that only goes to show that she doesn’t grasp the essence of the Irish college ethos. Immersion education is just that: immersion. Total immersion in a language like Irish – hearing, speaking, and reading it - has been proved the world over to be one the most effective methods of teaching languages, away from the usual dominance of a major language such as English. It doesn’t make students “less Irish” to listen to Lady Gaga, but it doesn’t help them to immerse themselves in the Gaeltacht experience or to improve their Irish, simple as that.

In addition to the unfounded charges the author makes based on hearsay, as well as the many other inaccuracies in Ms O’Hanlon’s article, she incorrectly confused Irish-language day camps such as those run by Conradh na Gaeilge, and Irish-language residential courses in summer colleges where students stay in the Gaeltacht to immerse themselves fully in the Irish language, usually for a duration of three weeks or so. And she is also wrong in thinking that either of these are “heartwarmingly recession-proof”. The confederation of Irish colleges, CONCOS, has reported that summer colleges across the country have taken a hit like businesses everywhere this year. But they are making do as best they can and will continue to play a vital role in their respective Gaeltacht economies; though to say incompetent and ill-judged pieces such as Ms O’Hanlon’s do not help is the understatement of the year.

And finally, for Ms O’Hanlon’s information, no, Gaeltacht colleges do not have trained canine armies of sniffer dogs to sniff out contraband material, only enthusiastic and dedicated staff that do the best they can to teach thousands of children every year to speak Irish, and to have fun while doing it. That is why the language is becoming ever more popular, particularly among a new generation of young Irish speakers that listen to the Irish-language chartstation Raidió Rí-Rá (Bilingual), read Irish entertainment magazines like *nós (Irish), and watch some of the finest comedies and soaps on television as Gaeilge on TG4 (Bilingual) - Rásaí na Gaillimhe, Seacht and The Crisis to name but a few.

With the increasing appreciation of the benefits of bilingualism in both private and public sectors, an upcoming increase in marks for the Leaving Cert Irish oral, and the imminent publication of the Government’s 20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language which aims to increase the number of daily Irish speakers outside of the education system to a quarter of a million by 2030, there has never been a better time to send children to the Gaeltacht to make the most of their Irish. As most past students will tell you, there is no better way to learn Irish than as a vibrant, living and fun language in the most favourable of summer-college settings.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Pop station named in top 50 businesses in Irish

Ireland’s first Irish-medium chartstation for young people, Raidió Rí-Rá, has been named among 50 top individuals and companies who have pioneered business in Irish and will receive a Barr 50 Gnó le Gaeilge award at a special ceremony in Mansion House, Dublin, Friday, 14 May 2010.

Traic Ó Braonáin, Chairperson of Raidió Rí-Rá says: “Raidió Rí-Rá consistently shows innovation and fresh business-thinking by using the Irish language in a way that hasn’t been utilised by Irish businesses to date - employing the latest technologies, finding new marketing mediums, pioneering exciting new programmes, and developing different ways for listeners to tune into the station.”
50 top individuals and companies who have pioneered business as Gaeilge – Barr 50 Gnó le Gaeilge - are to be honoured at a unique celebration in the Mansion House, Dublin on Friday, 14 May 2010.

The Top 50 nominees will be:
• Businesses based in the Gaeltacht or which operate in Irish
• Business leaders who are recognised as advocates for Irish language
• Businesses which use Irish as a marketing tool or provide services in Irish
• Six of our Top 50 will be awarded with Special Achievement Awards at the gala luncheon.

Among those receiving this special accolade will be:
• Entrepreneur of the year
• A company or individual in the public sector which makes the most effective use of Irish as a marketing tool
• Company or individual in the private sector which makes the most effective use of Irish in service provision
• A company or individual which shows innovation and fresh thinking in their business by using the Irish language
• A company or individual located in the Gaeltacht which makes outstanding use of the Irish language in business

The Top 50 Business as Gaeilge awards will be marked by the publication of a special magazine profiling the Top 50 and celebrating their achievements.
It means a lot to Raidió Rí-Rá to be recognised for the pioneering work we do and to be nominated for a Barr 50 Gnó le Gaeilge award alongside the other top 50 best businesses in Irish this year.


As well being chosen for a Barr 50 Gnó le Gaeilge 2010 award recognising its excellence in business through Irish after only two years broadcasting, Raidió Rí-Rá was also nominated for two prestigious Oireachtas na Gaeilge communications’ awards last year - Miriam Maher for the Radio Personality of the Year award and the weekly celebrity news programme PopNuacht for the Radio Programme of the Year award - alongside some of the country’s most prominent and well-established stations, such as RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta.

Síne Nic an Ailí, presenter and Public Relations’ Officer with Raidió Rí-Rá says: “As Raidió Rí-Rá is the only Irish-medium chartstation for young people in Ireland, we are dedicated to providing the Irish-speaking community with a service equal to, if not better than, our English-medium contemporaries.
“The station seizes every opportunity to make the most of the Irish language in its business, and Raidió Rí-Rá is leading the way in the provision of music and Irish-language services for young people in Ireland by providing a free-to-download iPhone application, by utilising social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, and by making the station available on Nokia phones.”


Raidió Rí-Rá plays all the latest music from the charts, completely through the medium of Irish, non-stop online at www.rrr.ie since the station began broadcasting online in March 2008. Raidió Rí-Rá spent three weeks broadcasting live on FM in March 2009 and in March 2010 as the Irish-language festival Seachtain na Gaeilge’s official station, during which time over a million and a half people in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick could tune into the Irish chartstation.

Raidió Rí-Rá’s working group have plans to broadcast on the digital television system and on DAB in the future, and is also working to realise a full-time Irish-language radio station for young people on the national FM system.

Details of this story in Irish on Do Chonradh Blog!