[ILUG] gaelic (aka, ugh, why do i read this stuff)

[kevin.lyda at itg.ie]

i heard i was mentioned in the irish language thread so i peeked at the
archives so i peeked.  there's a little kibo[0] in us all i guess.

anyway, i know a large number of you suffered through peig and the other
assorted bits of torture in irish classes, so i can understand a slight
desire not to revisit the past.

otoh i think one of the strengths of linux and free software is that
it can cater to every group if they have the will to work at it.
several months back it was reported that the icelandic government
requested that microsoft support their language, microsoft said no.
then they asked if they could do it themselves, ms again said no.
but with linux (and *bsd, etc) if folks are motivated to do it they can.

for folks that are living in the gaeltacht and teching kids how to use
computers it must be frustrating to not be able to have irish language
support.  "here's the technological future - your language ain't in it."
i don't speak irish (or any other language outside of english - which i
find rather embarrasing), but that doesn't seem very inclusive.  i'm not
a big fan of bill gates determining what file formats people use never
mind the language they speak.

since the age of six i've wanted to learn irish, so i'm biased there.
my mother's response to my constant request to learn it was to offer
"sha" as yes and leave it at that - no doubt she has similar memories to
yourselves as to learning irish.  heck, she left school in the late 50's
so her memories were probably worse!  regardless i still think support
for "non-mainstream" languages would be of tremendous benefit to linux.
the fact that linux can operate with many networking protocols (appletalk,
samba, ipv[46], etc) has helped it spread, the fact that it offers
blind computer users better access gets it more support.  since box to
box support seems to benefit linux, surely box to person support would
benefit linux.  gnome and kde exist for reasons beyond "fun with corba."

it's my understanding that grants are given to support people furthering
the use of irish, so it would seem people could actually get paid to
work on linux in ireland - albeit localisation (not the sexiest task).
it doesn't seem a huge stretch to say that politicians from irish speaking
areas, and those who have an interest in irish, would work to promote
linux in government and in schools if irish was a supported language.
i could even see more local press coverage if it was supported.

all of these are things that i've seen expressed as Good Things by
folks on this list.  and since this is the "irish linux users group" it
would seem the logical place for helping to add irish support to linux.
i don't think we should all post in gaelic - while i want to learn it,
i've found learning *any* language hard, and i do want to help/contribute.
i'm not suggesting that, but it doesn't seem unreasonable to add a
clause to the constitution that states that the ilug will help people
interested in adding gaelic support to linux (and other free software
os's) applications, as well as an irish motto.  companies, organisations,
and other groups in the states have latin motto's and in spite of dan
quayle's mutterings that was never a living language on either american
continent, never mind the usa.  an irish society having an irish motto
seems pretty reasonable in that light, yes?

and if some ambitious soul were to provide a gaelic web page for linux,
or to offer space to groups that do work on gaelic support in linux,
i think that would be an excellent thing for the ilug, linux, and gaelic.

kevin

[0] kibo's claim to fame was that he used to search all of usenet for his
name and then post a reply to any message that mentioned his name.  even
if it wasn't him, and even if the newsgroup was one he'd never been on.
-- 
kevin at suberic.net       "we were goin' for breakfast.  in canada.  we
fork()'ed on 37058400    made a deal: if she'd stop hookin', i'd stop
meatspace place: home    shootin' people.  maybe we were aiming high."
                                                   --porter, "payback"