>What is GAELIC-L, WELSH-L, CELTIC-L, IRTRAD-L and how do I subscribe?

What is GAELIC-L, WELSH-L, CELTIC-L, IRTRAD-L and how do I subscribe?

If you want to learn any of the Celtic languages, there are two lists set up.

GAELIC-L for Irish, Scots Gaelic and Manx (currently about 700 members) and WELSH-L for Welsh, Cornish and Breton (currently about 330 members) Note that these are primarily lists for discussions *in* those languages and not discussions in English *about* the languages, although short English only messages from learners are OK. To join, send a message to

listserv@irlearn.ucd.ie  (or listserv@irlearn.bitnet)
containing the line: subscribe listname yourfirstname yoursurname
i.e. subscribe GAELIC-L Iain Caimbeul

Both GAELIC-L and WELSH-L have extensive libraries of reference material. Send the command "Get GAELIC-L filelist" or "Get WELSH-L filelist" to find out what's available once you've joined.

For issues in English about Celtic culture, see the lists IRTRAD-L for Irish traditional music and CELTIC-L for Celtic culture. To join these lists, simply replace the "GAELIC-L" in the above list with the name of the list you wish to join.

There are also links to sites dealing with the list; Lessons and an information database also exist and are archived for retrival at Trinity College, Dublin set up by Paddy Waldron. Another ftp site is yeats.csufresno.edu. A GAELIC-L gopher site also exists at the ListServ server.

Here's some more detail on GAELIC-L:

I was asked to write a bit about the GAELIC-L list for news.groups.reviews so here it is.

Gaelic-L is a listserv list with about 700 members and is for discussions in the 3 Gaelic languages (Irish Gaelic, Scots Gaelic and Manx). The list has been running since May 1989 and averages about 5-6 messages a day. Messages are primarily in Gaelic, and some have English translations. English only messages from learners seeking help are welcome, provided that they are kept fairly short. There is an extensive library associated with the list containing monthly logs of every message sent out, programs (ie one to tell the time in conversational Gaelic), reference materials (including dictionaries), contact addresses for organisations etc.

Most of the topics discussed on Gaelic-L are cultural or current affairs or what's on. Related usenet newsgroups include rec.music.celtic and soc.culture.celtic. Unlike soc.culture.celtic however, discussions concerning Northern Irish politics are extremely rare on Gaelic-L. The word Gaelic is pronounced "Gaylik" when talking about Irish Gaelic or Manx Gaelic, but "Gallic" when talking about Scots Gaelic.

There are three owners of the list:

Marion Gunn (mgunn@irlearn.ucd.ie), University College Dublin - folklorist, software localiser, archivist and co-founder of the list.

Caoimhin O Donnaile (caoimhin@smo.ac.uk), Kevin Donnelly, lecturer in Computing at Sabhal Mor Ostaig, Scotland's Gaelic College (on the Isle of Skye) and co-founder of the list

Craig Cockburn (craig@scot.demon.co.uk), Gaelic learner and singer living in Edinburgh and joint director of The Gaelic Learners Association (a charity for adult learners of Scots Gaelic worldwide).

To subscribe to the list, send a message to:

listserv@irlearn.ucd.ie containing the line SUB GAELIC-L your name e.g. SUB GAELIC-L Iain Mac a' Gobhainn the listserv will then send you more details. To get details of the contents of Gaelic-L's library, send a command GET GAELIC-L FILELIST to listserv@irlearn.ucd.ie

the address for messages themselves is GAELIC-L@irlearn.ucd.ie

Because few people have MIME mailers at the moment, we have to represent the accented vowels in Gaelic by writing a / or \ after the vowel in question to indicate an acute or grave accent. There is a GAELIC-M list though for those with MIME capability, and this is mirrored to GAELIC-L.

To the Gaelic homepage