Community

Jamaikèn nan Wales

“Men Audrey West, e men lakay li.” (This is Audrey West, and this is her home.)

So begins the new Haitian Creole (Kreyòl Ayisyen) version of our Jamaican in Wales/Jamiekan ina Wielz documentary.

We’re delighted to add another island language to our growing list of Other Tongues, building still further on our Extensions initiative. In addition to Jamaican and English, this film is also already available in Welsh and Portuguese – as well as Gaelic, of course!

Mavreen Masere of Creole Translations has done a great job of translating and narrating the original documentary text to a really high professional standard. Many thanks Mavreen!

Thanks also to Caoimhín Ó Donnaíle for adding Kreyòl Ayisyen to the Clilstore list of languages, so enabling us to also create the online wordlinked transcript with embedded video on that platform too.

Our Hebridean-Caribbean linguistic linkage started with our engagement with the University of the West Indies Jamaican Language Unit through the international Mediating Multilingualism project. Common island geographies were an obvious initial point of contact. In more recent developments other shared experiences were touched on while exploring some of the factors uniting UK community languages other than English as part of the Multilingual Memories: Birmingham 1984 project.

Looking forward we might wonder if those with a Gaelic linguistic, planning, or educational interest could have more still to learn from the developmental process which has resulted in the establishment of Caribbean creoles like Jamiekan and Kreyòl Ayisyen. When we consider that the deprecation of formulations such as “Tha mi oileanach” may now be counted as “just an aesthetic judgement” in some Gaelic teaching circles, and that “Tha mi tidsear” may indeed be heard on the lips of some Gaelic Medium Education practitioners, then we might begin to wonder if this kind of language change is in some way akin to well-studied processes of pidginisation and creolisation in other contexts, with the significant caveat that in the case of Jamaican or Haitian the claim is explicitly and successfully made for the recognition of a distinct new language, rather than an uninterrupted continuation or “revitalisation” of a pre-existing one.

Food for thought?

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

Winter 2025 Language Issues

Le Gordon Wells

Following Island Voices’ recent trip to England, including a visit to the national base for NATECLA (National Association for the Teaching of English and Other Community Languages to Adults) in South and City College Birmingham, it seems only appropriate to highlight the Winter 2025 issue of its journal “Language Issues”. This includes a re-print abridgement of our own report on the history of Island Voices from 2005 to 2013, alongside a suite of other articles from a practitioner perspective with an emphasis on multilingualism and diversity.

Declan Flanagan’s introductory editorial reinforces this point: “Practitioners offer unique insights and innovative strategies and address real-world challenges. Their contributions ensure that research is grounded in practical realities, informs policies, and guides professional development.” We’re grateful to Declan for releasing the PDF to share on the Island Voices site.

Readers can read more about Language Issues and access this and previous issues of the journal through the NATECLA website.

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

Multilingual Memories: Birmingham 1984

Le Gordon Wells

With a multilingual trip down Memory Lane, Island Voices visits Central England, in a new contribution to the CIALL-supported “Extensions” initiative. This collection comprises a short documentary introduction – available in various community languages now spoken in the UK – plus a range of recorded conversations and interviews about the 1980s Industrial Language Training (ILT) service, each recorded in a particular language, but made accessible for non-speakers or learners of that language through YouTube subtitling and/or a supporting Clilstore transcript.

Scripted Documentary

The documentary uses a scripted narrative to follow three Birmingham ILT workers as they meet together for the first time in 40 years in their old workplace. The film introduces various aspects of the ILT programme, from onsite teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) to training and advice in Equal Opportunities and Anti-Racism, as well as innovative support for Community Languages. Team members also visit other key locations and organisations, such as the office of NATECLA, the National Association for the Teaching of English and other Community Languages to Adults, and recall the BBC “Hindi Urdu Bol Chaal Club” in a Soho Road restaurant. Multiple versions of the film are available in English, Gaelic, Jamaican, Welsh, and nine of the South Asian languages spoken most widely in the UK by census results.

Here’s the English version:

And here’s the Clilstore English transcript, with the video embedded, incorporating one-click access to online dictionary support for any unfamiliar vocabulary: https://multidict.net/cs/12354

To see the video narrated in another language, click on the landscape poster (or phone-friendly portrait option) to choose your own preferred version of the documentary. Or choose from the table below for the equivalent Clilstore unit.

Bangla	Gaelic	Gujarati	Hindi
Jamaican	Malayalam	Nepali	Punjabi
Tamil	Telugu	Urdu	Welsh

Free Conversation

The interviews and conversations are accessible through the same landscape or portrait links, or directly through the bold blue titles below, and they comprise live and unscripted samples of authentic speech. YouTube subtitles are available through the Closed Caption (CC) button, and viewers on a laptop or desktop computer should also be able to get these auto-translated into the language of their choice through the Settings Wheel. Every film (except the first short introduction and the 3-way English discussion) is also accompanied by a Clilstore transcript. Links to rough written English translations are also available via the video description and reproduced below. In some cases where reference is made to related postgraduate study, links are also given to participants’ own papers from the time to give a sense of contemporary research and debate about then dominant issues from a practitioner perspective.

Three Short Introductions

The opening conversational clip quickly introduces the three former members of Birmingham Industrial Language Training Services featured in the documentary, as they speak Punjabi or Hindi to briefly outline their ILT experience and say where it eventually led them. Subtitles in both these languages are available, including for auto-translation if necessary.

Nazir ul Haq

Speaking in Urdu at some length, Nazir ul Haq, last leader of the Birmingham ILT team of the mid-1980s before its absorption into the college, offers memories and reflections – judiciously supplemented with quotations from well-known Urdu poets – on the work of the local unit, as well as the national service, during that time. This clip is an amalgamation of a series of short recordings that Nazir made over a number of days, as detailed with links below, in which, alongside critical analysis, he also creates a humane picture of the team’s mission and working ethos, with poignant reminiscences and tributes to those no longer with us.

00:09 Introduction
02:04 ILT 1980s role
06:16 Memory and reminiscence
09:53 Personal journey
14:57 Equal Opportunities: appreciation of colleagues and contributions
19:35 Summary critique of ILT approach to racism awareness and anti-racism

Wordlinked transcript (Clilstore unit)
Written translation (online PDF)

Nazir also mentions his PhD-level postgraduate studies at Birmingham University during the same period, and his continuing association with the university after the closure of ILT. For an example of his work in the area of diaspora formation with specific reference to the Kashmiri community you can read his paper presented some years later at a conference in Budapest: Diaspora Formation and Ethnic National Mobilisation of Kashmiris in Britain: A Reflective Case Study.

Sardul Dhesi

Speaking Punjabi, Sardul Dhesi, retired Deputy Principal of South and City College Birmingham, gives a summary account of his 48-year Further Education career in the city, including his time with Birmingham ILT in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His time with ILT was a seminal period for him, including a one-year secondment to get a Master’s degree in Race and Education, from which he never looked back. Also important to him were his trade union links, with particular regard to equality initiatives. Over his long subsequent career, he occupied increasingly senior positions in what has become the biggest college in the West Midlands.

Wordlinked transcript (Clilstore unit)
Written translation (online PDF)

For more specific detail on Sardul’s work on and research into Trade Union links to ILT you can read his essay on Trade Unions and Racial Inequalities: An examination of the role of ILTS in removing the barriers, written as part of his M.Soc.Sc course at Birmingham University during his 1985-86 secondment, together with the appendix containing a selection of contemporary ILT and TUC materials.

Harmesh Manghra

Speaking Hindi, Harmesh Manghra, retired Inspector of Education, recounts the various stages of his career in some detail, including his time with Birmingham ILT in the early 1980s. He starts with the multilingual education he received in India before arriving in the UK, when job opportunities were initially limited despite his qualifications. But his time with ILT provided a springboard into a varied and stimulating career across various educational sectors. Even in retirement he remains committed to easing newcomers’ passage through educational opportunities.

Wordlinked transcript (Clilstore unit)
Written translation (online PDF)

Gordon Wells

Speaking Gaelic, Gordon Wells, researcher with the CIALL project, outlines his career path, including his time with Birmingham ILT in the 1980s and what he learned from that experience for use in later years, including with Island Voices. It was the rising interest in “Mother Tongue” maintenance that inspired him to start learning Gaelic, and his experience working on the BBC’s “Hindi Urdu Bol Chaal” series that developed his interest in recording speech in particular. This was reinforced by the ILT emphasis on close community connection with the day-to-day concerns of working people.

Wordlinked transcript (Clilstore unit)
Written translation (online PDF)

Gordon’s research topic for his 1987 dissertation for the MSc in Applied Linguistics at Edinburgh University, while on secondment from ILT, was on Concepts of “Mother Tongue” and “Native Speaker” in Relation to the Teaching of Languages to Adults. This paper, later cited in Professor Alan Davies’ 1991 book “The Native Speaker in Applied Linguistics”, anticipated by some years a now longstanding debate on the question of “native” vis-à-vis “non-native” English speaking teachers.

Suman Watts

Suman Watts came into ILT from a broadcasting background on local radio. She briefly explains in Hindi that she put these skills to good use in helping prepare audio-visual teaching materials. In her later career she helped not only English learners, but also learners of community languages like Hindi and Urdu, within the context of the issues and principles that informed the ILT ethos.

Wordlinked transcript (Clilstore unit)
Written translation (online PDF)

Muhammad Idrish

Speaking Bangla, Muhammad Idrish, who worked at the neighbouring Asian Resource Centre in the 1980s, offers succinct memories of friends and colleagues in the Birmingham Industrial Language Training team (as well as the Dudley team), and their contribution to the anti-racism movement in the community, including the NALGO-supported nationwide Muhammad Idrish Defence Campaign.

Wordlinked transcript (Clilstore unit)
Written translation (online PDF)

Harmesh Manghra and Sardul Dhesi

In this longer conversational extract Harmesh and Sardul, speaking Punjabi, recall shifts in focus of the ILT service at national and regional levels from language teaching, through cultural and racism awareness training, to structural analysis of social problems. Their career development paths took them on to West Midlands-wide initiatives with an emphasis on greater community engagement by colleges, opening local centres and providing appropriate facilities. Statistics now show far greater proportions of Black and Asian staff and students engaged in Further Education.

Wordlinked transcript (Clilstore unit)
Written translation (online PDF)

Harmesh Manghra, Sardul Dhesi, and Gordon Wells

This is an extended three-way conversation in English between Sardul, Harmesh, and Gordon about the ILT legacy, with a particular focus on language support in relation to both ESOL and Community Languages:

00:06 First reminiscences and appreciations
The three recall how ILT launched them into their professional careers under the guidance of Clarice Brierley, then leader of a dynamic team.
04:12 Bilingualism, ESOL, and Community Languages
Harmesh and Sardul were among the first bilingual ESOL teachers whose skills in other languages were recognised and increasingly valued, when Mother Tongue maintenance was also beginning to be raised as an issue, and NATESLA changed its name to NATECLA and established a national base in the college.
10:05 Materials development
The local authority’s supportive approach to staff development was instrumental in enabling team members to develop new skills and ideas, including Gordon’s role in the innovative BBC Hindi Urdu Bol Chaal project.
13:12 Community context
The ILT approach to ESOL and Community Languages was strong on addressing language learning in the grounded reality of the learners’ own situation, so community linkage was essential. The team members discuss how this guiding principle can be equally applied in other language contexts, for example with Gaelic in Scotland or many endangered languages in India.
16:05 Confidence issues
Team members share stories from personal or family experience of assimilative social pressures to suppress mother tongue use – whether Punjabi or Gaelic – and a Punjabi summer school initiative in the college is noted.
19:28 Final reflections
Lastly, each member reinforces the learning and confidence-building benefits of their early involvement in ILT, whether in relation to language skills and use, subsequent career paths, or social justice concerns, noting also how some issues first tackled 40 years ago, for example around workplace learning, remain prevalent today.

Linguistic Diversity

In conclusion, we may note that the year 1984 is now further back in the past than it was then still in the future when the dying George Orwell was putting the final touches to his doom-laden “Nineteen Eighty-Four” novel in a writer’s hideaway on the Hebridean Isle of Jura. Central to the workings of the totalitarian society he was predicting was “Newspeak” – a reduced and distorted officially approved form of language with a simplified grammar and reduced vocabulary, intended to promote social conformism and inhibit critical thinking.

This project is a new contribution from those we might now literally call “Old Speakers”(!), which looks back at the linguistic reality of the actual 1984 of urban England through the eyes of ILT staff and associates who were there at the time, with the benefit of their now 40 years of hindsight. If Orwell could have come back to visit us in the 1984 of real history he might well have been first shocked, then perhaps relieved on reflection, to find ample evidence of significantly increased linguistic diversity compared to the England he knew, at least at grassroots community level. It’s a confounding contrast, rooted in lived community reality, to the uniform and restrictive Newspeak monolingualism against which he had imaginatively warned.

We are deeply indebted to all the contributors who have made this collection possible. In addition to those appearing onscreen, we must also note particularly the crucial assistance of Professor Udaya Narayana Singh, a longterm partner in Mediating Multilingualism, in co-ordinating the South Asian language translation and transcription work with his team of collaborators. In a previous “Talking Points with Norman Maclean” contribution he references the concept of “jugaaR” to illustrate a South Asian propensity for inclusive linguistic accommodation. And in a more recent lecture for Bhasha Mela he similarly contrasts the Orwellian vision of 1984 with the historical facts of interlingual coexistence in South Asia, thus providing an alternative optimistic vision and rationale for maintaining cultural diversity. With that in mind, we also thank and salute Audrey West, another of our Talking Points collaborators and Extensions pioneers, for her continuing determined local promotion of the Jamaican language. We are also delighted that Magaidh Smith consented to take part in true vernacular Gaelic style, and we welcome the fresh Welsh voice of long-settled Grimsay resident, Rhodri Evans. In the face of encroaching Anglophone monoculture, every similar contribution underlines the value of ongoing linguistic diversity.

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

Welsh Connections

Le Gordon Wells

Island Voices’ collection of Welsh recordings continues to grow as the Extensions “ripple effect” makes itself increasingly felt.

We already had Welsh versions as integral parts of the Audrey West and Martin MacIntyre packages – for obvious reasons! – with Ifor ap Glyn providing the voiceover on both occasions. We’re delighted to announce that Ifor has now gone on to provide us with the same service for both Christie Williamson and Donald S Murray as well.

Clilstore wordlinked transcript: https://multidict.net/cs/12343

Clilstore wordlinked transcript: https://multidict.net/cs/12342

These additions will bump the total number of films in our Other Tongues Welsh Selection up to five – with more to come!

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

Paul McCallum in Conversation

Le Gordon Wells

Well-known Gaelic singer Paul McCallum from South Lochboisdale, South Uist, talks to James MacLetchie, from Sollas, North Uist.

Paul and James share the same experience of having been brought to Uist as young boys to be taken into local families. They had a lot to talk about!

The full conversation has been split into two parts of roughly the same length, which are first presented here unfiltered and unsubtitled.

Again, we’ve also cut the conversation up into smaller chunks and added subtitles and Clilstore transcriptions to help learners or non-speakers of Gaelic get a good sense of how the conversation flowed, summarised below. (Technical note: the YouTube Closed Caption (CC) subtitles are in Gaelic by default. However, if you are viewing on a laptop or desktop computer the settings wheel will allow you to select auto-translation into another language of your choice – English included. Alternatively, “Clilstore units” combine the embedded video with a wordlinked Gaelic transcript with one-click access to an online dictionary for any words you don’t know.)

In Part 1A Paul recalls his memories of arriving in South Uist as a four-year old with his two older brothers, to be looked after by a local brother and sister family in South Lochboisdale with Eriskay connections. He came from a musical family and found himself in a musical place – “Gleann a’ Cheòlraidh” – where he picked up Gaelic, before starting school, with the help of his musical ear. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12300)

In Part 1B he remembers his schooldays and some of his teachers, most of whom were Gaelic speakers even though education was conducted through English. He recalls how music came to him easily, and competing in mòds from an early age (at which he and James first came into contact). On leaving school he worked as a cook for MacBraynes on the Islay ferry, through which he came across Islay Gaelic, which was quite different from his own. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12301)

In Part 1C James notes how the advent of electricity marked a turning-point in Gaelic cèilidh culture, and Paul reflects that good singers would not necessarily be comfortable performing on a stage. Nevertheless he is encouraged by signs of natural musical ability in the local community. After MacBraynes he moved on to a Dominican centre helping people with drug or alcohol problems, where he mixed with people from all walks of life, and experienced a meaningful education. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12302)

In Part 1D Paul talks more about how his singing career took off, and how he received voice training in the classical tradition over a period of years. He points out that there are Gaelic songs that are classical, but notes also that the traditional worksongs of crofting communities provided natural voice training without the need for study, and that true vocal power is best demonstrated in soft singing. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12303)

In Part 1E Paul explores further the differences between classical and traditional singing, and the importance, in his view, of presenting Gaelic songs to islanders in a natural manner which chimes with their environment, albeit with the help of classical training. (He listened to classical singers as a boy and received help from classical teachers.) In Gaelic domestic culture he experienced an ingrained prayerful spirituality that combined naturally with music and the environment. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12304)

In Part 2A Paul and James share their experiences of being welcomed and absorbed into their respective communities in South and North Uist as young children. When James questions him about his later stage performances, Paul explains that that placed a distance between him and his audience, where he had the persona of “The Singer”, which was different from the Paul McCallum in his own home. Now retired from singing, he doesn’t miss the stage. He enjoys having his feet on the ground. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12305)

In Part 2B Paul talks a bit about his own writing, and how it’s inspired by the local environment. Moving on to discuss local poets from earlier times he notes the exemplary command they had over the language and how today’s Gaelic has changed. He regrets the loss of vocabulary and idiom and cautions against a felt need to change the language to “keep up” with today’s world. If the language is indeed “dying” we should be careful not to kill it off with words and idioms that don’t belong to it. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12306)

In Part 2C, reflecting on the disappearance of cèilidh houses, Paul suggests it is the community that is dying, more than Gaelic. He is reminded of recent visitors who talked of their memories, and about sloinnidhean – genealogies – and how much he enjoyed and learned from those visits. He believes young community members are also interested in old stories, but time needs to be found for such activities. Like James, he is a fluent Gaelic speaker and it’s the language he prefers to use in the community. Questioned by Paul about his own musical tastes, James talks about his influences, for example, Runrig. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12307)

In Part 2D James asks Paul if he thinks they both value Uist and Gaelic so highly because of the way they were taken there. Paul points out that, rather than being taught Gaelic formally, they absorbed it naturally. They arrived with nothing, and were given access to life, language, culture, music, beliefs, which may well have given them a deeper appreciation of their language and surroundings. James echoes his appreciation of the learning he received, especially from his adoptive father and other elders in the local community. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12308)

In Part 2E Paul turns the tables on James and asks him about his own writing of songs, and encourages him to pass them on – “Bheir seachad iad”. Once they’re written they no longer belong to him. They should be shared, to help keep the language and the music alive. “You could take it all over the world.” James reflects on Gaelic connections with First Nations of North America, and Paul notes commonalities in their troubled histories. But looking forward, he repeats his warning about needless change to the language – “Mura h-eil e briste, na cuir air dòigh e”. (If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.) (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12309)

These recordings were made with the support of the CIALL project, based in the Language Sciences Institute of the University of the Highlands and Islands.

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

Gael in Edinburgh

Le Gordon Wells

Select any video clip in this landscape format, or use the phone-friendly portrait layout.

Writer, poet, and “Edinburgh Gael” Martin MacIntyre (Màrtainn Mac an t-Saoir) is the subject of our latest “Extensions” project, in which we present narrative, conversational, and poetic samples of Gaelic and other languages in previously unexplored contexts. Martin himself is the narrator of both the Gaelic and English versions of the introductory documentary, and we were delighted to engage Ifor ap Glyn, and Noèlia Díaz-Vicedo, Martin’s collaborators on A’ Ruith Eadar Dà Dhràgon, for the Welsh and Catalan versions. Martin’s own recitations of Canaidh, Foghar Dhùn Èideann, and Litearras san Smior give a taste of his wide-ranging poetic output.

In the recorded conversation he talks to Island Voices co-ordinator, Gordon Wells. In the full version, the topics covered include Martin’s island family connections and his Gaelic learning journey, comparing and contrasting island and mainland urban contexts, as well as questions around multilingualism, and discussion of literacy and oral and written literature. In conclusion the possible affordances of new media are also considered.

In an alternative approach that may suit learners or non-speakers of Gaelic, the same conversation is broken down into short extracts, which are optionally supplemented with auto-translatable subtitles and/or wordlinked transcripts:

In Part 1, Martin outlines his island connections to Benbecula, South Uist, and Barra, reeling off a sloinneadh of impressive length that traces his genealogical roots on his father’s side as far back as the late 17^th century. He visits when he can, though he has always been mainland-based, having been brought up in Lenzie, a town to the north of Glasgow which itself has a Gaelic-based name.

In Part 2, Martin talks about his Gaelic learning journey, an interest that has been with him since his first visit to South Uist with his father and brother when he was still in primary school, where he first encountered the language in an extended family and community setting. He describes his father’s initial surprise at his son’s interest, and how in time they came to speak Gaelic to each other more and more, and how this also helped when it came to raising his own children with Gaelic.

In Part 3, Martin first develops his thoughts on the affective implications of language choice and use, particularly in relation to emotional bonds, for example between family members. The conversation moves on to consideration of community factors in Gaelic use and maintenance in a context of ongoing language shift to English, and his own family’s notable success in passing the language on to a new generation in the urban context of Edinburgh. He cites close family connection, the importance of habitual use of the language, including listening to Gaelic radio, and involvement in school and community activity as crucial factors.

In Part 4, still discussing Gaelic’s minority status in Edinburgh, Martin suggests the evident multicultural milieu may in some ways and in some situations make it comparatively easy to mount Gaelic events, while also noting that he perceives a move towards more specifically Gaelic activities among Gaelic communities. He goes on to describe the inspiration he has derived from other minority language contexts, particularly Catalan and Welsh, and his collaborative work with poets in those languages in one of his latest books.

In Part 5, moving on from other multilingual contexts the conversation turns to questions of literacy and literature in a Gaelic context, where many of the most fluent speakers of Gaelic do not habitually read or write it. Martin reflects on the lasting legacy of the historically poor treatment of the language in education, while also recording his appreciation of the Gaelic oral tradition, and of songs and stories created by speakers who were not writers.

In Part 6, the conversation moves on to discussion of possible positive steps that may help ameliorate a difficult situation for Gaelic. Martin points out that, irrespective of age, people are capable of learning new skills, for example in the use of computers. Traditional speakers’ knowledge of the cultural and oral tradition should be valued. At the same time, he notices more confident use of Gaelic on social media. Picking up on voice-notes, he also suggests that new technologies could enable easier creation of audio-books that could help bring new literature closer to traditional speakers.

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

Maltese Internet Archive

Le Gordon Wells

Maltese Internet Archive

At Guthan nan Eilean we’re always pleased to make new links with other groups doing similar work, so we were delighted to hear from Sharon Pisani that ‘Ilħna Karkariżi’ – Voices from Birkirkara – had taken an interest in her Extensions work on Tradizzjonijiet tal-Milied f’Malta, and wanted to add some of her videos to their Internet Archive. We were more than happy to agree! You can now find her interview with Carmel Cauchi and some of his poetry readings alongside many other locally recorded Birkirkara voices on their site:

Interview: https://archive.org/details/carmel-cauchi-tifkiriet-milied

Poetry: htt ps://archive.org/details/carmel-cauchi-poeziji-milied

Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/@ilhna_karkarizi

This is an encouraging opening to 2025 as we aim to further develop our “Language Capture and Curation” model while sharing Gaelic – and other! – voices, through narrative, verse, and free conversation…

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

Tradizzjonijiet tal-Milied f’Malta

Le Gordon Wells

“Christmas Traditions in Malta” is a new and seasonal contribution by Sharon Pisani, from the St Andrews University Open Virtual Worlds group, to the Island Voices “Extensions” initiative!

Select any video clip in this landscape format, or use the phone-friendly portrait layout.

“Il-Milied f’Malta huwa ċelebrazzjoni kbira, b’tradizzjonijiet antiki u oħrajn ġodda. Minn drawwiet reliġjużi sa ikel u xorb, insibu ħafna affarijiet li jagħqdu lill-poplu. Ara dan id-dokumentarju qasir biex issir taf iktar fuq il-Milied f’Malta.” (Christmas in Malta is a major celebration, with old and new traditions. From religious customs to food and drink, there are many things that bring people together. Watch this short documentary to learn more.)

Sharon writes:

“Christmas is a celebration that holds a special place in my heart. Since moving from Malta to Scotland, I’ve sought to bring the light and joy of Maltese traditions into Scotland’s short, dark December days. When I was back home planning and filming the documentary, I looked into Malta’s unique customs and discovered others that have faded over time, such as the use of capon as the traditional Christmas lunch meat. My goal was to capture the essence of the Christmasses I cherish —through food, decorations, and the sense of community.

In today’s era of content creation, documenting this felt natural, but it was also deeply meaningful to explore Malta’s festive roots and to interview Carmel Cauchi, an author whose books shaped my childhood. The poetry readings selected by Cauchi reflect a contemporary world, where harsh realities co-exist with the jovial celebrations of Christmas. Just as Christmas traditions and lifestyles evolve, so too does language and the way we produce and consume content in that language. This is especially true for Maltese – and other island languages – in this digital age.

I hope this collection of videos, which can be explored in Maltese, English, and Gaelic, alongside other languages through YouTube’s translation tools, resonates with you.”

Sharon had already given us a Maltese version of our St Kilda film, but we’re delighted to add this new cluster of videos in the new Extensions style, featuring natural unscripted speech and carefully crafted verse from the poet Carmel Cauchi alongside Sharon’s documentary narrative – which, of course, allows ready translation into other languages, such as English or Gaelic, and maybe more to come(?). The videos are subtitled on YouTube in their original language – which also enables auto-translation into a wide range of other languages through the settings wheel. To access any of these videos just click on the live links in either of these landscape or portrait formats.

As an added bonus, we’ve also been able to create three new Clilstore units in Maltese, so you can read the transcript while watching the embedded video and just click on any unfamiliar word to get a dictionary translation into the language of your choice. Christmas is coming early!

Documentary: Tradizzjonijiet tal-Milied f’Malta
Poetry: Carmel G. Cauchi – Qari ta’ Poeżiji
Conversation: Carmel G. Cauchi Jitkellem fuq il-Milied

The Island Voices Extensions initiative is supported by the CIALL project.

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

Audrey and the Dragon

Le Gordon Wells

Leaflets16to9

It was a stormy night, with serious flooding to the south and Met Office warnings to avoid driving, but even so there was a sturdy local attendance for this fascinating double bill at Barmouth’s Dragon Theatre on November 23rd. Tayo Aluko had driven up from Cornwall in the morning to be ready to perform his one-man play “Just an Ordinary Lawyer” in the evening slot at 7.30pm. This was preceded at 5pm by the multilingual local launch and discussion of the Island Voices video, “Jamiekan ina Wielz” featuring Audrey West.

In addition to Jamaican and Gaelic, this video is currently also available online in Welsh, English, and Portuguese, with the prospect of other languages to follow in line with our “Other Tongues” and “Extensions” initiatives. We didn’t get a chance to sample all of these on the night, but we were pleased to include Welsh, in addition to Jamaican itself, through the skilful chairing of panel presentations and wider discussion by Ifor ap Glyn (National Poet of Wales 2016-2022), who had himself supplied the Welsh translation and narration of the film.

With contributions also from Rita Stringer at the Diversity Project of the Dictionary of Welsh Biography, and from Island Voices’ co-ordinator Gordon Wells, the discussion was wide-ranging, touching on what we mean by “Black history” or “Welsh history”, or indeed “everybody’s history”, as well as languages and linguistics (particularly in relation to multilingualism in present-day society). Audrey herself talked freely about her personal, professional, and artistic journey up to today, and was happy to answer questions from the audience about the Jamaican language, for example about the origin of words like “pikni”.

It was a full hour and a half of viewing and talking in total. This short video gives a taste of some of the topics covered as well as snippets from the video in question in Welsh, Gaelic, and Jamaican.

The multilingualism poses something of a challenge for YouTube’s subtitling services! But auto-generated English titles are enabled, as well as Welsh and Gaelic transcriptions in appropriate places. (For non-speakers of these two languages you can get auto-translations through YouTube’s settings wheel.)

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

Clilstore: Nyuu Jamiekan Yuunit

Le Gordon Wells

Island Voices’ “Jamiekan in a Wielz” gets a multilingual public launch in Wales at the weekend, with Gordon Wells among Audrey’s friends for the panel discussion on language, poetry and performance. Any Welsh friends of Island Voices are most welcome to come along!

DragonTheatre

Thanks to work by our partners in the Jamaican Language Unit at the University of the West Indies in putting together a wordlist and glossary in the standardised “Cassidy-JLU” orthography, we’re pleased to mark the occasion with a new Clilstore unit, displaying all the standard features of embedded video, word-for-word transcript, plus one-click dictionary look-up.

This is made possible through Caoimhín Ó Donnaíle’s work on enabling the creation of “custom wordlists” in Clilstore for languages which may currently lack fully comprehensive online dictionaries. Taing mhòr, Chaoimhín!

Find the online Clilstore unit here: https://multidict.net/cs/12176

Or here: https://clilstore.eu/cs/12176

Also, check Ifor’s Welsh version here! https://multidict.net/cs/11888

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean