If you are a Doctor Who fan, you may well remember the episode “The Fires of Pompeii”.
Alas, the Doctor and Donna went there in the year 79 CE just before the volcano erupted and not in 1971 CE to see the more important historic event of Pink Floyd recording their Live at Pompeii film!
David Gilmour playing live in Pompeii, 1971
Despite arriving at the wrong time to enjoy some of the best prog rock ever recorded, the Doctor and Donna arrive in a market place. Learning she is in an ancient Roman territory, Donna uses a few words of school Latin with a market stall holder. He replies something like “sorry love I don’t speak Celtic” and Donna doesn’t understand why he is speaking English. The Doctor explains that he is in fact speaking Latin but the TARDIS’s psychic translation circuit is allowing them to understand each other.
The recent growth in machine translation made me think of this. It made me imagine a world where everything in one language is immediately available in another and where it isn’t even clear which languages were being used in the first place.
This quite simply isn’t a good idea.
One of the things that troubles me about the ready availability of machine translation is that it enables anyone to instantly translate Gaelic content into English and immediately be in what would otherwise be all-Gaelic spaces.
This creates two problems – firstly if the translation is correct, and secondly if the translation is wrong.
Let me explain.
Many years ago in the early days of the internet and before social media, Highland Council set up a Gaelic forum on their web pages. It was there to encourage people to discuss different issues in Gaelic.
It worked OK for a while but it was mainly un-moderated and English posting was also allowed and in the end, the posts in Gaelic were swamped by non-Gaelic speakers talking about ancestry and asking for translations for tattoos and suchlike. In the end, the conversation of Gaelic speakers was drowned out by non-Gaelic speakers and Gaelic speakers stopped using it.
This isn’t a big or important example but shows the effect that automatic machine translation can have. It leads to Gaelic being crowded out.
If you post in Gaelic on social media, you are doing so mainly because you want people to interact with your content in Gaelic. This doesn’t mean that you want it to be hidden, or for other people not to understand it, it just means you value the use of Gaelic. Instant Gaelic-English translation can take away a domain for the use of Gaelic to some extent by allowing unlimited access by non-Gaelic speakers.
If we can’t have a conversation within the Gaelic community in Gaelic about our community, what’s the point of even speaking or learning the language?
To be sustainable, languages have to have domains which only belong to that language and MT is a real risk to online and written domains for Gaelic.
If people have to make some effort to get a machine translation of what you’ve written, it’s one thing but if it is done very easily or even automatically, this is a different matter.
I’ve seen examples of websites where Gaelic contributions are automatically translated to English and where it isn’t immediately clear that it wasn’t originally written in English.
This is very concerning. Firstly, in addition to in-group communication within the Gaelic community, using Gaelic online for many people is about raising the profile of the language. Secondly and more importantly, automatic MT of content is rarely as good as the original.
At best, you will have the situation where people are reading your content in worse English than you could have written yourself. Bear in mind too that most Gaelic speakers find writing in Gaelic more difficult than in English and are less confident in Gaelic writing meaning that they have to put in more effort to write in Gaelic. Again, if there is automatic or very easy MT of Gaelic content this takes away the point of writing in Gaelic.
And if you write in Gaelic and non-Gaelic speakers are able to get an instant translation – or if the software translates it automatically, people will reply in English and before long it will be like the Highland Council Gaelic forum again. You might not be writing for English speakers, but with MT they become part of your audience whether you like it or not.
And that is all if the translation is correct! At worst, the translation will be wrong.
I am on Bluesky. With Bluesky there is a function to translate posts via Google Translate. .
I normally post in Gaelic and as an experiment, I’ve been looking at what translations would be given for my Gaelic posts.
As an advocate of public transport and someone with critical views of AI, I’m personally very sceptical about self-driving cars. I posted something recently referring to autonomous vehicles as “sgleò-bhathair” – vapourware. Google Translate translated this as “a piece of crap!”
This is ruder than I would have been! Vapourware is I suppose a pejorative term, but it does have an important meaning:
And this was just a post by me – not important, not contentious. Imagine, however, if a parliamentarian or a public body related to transport used the word “vapourware” in a meeting and quotes this in Gaelic in an official social media post by the organisation in question.
All it would take would be one journalist or social media user to click on the translation and you’d have a bunch of headline and angry tweets saying things like:
“[Insert public body/public figure here] calls self-driving cars a piece of crap”
I checked quite a few of my posts and a not inconsiderable number of them came up with inaccurate translations.
I don’t tend to post about any contentious issues or get political on social media as I have a day job where I have to be politically neutral. But it got me wondering if I need to check all my messages in “translation” to check they don’t inadvertently say something dodgy when translated by MT. This isn’t something that should have to be a consideration.
This made me think of an incident in the Scotsman many years ago which Ronald Black, the editor of the paper’s Gaelic content told me about.
If I remember the tale correctly, an article about Scottish Secretary Malcolm Rifkind started with the text: “Thug Malcolm Rifkind…”
Thug is the Gaelic for “gave” and sounds like the English word “hook”. It merely says “Malcolm Rifkind gave” but looking at it from the point of view of a non-Gaelic speaker you might read it as:
Evidently a complaint was received about how the article was impugning the character of Mr Rifkind!
This is the kind of thing that we may have to think about more and more.
Are we responsible for what people might read our Gaelic words as meaning though machine translation to English?
Of course not morally speaking. However, in practice, if you did have a situation like the “piece of crap” scenario above, that would hardly matter and you would be likely to see non-Gaelic speakers in the media pontificating about the meaning of words in a language they have no knowledge of and where the the voice of actual Gaelic speakers probably wouldn’t be heard in the matter. This wouldn’t end well.
There has been a lot of talk of “a right to be forgotten” online – that personal, outdated, or irrelevant data shouldn’t be kept or be available online when no compelling reason exists for it to be. I think we should have a “right not to be translated” as far as possible online and that minority language groups should advocate this.
MT is here to stay and people can always use it if they want, but automatic translation of posts should be something that the poster themself can control and turn off. There should also be more disclaimers about the inaccuracy of MT. And there should never ever be websites which automatically change all posts automatically to English.
If people really want to translate what I – or anybody else – posts on social media in Gaelic or Irish or Welsh or whatever, they can copy and paste into Google Translate so they can still read it but if it is automatic or too easy, it is very damaging for minority languages.
And after all, wouldn’t it be a boring world if Doctor Who started saying “let’s go” as a catchphrase rather than “allons y!”
Cha bhi mi a’ dol 1d clas air trèanaichean mar as trice. Tha dà adhbhar air seo. ’S a’ chiad dol a-mach, tha 2na clas math gu leòr agus tha e tòrr nas saoire. San dàrna àite, sna làithean seo chan fhaigh thu mòran a bharrachd ged a phàigheas tu tòrr.
Ach bho chionn ghoirid, dh’ionnsaich mi mu dheidhinn aplacaid gus àrdachaidhean 1d clas fhaighinn air prìsean ìosal. ’S e Seat Frog an t-àinm a th’ air.
Chan eil fios agam carson a thagh iad an t-ainm sin, ach thug e orm smaoineachadh mun òran Peace Frog leis na Doors!
Ma chuireas tu a-steach an trèana a tha thu gu bhith a’ faighinn, chì thu rùp airson na trèana agad. Cuiridh tu tairgse a-steach agus ma bhios tu soirbheachail, gheibh thu àrdachadh gu 1d clas.
Tha mi gu bhith a’ dol gu Liverpool. Fhuair mi fìor bhàrgan sa Ghreat British Rail Sale – tiocaid gu Liverpool agus air ais air £20!
Leis gun robh e cho saor, shaoil mi gum feuchainn Seat Frog airson na trèana dhachaigh bho Liverpool. Chuir mi a-steach tairgse airson £13, an tairgse a bu shaoire a bha ceadaichte airson na trèana sin.
24 uairean a thìde ron trèana, fhuair mi teachdaireachd ag ràdh gun robh an tagradh agam soirbheachail.
Bha e gu math spòrsail – coltach ri flutter beag! Agus mur a robh e soirbheachail, cha bhithinn air dad a chosg agus cha bhithinn air dad a chall.
A-nis bi cothrom agam 1d clas fheuchainn feuch cò ris a bhios e coltach.
Tha mi a’ faicinn buannachd no dà bho bhith a’ dol 1d clas.
Sa chiad dol a-mach, gheibh thu bòrd agus bidh e nas sàbhaiche – cha bhi stag night leis an deoch mhòr orra timcheall ort no dad mar sin mar a thachras gu tric air trèanaichean àbhaisteach. Ma tha agad ri obrachadh, is urrainn dhut a bhith cinnteach gum bi cothrom agad an laptop a chleachdadh agus a theàirrdseadh. Bidh mi a’ pàigheadh airson nan safarithean rèile agam le bhith ag eadar-theangachadh is ag ath-leughadh air an trèana agus mar sin, tha e gu math goireasach!
Rud eile a tha math – gheibh thu biadh is deoch an-asgaidh. Airson cuid de sheirbheisean gheibh thu greim bìdh leithid chriospaichean no cnothan no briosgaidean ach ann an cuid eile, gheibh thu biadh nas motha leithid paidh no coiridh. Ach gheibh thu srùbag air a h-uile trèana.
Agus is dòcha an rud as fheàrr, faodaidh tu a dhol a-steach do na seòmraichean-suidhe no “lounges” ciad chlas aig na companaidhean rèile. Tha an t-àite suidhe blàth agus goireasach le cofaidh agus greimean bìdh an-asgaidh. Tha sin gu math feumail air an oidhche no anns a’ gheamhradh, gu sònraichte ma tha obair agad ri dhèanamh air an laptop agad.
’S e an trioblaid a th’ ann gum faighear diofar rudan le diofar chompanaidhean rèile. Mar sin, bidh na gheibh thu eadar-dhealaichte air Trans Pennine Express, Avanti West Coast, Cross Country agus LNER agus mar sin air adhart. Agus chan eil seòmar-suidhne aig a h-uile companaidh anns a h-uile stèisean mòr.
’S ann le Trans Pennine Express a tha an tiocaid 1d clas agam, air trèana dhìreach eadar Liverpool Lime Street agus Glaschu Mheadhain. Tha mi air turas saor eile a chur air dòigh gu Leeds sa Mhàirt agus bheachdaich mi air a bhith a’ cur a-steach airson àrdachadh airson sin cuideachd. Tha mi a’ dol air dà dhiofar thrèana agus ’s ann dìreach air an dàrna thrèana a bha suidheachain 1d clas: eadar Lancaster agus Glaschu.
Liverpool Lime Street
Thug mi sùil air an rùp agus dh’fheumadh tu co-dhiù £30 a chur ann mar thairgse tòiseachaidh. Sin barrachd na cosg an tiocaid agam sa chiad dol a-mach agus cha robh mi idir deònach sin a phàigheadh – agus cuimhnich nach biodh ann an sin ach tairgse agus gur dòcha gum biodh agam ri barrachd air sin a phàigheadh airson àrdachadh fhaighinn.
A rèir coltais, tha eadar-dhealachadh mòr ann eadar diofar shlighean. Thug mi sùil air grunn sheirbheisean eadar Alba agus Lunnainn, cuid aca dhà no trì mìosan air falbh, ach bha cha mhòr an aon phrìs orra uile – £30 airson tairgse as ìsle san rùp. Cuideachd, bha e a’ cosg cha mhòr an aon sùim airson na slighe eadar Glaschu agus Lunnainn ’s a bha e a’ cosg airson turas tòrr nas giorra – dh’fheuch mi Glaschu gu Lunnainn, Carlisle gu Lunnain, Lancaster gu Lunnainn agus Preston gu Lunnainn agus bha an aon phrìs orra uile. Mar sin, ged a fhuair mi bargan an turas seo, chan eil e coltach gum bi e a cheart cho saor no furasta a h-uile turas.
Tha mi aithris air cò ris a bha an turas 1d clas agam coltach an seo às dèidh an turais.
Alasdair
Ag èisteachd ris: Na Doors. Tha seo gu sònraichte math:
A’ leughadh: “Through the Language Glass: Why The World Looks Different In Other Languages”, Guy Deutscher.
Chaidh sinn uile gu York bho choinn ghoirid airson deireadh seachdain. Bidh ìomhaighean deighe aca gach bliadhna agus shaoil sinn gun còrdadh e ris na nigheanan.
Tha an teaghlach air fad dèidheil air a’ bhaile – na taighean-tasgaidh, na seann toglaichean, na bùithtean agus na taighean-bìdh.
Ach ged is e saor-làithean teaghlaich a bha seo seach safari rèile, bhiodh e mì-mhodhail a dhol gu York gun a bhith a’ dol gu Taigh-tasgaidh Nàiseanta nan Rathaidean-iarainn!
Às dèidh madainn de bhith a’ coimhead air dràganan is trèanaichean is teadaidhean deighe, rinn mi air an Taigh-tasgaidh.
Gu h-iongantach, bha e doirbh a lorg! Uill, cha robh na toglaichean fhèin doirbh a lorg – tha iad gu math mòr – ach bha an t-slighe a-steach doirbh a lorg.
Tha seo mar thoradh air tòrr mòr obair leasachaidh a tha a’ dol air adhart sa cheàrnaidh seo den bhaile aig an àm seo. Thathar a’ togail York Central, leasachadh mòr ùr ri taobh an taigh-tasgaidh far an robh tòrr taobh-loidhnichean rèile (sidings) nach robh gan cleachdadh tuilleadh. Thathar a’ togail nam mìltean de thaighean, gnìomhachasan is eile ann agus mar thoradh air seo, tha an t-slighe a-steach àbhaisteach dùinte.
A bharrachd air sin, tha dà dhiofar thogalach san taigh-tasgaidh – an Talla Mòr agus Talla an Stèisein. Cha robh deagh cheangail eatorra – dìreach tunail fon rathad – agus cha robh e idir freagarrach a thaobh ruigsinneachd. Thathar a’ togail togalach ùr a bhios gan ceangal agus a bhios mar inntrigeadh ùr.
Mar sin, ged a tha an taigh-tasgaidh faisg air an stèisean, tha na dorsan a-steach sealach mu mhìle air falbh. Chan ann a’ gearan a tha mi, ge-tà – bha mi feumach air cuairt agus chòrd e rium coimhead air làrach York Central.
Airson a dhol a-steach, feumaidh tu a dhol seachad air Talla an Stèisein. Chuir seo dragh mòr orm oir bha iad air na loidhnichean rèile uile a-steach dhan talla a ghearradh agus robh ceangal rèile air an taobh sin den taigh-tasgaidh dhan lìonra nàiseanta tuilleadh. Seo an t-àite far am biodh iad gu tric a’ taisbeanadh locothan agus far am biodh cothrom ann uaireannan a dhol air tursan trèana goirid. (Chaidh mi air turas air a’ Hogwarts Express mu 15 bliadhna air ais mar eisimpleir!)
Bhris e mo chridhe agus ged a bha an Talla fhèin a’ coimhead gu math spaideil agus snog, ‘s e ceum mòr air ais a bhiodh ann mur a robh ceangail rèile ann tuilleadh. Bha e a’ coimhead mar rudeigin às dèidh Beeching.
Tha an trac seo uile air falbh a-nis
Gu fortanach, rinn mi beagan rannsachaidh às dèidh làimh is fhuair mi a-mach gu bheil ceangal rèile ùr gu bhith ann a tha gu bhith a’ tighinn bhon taobh eile agus tha iad an dùil tursan trèana ghoirid a dhèanamh air agus a chleachdadh gus trèanaichean a thoirt a-mach is a-steach dhan taigh-tasgaidh. Bidh gàrradh ann cuideachd le craobhan agus àiteachan picnic. Mar sin, ged a tha an taobh sin den taigh-tasgaidh a’ coimhead caran brònach an-dràsta, èiridh e a-rithist.
Ach ged nach eil ceangal rèile ann an-dràsta, tha an rathad-iarainn beag air ath-fhosgladh. Chòrd e rium glan!
Seo dealbh de mo nighean Ciorstaidh air an trèana bheag san taigh-tasgaidh nuair a bha i beag bìodach – tha i 20 a-nis!
Chaidh mi a-steach dhan Talla-mhòr an toiseach. Sin an t-àite far a bheil tòrr thrèanaichean ainmeil eachdraidheil bho na rathaidean-iarainn as tràithe chun na linn againn fhèin.
Bho na làithean as tràithe, tha dà Stevenson’s Rocket ann! Tha Rocaid fhèin ann agus mac-samhail a rinneadh anns na 1930s. Tha e fìor inntinneach oir tha Rocaid fhèin a’ coimhead dìreach mar a bha e às dèidh 50 bliadhna de dh’obair cruaidh ann an mèinn agus tha am modail dheth a’ coimhead spaideil mar a bha e nuair a bha e ùr.
Tha am Mallard agus Dutchess of Hamilton agus tòrr thrèanaichean cliùiteach ann ach chaidh mi fhèin ann gus cuid de na trèanaichean nas obscure fhaicinn, gu sònraichte an 4-Sub seo!
4-Sub, Taigh-tasgaidh Nàiseanta nan Rathaidean-iarainn
Rud a chuir beagan eagal orm is a dh’fhàg mi a’ faireachdainn aosta, ’s e gu bheil co-dhiù dà thrèana anns an taigh-tasgaidh a tha an aon aois rium fhèin! (Sin an Inter City 125 agus an Class 87 – chan e Stevenson’s Rocket no dad mar sin!)
Às dèidh dhomh sùil a thoirt air an togalach air fad, chaidh mi gu taobh eile an rathaid gus Talla an Stèisean fhaicinn gu ceart. Am measg rudan eile, tha trèana rìoghail a bha aig a’ Bhanrigh Bhictoria uair agus aig a ceann tha loco air a bheil Gladstone.
Bha mi a’ smaoineachadh air sin nuair a bha mi a’ gabhail srùbag anns a’ chafaidh àlainn faisg air an trèana sin goirid às dèidh làimh agus mi a’ leughadh leabhar mu eachdraidh na h-Èireann san 19mh linn – anns an robh gu leòr mu dheidhinn Gladstone agus Bhictoria! Bha e inntinneach a bhith ri taobh trèana spaideil Bhictoria – Banrìgh a’ Ghorta Mhòir mar a bh’ aig na h-Èireannaich oirre – fhad ’s a bha mi a’ leughadh mu strì an fhearainn is Parnell is Davitt is eile!
Tron leughadh agam bho chionn ghoirid cuideachd, leugh mi rud no dhà eile mu rathaidean-iarainn Shasainn agus poileataigs na h-Èireann san 19mh linn. Mar eisimpleir, chaidh Michael Davitt a chur an greim leis na polis ann am Paddington ann an 1870 airson a bhith a’ ruith ghunnaichean agus ann an 1884, spreadh na Fíníní boma ann an stèisean Bhictoria!
Bha ceanglaichean ceilteach eile ann – seo Richard Trevithick, an Còrnach a chruthaich a’ chiad trèana do luchd-siùbhail ann an 1808 agus am mapa seo de lìonra rèile na Cùirne – “The Cornish Riviera – England’s National Health and Pleasure resort – maximum of sunshine and equable temperature – winter and summer!”.
Tha Taigh-tasgaidh Nàiseanta nan Rathaidean-iarainn fìor mhath – agus bi e nas fheàrr buileach nuair a bhios an obair leasachaidh deiseil.
Alasdair
Ag èisteachd ri: Morbid Podcast. Eucoir, fortea agus feimineachas!
Air mo Khobo: Katharine O’ Shea, Charles Stewart Parnell: His Love Story and Political Life, 1914, 8/10; Shane Kenna: The Invincibles: The Phoenix Park Assassinations and the Conspiracy that Shook an Empire, 2017, 10/10 (Tha mi a’ dèanamh deep dive air eachdraidh na h-Èireann san 19mh linn an-dràsta!)
Tha mi air coimhead air grunn làraichean-lìn is aplacaidean an seo roimhe – cuid airson a bhith a’ clàradh tursan adhair is rèile is bus agus feadhainn eile le mapaichean is bharrachd. Cha robh làrach ann, ge-tà, a dhèanadh mapa dhut den a h-uile rathad-iarainn air an robh thu.
Cha robh gu beagan mhìosan air ais, co-dhiù!
Tha làrach-lìn ann a-nis air a bheil Viaduct.world far am faod thu a h-uile turas trèana a rinn thu a chlàradh agus a nì mapa dhut. Nas fheàrr na sin, tha i eadar-nàiseanta agus mar sin, faodar turas trèana sam bith san t-saoghal a chur ann. Agus tha i an-asgaidh cuideachd!
Cruinnichidh Viaduct.word stats cuideachd. Tha fios agam a-nis, mar eisimpleir, gun do shiubhail mi air 52% de lìonra rèile na RA agus 9% de lìonra na Beilge!
Na rathaidean-iarainn uile a rinn mi san RA
A bharrachd air na rathaidean-iarainn, faodar aiseagan a chur ris cuideachd.
Chithear na rathaidean-iarainn agus cuid de na h-aiseagan a ghabh mi ann an Èirinn is Manainn an seo:
Agus chan e a-mhàin rathaidean-iarainn sna lìonraidhean nàiseanta a ghabhas a chur ris oir tha tòrr de na rathaidean-iarainn glèidhte ann cuideachd.
An seo mar eisimpleir, chithear rathaidean-iarainn glèidhte Srath Spè, Baile nan Dubhach is Baile Chè agus Rathad-iarainn Cailleanbach Breichin.
San fharsaingeachd, chan eil na siostaman meatro no trama ann, leithid Underground Lunnainn no Subway Glaschu, ach tha an Tyne and Wear metro ann.
A bharrachd air loidhnichean, faodar na stèiseanan san robh thu a chlàradh cuideachd. Seo eisimpleir bho Shiorrachd Lannraig.
Chithear cuideachd na companaidhean rathaid-iarainn uile a chleachd thu:
Agus tha combaist ann de na turasan rèile agad:
Ma tha thu ag iarraidh mapa mòr de na tursan agad airson a dhol air a’ bhalla agada, nì iad sin dhut air prìs reusanta cuideachd.
Tha cothrom agad beachdan a chur a-steach air an làraich cuideachd agus tha na daoine leis a bheil Viaduct.world air leth cuideachail is deònach èisteachd ri molaidhean.
Seo làrach-lìn sgoinneil. ‘S e an aon rud a tha dona mu dheidhinn gu bheil e furasta cus tìde a chur seachad air….
Ma tha ùidh agad sna tursan rathad-iarainn agam, faodar am mapa agam fhaicinn an seo.
Cuiribh fios gun rùnaire (a_maccoinnich@hotmail.com) a dh’ iarraidh ceangal-lìn. Tha sinn a’ sireadh £5 o aoighean. Tha seo saor an asgaidh do bhuill – is faodar ballrachd-bhliadhnail a ghabhail – £25. Saor an asgaidh do dh’oileanaich.
Bho chionn ghoirid, bha mi ann an Lunnainn airson taistealachd roc is rèile – le beagan fortea cuideachd!
Às dèidh dhomh tadhal air Sràid nan Càball, rinn mi air Stèisean Aldgate an Ear gus an Underground a ghlacadh agus stad mi air an t-slighe aig comharra ionadail suaicheanta – the Aldgate Pump.
Pumpa AldgateAm Madadh-allaidh mu dheireadh an Lunnainn
Gu h-eachdraidheil, bha am pumpa air fhaicinn mar a’ chrìoch eadar Cathair Lunnainn agus Lunnainn an Ear. Nas cudromaiche na sin, tha deagh sgeulachd ann mu dheidhinn!
A rèir Wiki:
Served by one of London’s many underground streams, the water was praised for being “bright, sparkling, and cool, and of an agreeable taste”. These qualities were later found to be derived from decaying organic matter from adjoining graveyards, and the leaching of calcium from the bones of the dead in many new cemeteries in north London through which the stream ran from Hampstead
’S ann a bha muinntir an àite ag òl sùgh nan zombie!
Tha ceann madadh-allaidh air a’ phumpa cuideachd oir a rèir beul-aithris, ’s ann an seo a chaidh am madadh-allaidh mu dheireadh ann an Lunnainn a mharbhadh – ged nach eil luchd-eachdraidh a’ smaoineachadh gu bheil seo fìor idir.
Leis a sin bha an t-àm ann a dhol air safari rèile an latha. Tha mi a’ feuchainn ri dhol air gach rathad-iarainn san RA agus a rèir na làraich-lìn viaduct.world, tha mi air 52% den lìona a dhèanamh gu ruige seo (a’ gabhail a-steach Alba agus Èirinn a Tuath air fad agus mu 50% den Chuimrigh). Tha mi a’ feuchainn ris a h-uile rathad-iarainn a dhèanamh ann an Lunnainn a-nis agus tha mi air an Underground agus London Tramlink air fad a dhèanamh agus tha mi a-nis a’ cur crìoch air an Overground.
Chaidh ainmean ùra a chur air na loidhnichean Overground bho chionn ghoirid. Bha mi a’ dol air an loidhne air an robh am far-ainm “The Goblin line” roimhe – Gospel Oak – Barking Line”. A-nis, ‘s e an Suffragette Line a th’ oirre
Bha molaidhean eile agam airson ainmean nan loidhnichean, stèidhichte air a’ Chlash agus Big Audio Dynamite (an còmhla aig Mick Jones às dèidh a’ Chlash) ach cha deach gabhail riuth gu mì-fhortanach!
Bha mi ag èisteachd ris a’ Chlash air an trèana nuair a rinn mi air Gospel Oak gus an trèana Overground a ghlacadh.
Cha robh mi riamh air Loidhne nan Suffragette (no Loidhne Topper Headon mar a th’ agam air) roimhe agus bha ùidh mhòr agam san loidhne leis gun deach a leudachadh bho chionn bliadhna no dhà.
B’ àbhaist dhan loidhne a bhith a’ crìochnachadh ann am Barking, ach chaidh a leudachadh gu stèisean ùr Barking Riverside a dh’fhosgail ann an 2022.
Bha stèisean ùr a dhìth oir thathar a’ togail nam mìltean de thaighean ùra ann, air talamh fàs far an robh stèisean cumhachd Barking uair. Tha an rathad-iarainn ùr uile air drochaid àrd leis gum feum e a dhol thairis air a’ phrìomh rathad-iarainn aig Barking.
Stèisean Barking Riverside air latha fuar, fliuch geamraidhTrèana Overground aig Barking Riverside deiseil airson a dhol air ais gu Gospel Oak
Bha mi letheach slighe tron latha agus bha mi airson stad airson cofaidh ach a rèir coltais, tha meadhan a’ bhaile piosag air falbh bhon stèisean. Tha soidhnichean mòra air feadh an àite le “A place to be, become and belong” agus tha mi cinnteach gum bi sinn fìor uair no uaireigin ach an-dràsta, tha e a’ faireachdainn nach eil e idir deiseil agus tha e caran coltach ri baile spaideil ùr ann am meadhan Inbhir Ghrèinnse!
Leis gun robh e fuair is fliuch, chaidh mi air ais dhan stèisean agus fhuair mi an trèana gu Gospel Oak, far an do ghlac mi trèana eile gu Clapham Junction agus tè eile gu Barnes.
‘S ann ann am Barnes a chaidh an rionnag roc Marc Bolan a mharbhadh ann an 1977 ann an tubaist càr. Tha carragh-chuimhne a-nis ann far an d’ fhuair am Bolanach bàs agus ’s e “the Bolan Rock Shrine” a chanar ris air na soidhnichean agus air google maps.
Bha mi riamh deidheil air T-Rex, gu h-àraid nuair a bha iad rocmhor! Tha sinn builteach a bhith a’ smaoineachadh air a’ Bholanach mar sgrìobhadair òrain seach mar chluicheadair giotàir ach seall air a’ bhideo seo gus faicinn cho math ‘s a bha e!
’S e àite snog a th’ ann an le tiodhlacan beaga a dh’fhàg luchd-leantainn T-Rex à air feadh an t-saoghail, gu sònraichte ealachan (“Ride a White Swan”) agus losgannan (bhon òran “New York City”: “Did you ever see a woman coming out of New York City/With a frog in her hand?”)
Nis, bidh fios aig daoine a tha a’ leantainn a’ bhloga seo nach eil mi idir air an Kool Aid òl a thaobh AI. Dhearbhaich Marc Bolan fhèin gu bheil mi ceart a bhith amharrasach mu dheidhinn aon uair eile!
Ciamar? Bha an cluicheadair giotàr cliùiteach Peter Green (1946-2020) a stèidhich Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac mun aon aois ri Bolan, bha an dithis aca à Lunnainn an Ear agus bha an dithis aca nan Iùdhach agus iad an sàs ann an cèol sa bhaile aig an aon àm.
Ghooglaich mi “Did the musicians Marc Bolan and Peter Green know each other”.
Thuirt freagairt AI Google “There is no recorded evidence to suggest that Marc Bolan and Peter Green knew each other but they were involved in the London music scene at the same time so may have known each other”.
Bha trioblaid agam leis a’ choimpiutair is bha agam ri reboot a dhèanamh. Chuir mi an aon cheist a-staigh a-rithist agus thuirt freagairt AI Google:
“Yes, the musicians Marc Bolan and Peter Green did know each other…..” agus bha fiosrachadh a bharrachd ann mun dàimh eadorra.
A-steach dhan mhuir le AI.
Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, “Rattlesnake Shake”, 1970
Às dèidh cnuasachadh air Bolan is cho cudromach ’s a bha e dhomh, agus do chomhlain roc air a bheil mi dèidheil, ghlac mi an trèana gu Waterloo airson beagan spòrs mion-chànanach!
Air an t-slighe, fhuair mi an Waterloo and City Line, “an drèana” – loidhne bheag ach brèagha – gu Bank, is choisich mi gu Cannon Street gus an trèana a ghlacadh gu Blackheath. Tha “an drèana” car coltach ri Subway Ghlaschu, beag agus quirky.
Trèana Waterloo and City
Às dèidh dhomh coiseachd eadar Bank agus stèisean Cannon Street, ghlac mi an trèana gu Blackheath.
Carson a bha mi a’ dol an sin? Gus eachdraidh na Cùirne a chomharrachadh!
‘S ann an sin a rinn arm Shasainn a’ chùis air Ar-a-mach Còrnach 1497 agus chaidh plac a chur an àirde gus a chomharrachadh ann an 1997 gus 500 bliadhna a chomharrachadh.
Tha e a’ comharrachadh tachartas bronach ach tha e math Còrnais fhaicinn agus tha e daonnan na bhrosnachadh dhomh cho math ’s a tha ath-bheòthachadh na Còrnais a’ dol.
A’ bruidhinn air mion-chànanan, bha mi airson a dhol gu Twickenham far an do rugadh Dwelly gus dealbh a thogail den taigh san do rugadh e. Cheannaich mi lethbhreac den teisteanas breith aige agus rugadh e ann an Crown Crescent. Gu mì-fhortanach, ge-tà, cha b’ urrainn dhomh a lorg idir. Chan eil e ann tuilleadh a rèir coltais ach cha b’ urrainn dhomh a lorg air seann mhapaichean OS nas motha – ged a tha Crown Street agus taigh-seinnse “the Crown” ann. Feumaidh mi beagan a bharrachd rannsachaidh a dhèanamh!
Choisich mi tro phàirc àlainn Greenwich an uair sin a’ smaoineachadh air Dwelly agus Còranis agus ghlac mi an trèana air ais gu meadhan a’ bhaile airson biadh deochag agus an trèana dhachaigh.
“Ring! Ring! It’s 7:00 A.M.! Move yourself to go again”
’S ann mar sin a thòisicheas an t-òran the Magnificent Seven leis a’ Chlash. Agus bha an LP air a bheil e air m’ aire nuair a ruig mi Lunnainn aig 7:00m bho chionn beagan làithean air an trèana oidhche.
Bha mi air taistealachd roc is rathaid-iarainn mar thoradh air faraidhean saora aig a’ Chaledonian Sleeper gus suidheachaidhean (agus leapannan!) a lìonadh aig àm den bhliadhna nuair nach eil t-iarrtas cho àrd. Aig £35, ’s e bargan a bh’ ann.
An Cadalaiche, Euston, 7m
Cha robh mi gu bhith ann ach fad latha oir bha mi a’ dol air ais air an trèana air an aon oidhche agus bha gu leòr agam ri dhèanamh – safari rèile, taistealachd roc agus beagan ana-faisisteachd!
Tha mi air leth deidheil air a’ Chlash. Fhuair mi teip bho mo charaid Michael san sgoil air an robh measgachadh de dh’òrain bho the Clash (1977) agus bhon chlàr mu dheireadh aca Combat Rock (1982)* agus chòrd a h-uile rud air rium gu mòr – an stuth tràth puncach, an roc àbhaisteach agus an stuth neònach aca le rap is dub is eile.
Chan fhada gus an do cheannaich mi London’s Calling (1979) agus Give em Enough Rope (1978) – dà chlàr air leth fhèin math. Agus an uair sin, cheannaich mi Sandinista! (1980) clàr nach eil idir cho math – ’s e LP triopailte a th’ ann ach chan eil de dh’òrain matha air ach gus is dòcha aon LP a lìonadh – no fiù’s EP!
Ach tha na h-òrain air a tha math fìor mhath – leithid Magnificent Seven, Police on My Back agus Someone Got Murdered.
Chaidh mi a lorg an àite far an deach dealbh còmhdaich Sandinista a thogail. Agus bha mi ag èisteachd ri LP London Calling fhad’s a bha mi air an t-slighe. Ach an àite a bhith Lost in the Supermarket, bha mi air call air cùlaibh stèisean St Pancras!
Lorg mi an t-àite aig a’ cheann-thalla agus a rèir coltais, tha e nas glaine, soilleire, sàbhailte na bha e ann an 1980.
Nis, bha an Clash daonnan a’ seasamh gu daingeann an aghaidh gràin-cinnidh agus faisisteachd. Gu dearbha, tha òran air a’ chuspair sin air Sandinista fhèin.
They say the immigrants steal the hubcaps, of respected gentlemen, they say it would be wine and roses if England were for Englishmen again
Agus sgrìobh Mick Jones agus Joe Strummer bhon Chlash sàr-òran eile còmhla a’ moladh ioma-chultarachd dhan chòmhlan eile aig Mick – Big Audio Dynamite. Ann am Behond the Pale, tha Mick ag innse sgeulachd a sheann phàrantan air taobh a màthar, a bha nan Iùdhach a theich bho na pograman san Ruis agus a rinn dachaich dhaibh fhèin ann an Lunnainn.
Tha loidhnichean matha ann, leithid:
Saint George used his sword on the immigrant poor ‘cause he can’t kill no dragon, agus:
Don’t anybody know that this city was made of immigrant blood and money?
Seo fear de na h-òrain as fheàrr leam agus chunnaic mi BAD ga chluich beò ann an Glaschu ann an 2011.
Bha seo uile gu math iomchaidh oir b’ e an ath stad agam Sràid nan Càballan, Cable Street, ann an Lunnainn an Ear far an deach ruag a chur air na faisistich aig Mosely ann an 1936. Mar sin, rinn mi air Lunnainn an Ear – comin by bus or underground, hurrah, tra-la, mar a chanadh an Clash fhèin san òran English Civil War!
Ach an tòiseach, bha an t-àm ann airson beagan bìdh. Agus mar a thachair e, fhuair mi a-mach gun robh Wimpy faisg air Sràid nan Càballan. Bha mi gu math dèidheil air Wimpy nuair a bha mi òg, agus tha am biadh gam thoirt air ais do làithean sona m’ òige sna 1980an!
Bha luchd-obrach a’ Wimpy a’ bruidhinn ann am Bengali, cànan a tha gu math làidir san sgrìre.
Tha cuid de na soidhnichean anns a’ cheàrnaidh seo de Lunnainn an Ear dà-chànanach. Seo soidhne ann am Brick Lane mar eisimpleir. Dh’ionnsaich mi, ge-tà, nach e eadar-theangachadh air Brick Lane a th’ anns an sgrìobhadh Bengali idir ach Brick Lane (‘Brik Len’) sgrìobhte ann an dòigh-sgrìobhaidh Bengali. ’S e sin ri ràdh, nam biodh iad air Gàidhlig a chur air san aon dòigh, an àite a bhith a’ sgrìobhadh Slighe nam Briogaichean no rudeigin mar sin, s e Briog Lèin a bhiodh air. Tha e a’ cur nam chuimhne mar a bhios Tim Armstrong a’ cur litreachadh na Gàidhlig air a’ Bheurla sna leabhraichean sci-fi aige!
Às dèidh deagh bhiadh sa Wimpy, rinn mi air Sràid nan Càballan gus an dealbh balla agus plac fhaicinn mu Bhlar Sràid nan Càballan far an deach Mosely agus na Blackshirts a chur a-mach às an sgìre.
Cha d’fhuair iad seachadh – agus chan fhaigh iad seachad.
Às dèidh sin, bha an t-àm ann a dhol gu taobh eile a’ bhaile gus balach eile à Lunnainn an Ear a chomharrachadh – Mark Feld, no Marc Bolan mar as fheàrr a dh’aithnichear e!
Ri leantainn…. An ath thuras: Marc Bolan, zombie soup, Ar-a-mach Còrnach 1497 agus an Suffaragette Line
Alasdair
Ag èisteachd ri: “London’s Calling”, the Clash (1979), 10/10, “Sandinista!”, the Clash (1980), 1/10.
Air mo Khobo: “Rossa’s Recollections, 1838, 1898”, O’ Donovan Rossa
*Cha chanainn gu bheil Cut the Crap (1985) canonical leis nach robh Mick no Topper air, agus nas cudromaiche, a chionn ‘s nach eil e uabhasach math nas motha (ged a tha òran no dhà ann a tha math).
We need to talk about Gaelic and Machine Translation, specifically we need to talk about the use of unedited Machine Translation.
Machine translation (MT), most notably Google Translate has become increasingly common in recent years. Using MT at all raises many practical, ethical and philosophical questions and I could write a series of articles on this subject alone.
Today, however, I’m looking particularly at the use of unedited MT. This is quite simply when someone puts some text into Google Translate in one language and then uses the supplied translation without doing any editing or checking whatsoever on it.
If you don’t know a language and want to get the gist of what something is saying, Google Translate is a good and easy way to do it. However, it is highly likely to contain mistakes and hallucinations and isn’t a substitute for a real translation and a human opinion is always necessary for any important matter.
I’m raising the issue of unedited MT just now as I’ve seen it used a few times in real world situations in the last few months, including by public bodies which I find concerning.
I wrote a blog post last year about the lack of merchandise featuring Gaelic, where I believe the tourist and arts and crafts industries are missing a trick. At a couple of craft fairs and shops in the run up to Christmas, I saw a few products featuring Gaelic. I was delighted and was keen to buy some until I saw that the Gaelic was wrong, clearly an MT job by someone who doesn’t understand the language.
Then for Christmas, I was kindly given a Kobo e-reader as a present by my Mum. I was keen to see what Gaelic books were available. There were indeed many great Gaelic books available but also some books which were MT slop which were clearly English books fed into MT and put straight up on the internet for sale with cringeworthily bad Gaelic. Any Gaelic speaker would notice straight away but not perhaps a parent of children in Gaelic medium education or someone wanting to buy a book for a Gaelic speaking friend.
More recently, I wrote to ScotRail in Gaelic with a question about tickets (namely whether they planned to put RailBus tickets to Glasgow Airport on the ScotRail app). They said they don’t in fact reply to Gaelic correspondence in Gaelic but that I could translate their website content into Gaelic using an MT button on the website.
I’ve seen a few organisations suggest that the availability of an MT button on websites offering translation to many languages is provision for Gaelic and supporting the language. This shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the position of Gaelic which I’ll look into more below.
Most worryingly of all, a tech company which has supported Gaelic a lot in the past, using experienced translators has now moved some of its Gaelic provision from translators to unedited Machine Translation.
This has me very worried for the future of Gaelic reading and service provision.
Why? Let’s take a look.
Rupert, Rupert the bear!
OK – so where does Rupert the Bear come in?
My family are very big fans of Rupert the Bear. In fact, my parents actually had an ongoing argument as to what colour our plucky little ursine hero is – brown as shown on the cover of his books, or white as shown in the comic strips themselves.
Regardless of the colour of his fur, imagine that Rupert is having an adventure in Cornwall with some Cornish pixies or the like.
I am a big fan of the Cornish language and am impressed by the amazing progress made in the language revival over the last 100 years. However, there were some bumps in the road for the language, the most notable of these being a major fracture in the movement in the 1990s about the best written form to use. Cornish was largely revived from written sources and a great deal of the Middle Cornish available was written in verse.
Commentators in favour of placing more emphasis on the latest available written sources were concerned that putting too much emphasis on poetic language had a somewhat stilting event on the revived language.*
Linguistically, one of the key characteristic features of the Rupert adventures is that the stories are written in rhyming verse.
We’ll never have to recreate the English language based on Rupert the Bear (great fun though it would be) but imagine that we were basing machine translation into English on AI trained on Rupert comic strips.
“Machine translation is terribly new – And golly gosh it’s in poetry too!”
In a way, Gaelic machine translation is like that. Basically, what comes out in MT is dependent on what goes in as it depends on what is available in the target and source languages online.
For Gaelic, online sources are not medieval plays in verse or rhyming comic strips but are overwhelmingly translated official documents like annual reports, Gaelic language plans, educational resources, news reports and such like. It also contains a lot of old Gaelic books that have been digitised with OCD but never proofed and other “wild west web” type content. And even within the formal documents available, these are more likely to be documents about education or local service provision, rather than say relating to science or engineering issues. In terms of breadth, there isn’t a huge amount of literary, colloquial or lower register material available online (though social media has increased this to some degree).
This means that what is available is somewhat stilted to the formal and high register rather than more informal everyday formats. This isn’t ideal. It means that everyday subjects can sound more stilted than they would be in natural Gaelic.
“Move over rover, and let Jimi take over!” – MT and corpus
As a minority language, Gaelic isn’t as standardised as English.
Don’t get me wrong, Gaelic is very standardised by minority language standards and dialect difficulties are minor.
However, in the issue of terminology, Gaelic isn’t as standardised as it might be, particularly for new and specialist terminology. A lot of work is needed to make sure that terminology of this type is agreed, understood and used. This is a part of what is called Corpus Planning. The more text that is written in Gaelic, and the wider the range, the more important that Corpus Planning becomes.
How does MT relate to Gaelic corpus planning? It doesn’t. Not at all. In fact, it works against it.
If specialist and new words are uncommon and are therefore not all over the internet for AI to see, MT may not pick up on the words that translators and experts use and will simply invent its own terms which are not likely to be as suitable or as readily understood.
Another problem is that Gaelic often doesn’t make distinctions between things in specialist writing in the way that English does due to a historic lack of use in formal documents. In the example of a risk assessment, for example, the English might use risk, danger and hazard in the same document. In Gaelic, most people would use “cunnart” for all three in the first instance and in translation, careful thought would have to be given. MT would be simply likely to come out with cunnart, cunnart and cunnart!
Furthermore, MT is inconsistent. In their 1967 song “The Wind Cries Mary” the Jimi Hendrix Experienced asked:
“Will the wind ever remember, the names it has blown in the past?”
For Google Translate, the answer is simply no. It will not consistently use the same term for the same word. If you put a document into MT in a programme that breaks text into different fields or if you put material into MT separately, it will often come out with different words for the same thing.
“I feel fantastic” – hallucination / uncanny valley and context
Like AI in general, MT hallucinates. It particularly does this if there are typos or punctuation marks in the wrong places and as a translator, I can confirm that there are almost always small mistakes in the source text. If you are translating from Gaelic to English, the problem is worse as spelling isn’t often as consistent.
MT is prone to inventing place-names. You are fine for major placenames but again, for smaller placenames that aren’t all over the internet, it will invent English equivalents for Gaelic names (say small hills or glens in the Highlands where there is no English equivalent) or Gaelic equivalents for obscure English names which don’t have a Gaelic equivalent. I’ve found it is particularly keen on creating Gaelic names for Orkney and Shetland where it uses the Gaelicised Norse names in the Hebrides to invent similar Gaelic names for the Northern Isles! This undermines the good efforts of Ainmean-àite na h-Alba, lead national corpus planning group for Gaelic place-names.
Never forget, if in doubt, MT always prioritises sounding correct over being correct!
MT also creates an uncanny valley. It says things in Gaelic which are not wrong grammatically but are a bit strange and unnatural. If you were a language teacher, you’d say “well, that’s not wrong, but you just wouldn’t say it!”
Uncanny Valley – picture of Tara the creepy android who spawned many internet conspieracy tehries
Perhaps most importantly is context. Good translation requires context and often there isn’t enough in translations fed into MT to ensure that a correct translation is given.
This is particularly the case for websites, one of the areas where unedited MT is often recommended as a way of accessing Gaelic content by the website owners. A lot of web text, particularly buttons and headings, is short and without context.
This matters. Does “refuse” mean diùlt (deny) or does it mean sgudal (rubbish)? Does “open” mean open as an adjective or as a verb? I also recently saw some MT generated text where “charge” as in electrical charge was translated as financial charge and “current” was translated in a temporal rather than an electric sense. Without enough context, this issue will never be ironed out.
Idioms are an issue too. For common idioms, no matter how different Gaelic and English versions are, MT should be able to handle it to some extent. But for less common idioms, where they are not all over the internet in writing, this isn’t the case and this is never likely to be solved. I was wondering about what the Gaelic would be for “to hold a candle to” the other day. For “this doesn’t hold a candle to”, Google Translate suggested a literal translation: “chan eil seo a’ cumail coinneal ris” which is a heinous calque and just doesn’t make sense in Gaelic.
The moral of the story is:“Machine translation can be bad, use a human translation and you’ll be glad!”
Anna Frater and Steven King ** – Gaelic speakers and reading
When I started learning Gaelic at university back in 1991, the amazing Gaelic poet Anna Frater was my Gaelic tutor and I was also lucky enough to have speaking classes with Mina Smith.
As well as learning the language, I had a learning moment about Gaelic reading. I was sitting my Gaelic exam and Anna was an invigilator. She had a paperback with her which was in English.
The young, ignorant and somewhat patronising Alasdair asked himself “why does Anna have an English book when she could have a Gaelic book? If I was fluent in Gaelic, I’d read Gaelic books all the time”.
I’m really embarrassed looking back on this now. People should read whatever they like in whatever language they like and restricting reading of English on ideological grounds would just be silly.
More pertinently, what I didn’t realise then was that there were in fact almost no Gaelic novels in print at the time and that someone could probably read all the Gaelic books in existence in the span of a few years. Things have moved on a lot since then, of course, in terms of written Gaelic but the point remains. I was thinking with a monolingual mindset and didn’t understand that Gaelic speakers have a different relationship with reading Gaelic and reading English.
A monolingual mindset is often the problem here.
Very few Gaelic speakers are as confident in reading and writing Gaelic as they are in English. Many extremely fluent native speakers didn’t get a chance to learn to read Gaelic at school or aren’t confident in reading Gaelic. Many younger fluent speakers are L2 speakers of Gaelic or have more confidence in their English reading skills than in their Gaelic skills.
Often too, Gaelic speakers tend to read about Gaelic in a narrower range of registers or domains than they would in English due to the reading material available.
And of course, Gaelic speakers are bilingual and have access to a near-infinite amount of reading material in English whether it be for pleasure in the magical world of literature or for necessity in the world of work reports and gas bills!
For the reasons above, material in Gaelic needs to be good and easy to understand and as idiomatic and natural as possible or people simply won’t read it. Translation in Gaelic is about status as well as corpus. It is about creating good material in Gaelic that encourages Gaelic speakers to read and increase their confidence in reading. Using unedited MT undermines this.
Does anybody remember the happy days of the early 80s where you’d buy a TV, a new-fangled microwave oven or your first video recorder and the instructions would invariably be appallingly translated from Japanese or Chinese? We’d struggle with the English instructions because we had no alternative but we’d never choose to read material like that if we had a choice.
Remember the halcyon days of the early 80s when we were encouraged to use microwaves to make Sunday roasts?
Why then would anybody choose to use a button that translates a website or document from good English into flawed Gaelic that might well contain inaccuracies?
Using MT is great for working out the gist of something in a language you don’t understand (I use it for reading articles on Wikipedia about French railways for example) but quite simply, nobody would ever use it to translate material from a language they understand perfectly to a language which they are less confident in reading.
Another danger is that if anybody is monitoring the usage of Gaelic on automatic translation buttons on their website, it will give them the false impression that there is no demand for written material in Gaelic. What is actually means is that there is no demand for AI slop.
Poisoning the well
Using unedited Machine Translation is simply poisoning the well for written Gaelic.
I saw a good example of this recently when the Bluesky interface was translated into Gaelic. I saw somebody saying “I see that Bluesky has been translated into Gaelic but it will just be machine translation so I’m not going to bother looking at it”. It was in fact translated by a translator but the perception that it might be MT was enough to put this person off and I suspect that this is a feeling that many people have.
Quite simply, people won’t read things they know or suspect to be unedited Machine Translation. Even worse, readers might thing that MT generated slop has been created by an actual translator which might bring real, live translators into disrepute. Either way, the more unedited MT is used, the more people will be reluctant to read any Gaelic.
Economic and cultural effect
Using unedited MT has risks for translators by reducing the work available. There is also a bigger issue about the use of post editing of MT driving down the pay for linguists which I don’t have time to cover here. These are not just abstract figures, these are real people, people you’ve met at cèilidhs, people who taught you a song, a story, the genitive case or the dental blocking rule who are might now find themselves in the unenviable position of having to reconsider both the cost of living crisis and a potential career swerve.
Conclusion:
Unedited Machine Translation is bad for Gaelic and rather than creating a lot of Gaelic reading material at virtually no cost it can actually discourage Gaelic reading and impoverish the language and damage the Gaelic economy.
“Unedited MT is bad for us and for me, it’s time to throw it into the sea”
Alasdair
*I have no dog in the fight in the great Cornish orthography debate and am not an expert. I don’t know whether the argument about language written in verse is justified or not and I’m aware that the counter argument is a lack of later written material but I’m just using it here to illustrate a point. I am, however, delighted that there is a standard written form and that the language continues to grow and thrive. I think Gaelic has a lot to learn from Cornish.
**I don’t think the book was actually was Steven King but it makes good clickbait!
If you are still reading, don’t forget to check out the excellent punk version of the Rupert the Bear theme tune by the chronically overrated Sunderland band the Toy Dolls!
Tha mi gu math dèidheil an dà chuid air rathaidean-iarainn agus ceòl roc agus nuair a bha mi ann an ear-thuath Shasainn bho chionn ghoirid airson turas dhan Tanfield Railway, bha deagh leisgeul agam a dhol air taistealachd roc.
Nuair a tha daoine a’ smaoineachadh air ceòl punc, mar as trice, bidh iad a’ smaoineachadh air Lunnainn, dachaigh a’ Chlash is nam Pistols. Ach ’s ann a bha mi a’ dèanamh air Sunderland, às bheil an comhlain na Toy Dolls.
Ma tha thu cho aosta ’s a tha mi fhèin, bidh cuimhne agad air mar a rinn iad tionndadh punc de Nellie the Elephant air ais ann an 1983. Bha mi sa bhun-sgoil aig an àm agus cheannaich mi an clàr-singilte.
Dè am b-side? Fisticuffs in Frederick Street!
Tha na Toy Dolls fhathast ri ceòl punc sgoinneil. Bidh iad a’ sgrìobhadh òrain mu charactaran agus dol a-mach àbhaisteach ann an sgeamaichean comhairle ann an ceann a tuath Shasainn le tiotalan leithid Dougie Gyro, Barry the Roofer agus the Lambrusco Kid.
Agus eu-choltach ri cuid de chomhlain punc, tha iad fìor mhath air ceòl – tha Olga, an seinneadair, na chluicheadair giotàir air leth agus tha Tommy Goober na chluicheadair beus gun samhail. Mur eil thu air èisteachd riutha roimhe, mholainn an clàr beò a rinn iad air ais ann an 2004. Còrdaidh e ri duine sam bith a tha measail air punc no air meatailt.
Chunnaic mi beò iad ann an Dùn Èideann an-uiridh agus abair gun robh iad math!
Le cuideachadh bho Ghoogle Maps, fhuair mi a-mach nach eil Frederick Street ach 5 mionaidean air falbh bho stèisean a’ bhaile is mar sin, leum mi air a’ chiad trèana bhon Chaisteal Nuadh.
Frederick Street, Sunderland
’S ann mu chlub oidhche a bha air leth garbh a tha an t-òran agus mar a bhiodh daoine a’ sabaid ann.
Lorg mi Fredrick Street agus chan eil an club ann tuilleadh, ach tha an t-sràid fhathast ann agus bha e math a bhith ann far an robh Olga uair!
Às dèidh sin, agus ag èisteachd ris na Toy Dolls, rinn mi air an stèisean a-rithist.
Tha stèisean Sunderland inntinneach oir bidh an dà chuid trèanaichean air an lìonra nàiseanta agus trèanaichean aig an Tyne and Wear metro ga chleachdadh, air na h-aon tracaichean.
Chaidh mi ann air trèana Northern agus thill mi air trèana a’ Mheatro.
’S e deagh àm airson a bhith a’ dol air a’ mheatro a tha seo oir tha na seann trèanaichean bho thòiseach nan 80an a’ dol a-mach à seirbheis agus tha trèanaichean ùra a’ tighinn a-steach agus chithear an dà chuid an-dràsta.
