Developing new Gaidhlig Software!

Teicneolas cainnt is cànan, bathar-bog ionnsachaidh / Laguage and speech technology, learning software
Windigo
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Developing new Gaidhlig Software!

Unread post by Windigo »

Ciamar a tha sibh?! I'm in the process of developing a new freeware language immersion program for all those who may be interested in picking up Gaidhlig. This is going to be a free download similar to the Rosetta Stone program (if anyone is familiar), however, I'd like a little input from all of you on this forum on what they might like to see in this new program. Of course, I'm also open to anyone who would want to get involved and give me a hand in developing this thing. Get in touch with me if you care about the preservation and expansion of the Gaidhlig community as much as myself. And of course, I would truly appreciate any ideas presented by all forum members. Thank you all, and I hope to hear from you soon!


Seonaidh
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Re: Developing new Gaidhlig Software!

Unread post by Seonaidh »

I'm in the process of developing a new freeware language immersion program
Foillsichidh seo nach eil tuigse agaibh air na tha "language immersion" a' ciallachadh.
Dengys hyn nad oes deallturiaeth gennych am yr hyn mae "language immersion" yn ystyried.
Níall Beag
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Re: Developing new Gaidhlig Software!

Unread post by Níall Beag »

Windigo wrote:Get in touch with me if you care about the preservation and expansion of the Gaidhlig community as much as myself.
That is the most patronising and presumptious thing I've heard in a long time.

Among the members of this forum you have:
* An employee of one of the main Gaelic development companies who is in charge of the only Gaelic jobs list on the web.
* Someone who is just finishing off his book on the phonology of Gaelic, who has previously digitised a dictionary and runs one of the most useful sites for the serious learner, as well as teaching and tr*nsl*t*ng and carrying out research projects for major universities. Oh, and tr*nsl*t*ng FireFox.
* The man behind several dictionaries and several different interfaces to them as well as teaching computing in Gaelic at Scotland's only Gaelic-only college.
* The guy responsible for the Guthan nan Eilean project, which has given learners the highest quality video learning resources available, and that material is free, to boot.
* Even the chairman of the government body responsible for coordinating and funding public Gaelic initiatives posts here.

Me? I'm just another learner, but please don't go insulting people by saying stupid things like that.
faoileag
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Re: Developing new Gaidhlig Software!

Unread post by faoileag »

Windigo,

To maybe clarify where Niall's understandable irritation is coming from, you appear to have come on here and posted - no doubt with entirely good intentions - in total ignorance of anything anyone else on here has posted, let alone what they currently do and have actually done for Gaelic - a vast amount, including software research and creation you should be aware of before re-inventing the wheel.

Your enthusiasm is commendable, and a fresh approach is never a bad thing, but it is plain foolish not to research what is already out there and take it into account before jumping into something new and challenging. It's more productive to cooperate, rather than compete. It's also just bad internet manners to post on a forum without an elementary check into what's already on there, never mind who.

Want to start again? 8-)
I'm happy to give you another chance, anyway! :D
Windigo
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Re: Developing new Gaidhlig Software!

Unread post by Windigo »

Perhaps, my intentions have been deeply misinterpreted. But, perhaps I myself have completely misinterpreted the intentions of this forum, where as I believed this to be a haven for great minds to collaborate with one another on the preservation of this beautiful language, and to educate others so that they might, in turn, be able to offer their own ideas as well. Quite honestly, I’m disappointed to see my intentions completely misconstrued into something so ill-natured, seeing as that I too, like those mentioned who have generously dedicated copious amounts of their own time to preserving our community, only wish to play my own part. I’m quite certain that the introduction of a new free program can’t necessarily be considered ‘competitive’ by any means, seeing that the subject of which we’re speaking is the preservation of a culture… not a football game, homie. Nìall, I understand where you’re coming from, and I thank for voicing your concerns; it’s those whom you had mentioned who were my intended audience, and I thank you for permitting me the chance to clarify myself… but try to handle yourself with a little more dignity the next time you try to piss all over a good man, with good intentions. At any rate, I’m Scottish… you don’t really want to piss me off ;)

I am, indeed, still looking for a few educated and professional individuals who would like to help me out. I won’t be deterred, and I refuse to let the culture of my ancestors die… Let’s be realistic, our community will cease to exist within only a few generations if we can’t pull ourselves together. Now is not the time for brotherly feud. Now is the time for action. Who's with me?
faoileag
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Re: Developing new Gaidhlig Software!

Unread post by faoileag »

Hi Windigo,

From what you say now, your original post did indeed need clarifying. Hence the reactions.

Can you be more specific about what you are doing and in what way you need help/cooperation? I suspect that the most active and qualified people who post on here are not necessarily going to have time for external projects - their own projects and their day jobs mean that they (like me) probably sleep very little as it is :priob: - but perhaps others can contribute if it's made clear what is needed.

If you haven't already done so, post on the websites/forums/mailing-lists of all the relevant Gaelic organisations etc, and on the Gaelic-interest Facebook pages etc, to optimise your readership.

See the 'Gaelic Organisations' list + misc. links here: http://www.foramnagaidhlig.net/index.php?page=28


By the way, I'm going to ask Admin to move this thread to the appropriate section of the Foràm, Leasain na Gàidhlig / Gaelic Lessons, as its not actually bilingual, so don't panic if it's not where you think.

Gur math a thèid leat.
Níall Beag
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Re: Developing new Gaidhlig Software!

Unread post by Níall Beag »

Windigo wrote:Nìall, I understand where you’re coming from, and I thank for voicing your concerns; it’s those whom you had mentioned who were my intended audience, and I thank you for permitting me the chance to clarify myself… but try to handle yourself with a little more dignity the next time you try to piss all over a good man, with good intentions. At any rate, I’m Scottish… you don’t really want to piss me off ;)
See, now you're just continuing to patronise people. I I am Scottish. I was born and brought up in Scotland, and have lived all but 4 months of my life in Scotland.

You are, as far as I can see, American. It's not the fact that you live in America that tells me this, it's that you refer to people as "homie".

Not only is it patronising, but it's completely racist in that it suggests there's something particularly violent about Scottish people. You are basically calling me a thug.

Dignity? Try humility, pal.
GunChleoc
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Re: Developing new Gaidhlig Software!

Unread post by GunChleoc »

Can we all please step back, take a deep breath and count backwards from 10? :sith:

Sìth, gaol agus ainmhidhean beaga mothtanach mar a chanas 'ad Image
Oileanach chànan chuthachail
Na dealbhan agam
Windigo
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Re: Developing new Gaidhlig Software!

Unread post by Windigo »

Níall Beag wrote:You are, as far as I can see, American. It's not the fact that you live in America that tells me this, it's that you refer to people as "homie".

.... You are basically calling me a thug.
Speaking of racist.... "homie" is ebonics for friend. Why do you feel the need to negatively connotate the word "homie" with thuggery?

Dude, you're an absolute idot! If you don't have anything positive to say... then GTFO! :naireort:

P.S. - All my co-workers are laughing at you... :moladh:
alsaf
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Re: Developing new Gaidhlig Software!

Unread post by alsaf »

If I could add an opinion to to this topic.

I too was thinking along the lines that Windigo was proposing. A number of factors changed my mind about this. The biggest factor was that I would not be able to devote a lot of time due to holding down a job and the simple fact I am learning the language and need to spend a bit of time get a refresher on my C++ coding skills. Another one was as mentioned, duplication where there are many pieces of software out there that perform part of what I wanted to achieve. The last factor that changed my mind from going it 'solo' was that I found the KDE Education project which has a language category. The email address is here:

http://edu.kde.org/applications/language

With this project, you have an active community who is willing to develop, test and host additional files for distribution like the vocabulary file that I mentioned in my other post. Another important thing to keep in mind that KDE is a large non-profit organisation who can give a lot of publicity to your software. It is no use if you can create a great program if nobody knows about it unless you want to devote a lot of time going from forums publicising it.

As a final thought, the KDE Education language category might be a small at the moment but maybe a program could be developed so that all these individual programs are linked to form a 'language immersion environment'?
faoileag
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Re: Developing new Gaidhlig Software!

Unread post by faoileag »

Thanks for a thoughtful (and defusing) post, Alsaf.

Widigo, annoyed though you might be, you're also misunderstanding Niall, so you don't have a monopoly on being misunderstood. This is an international forum, so a bit of cross-cultural give-and-take is required. The 'thuggery' reference has nothing to do with 'homie' (that was the 'American' reference) but with your implication that you shouldn't mess with a Scot. I personally think that was intended as humorous, but Niall evidently didn't.

ANYWAY, back to the topic. :spors:

If you want help/cooperation, you need to be more specific.
(Forget the arguments - ignore each other, both of you, if you can't disagree civilly).
Use the chance.

At least people are reading the thread, and you've had one considered, relevant response already, as well as perfectly civil questions and suggestions from me. :priob:
Níall Beag
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Re: Developing new Gaidhlig Software!

Unread post by Níall Beag »

faoileag wrote: The 'thuggery' reference has nothing to do with 'homie' (that was the 'American' reference) but with your implication that you shouldn't mess with a Scot.
Exactly.
I personally think that was intended as humorous, but Niall evidently didn't.
I'm pretty sure it was intended as humour, but that doesn't stop it being racist. If I had a black grandfather and made some remark about me being black and therefore liable to "pop a cap in yo ass", that would be racist as it expresses a negative attitude towards one particular group. This is no different.
ANYWAY, back to the topic. :spors:
Quite.

Right, on a more serious note, have you had a look at LiveMocha.com? There's already a half-finished Gaelic course there and the course draws heavily on the Rosetta Stone way of teaching.

A good first step in your research would be to try out a LiveMocha course (a free one -- the paid-for ones are different) and see what you can do differently/better. Unfortunately you won't be able to do the Gaelic one, but the course works the same for all languages anyway. If you think it would do everything you want, why not encourage more people to get involved in building that course? You can then work on another idea that would complement the course, rather than reinventing the wheel. If it doesn't do quite what you want, the simple act of having gone through one or more of their courses will give you a better insight into what your course should do.

It's great that you're soliciting ideas, and I appreciate that you want this to be a community project rather than "your" project but right now the core brief is rather vague, and you're only going to get buy-in from others if you can present a more specific vision.
Gràisg
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Re: Developing new Gaidhlig Software!

Unread post by Gràisg »

Glad to hear LiveMocha Gàidhlig is still there, I did click on a few hundred entries to help them get approved but haven't been back for a while. As Niall suggests that's probably a really good place to help out.
Níall Beag
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Re: Developing new Gaidhlig Software!

Unread post by Níall Beag »

Do you speak Java? I came across an interesting project that appears to have stalled -- Nikamo. It's open source and it's nothing special, but you could create your app as an additional module, and maybe share images and words/phrases with the other modules.
Polygot2017
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Developing new Gaidhlig Software!

Unread post by Polygot2017 »

So did this software ever see the light of day? If so, I'd love to try it.
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