25 things to do with a Gaelic book - not including read it

“If you cannot read all your books, at any rate handle, or, as it were, fondle them–peer into them, let them fall open where they will, read from the first sentence that arrests the eye, set them back on their shelves with your own hands, arrange them on your own plan so that if you do not know what is in them, you will at least know where they are. Let them be your friends; let them at any rate be your acquaintances.”

Winston Churchill

1. Photocopy a page or paragraph, perhaps a poem, and enlarge it to a size you can read from several feet away, (without glasses, if you use them). Hang it up in the kitchen and read a bit when you're in there.

2. Play a talking book as background sound. Don't try to understand it, just let the sound wash over you.

3. Leave a Gaelic book lying around where you will see it. Pick it up if you feel like it, put it down when you want, but don't put it away.

4. Get hold of a copy of Brigh nam Facal, the Gaelic - Gaelic dictionary. Don't worry, it's designed for schools, so it's fairly simple. Look up a word. Look up any unknown words in the definition in the same dictionary. Do the same with unknowns in their definitions, and so on.

5. Revive the good old Librarything tradition of the book pile photo. You can post it on here by putting it on Flickr, click the "Share this" button, choose the "Grab the HTML/BCCode option, copy and paste into your message. Let's have a pile of Gaelic books and a mug - preferably a Gaelic mug.

6. Photocopy a page from a Gaelic book, and one from a Gaelic instruction leaflet, brochure or other non-literary source. Chop them both up with scissors into words and phrases. Select a few, push them around a bit, and see if you can make a poem of them. It'll look good stuck down on some coloured paper.

7. Use a Gaelic book for divination. When you have a decision to make, or encounter one of life's crossroads, concentrate on your question, let the book fall open at random, stick a pin in the page, and let the words it hits guide you. It doesn't fit? You're a human being with powers of self-deception - make it fit! Or you could always cheat by reading on until you find something more to your liking.

8. Improve your librarything listing, by adding information in the Common Knowledge section, scan in a missing cover picture, review it (see "Three Word Reviews" thread), rate it (one click! you can do it!) tag it.

9. Copy out one short poem you like, and carry it around with you for one week. Look at it at least once a day, more often if you can. Over the week, look up each word - even the ones you "know", paying attention to secondary meanings, Google some of them to see what associations you can make. At the end of the week, turn the paper over and see if you can write it out from memory.

10. Work out your five word score for at least 3 books, and post it as a tag, using the format 5W000 - see Five word scores thread.

11. Set yourself a target to get through a novel or prose book in a day, by reading the blurb, chapter titles and first and last paragraph of each chapter. It probably won't make much sense, but you'll know more about it than if you just leave it on the shelf.

12. Donate a few Gaelic books to your local library. Say, Teach Yourself or Gaelic in 3 Months, a small dictionary and one reading book. Buy them for the purpose. Someone will be glad you did.

13. Compile your own commonplace book or anthology of short Gaelic pieces - quotes, proverbs, riddles, short poems etc.

14. Type a poem or passage into wordle.net (not .com!) for a beautiful cloud graphic showing frequently used words larger. You can get rid of "tha" and "agus" etc, by right clicking on them in the graphic before you save it. Share a link here.

15. Design your own cover, with pocket for vocab notes and matching bookmark for any Gaelic book of yours with a less than attractive cover.

16. Use a small pile of Gaelic books to prop a rickety table leg, or as a doorstop. Well, you might as well, if you aren't doing anything with them.

The more perceptive among you may notice that this list falls short of the promised 25 things. That's so you can add some! Please. Pretty please?

>1 mta: Here's an example of a wordle graphic (see no 14 in list), using the words of the above post. There are many fonts and colours you can use, besides the one you see here. Click to see it full size.

Re 25 things...#13

The whole of a short poem by Donnchadh MacLabhruinn / Duncan MacLaren, in my mini-anthology.

If you need a translation, it goes

Exile Song

I am miserable
etc

A witty comment on the tendency of Gaelic song!

I'm frantically busy at work at the moment, but still checking in to RG.

My librarything tags as a wordle:



click to see full size

Thing No. 17 - incorporate as many Gaelic book titles as you can into a short poem. They could be your own books, books on Librarything (gaeliccollege and MacLeanRoom have thousands) or from the lists of the Gaelic Books Council (see Where to get Gaelic Books thread).

I have flagged superflat as a spammer, and changed this group so that only members may post. Shame it has to be that way.

Flag their profile, too, as a spammer.

Yeah, that's what I did. I couldn't block them as a member, because they didn't join. If anyone wants to try this lark again, they will have to join, and then their messages can be blocked. Unfortunately, it means that a casual RG reader cannot leave a message without joining, which is a pity.

This is actually one of the more active groups, so that may be what attracted their notice.

I'm guessing you've added flags to the messages, along with mine - it's good to have several - I think that means they'll get dealt with more quickly.

Some genuine posting would be more than welcome!

OK, that's weird. Spammer superflat now shows as blocked (to me, anyway), even though I'm sure they did not join RG. Anyway, we don't miss them, and that's enough time spent on spammers.

So, how about a genuine post on this or another thread? I am not able to post every day at the moment, and it's difficult to motivate myself when there's no response. I think some of you are doing some Gaelic reading - how's it going? If you feel you can't say much about Gaelic reading, try asking a question. Or answer one of these:

What is the thing that you find most offputting about reading Gaelic? (I'm assuming from the lack of response that not many people are actually doing any Gaelic reading).

Has anyone tried any of the ideas posted in this group? How did it go?

Perhaps you have some ideas of your own? Please share.

I am reading, just don't always get the chance to post (I'm blaming the pesky bf who is presently pestering me for the computer)
I find the most offputting thing about reading Gaelic is how slow-going it is. I just need to keep practicing =o)

>17 mta: A short poem composed entirely of book titles from my collection:

Chì mi
Eadar baile is beann
Gealach an fhais:
An claigeann aig Damien Hirst

I see
Between township and hill
A waxing moon:
Damien Hirst's Skull

See? It can be done - I didn't say it had to be a good poem! : )

And just to prove it:

Two more book title poems:

Chaill sinn Granaidh
Seanfhacail is Seanchas
Sgeulachdan an da-shaoghal:
Language Death.

We lost Granny
Sayings and folklore
Tales of the other world:
Bàs chànain.

Chi mi
Na dragain crosda
Abair flùraichean!
Abair aotromachd!
Obair-iarainn Ailteireil ann an Steòrnabhaigh

I see
The angry dragons
What flowers!
What lightness!
Architectural ironwork in Stornoway

If the second one looks odd, it's because I'm trying to see if I can get the touchstones in as well.

To play this game, your poem must consist entirely of book titles - no "filler words" allowed, but you may repunctuate! You may run as many titles as you like together, and you may use a title more than once.

Happy hunting!

Edited for typo

Thing no. 18 - use as mouse pad while feebly typing from sick bed....I have a bad cold and not up to posting at the moment. Once I get over it though, I should have a little more time. Cough. Splutter. Sniff.

OK, convalescent now, and milking it for all it's worth. Deep snow outside - the garden looks like a Christmas card, complete with robin, who comes to the windowsill if I am a bit late putting out his food. All in all, a great excuse for curling up with a good book...

Thing no. 19 - put a small sticker dot on the spines of your Gaelic books. Colour code them to show which books you have read at least some of, and which ones you have actually finished, which have been more than 10 years on the shelf unread etc. I'm going to do this to help me keep track of my project to have read at least some of every Gaelic book I own by next winter. For me, this is better than marking the inside of the book, as the mute reproach of all those little dots will be visible whenever I look in the direction of my Gaelic shelves.

Thing no. 20 - only five to go! This is one I've mentioned elsewhere, but it might as well be collected here too. If you come across Gaelic books in a public library - borrow them! No need to read them, just give them a change of scene, and take them back again. A recent date stamp will help to extend their shelf life, so that they are there for the next Gaelic reader. Something I like to do is leave a homemade Gaelic bookmark inside, as a little surprise for the next reader. Of course, if you should happen to glance at a sentence or two, there's no harm done.

Thing no. 21- Arrange your Gaelic books by spine colour, in rainbow order, plus white, grey, black and brown. Are there colours missing? What books could you buy to fill the gap?

There are many ways to arrange your books - why not try something different, instead of just leaving them to collect dust? Just the act of moving them around might prompt you to have a quick peek into some of them.

Other book arrangement suggestions welcome.

Only four more Things to go - can you add one? Don't forget, these are non-reading suggestions - though if a tiny bit of reading is involved, we, on Reading Gaidhlig, are not going to object!

Thing no. 22 - Take a nice, thick book - Dwelly would be ideal - and use a scalpel to turn it into an amazing work of art, like these:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/briandettmer/

I feel very ambivalent about these - I hate to see any book destroyed, and yet the results are so beautiful. Dwelly is still in print, so perhaps it would not be too awful to sacrifice one copy...

> 15 Another book title poem photo. Original poem and translation in message 15 on this thread.



Some "cheating" involved where Gaelic titles were not on the spines / the book was so thin there was no spine. But no cheating on the titles themselves.
I hadn't previously noticed that the Gaelic title is sometimes replaced by English on the spine. I'll have to look and see how often this happens.

Things to do with your books: all (well, some of) the verbs on this thread. Made at wordle.net. Click to see bigger.



Oh yeah, and there's always "READ".

Thing number 23: Buy them.

"It is uphill work getting Gaelic books sold…I find that when they know that a book of that kind has been printed they…come to the conclusion that they can get the loan of a copy from some acquaintance."

Archibald Sinclair, publisher 1875

Still true? Reasons to buy Gaelic books, even if you can't read them yet.

1. Gaelic textbooks and dictionaries have a very long print life, but everything else goes out of print very quickly, so if you wait for the day you have the time and the knowledge, the books you want may not be available.

2. Just having the book is a step closer to your Gaelic reading goals. You can't read a book you haven't got.

3. You care about Gaelic, right? Spend some money on it. Why expect the Government to do so, if you don't? Give yourself a Gaelic budget for the month/year and spend that on books, music, etc. Supporting Gaelic authors, musicians, artists and publishers supports the language itself - far more (IMHO) than Gaelic signage or token corporate brochures.

Thing number 24: write one.

There is currently no Gaelic translation of one of the bestselling books in recent years - Harry Potter. The book has been translated into many languages large and small, but a Gaelic version is sorely missing.

So:

1. Buy the English version of the first book (it's the shortest one and to be honest, does not pose too many challenges in terms of non-magical vocabulary), get out your dictionary and start translating.

2. Translate a sentence, a paragraph or even a page a day (or a whole chapter if you have nothing else going on).

3. If vocabulary fails you, consult the Irish version and see what they have done. Find the Gaelic equivalent (or - even better - find a more suitable Gaelic word).

4. You will probably get into trouble sharing your translation far and wide, but if you have access to a learner or speaker group, share it with them to see what they think. Better yet, be competitive and have everyone translate the same passage and see who comes up with the best / most entertaining / surpassing-the-original version.

5. Sell your translation to Bloomsbury Publishers.

6. After you have tried your hand at translation, write your own book.

There isn't a Gaelic translation of Harry Potter? Odd given the nationality of the author.

>24 feelah:/25 Yay! Postings at last! No, there is no Scottish Gaelic translation of Harry Potter, not even of Philosopher's Stone (the first, and easiest).

Some children from a Glasgow Gaelic medium unit wrote to the publishers and asked for one. They were told there were "no plans" to produce a version in one of the languages of the country in which it was written, and a lot of it was set (though you'd hardly know it from the text). So they wrote to JKR, whereupon a "forthcoming" translation was speedily announced by Bloomsbury. I imagine the dialogue went something like this - JKR: Jump! Bloomsbury: How high?

Despite this, not a syllable more has been heard about it in what must be five or six years now. My Amazon pre-order is growing whiskers.

I imagine the problem is to find someone competent to do it, AND willing to spend a great deal of time on the task with little or no reward upfront.

Frankly, such a person would have better things to do. I am a Harry Potter fan (yes, now it can be told), and given the depressing quality of most HP translations in minority languages (and even some major ones), and the fact that the whole thing has somewhat gone off the boil now, I doubt if it would have much impact. Of course, I'd buy it immediately, but to tap into what's hot with young readers now, you'd be better off translating the (awful, by all accounts) Twilight saga.

Opportunity well and truly lost, I think.

Unless you count my version...

I produced a Gaelic version of Books 1-6 - all that were published at the time. As you can imagine, it was an immense labour of love, to which I devoted very nearly my whole...evening ; ). Of course, I had to cut it down, somewhat, lose a few (hundred) minor characters and cut to the chase.

Sample dialogue:

Harry: Why did Voldemort kill my parents? Why is he trying to kill me?

Dumblefore: Tell you later.

Complete with over twelve painstakingly scribbled illustrations.

I do like the idea of writing one's own Gaelic book, however. It's not that hard. How about an alphabet book. Only 18 letters! Just look up a noun for each one. You can theme it around things you like, and illustrate it with photos, or your own artistic endeavours. A airson ailbhean = A is for elephant - off you go!

Edit - mis-spelled ailbhean - aaargh!!

Thing number 25 - on a roll today! Take any Gaelic book you have read at least a reasonable chunk of, and write to the author, saying how much you appreciated their work. Gaelic writers don't make any actual money, and could do with some encouragement. They won't mind if you have to write in English, but even a bad Gaelic letter would mean so much.

I thought I'd like to get the 25th Thing in myself, but there's no reason to stop there - please feel free to add and comment. Have you tried any of these? How did it go? We want to know!

What about creating an audio podcast from out of copyright books and posting them on your blog (anonymously or with a non-de-plume if you prefer)? Good speaking practice, students can listen and learn, and you might get feedback from subscribers/readers of your blog, not to mention you create interest in a long-forgotten Gaelic book that may be of interest to others?

I like the idea of creating my own alphabet book. May give that a go.

Is the Gaelic Harry Potter on Amazon? Perhaps if more people pre-order it may arrive. Do you have a link?

Here is the link, but it looks like it's dead. It is still billeted to come out in July 2010 (and coming out at an oddly even 250 pages), so it has most likely been abandoned somewhere along the way:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Harry-Potter-Philosophers-Stone-Scottish-Gaelic/dp/15823...

A real shame, and yes, a great opportunity lost, especially seeing how well the Welsh edition turned out back in 2003 (doubtless with a hefty subsidy from the Welsh Assembly).

Love the idea of an audio podcast, but why stop there? Round up Gaelic speakers around the world (let's not forget the Canadians!) and have them read a 'classic' Gaelic book on Youtube. The Spanish Academy did that with Don Quixote, and although that is quite a giant in whose footsteps to follow, one should never be intimidated.

Let's make it 50 things to do with a Gaelic book.

Not so keen on youtube, but I do listen to audio podcast books (and blogs) on my iPod during my commute to and from work. There are some sites that have speakers telling old stories from folklore and myth about the web, not easy to find though.

I make that at least 3 great ideas there. 50 Things -I like your style, Feelah! I hope people will contribute plenty - and don't forget to number them.

Let's call "audio podcasts of out of copyright books" Thing number 26 - a nice, straightforward idea that is easy (-ish!) to do, benefits both the reader and the listener, and gives flexible listening opportunities.

And let's call "reading out of copyright books on YouTube" Thing number 27. It's not everyone that wants to put their face "out there", but it is definitely easier to understand when you can see the speaker's lip movements. Alternatively, you could show the book page, vocab in English, or some other relevant pictures and just have the voice on the soundtrack. This might be a good one for short pieces, like a proverb or haiku.

Of course, both of these stray into the territory of "reading" - but hey! we like that.

#28: Get a pocket-sized Gaelic book and take it with you wherever you go. Stick it in your back pocket, making sure the title shows; put it in your lap when riding on the tube; browse through it as you are stuck in a tunnel somewhere waiting for a signal failure to be fixed (it won't) - people will be looking over your shoulder trying to figure out what language it is / might even ask you. If they don't and you are left staring at the page, you will at the least have time to pick out a word or two even though you might not be able to understand anything else. Liberate the books from the shelf and let them show their face to the world.

Okay, I'm done for today.

> 32 I like this one very much! And because I've just learned to do this, here is a little poll for you:.

> 26 and 28

For anyone inspired to create their own alphabet book, here is the Gaelic tree alphabet:



Taken in Caol Loch Aillse - Kyle of Lochalsh last summer (remember summer?). These signs adorn the railings of Kyle Recreation Ground, and the relevant tree is planted next to most of them.

For alphabet book makers, "H" is technically not considered a letter of the alphabet, since its only job is to mark lenition. The only two things I can think of beginning with H are both placenames - Hiort and Na Hearadh (St Kilda and Harris). So, that means only 17 things to look up and illustrate!

Thing no. 29 - Send one to the International Space Station for their library. A recent LT blog item highlighted the library of the ISS, which now has an account here: http://www.librarything.com/profile/IntlSpaceStation

There are about 100 books being boldly read where no man has read before, including an almost alarming amount of science fiction, War and Peace and (brilliant choice) a collection of Jeeves stories by P G Wodehouse. Incredibly, among their extensive DVD collection, they have Apollo 13, which is a bit like having Snakes on a Plane as your in-flight movie!

So, what could be better to kick back with after a hard day's spacewalking than a Gaelic book? It could be the ideal learning environment (no neighbours dropping round, no can't wait DIY jobs etc). Then again, what could be more refreshingly different from the daily routine on the Space Station than grappling with a prepositional pronoun or two?

Obviously Teach Yourself or similar and a dictionary would be useful, but what can we suggest for reading material? Some early mediaeval poetry, perhaps, or something less demanding, like the Tale of Squirrel Nutkin? Perhaps a bilingual book would stand the best chance of acceptance, and certainly something small and light would be good.

Whatever, it has got to be better than Elfstones of Shannara - if I ever get up there, that's going straight out of the airlock!

Suggestions for Gaelic space reading, please!

typo edit

PS Interestingly, they don't have either a Bible, or a complete works of Shakespeare. Perhaps the latter would be a bit too much for the payload (though I have a miniature set that would do nicely), but I'm really surprised there's no Bible.

Thing no. 30: Blog, facebook, tweet or just marvel at your wacky statistics, courtesty of LT's spiffy new feature.

If you stacked all your Gaelic books in one tottering pile, how high would it be? Mine would be 2'6" short of a double decker bus. From garden gnome to Eiffel tower, see how your Gaelic collection measures up. You can see the stats for individual collections, or all your books.

Some of the stats are actually quite useful - the Billy bookcase measure, for instance. Having found that all my Gaelic books will fit into one medium-sized Billy, with some room for expansion, I'm seriously considering it. It does straight shelving footage / metres as well.

For truly impressive Gaelic collections, see gaeliccollege and MacLean Room.

Are your books worth their weight in gold, at today's market price? Find out via the stats tab on your LT profile, or the link in the LT blog (see bottom line of every LT page).

Do share here on RG anything that makes you giggle, gasp or groan!

Thing no. 31 - put a bookshelf tour film on YouTube.

It can be very simple, or stylish, with a rocking soundtrack, like this one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxCt4tzOAsM&feature=related

featuring what must be one of the finest Teen Gothic collections ever assembled. Not my personal reading choice, but a brilliant film.

Even if your Gaelic collection is very small, it can be done.