Motherfoclóir

By HeadStuff Podcasts

Dispatches from a not so dead language. Hosted by Darach O'Séaghdha and The Irish For… @theirishfor (https://twitter.com/Motherfocloir) Follow the show on twitter @motherfocloir or email us at motherf... more

4.8

161161 ratings

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FAQs about Motherfoclóir:

How many episodes does Motherfoclóir have?

The podcast currently has 216 episodes available.

Motherfoclóir episodes:

August 09, 2019 95: #95 | Highway To Helsinki: Finland, Swedish and Ireland
The Swedish language represents a kind of "what might have been" for Irish speakers - although there were less Swedish speakers than Irish in the world at the beginning of the 19th century, Swedish is the language of choice for millions of people who also have perfect English.

In today's episode, Gearóidín phones in from Finland to tell Darach and Eimear about how Swedish is a minority language there, how different it is from Finnish, and how the story of the Finns sounds familiar to Irish people. The cultural impact of these countries is considered, including Stieg Larsson and Max Martin.

****** * ****** * ****** * ****** * ****** * ****** * ****** * ****** * ****** * ****** * ***** * ******
Join Darach at the Seamus Heaney Homeplace Centre in Magherafelt on the 9th of August. He’ll be in conversation with Lynette Fay from BBC Radio Ulster about his journey since starting @theirishfor. Tickets at https://seamusheaneyhome.ticketsolve.com/shows/873602197?_ga=2.124528527.424322507.1564084535-1144120869.1564084535

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Contact the show:

twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor

email - [email protected]

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43min
August 01, 2019 94: #94 | Follow This User: Myra Zepf and “Nóinín”
Some of the most powerful books for and about teenagers take the form of a diary: Adrian Mole, I Capture The Castle, Go Ask Alice and even The Color Purple (although that spreads beyond the teenage years). So begins Máire Zepf's extraordinary new book "Nóinín", one of the most exciting books published as Gaeilge in some time (featuring cover art from Motherfoclóir's own Kirsten Shiel).

Belfast's Máire Zepf is Northern Ireland's first ever Children's Writing Fellow and the author of nine books so far... and she's only getting started. In today's episode, Darach talks to Máire about her inspiration, the writing process, the sharp difference between this book and her previous works, online and offline woes, balancing writing and parenting and why "the way it's taught" is a +353 phonezone phenomenon.

Thanks to Gearóidín for the readings from "Nóinín", published by Cois Life.

Extra music on this episode by Dauwd: check out "Theory of Colours" on bandcamp.

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36min
July 25, 2019 93: #93 | Insta-grammar: The Wonderful World of @muinteoirmeg
We’re nearly at the end of this strange and dark decade and it’s hard to know what to make of it at this stage. So much has happened since New Year’s Eve 2009 that could not have been predicted, much of it bad. However, one of the nice things that was not expected ten years ago has been the rise of Irish language activism through social media, where unconnected individuals with a love of the language found a way to make it relevant to their online friends.

Different social media platforms have different appeals to different people. While Darach does his thing on Twitter, Múinteoir Meg prefers to rock the ‘gram, incorporating Irish language phrases and vocabulary into her posts and stories about food, fashion and travel. She joins Darach, Peadar and Clodagh on today’s show to talk about it, being an Irish teacher in 2019 and the Irish for goji berry.

****** * ****** * ****** * ****** * ****** * ****** * ****** * ****** * ****** * ****** * ***** * ******
Join Darach at the Seamus Heaney Homeplace Centre in Magherafelt on the 9th of August. He’ll be in conversation with Lynette Fay from BBC Radio Ulster about his journey since starting @theirishfor. Tickets at https://seamusheaneyhome.ticketsolve.com/shows/873602197?_ga=2.124528527.424322507.1564084535-1144120869.1564084535

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Contact the show:

twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor

email - [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
...more
41min
July 18, 2019 92: #92 | An Astral Week: Seven Days That Shook The North (with Claire Mitchell)
"For me, the Irish language was like a ghost limb".

The days leading up to the 12th of July are often tense and dramatic ones in the North of Ireland, but never more so than in 2019. After months and months of stalemate and stagnation in Stormont - frustratingly coinciding with the British-Irish border being in the centre of a geopolitical crisis - the DUP's bluff was called with two amendments to the Northern Ireland Act passing in Westminster.

An Irish Language Act is one of three factors in the mix as the October deadline looms.

In today's episode, Darach talks to Belfast journalist Claire Mitchell about the events of the week. She brings him up to speed and gives him the background for all these developments, while also telling him about how Gaeilge fits in to her life and her Northern Protestant heritage.

Claire is a contributing editor with sluggerotoole.com

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Contact the show:

twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor

email - [email protected]

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...more
29min
July 12, 2019 91: #91 | Go Rabbi Maith Agat: Cecelia Beyer’s Irish Journey
Some people out there wouldn’t see a rabbinical calling and a love of Irish dancing and sean-nós singing as a likely pairing. Those people have not met Darach’s guest this week. Saoirse Cecelia Beyer is a New Jersey-based rabbi with a passion for traditional Irish singing and dancing styles which has taken her to fleadhs all over.

In this week’s episode, she tells Darach about being a “purveyor of joyful Judaism”, learning conversational Connacht Irish but Donegal Irish songs, PG-13 humour in religious education and the significance of the chosen name Saoirse. She also offers an informed interpretation of controversial passages of Genesis and Leviticus which might surprise you.

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Contact the show:

twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor

email - [email protected]

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...more
46min
July 04, 2019 90: #90 | Wingardium LeviÓSéaghdha - Translating Harry Potter into Irish
Gearóidín is a Gryffindor. Peadar is a Hufflepuff. Darach, however, is a muggle who has not read the books, only seen a few of the films and has not yet tuned into the audiobook (famously read by Ros na Rún guest star Stephen Fry). However, so pervasive is the influence of JK Rowling’s books that even he knows more about them than texts he has had to study for exams. The Harry Potter novels have been translated into over seventy languages… including Irish, and that’s where the Motherfoclóir train stops today.

In this week’s episode, we look at Harry Potter agus an Órchloch as translated by Máire Nic Mhaoláin. We consider the many challenges and opportunities that a translator tackling such a well-kown text has to take on board. How do you replicate accents? What about acronyms and anagrams? What about the parallel translation of a screenplay? And how about those words which might scurry in the long shadow of copyright laws?

The gang also consider the impact that the series has had on pop culture in general, its role in Blair-era “Cool Britannia” soft power and the dangers of legacy management in the internet age.

Special thanks to Laura McGloughlin for advice on this episode.

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Contact the show:

twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor

email - [email protected]

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...more
54min
June 27, 2019 89: #89 | The Sadbh Mind: Children’s Stories and Parental Guilt with Sadhbh Devlin
When it comes to food, television or books, there are no tougher critics than small children. They won’t spare your feelings the way adults have been trained to, but they are loyal to what they love. However, small children’s access to food an entertainment is controlled by busy, tired and all too imperfect parents, who often have a hidden agenda of wanting the child to “learn something”, “just be quiet” or even “speak Irish”.

This is the Hobbesian world that Sadhbh Devlin has chosen to tell her stories in, and in today’s episode, she talks to Darach, Peadar and Gearóidín about the child’s imagination, the guilt of being a working parent, the thrill of swearing, the relationship kids’ authors have with their illustrators and publishers… and the multitude of concerns a writer needs to be aware of, from sensitive language to health and safety.

The gang also manage to talk about future proofing crime dramas, the mysterious land of Brazil and writing for yourself.

You can get Sadhdh’s books “Bí ag Spraoi Liom!” and “Beag Bideach!” from www.siopaleabhar.com or www.futafata.ie.

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Contact the show:

twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor

email - [email protected]

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...more
59min
June 20, 2019 88: #88 | Mailbag 4: Crouching Poet, Hidden Focphoc
It’s mailbag time again! Here at Motherfoclóir we love to receive your correspondence, suggestions, corrections and observations. Since we last opened the mailbag we’ve received a wheelbarrow-full of such letters and it’s high time we shared them with you. Clodagh and Éimear join Darach in dipping into the bag and find communications about traditional music, An Triail, the notorious episode 82, possible future topics… and focphocaí.

And we were cited in the bibliography of an essay!

And we have a poem from a listener! The bar has been raised.

If you’d like to contact us, we’re at [email protected] .

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38min
June 13, 2019 87: #87 | You Give Leanbh A Bad Name: Baby Names with Colm O'Regan
What's in a name?

For most of the world's population, Irish names are the only contact they have with Gaeilge, and this is where its reputation for beauty and difficulty is perpetuated. Prospective parents have a great responsibility in naming a child… as to writers of characters in a novel.

In this week's episode, Éimear, Darach and Clodagh are joined by Colm O'Regan, the talent behind the Irish Mammies books and columnist with The Examiner. As a Dad and a novelist, he tells the gang about naming children and characters, the rise and fall of certain names, the storm dividend and the subtle difference between doves and pigeons.

Colm's new book "Ann Devine, Ready for Her Close-Up" is available here:

https://www.dubraybooks.ie/Anne-Devine-Ready-for-Her-Close-Up_9781848272460

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Contact the show:

twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor

email - [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
...more
53min
June 06, 2019 86: #86 | Under The Spanish Arch - Español and Irlandes
Like an old friend you don't really want to see right now, summer has arrived in Ireland, and with it a smartly-turned out stampede of Spanish students. For decades, these stylish loudmouths have been teaching Irish teenagers how to kiss and how to swear like a Spaniard in their version of Irish college.

In today's episode, Darach talks to reverse Spanish student Éimear Duffy and Salamanca Erasmus veteran Claire Murray about the differences and similarities between Irish and Spanish, a language which outnumbers English as a first language but lives as a problematic minority tongue in some wealthy countries. Is it all down to the way it's taught?

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38min

FAQs about Motherfoclóir:

How many episodes does Motherfoclóir have?

The podcast currently has 216 episodes available.

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