The North / South Language Body Annual Report & Accounts 2009

The Use of Irish in the Public SectorAccreditation System for TranslatorsIn 2006, Foras na Gaeilge started the accreditation system in co-operationwith An Gúm and An Coiste Téarmaíocht. At the end of the year 2009, therewere 145 accredited translators in the system.During 2009, Foras na Gaeilge focussed on developing an AccreditationSystem for Translators. In November, the Minister of Community, Rural andGaeltacht Affairs presented certificates to 21 Irish / English accreditedtranslators a ceremony in the offices of Foras na Gaeilge.The work of the translators will be monitored on an on-going basis and thetranslators will have to do another examination again in a year’s time toensure that standards are continued.From the beginning, the aim of the participating language bodies and of theDepartment was to develop a strong accreditation system which wouldaccommodate the complexities of the different dialects, recent and technicaljargon and official and communicative prose. The accreditation system hasan important role in quality assurance and in the continuing development ofthe language in the context of the official status of Irish in Europe.AistearIn partnership with Foras na Gaeilge, Aistear took part in the followingactivities during 2009. The first two workshops in the series 'In Ord is inEagar' were organised in Dublin (9 –12 November) and in Galway (20 –21and 27 –28 November). 'In Ord is in Eagar' is a short course in copy-editingskills. Twelve people took part in the workshops. These were people whohave gained the Seal of Accreditation for Translators or who are cultivatingthe language at a high level in journalism, academia or other areas.Cois Life published the copy editing text-book In Ord is in Eagar in late2009. Aistear was commissioned by Foras na Gaeilge to prepare the textbook.The book is already in use on university courses and in accuracyclasses throughout the island. A translation workshop was organised on 10-12 December to assist people who were interested in tackling the Foras’sAccreditation Seal. More than 30 translators registered for the workshop.LingAn Line Chabhrach – FreagraThe number and range of users broadened during 2009 and the service is inwidespread use among the state departments and bodies as well as the generalpublic. The service receives more than 40 enquiries a day from the publicsector. Plans have been put forward to provide more publicity in 2010,including a sticker campaign for phones and computers. Foras na Gaeilgeregularly forwards queries from the public to the service and during the yearthe queries included questions on terminology, lexicography and grammar.Taisce TéacsannaIn 2009, further development was carried out on the database itself and by themiddle of the year it was ready to be shared with users. To this end, we hadmeetings with the Irish Sub-Committee of the Local GovernmentManagement Services Board (LGMSB) and with representatives of the LocalGovernment Computer Services Board (LGCSB). The LGCSB installed thesystem on their own computers, carried out an initial testing on it among theirown users, and with technical assistance from us, the suppliers, it is intendedthat the LGCSB will take complete possession of the system during 2010 andmake it available to all the local authorities.27