Friday, November 17, 2017

Brian Ó Broin Wins Major Oireachtas Literary Prize - Again! (2017)

Galwayman Wins Major Oireachtas Literary Prize Again

Galwayman Brian Ó Broin has been awarded first prize in the national literary competition An t-Oireachtas for his novel An Eachtra sa Chaisleán agus an Triuf ("The Incident in the Castle and the Trump Card").

Dr. Ó Broin, who lives in New Jersey with his wife Jo Schuster and daughters Ána and Fiona, is Professor of Linguistics and Medieval Literature at William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ. The prize was awarded in Killarney on the 1st of November, the first day of the Oireachtas's performance festival.

Dr. Ó Broin's novel is directed at teenage readers, and is set in the historic and picturesque "Tír idir Dhá Loch" between An Spidéal and Loch Corrib, where the obnoxious American Developer Dónall Triuf is trying to illegally buy up land for his luxury resort and golf course. The protagonists are New York-based teenagers on holiday in Ireland who uncover the plot.

An t-Oireachtas has been held annually since 1897. Dr. Ó Broin previously won Oireachtas prizes in 2001 for his full-length play Na hEorpaigh ("The Europeans") and in 2015 for his novel An Eachtra ar Oilean na Rún ("The Island of Secrets").

Dr. Ó Broin was educated in Galway (Scoil Fhursa, Coláiste Iognáid, and NUIG) and Dublin (Blackrock College) before going on to graduate studies in Cork, Germany, and the United States.

More about the Oireachtas here: www.antoireachtas.ie



Duais Litríochta Gnóthaithe ag an Dr. Brian Ó Broin in Oireachtas 2017

Duais Litríochta Gnóthaithe ag an Dr. Brian Ó Broin in Oireachtas 2017

Bronnadh an chéad duais ar an Dr. Brian Ó Broin dá úrsceal An Eachtra sa Chaisleán agus an Triuf i gcomórtas litríochta An Oireachtais 2017.

Is Gaillimheach é an Dr. Brian Ó Broin a bhfuil cónaí air i Nua Gheirsí lena bhean chéile Jo Schuster agus a iníonacha Ána agus Fiona. Is Lán-Ollamh é le Teangeolaíocht agus Litríocht na Meánaoise in Ollscoil William Paterson, Wayne, NJ.

Bronnadh an duais ar an 1ú lá Samhain, lá oscailte féile ealaíona an Oireachtais, i gCill Airne.

Tá an t-úrscéal suite sa lá atá inniu ann sa "Tír Idir Dhá Loch" - an ceantar idir an Spidéal agus Cladaigh Loch Coirib, áit a bhfuil an forbróir Meiriceánach Dónall Triuf ag iarraidh seilbh a ghlacadh ar thailte agus maoin an cheantair dá ghalfchúrsa agus ionad saoire galánta.

Déagóirí as Nua Eabhrac iad príomhcharachtair an leabhair a nochtann mistéirí agus comhcheilg agus iad ag taisteal in Éirinn. Thosaigh comórtas an Oireachtais sa bhliain 1897.

Ghnóthaigh an Dr. Ó Broin duais Oireachtais cheana sa bhliain 2001, dá dhráma Na hEorpaigh agus i 2015 dá úrscéal An Eachtra ar Oileán na Rún.

Fuair an Dr. Ó Broin a bhunoideachas i nGaillimh (Scoil Fhursa, Coláiste Iognáid, agus OÉG) agus Baile Átha Cliath (Coláiste na Carraige Duibhe) sula ndearna sé staidéar iarchéime i gCorcaigh, sa Ghearmáin, agus sna Stáit Aontaithe.

Níos mó faoin leabhar anseo: https://sites.google.com/view/caisleantriuf/home

Níos mó eolais faoin Oireachtas anseo: www.antoireachtas.ie

Níos mó faoin Dr. Ó Broin anseo: https://sites.google.com/site/professorbrianobroin/


Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Cambridge University Press a Mess


This article was PUBLISHED by Cambridge University Press in 2015. Do you see where I stopped reading it?


Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Dishonesty of Irish Catholic Church

The sale of playing fields at Clonkeen College (Irish Times, "Christian Brothers to sell Clonkeen playing fields for €26m," July 16th) continues a recent trend of dishonesty in land ownership by the Catholic religious orders and several of the Catholic dioceses. The Catholic Church owns many many thousands of acres of land across Ireland, much of it left in trust to them by wealthy Catholic landowners after the lifting of penal laws. Must assuredly the previous owners of the land would never have agreed to such endowments if they knew that the orders would simply use these properties as slush funds, with large tracts being sold to property developers whenever an abuse scandal raised its head.

There is an urgent need for the land already in the hands of the church to be regulated for the community use it was obviously intended for. The playing fields at Clonkeen College were never intended for property development, and this is just one example of hundreds of dubious property deals being done behind closed doors by secretive agents of orders, dioceses, and mysterious "trusts."

The communications director of the Christian Brothers in 2008 promised that the Clonkeen playing fields would remain as long as Clonkeen College existed. We now know how valuable his word was.

Irish towns and cities desperately need more open space for community use, and the church is sitting on land which it sees as nothing more than a big piggy bank. It would be wonderful to see this land being set aside for us, and not just the developers.
I would suggest that this is the perfect time for the various branches of the Catholic Church, in consultation with the state, to take stock of the land they own in Ireland and introduce binding legal safeguards for that land's continuing availability to the people of Ireland.

Friday, July 28, 2017

Fág Seo! Fadhbanna agus Deacrachtaí Aistrithe i gCláir na bPáistí ar TG4: Nodanna d'Aistritheoirí agus d'Fhoghlaimeoirí

An t-Alt go léir ar fáil anseo: https://antullmor.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/obroin2014.pdf

"Fág Seo! Fadhbanna agus Deacrachtaí Aistrithe i gCláir na bPáistí ar TG4: Nodanna d'Aistritheoirí agus d'Fhoghlaimeoirí."
Brian Ó Broin
Ollscoil William Paterson, NJ

Réamhfhocal

Dora (agus a cairde) is cúis le teideal an pháipéir seo. Éinne a bhfuil Dora feicthe acu, beidh a fhios acu go n-athraítear an Béarla/Spáinnis "Come On, Vamonos"[1] san amhrán aitheantais go "Fág Seo, Vámonos." Sa chás seo, aistriúchán maith is ea é, mar tá Dora ag gríosadh an lucht féachana an áit ina bhfuil siad a fhágáil agus dul léi ag eachtraíocht. Ach tá dhá chiall leis an nath sa mBéarla: go fisiciúil ("Come on/Let's go [away from this place]") agus go fíorach ("Come on/Let's [get this job done]"). Sa Ghaeilge fág seo níl ach an chiall fhisiciúil leis an bhfrás. Má deir tú "fág seo", ta tú ag moladh le duine eile an áit ina bhfuil sibh a fhágáil. Ach go rómhinic, deireann carachtar éigin i gcartúin Ghaeilge "Fág seo" le duine éigin i gciall fhíorach an Bhéarla, rud a thugann le fios go bhfuil an t-aistritheoir ag innéacsú[2] Gaeilge ar Bhéarla gan smaoineamh ar chialla difriúla na bhfocal sa Ghaeilge. 'S é sin, tá Béarla ag teastáil ón duine féachana chun ciall a bhaint as an nGaeilge. Fágann sin an Ghaeilge a chloistear sna cláracha mar chód bunaithe ar Bhéarla[3].
Tá nóta criticiúil ag an bpáipéar seo, ach ní cheart don léitheoir, dá réir sin, ceapadh go bhfuil an t-údar seo míshásta le cláracha Gaeilge na bpáistí ar TG4. Go deimhin, níl oiread is clár amháin ar TG4 nach ligfinn do mo pháistí féin breathnú air, fiú agus a fhios agam go bhfuil laigí ann. Tá cláracha Béarla na bpáistí in Éirinn, sa Bhreatain, agus sna Stáit Aontaithe breac le botúin agus béarlagair cheana féin, agus fós féin tagann páistí Béarlacha amach lánlíofa sa teanga sin. B'fhéidir go bhfuil tionchar beag ag an teilifís ar theanga páistí, ach ní athróidh sé a saol.
Mar sin, b'fhearr liom an páipéar seo a úsáid chun breathnú ar na fadhbanna aistrithe a thagann chun solais trí chaint na gcarachtar sna cláracha. Tionchar an Bhéarla an fhadhb is mó a fheictear, ach ná bímis róbhuartha faoi sin. Tá saol na Gaeilge báite sa Bhéarla cheana fein, agus ba cheart glacadh leis go mbeimid ag goid ó phríomhtheanga na hÉireann agus an domhain, díreach mar a ghoid Béarla ón Fhraincis ar feadh na gcéadta bliana (Pyles and Algeo 295-299). Comhartha sláinte is ea é freisin, ó is gadaí gach teanga bheo[4].



[1] Is minicí "Let's Go, Vámonos" sna leaganacha Eorpacha, is cosúil.
[2] Séard is brí le innéacsú sa chomhthéacs seo ná Gaeilge a leagan síos ar Bhéarla focal ar fhocal, gan leagan níos nádúrtha a lorg: He-is-happy = Tá-sé-áthasach.
[3] Tabharfar le fios níos déanaí sa pháipéar seo nach drochrud é seo go hiomlán, agus go deimhin go bhfuil sé dosheachanta do mhionteangach.
[4] [T]hese languages must continually translate from major languages in order to retain ‘their vitality and relevance as living languages’ (Cronin 1995: 89).

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Microphone too quiet for Recording

I regularly record a Vlog ("NuachtAsMeiriceá") but found lately that my laptop had started to lower the microphone level, making it almost impossible to hear when played back.
No solution worked until I found this:
Go to Control Panel
Go to Sounds
Choose "Communication"
Choose the "Do Nothing" radio button.

My problem was gone.

Hope this helps



Monday, April 17, 2017

Intuit Turbotax - such a ripoff

Disgusted by . A slick carefully-orchestrated scam(IMO) which saves you nothing. Do your own taxes and don't be ripped off.

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Lecture on Ireland at Bloomfield Public Library Wed 8th March 2017



"Celtic, Gaelic, or Anglo-Irish: Which is the Real Ireland?"

Bloomfield resident Brian Ó Broin, a medieval literature professor at William Paterson University and a prizewinning Gaelic novelist, traces the history of Ireland from pre-Celtic times through the series of invasions that brought Christianity, cities, castles, Gaelic culture and English culture to this mysterious island nation of North West Europe right up to the modern day. Using slides and recordings (and maybe even a song or two!) Professor Ó Broin demonstrates the color, the uniqueness, and the resilience of this modern European country which sent so many emigrants to America, as Ireland faces the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.

Ireland has always been a target of invasion. the Celts invaded Ireland three hundred years before Christ, completely displacing the previous stone-age culture whose mysterious structures, like that of Newgrange, still dot the landscape. Six hundred years of Pagan Celtic culture followed the invasion, and the tribal warrior culture of that period is still visible in surviving Gaelic texts such as the Fenian stories and the Táin Bó Cuailgne. An African-tinged Christian monasticism followed conversion to Christianity, and the monastic sites of this period are still to be found throughout the country, marked by their strange cone-tipped bell towers. Vikings saw easy pickings in these monasteries, and came to raid. They stayed, however, and founded Ireland's first cities, like Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick. The French-speaking Normans followed, bringing in feudal culture from England and France. Finally, the English themselves came, in several catastrophic waves, and still remain to this day in the six counties of Northern Ireland. The other twenty-six counties, however, have been a self-governing nation since 1922, constitutionally enshrining both the Gaelic and English cultures. Ireland is a member of the United Nations, and has been in the European Union since 1973.