Mìcheal Bauer

Tha mi air a bhith an sàs saoghal na Gàidhlig a-mach bho 1998 nuair a thàinig mi a dh'Alba. Thug mi a-mach ceum aig Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann ann an Ceiltis (no, dhomh-sa, Gàidhlig an latha an-diugh seach bàrdachd nan linntean a dh'aom) is cànanachas (le cudrom air fòn-eòlas is togail cànain).

Ged nach robh dùil agam ris idir nuair a bha mi òg, tha companaidh bheag agam a-nis a tha a' libhrigeadh seirbheisean cànain, mar eadar-theangachadh, ceartachadh, oideachadh, comhairleachadh cànanachais is rudan mar sin. 'S fìor thoil leam obair le faclan - agus faclairean ach, thar rud sam bith eile, teagasg fuaimneachadh na Gàidhlig do luchd-ionnsachaidh. Agus togail làrach nan goireasan Gàidhlig.

Thòisich mi air Dwelly a thionndaidh 'na fhaidhle digiteach nuair a bha mi aig an oilthigh fhathast is mi seachd searbh sgìth de ghainnead faclairean Beurla gu Gàidhlig - agus beag dùil gun atharraicheadh sin gu luath. Dh'fheuch mi air "a thaidhpeadh a-steach" an toiseach agus nuair a ràinig mi an litir B, leig mi seachad seo bhon a bha mi ag iarraidh mo bheatha air ais.  Thionndaidh mi ri OCR an uairsin (Optical Character Recognition) as dèidh dhomh am faclair a chur tro lèirsinnear. Ach ged a bha an teicneolas air fàs na b' fhearr bhon a dh'fheuch mi e roimhe sin, b' e sin an ceum a b' fhasa dhen t-saothair. Fhuair mi rud ris a chanas na h-eòlaichean "brochan" agus thug mi "beagan ùine" a dhol troimhe facal air an fhacal, duilleag air an duilleag nuair nach robh càil dhòrainneach eile agam ri dhèanamh mar theachd an tìr a lorg.

Nuair a bha mi deiseil le sin, bha e agam agus eagal orm a sgaoileadh air sgàth chùisean còir-lethbhreac. Agus bha sgilean prògramachaidh a dhìth orm cuideachd. Ach latha brèagha meadhan a' gheamhraidh seo chaidh, chuir fear Uilleam fòn thugam (a tha fada nas fhearr air prògramachadh 's a tha mise). Bha esan air cead fhaighinn am faclair a chur air an lìon agus as dèidh bhliadhnaichean, bha e deiseil 's air an lìon ann am priobadh na sùla.

Tha mi glè thoilichte fhaicinn gu bheil Dwelly-d, deich bliadhna as dèidh dhomh tòiseachadh air, ri làimh sluaigh fada nas motha a-nis. Cuiribh gu deagh fheum e, a chàirdean, is gabhaidh tlachd ann!

Mìcheal "Akerbeltz" Bauer

Uilleam MacDhonnchaidh

Mhothaich mi gu bheil beartas sa Ghàidhlig airson dealbh a thoirt air cruth na tìre nach eil ann sa Bheurla 's mi 'nam shreapaiche bheanntan. Gu mì fhortanach, chaill mo theaghlach ar cuid Gàidhlig Pheairt san linn seo chaidh, Chunnaic mi gu luath nach robh na goireasan air loidhne is na faclairean clò-bhuailte freagarrach gu leòr do luchd-ionnsachaidh, le comasan rannsachaidh cuingichte is stòrasan beaga de dh'fhaclan, 's mi ag ionnsachadh na Gàidhlig.

Bha e soilleir as dèidh beagan deasbaid air a' chùis gur e tionndadh air loidhne dhen fhaclair aig Dwelly an dòigh air adhart a b' fhearr. Dh'fheumadh siostam mar sin a bhith so-rannsaichte bhon Bheurla gun a' Ghàidhlig cuideachd agus comasach air deasachadh gus gabhail a-steach atharrachadh a' chànain. Agus dh'fheumadh e faclairean eile na Gàidhlig agus a dual-chainntean gabhail a-steach cuideachd. Faclair beò de chànan beò.

Tha mi glè thaingeil dha na ceannardan poileataigeach agus eòlaichean na Gàidhlig a thug taic dhuinn, do Theàrlach Quinnell airson a chuid cuideachaidh is brosnachaidh agus gu h-àirid do Mhìcheal Bauer 's dìleas a tha dìreach mìorbhaileach.

Ged a fhuair sinn brosnachadh gu lèir, cha d'fhuair sinn maoineachadh poblach sam bith airson a' phròiseict seo agus ràinig sinn an ìre seo air ar maoin fhèin. Ach tha maoineachadh poblach riatanach airson am pròiseact a chur air adhart.

Tha am faclair seo 'na toiseach tòiseachadh ged as e seo am fear as motha agus as cumhachdaiche a tha ann sa Ghàidhlig. Tha cothrom ann a-nis Dwelly a chleachdadh an dà chuid Gàidhlig gu Beurla agus Beurla gu Gàidhlig. Tha am faclair comasach air beartas a shusbaint a stòradh, a' gabhail a-steach dhealbhan is fhuaimean gu èasgaidh. Faodar a dheasachadh 's ùrachadh gus bun-stèidh a chur airson faclair mòr beò na Gàidhlig. 'S mathaid gur e seo an ceum as motha a ghabh faclaireachd na Gàidhlig ann an cha mhòr ceud bliadhna agus bidh e a' cur gu mòr ri beatha ar cànain.

Uilleam MacDhonnchaidh

'S e manaidsear phròiseactan agus innleadair bhathair-bhuig a tha ann an Uilleam MacDhonnchaidh, le cudrom 'na obair air pròiseactan laghail, meadaigeach èiginneach, ionmhasail agus GIS/siostaman geò-eòlas. Rinn e obair airson buidhnean mar Seirbheis Tar-chur Fala na h-Alba, Telenor agus companaidhean ioma-nàiseantach na h-ola, gas agus geò-eòlas.

Michael Bauer

I been involved in the world of Gaelic since 1998 when I came to Scotland where I took a degree in linguistics (with an emphasis on phonology and language acquisition) and Celtic (which for me meant modern Gaelic, not bardic poetry) at Edinburgh University.

Although I never suspected the like when I was younger, I now run a small company offering Gaelic language services such as translation, proofreading, tutoring, linguistic consultancy and suchlike. I greatly enjoy working with words - and dictionaries - but above anything else, teaching Gaelic pronunciation to learners around the world. And of course running my Gaelic language resources site.

I started working on turning Dwelly's into a digital file while still at university when I grew fed up with the lack of English to Gaelic dictionaries one night. That, and little prospect of that changing in a hurry. After having tried the "type it into the computer" approach for a while (I got to the letter B) I abandoned that approach in favour of a human existence and began using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) on scanned pages of the dictionary. But although the technology had improved somewhat by then, that was by far the easiest bit, resulting in something called "brochan" in technical language. Proofreading it then was the long and drawn out affair as life kept interfering with mundane issues.

Once that was done, copyright issues and my lack of computing skills put everything on ice until William (who is much better at programming than I am!) contacted me one day not so long ago. He had also got permission to put the dictionary online, so in the twinling of an eye, suddently there we were.

So 10 years after getting started, I'm now delighted to see Dwelly-d being now available to a much wider audience. Put it to good use and enjoy!

Michael "Akerbeltz" Bauer

William Robertson

As a mountaineer I quickly found that Gaelic has a richness of vocabulary for describing our land that's missing from English. Sadly, our native Perthshire Gaelic was lost from my family during the last century. As a learner I discovered that existing online resources and paper dictionaries were inadequate with limited search capabilities and vocabulary.

After discussion it bacame clear that the only solution was to make Dwelly's dictionary available online. The system had to be searchable from English to Gaelic and allow content to be easily added and ammended to reflect changes in the language. It would also need to be able to include other dictionaries of the Gaelic language and it's dialects. A living dictionary of a living language.

I'm very greatful to the political leaders and experts in the Gaelic language who have supported us, to Teàrlach Quinnell for his help and encouragement and most of all to Michael Bauer who's dedication to the project has been phenomenal.

Despite widespread support we have not recieved any public funding for this project and have completed this phase of development at our own expense. For the continued work of the project public funding is critical.

This dictionary is the initial result - it is by far the most sophisticated and powerful available to the Gaelic language. It has made Dwelly's dictionary accessible as both a Gaelic to English and English to Gaelic resource. It's capacity to store rich content including images and sound and the ease with which it can be edited and updated set the foundation to build a comprehensive, living dictionary of the Gaelic language. It is probably the biggest step forward in Gaelic lexicography in almost a century and will make a decisive contribution to the future of our language."

Will Robertson
 
William Robertson is a project manager and software engineer specialising in legal, life critical medical, financial and GIS/geoscience systems, he has worked for clients including the Scottish Blood Transfusion Service, Telenor and multinational oil and gas and geoscience firms.