Harry Potter anns a' Ghàidhlig!
For the past 10 years readers and speakers of Gaelic, as well as Bòrd na Gàidhlig, have been asking Bloomsbury Publishing to print a Gàidhlig version of the Harry Potter series.
I have heard that a translation of the first book was begun, but for some reason it stalled out. The first book was scheduled for publication in December 2006, but more recently, Bloomsbury has stated they have no plans to proceed with publication.
I know that qualified translators have come forward to help, but for some reason nothing is happening.
We have been urged to contact Bloomsbury about it if we want to see any progress on the matter. You can e-mail them at publicity@bloomsbury.com
A few reasons you can give them for why they should publish the books: We'll buy them. They would be helping preserve and revitalize the Gaelic language. They would be providing incentive for children learning Gaelic in school, or who hail from Gaelic-speaking areas, to read. And of course, because we'll buy them ;-)
The Harry Potter books have already been published in 67 other languages, including Gaeilge (Irish Gaelic), Basque, Welsh, and Frisian; and even in languages which have far fewer speakers than Scottish Gaelic, such as Faroese, Greenlandic, and dead languages including Ancient Greek and Latin.
Thanks to the members of Fòram na Gàidhlig for some of this information.
cross-posting encouraged (but don't be obnoxious about it ;-))
I have heard that a translation of the first book was begun, but for some reason it stalled out. The first book was scheduled for publication in December 2006, but more recently, Bloomsbury has stated they have no plans to proceed with publication.
I know that qualified translators have come forward to help, but for some reason nothing is happening.
We have been urged to contact Bloomsbury about it if we want to see any progress on the matter. You can e-mail them at publicity@bloomsbury.com
A few reasons you can give them for why they should publish the books: We'll buy them. They would be helping preserve and revitalize the Gaelic language. They would be providing incentive for children learning Gaelic in school, or who hail from Gaelic-speaking areas, to read. And of course, because we'll buy them ;-)
The Harry Potter books have already been published in 67 other languages, including Gaeilge (Irish Gaelic), Basque, Welsh, and Frisian; and even in languages which have far fewer speakers than Scottish Gaelic, such as Faroese, Greenlandic, and dead languages including Ancient Greek and Latin.
Thanks to the members of Fòram na Gàidhlig for some of this information.
cross-posting encouraged (but don't be obnoxious about it ;-))