About the Language Vitality Initiative at the Smithsonian – NEADÚ
With Indigenous and minoritized languages under threat, the Smithsonian Centre for Folklife and Cultural Heritage’s Language Vitality Initiative supports community-driven language reclamation efforts. Our research and programming promotes language use in new and traditional contexts and strengthens engagement in cultural heritage wellness. We work with digital and emerging media to promote unique voices and worldviews. We seek to educate new generations of community language practitioners and linguists through informal and formal workshops and institutes. All our work is used to educate majority-language users about the benefits of living in a multilingual world.
Tús Maith, an initiative of Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne, supports both families raising their children in Irish and those who wish to use more Irish in their daily lives.
The nonprofit organizes language-based play groups, home language visits to assist parents in their efforts to raise bilingual children, and assists non-Irish-speaking partners to gain language skills.
The videos will be available on their YouTube channel, their website, www.ocd.ie as well as the Smithsonian Centre www.folklife.si.edu.
Subtitled videos will support families in their language-learning journey with pronunciation and phrasing.
The dialogue scripts for the videos were created by Máire Ruiséal and are based on the book Gaschaint: Irish Phrases Throughout the Day by Úna Lawlor and Wendy Shea, published by An Gúm.
The dialogues are simple and fun and model language use for different types of family-life scenarios. The scripts cover morning time, getting to and from school, chatting at school gates, finishing homework, and the important language of comforting a child when hurt.
These dialogue videos are designed to complement Tús Maith’s Cuairteóirí Baile program, in which language assistants visit with families at home once per week to enrich the home use of language. In addition to in-person language support, the videos have an added benefit of being accessible to parents who live outside of the Corca Dhuibhne Gaeltacht.
We hope these videos are a support to you on your linguistic journey!
Please reach out for more info at orlaith@cfcd.ie