Fwd: Scottish Gaelic Spell Checker

[Elizabeth J. Pyatt]

FYI - The Tiree High School developed a Scottish Gaelix spell checker
and are selling via http://www.luchag-ink.org/

Full story is at <http://news.scotsman.com/gaelic.cfm?id=596472003>

Originally posted on Gaidhlig B.

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Gerald McKinnon [mailto:geraldmckinnon at SHAW.CA]
>Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2003 9:14 PM
>To: GAIDHLIG-B at LISTSERV.HEANET.IE
>Subject: Spell checkers
>
>
>
>       Tiree School Kids Beat Microsoft
>
>Campaigners who are trying to keep Gaelic alive had been planning to ask
>Microsoft to include a custom spell-checker in the Office suite for the
>ancient language. The giant software company recently released a
>spell-checker for Irish Gaelic but the Foundation for Endangered
>Languages says that Gaelic is 1,135th in the table of about 2,000 known
>languages with fully developed written systems. So the chances of Bill
>Gates investing in the development was probably remote. But seven
>sixth-year pupils at Tiree High School have already beaten them to it
>anyway. They devised the software as part of a Young Enterprise
>competition - and are already selling it on CD for £18.50. The
>spell-checker examines word processing documents and underlines in red
>any which are incorrect and offers a list of alternatives. But it is not
>as sophisticated as standard Microsoft products and does not have a full
>Gaelic lexicon. It was the first time for many years that the school on
>the island of Tiree had enough sixth-year pupils to enter the
>competition. There are now less than 60,000 people left in Scotland
>still speaking Gaelic, though there are also a number of Gaelic speakers
>in other parts of the world, especially on the eastern seaboard of
>Canada. Bord na Gàidhlig, or the Gaelic Board, argues that a
>spell-checker would help students to combat the dominance of Scotland's
>English-speaking majority.
>
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