Month: December 2007

Partis a chyngherddau

By Simon

Nos Mercher, es i barti yn y Canolfan Iwerddon Hammersmith. Canais dair gân gyda’r grŵp canu ac roedd grwpiau eraill yn dawnsio neu yn chwarae cerddoriaeth. Naethon y plant drama bach ac roedd Siôn Corn yn y man hefyd. Mwynheuais fy hunan yn fawr.

Roedd parti Nadolig yn y swyddfa Nos Wener. Roedd y thema eleni “iâ” ac roedd addurniadau yn cysylltiedig ag iâ ac eira ymhobman, yn gynnwys pluen eira enfawr wedi cael ei cherflunio yn iâ. Ar ôl cinio bwffe, roedd band jazz yn chwarae a roedd disgo.

Neithiwr, es i i weld Kate Rusby, cantores gwerin o Sir Efrog, yn y Brighton Dome. Mae llais hyfryd ‘da hi, mae hi’n chwarae’r gitâr yn dda iawn, ac roedd cerddorion talentog iawn yn perfformio gyda hi hefyd. Roedd y gyngerdd yn anffurfiol ac roedd Kate yn sgwrsio am y caneuon, ei fywyd ac y band fel bydden ni mewn tafarn. Canodd hi rhai o garolau o Sir Efrog a chalonogodd hi i bawb canu gyda’n gilydd. Roedd hi’n wych!

Cóisir agus ceolchoirm

Oíche Mháirt chuaigh chuig cóisir i Lárionad na hÉireann Hammersmith. Chan mé cúpla amhráin le grúpa amhránaíocht, agus bhí grúpa eile ag damhsa agus ag seinn ceól. Rinne na páiste dráma beag agus bhí Daidí na Nollag ann san áit fosta. Bhain mé an-sult as.

Bhí cóisir Nollag ann san oifig oíche Aoine. I mbliana bhí an téama “oighear” agus bhí maisiúcháin ann a raibh bhaint acu le oighear agus sneachta i ngach áit. I ndiaidh dinnéar buifé, sheinn banna snagcheol agus bhí dioscó ann.

Aréir chuaigh mé chuig ceolchoirm Kate Rusby, amhránaí ceol tíre as Yorkshire sa Brighton Dome. Tá guth álainn léi, tá sí ag seinn an giotár go han mhaith, agus sheinn ceoltóirí den chéad scoth léi fosta. Bhí an ceolchoirm an neamhfhoirmiúil agus labhair Kate linn faoi na hamhráin, a beatha agus an banna mar a raibh muid i dteach tábhairne. Chan sí cuid caruil na Nollag as Yorkshire spreag sí gach duine ag canadh le chéile. Bhí an ceolchoirm go hiontach!

Parties and concerts

On Tuesday night I went to a party at the Irish Centre in Hammersmith during which I sang a few songs with the singing group. Other groups danced, sang or played music as well, and the kids put on a short play involved Father Christmas and some dwarves. It was a great night.

On Friday night we had the office Christmas party at the office. The theme this year was ice and there were clouds of dry ice and lots of ice and snow-related decorations around the place, including an impressive ice sculpture of a snowflake. After a buffet dinner, which was quite tasty, there was a disco with a live jazz band.

Last night I went to see Kate Rusby, a folk singer from Yorkshire, at the Brighton Dome. She has a lovely voice, plays a mean guitar and sings a mixture of traditional folk songs and ones she’s written herself. Last night she was accompanied by some very talented musicians, including Anna Massie, a singer and multi-instrumentalist who plays the fiddle, mandolin, guitar and banjo, and also has her own band.

It was an informal affair with Kate chatting to us about the songs, her life and the band between numbers as if we were in the pub. As well as folk songs, she also sang Yorkshire versions of some Christmas carols. We were all given song sheets with the words for the carols on the way in and were encouraged to join in. It was excellent.

Going to the ball

By Simon

This evening I’ll be going to the office Christmas party. This year it’s called “the Ice Ball”, which got me thinking about the names of such events.

A ball, as in a formal party involving dancing, comes from the Greek, ballizein, to dance, jump about, via the Latin ballare, to dance, and the Old French baller, to dance. The words ballet and ballad share the same root, as does bailar (to dance) in Spanish and Portuguese.

The word dance comes from the Old French dancier, which possibly came from Frankish.

Other dance names include:
waltz, from the German walzen, to roll, dance
polka, from the Czech polka, Polish woman, or from pulka, half, for the half-steps of Bohemian peasant dances
tango, from Argentine Spanish tango, which was originally the name of an African-American drum dance, and possibly came from a Niger-Congo language.
jig, from the Middle French giguer, to dance; or from the German Geige, violin, meaning a piece of sport or trick.

More information about the etymology of the names of dances

Language and rhythm

By Simon

Language and rhythm are inextricably linked, according to a blog post I found the other day. The post is about reading scripts for theatrical performances, but much of it applies just as much to every day speech.

The main point is that language has inherent rhythms which are crucial because they are where the meaning is found. When you read a text in your mother tongue, you naturally break it up into meaningful chunks and adjust your rhythm as appropriate. If you apply unnatural rhythm to a text, it will be difficult to follow and you may not understand what you’re saying, neither will others.

When learning a foreign language, one of the things you need to acquire is that language’s natural rhythms. If you use the rhythm of your native language when speaking the foreign one, people might find you difficult or impossible to understand, unless they’re used to hearing non-natives speaking their language. Acquiring native-like rhythms takes a lot of listening and mimicery, and even then, you’ll might end up sounding slightly foreign, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Do you have any suggestions on how to acquire the rhythms of a foreign language?

Reinventing yourself

By Simon

Imagine going from working in insurance in Liverpool, to becoming a pop star in China. That’s just what Barry Cox did, according to an article on the BBC News website.

He was bored with his insurance job and wanted to try something different. After a visit to his local Chinese chip shop, he decided to have a go at learning Chinese. So he made friends with the guys in the chip shop, and began to learn Cantonese from them, and also at the Wah Sing Chinese Community Centre in Liverpool. Then he went to work in a Chinese supermarket and a restaurant to work on his language skills.

One of the guys gave him a pile of Cantonese music CDs. Barry found the tunes quite catchy and learnt to sing some of songs, even though he had no musical background and didn’t listen to music much before that.

Before long he was singing regularly at karakoe nights around Chinatown, and eventually moved to Hong Kong to pursue a singing career under the name of Gok Pak-wing. After building up his reputation over a number of years, he was offered a residency at the biggest casino in Macau.

So there you have a slightly unusual reason to learn a language – to become a pop star!

Word of the day – constable

By Simon

In the Roman and Byzantine Empires of the 5th and 6th centuries AD, the comes stabuli (count of the stable) was the person in charge of the stables at the imperial court.

Stables

The Franks borrowed the title but changed the position slightly to the head of the royal stud. During the 12th century in France, the comes stabuli became an important commander in the army and the title became conestable in Old French.

Eventually, the word was borrowed into English as constable and referred to “an officer of the peace” – this meaning was first recorded in 1596. During the 19th century, a regular police force was established in England and the police officers were given the title constable under a chief constable.

Police Constable H.189

Today, constable is the lowest rank in the British police, followed by sergeant, while Chief Constable is the highest rank.

Further information is available on: Wiktionary

Digwyddiadau yr wythnos

By Simon

Nos Lun yr wythnos hon, canais yn yr orsaf danddaearol Hammersmith gyda’r grŵp canu o’r Canolfan Iwerddon Hammersmith. Codon, a’r grŵp hŷn pwy canodd gynt yn y dydd, dri chant o bunnoedd ar gyfer Ysbyty Sant Bartholomew. Canon pum caneuon tairgwaith bob un – pedwar yn Saesneg, ac un, Silent Night, yn Saesneg, Gwyddeleg a Phwyleg. Yna, aethon i dafarn lleol am ddiod neu ddau. Aeth y pobol eraill i dŷ bwyta Thai am bryd o fwyd, ond es i adref achos o’n i ddim eisiau cyrraedd yn Brighton yn rhy hwyr.

Nos Fawrth es i’n ôl i’r Canolfan Iwerddon am y dosbarth canu diwethaf y tymor hwn. Cyfrifon yr arian a chanon ychydig o ganeuon. Er mod i’n mwynhau’r dosbarth yn fawr, dw i’n meddwl na fydda i’n mynd yn ôl y tymor nesaf achos dw i’n gwario gormod o arian ac yn treulio gormod o amser wrth fynd i Lundain bob wythnos. Dw i’n bwriadu ymuno â dau gôr lleol – côr cymunedol gyda enw Vox, a’r Côr Meibion Cymraeg Brighton.

Dydd Gwener roedd cinio Nadolig ar gyfer y staff a’r myfyrwyr am rhad ac am ddim yn ffreutur. Es i i’r swyddfa yn arbennig am y cinio.

Nuacht na seachtaine

Oíche Luan an seachtain seo, chan mé sa stáisiún faoi thalamh Hammersmith le grúpa amhránaíocht an Lárionad na hÉireann Hammersmith. Bhailigh muid, agus grúpa eile a bhí ag canadh níos moille, trí chéad punt ar son an Ospidéal Naomh Bartholomew. Chan muid cúig amhráin trí uair gach ceann – ceathair as Béarla, agus aon, Oíche Chiúin, as Béarla, Gaeilge agus Polainnis. I ndiaidh sin, d’ól muid cúpla deoch i dteach tábhairne áitiúla. Chuaigh na daoine eile chuig bialann Théalannach, ach d’fhill mé ar ais go Brighton, toisc níor mhaith liom ag dhul abhaile go rómhall.

Oíche Mháirt chuaigh mé ar ais chuig an Lárionad na hÉireann ar son an rang déanach na téarma seo. Chuntais muid an airgead agus chan muid cúpla amhráin. Cé go bhain mé an sult as an rang, tá mé ag smaoineamh ní bheidh mé ag dhul ar ais an téarma seo caite, toisc go bhfuil mé ag caitheamh barraíocht airgid agus am ag dhol go Londain achan seachtaine. Tá rún agam ag dhul i cúpla cóir áitiúla – cór pobail le hainm Vox, agus Cór Guth Fireann Breatnaise Brighton.

Dé hAoine bhí dinnéar na Nollag saor le fail ar son foireann agus mic léinn sa bialann san oifig. Chuaig mé go dtí an oifig go háirithe an dinnéar a fháil.

Weekly happenings

On Monday evening, I sang in Hammersmith tube station with the singing group from the Hammersmith Irish Centre. Along with the senior group, who sang earlier in the day, we collected £300 for Saint Barholomew’s Hosptial. We sang five songs three times each – four in English, and one, Silent Night, in English, Irish and Polish. We have a quick drink in a nearby pub afterwards then most of the group went for a meal at a Thai restaurant, but I returned to Brighton, not wanting to get back too late.

On Tuesday evening, I returned to the Irish Centre for the last class of this term. We counted the money and sang a few songs. Although I really enjoy the class, I don’t think I’ll be going back to it next term – I’m spending too much time and money going to London every week. I’m planning to join a couple of local choirs – a community choir called Vox, and Brighton Welsh Male Voice Choir.

On Friday, staff and students were provided with a free Christmas dinner in the canteen and I went into the office especially for that.

Word of the day – lullaby

By Simon

Lullabies, from the Middle English lullen, to lull, + bye, are soothing songs usually sung to babies to lull them to sleep. An alternative name is berceuse, from the French for lullaby or “cradle song”.

According to an article I found today, lullabies are not only a good way to get babies to sleep, but can also help with their language development.

A study at the University of Warwick has found that babies whose parents sing to them regularly tend to develop language and communication skills earlier than babies whose parents don’t sing to them. Lullabies help babies to relax and get them used to hearing vocalisations and verbal sounds. They can also help parents to bond with their babies and to relax.