Irish Language Projects

Introduction to Distributed Proofreaders for Gaeilgeoirí

Fáilte! If you're finding this page because of a call for Irish speaking volunteers on another site or on social media, this section will explain a little about Distributed Proofreaders.

DP is an all-volunteer organisation that helps scan, proofread, format, and upload books to Project Gutenberg. For more general information about what DP is and what it does, please visit the Main DP page and read the sections "Site Concept" and "How You Can Help."

For Irish language projects, our biggest needs are:

1. If your Irish is advanced, fluent, or native, the best way you can help is by "smooth reading," the last step before a book is published at Project Gutenberg. All it requires is reading the finished book through and making notes if you see anything that looks like an error. See the Smooth Reading FAQ for details.

2. Volunteers with any level of Irish, even beginning learners, can also help out in the proofreading rounds. This involves comparing images of the original printed book to the text created by the OCR software.

Once you've created your Distributed Proofreaders account, please consider joining Team Ireland (even if you're from thar lear) and introduce yourself in the Team Ireland discussion thread.

Special Considerations for Irish Language Projects

There are a few special considerations for Irish language projects at Distributed Proofreaders.

• Copyright. Project Gutenberg requires projects to be in the public domain in the United States, meaning in most cases they must have been published in 1930 or before. However, because many Irish language volunteers will be working outside the United States, it may be hard to find volunteers for Irish language projects unless they are also be public domain in Ireland and other life+70 countries, meaning the author must have died in 1955 or before.

• Typography. Many projects old enough to be included in Project Gutenberg will have originally been printed in Cló Gaelach or old Irish type, with a séimhiú represented with a dot over the consonant ("an ċéad") where in modern Irish this would be represented instead with an h ("an chéad"). In the past, in some cases both versions were provided to Project Gutenberg, in other cases only one version or the other.

• Quantity. Eventually we hope to have a steady stream of projects as Gaeilge. However, for now, there are only a few Irish projects available for volunteers to work on, meaning in order for volunteers to get enough experience to qualify to work in later rounds, they may also need to proof in English.

More Information

• Irish -- the main DP Wiki page on the Irish language.
• Cló Gaelach -- for more information on older Irish type.
• The Team Ireland discussion thread

List of Irish language projects

P1

• Scríbhinní Phádraig Mhic Phiarais. The Irish language writings of Patrick Pearse.

Waiting for P2

• Samhain, issues 3 and 5. One Irish play in each issue.
• Cormac Ua Conaill, a historical novel by Pádraig Ua Duinnín.

P2

• Samhain, issue 2. A magazine issue, mostly in English, but including one Irish play in Cló Gaelach, by Douglas Hyde
• Tóruigheacht Dhiarmuda agus Ghráinne volume 2 of 2. Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language edition. In Cló Gaelach. With English translation, notes, and glossary.
• Collected Works of Pádraic H. Pearse: Songs of the Irish Rebels and Specimens from an Irish Anthology. For proofreading purposes, the English and Irish texts of this book are being run as separate projects.

P3

• Tóruigheacht Dhiarmuda agus Ghráinne volume 1 of 2. Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language edition. In Cló Gaelach. With English translation, notes, and glossary.
• Silva Gadelica. A difficult text, in Old Irish with unusual punctuation. In Roman type.

Formatting rounds (F1/F2)

• None currently

Post-Processing

• Collected Works of Pádraic H. Pearse: Political Writings and Speeches. Mostly English but with at least one passage in Cló Gaelach.

Smooth Reading

• Maidean i mBéarra agus dánta eile. A short book of poetry in Roman type.
• Aodh Ó Néill. A short Irish language play, in Cló Gaelach.
• Samhain, issue 1. A magazine issue, mostly in English, but including one Irish play in Cló Gaelach, by Douglas Hyde

Posted to Project Gutenberg

• Leabhráin an Irisleabhair—III. A collection of four essays from Irisleabhar na Gaedhilge, including essays by Dubhghlas de hÍde and Pádraig Ó Duinnín. Originally in Cló Gaelach; presented in two versions, original ("an ċéad") and latinised ("an chéad").

• Beside the Fire. A book of folk tales by Dubhghlas de hÍde, presented in side by side Irish and English versions. The original was in Cló Gaelach and only the original dot notation ("an ċéad") is given.

• Niamh, a novel by Peadar Ua Laoghaire. The original is in Cló Gaelach, this text is Latinised ("an chéad").

Suggested Projects

If you'd like to suggest a book to include, please edit this page. All suggestions welcome!

At The Internet Archive:

• The Banquet of Dun na nGedh -- Side by side English and Irish (CG) with English commentary
• An Introduction to the Irish Language, in Three Parts -- Irish grammar for English speakers
• The Children of Lir -- Irish text with English introduction and notes, published by the Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language (In progress)
• Fled Bricend -- By the Irish Texts Society. In Roman type.
• Trom agus éadtrom -- 98pp, CG.
• Guaire -- 140pp, CG

At Google Books:

• Grádh & gréithidhe agus dhrámanna eile by William Patrick Ryan (d. 1942) -- Three plays, two in Irish (CG), one in English

Other projects with Irish interest

Because of the limited number of Irish language projects available, you may need to also work on some English language projects. This search will return a list of projects that have been tagged with the Special Day St. Patrick's Day that are available for work in any round; these should be projects related to Ireland or Irish culture.