Ailgysylltu (Reconnecting)

Ail-Gysylltu (Reconnecting) How Twitter and Social Networking reconnected me with my home

Who are you?
Bryn Salisbury (@bryns)
Welsh-born IT Security Consultant, Blogger, Podcaster and Photographer
Resident on the web since the late 1990s.
Born in Bangor
Based in Hertford
http://www.randomlyevil.org.uk

Ail-Gysylltu
Welsh for Reconnecting
First language Welsh
Estimates that in excess of 65% of people from my home region speak Welsh as their first language
Used as my primary workplace language until 2005
One of the contributors to translating GNOME into Welsh

All change...
In 2007 I moved to Chester
Started living and working exclusively in English
Friends, colleagues and clients were all first-language English
My usage of Welsh dropped...

Shock
“Did you remember that it’s your Grandmother’s birthday next week?”

What’s Welsh for Happy Birthday?
Total breakdown in confidence
Loss of identity
Major feelings of home-sickness (much more than I’d expected)
For reference... it’s “Penblwydd Hapus”

Rescued by ‘The Link’

Welsh in Social Media
Facebook crowd-sourced a Welsh language interface in 2007
Launch of cy.umap.eu (minority language Twitter aggregator)
Welsh Bloggers Network ( http://www.blogiadur.net )
Hacio’r Iaith (Hacking the Language) - Welsh Barcamp!

How did I ‘ail-gysylltu’?
Tried using twitter in both languages (set up the account in 2007)
Blog bilingually
Wrote for a technology news website in Welsh
Recorded 23 podcasts episodes in 2 years
One of the Welsh Barcamp organisers

Problems?

Problems?
You thought Lynne Truss was bad...
Two different perspectives
‘Snobs Ieithyddol’ (Language Snobs)
‘Pam poeni?’ (Why worry?)

Conclusions
Confidence has returned to my writing
Actually started doing talks at barcamps and alike
Developed new friendships and feel closer to home than ever before (despite being ~300 miles from my hometown)

Questions?

Diolch yn Fawr!

Ailgysylltu (Reconnecting)

by bryns

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

1 Embed 15

Statistics

Ailgysylltu (Reconnecting) Presentation Transcript