Focal off, Microsoft tells Gaelgeóirí

MICROSOFT has excluded Irish from its plan to translate the Windows operating system into 40 additional languages.

The company is preparing translations for speakers of Welsh, of Catalan in Spain and of Gujarati and Tamil in India, after worldwide complaints that young computer users were losing their native tongue.

The “start” menu will be translated along with other computer commands associated with Windows.

But the 1.5 million Irish speakers identified in the last census will be left out.

Foras na Gaeilge, the all-Ireland body tasked with promoting Irish, said it was disappointed by the move.

“We are disappointed that the Irish language isn’t being included in this development and we would relish the opportunity to discuss the matter further with Microsoft,” said spokesman Breandán Mac Craith.

He said that despite the huge growth in Gaelscoileanna, the pupils still had to learn to use computers through English.

The Irish language organisation, Conradh na Gaeilge, said Microsoft’s decision was “baffling”.

“I’m delighted for our Celtic cousins but I fail to understand how they could translate Welsh and not Gaeilge as well,” said a spokeswoman.

It is a further blow for Irish which was recently denied recognition as an official EU language.

However, the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) test has been translated into Irish by the Computer Education Society of Ireland while internet company Google recently provided an Irish version of its search engine.

Microsoft has its European headquarters in Sandyford, Dublin, and employs about 1,700 people.

A Microsoft spokeswoman said the company would be evaluating whether Irish would be included in “later phases” of its local language programme.