Foróige Releases

Would you believe it? Two entrepreneurial teens from Leap Foróige Club, County Cork have developed an iPhone App that translates Cork English into mainstream English! No Joke! 16-year-olds Austin Keane and Liam Horgan are also members of Foróige's democratically elected Reference Panel.

The idea sprang from hearing locals in west Cork using phrases that the lads had never heard outside of their native county. No offence should be taken as this is more about creating an understanding of slang words than the beautiful and distinctive Cork accent.

Austin explains, "One day my mom said 'my God isn't the Cork language so different'. She suggested to me that we write a book but I said what about developing an App? We talked about the idea in Foróige and then myself and Liam got to work!"

At one point Austin thought the idea was dead in the water due to cost issues. He says, "Initially we got a quote of 5,000 euro to build the App but we could only afford 250 euro. Eventually we got a cheaper option when a guy in England agreed to put it together for 250."

The aim is to make Cork lingo easier for non-Corkonians (especially tourists) to understand and to give them a bit of a laugh at the same time. The pairing also think that it will be culturally important for Cork as it will result in the revival of lesser known Cork phrases.

Actor and renowned Cork native Packie O’Callaghan obliged by doing the voiceover and the App is just about to go live on the Apple App Store.

Foróige operates more than 530 Foroige Clubs and Youth Cafes across Ireland that afford young people like Austin and Liam the opportunity to socialise with their friends in a safe environment, share ideas, be creative and reach their potential through programmes including leadership, active citizenship and entrepreneurship.

The proud Corkonians have tested their innovative App on friends, family, students and teachers – a unanimous thumbs up was given all round. Austin and Liam say that similar Apps will be developed for other counties if this one proves successful.

In total, 32 phrases have been translated. Here are just a few:

Cork                                        English translation

‘Up the back of Leap’              In the middle of nowhere

‘Don’t be doing the gowl’        Don’t be messing about

‘She was haunted’                  She was lucky

‘Shove Wesht’                         Move over

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Jerome Hughes, Foróige Media Officer

086 197 4392

About Foróige

Foróige is the leading and largest youth organisation in Ireland. The charity works with more than 53,000 young people and 4,500 adult volunteers annually, through a network of 534 youth clubs, 120 targeted projects and national programmes such as Entrepreneurship and Leadership.