As a Cornish business and a Cornish speaker, I work very closely with the Cornish language and social media in several ways. I have a part-funded podcast radio service in Kernewek which goes out every week. Radyo an Gernewegva is not only published on its own website, but also on twitter @Kernewegva and through Facebook. I have used interest groups on Facebook particularly to get the radio broadcasts around. Now, learners and speakers all over the world can have at least half an hour every week in the Cornish language.
There is an indigenous tweets group on Twitter which follows Cornish language messages – currently leading the field by a long way is Rod Lyon (@RodTLyon).
I have also set up a group on Facebook to get people to pledge to become more fluent in Cornish through 2012. The group has 92 people who have made a personal promise to boost their Cornish this year. It has also turned into a very useful learning tool.
Social media is also a benefit for helping communication within a very dispersed Cornish language speaking community. Geographically, Cornwall is a very long country. People in the east do not mix with those in the west that often. Furthermore, many Cornish language users live outside of Cornwall, but still feel the need to be part of an active Cornish Gaeltacht or Kernewegva. So many of us use chat and messaging in the Cornish language on Facebook. One of the most active of these forums is the pledge group I mentioned earlier.
BBC article on digital tools for minority languages
More comment on the use of Cornish language online can be found on www.magakernow.org.uk
