Thursday, 9 March 2006, 16:39 GMT
BBC
A spellchecker for Gaelic has been launched by the Scottish Executive.
The service can be downloaded on to a computer for free and contains more than 525,000 words.
The European Language Initiative's spellchecker project, Prriseact an Dearbhair, took three years to complete and cost £105,500.
Education Minister Peter Peacock said: "The launch of this spellchecker is proof, if proof were needed, that Gaelic is a living language."
The executive hopes the spellchecker will be a useful everyday tool which will help to unite Gaelic-users behind a nationally-agreed standard.
Mr Peacock added: "For the growing number of people who are learning and using Gaelic, I'm sure this will quickly become an invaluable tool in their daily lives."
Project director Clive Leo McNeir, head of The European Language Initiative, said: "I would like to make it clear that the spellchecker is being offered as a support to the Gaelic community, not an imposition.
"Its first year of operation should be regarded as a consultation period. We invite everyone to participate and contribute to the project.
"We would like to know if there are extra words that should be added, or if any errors are spotted.
"No database of this size can expect to be perfect. Working together we can make a good tool even better."
The spellchecker is available to download free-of-charge from the Gaelic Online website.
