Welcome to Belra
2008 was the International Year of Languages, and the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. It was fitting in this context that a Centre supporting all of Ireland’s languages be established, in an attempt to bridge some of the many gaps facing educators in this new environment. Belra is a two-year pilot project aimed at supporting teachers by way of providing small-scale translation services, advice and discussion fora.
We welcome your feedback and suggestions – our aim is to provide schools, teachers and families with the best possible language support services, and to grow in tandem with their needs.
About the Language Centre, NUIM
The Language Centre was established in 1971 as a support service for the foreign language departments of the University. It has expanded greatly since those early days and now plays a key role in the teaching of languages at all levels at NUI Maynooth. It is an essential resource, not only for students of languages, but also for both undergraduate and postgraduate students in other disciplines, as well as for students from overseas requiring English for academic purposes. The Language Centre also offers evening classes to the general public in several different languages. It provides training for Teastas Eorpach na Gaeilge (teg) - an examination system for adult learners of Irish that is linked to the Common European Framework for Language Assessment, and offers the Ard-Dioplóma san Aistriúchán – a two-year part-time course in translation.
Facilities available include foreign language television, film and video; self-study aids and books in many different languages, and Vifax – the weekly online exercises to accompany TG4 news bulletins.
Find out about our translation services
We can currently provide translation services for the following languages:
- Arabic
- Chinese
- Croatian/Serbian
- Estonian
- French
- Hungarian
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Romanian
- Slovakian
- Slovenian
- Vietnamese