Victor Victorovich Bayda (russian: Виктор Викторович Байда; born ) is a Russian linguist who specializes in

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

and Germanic languages. He is currently a language-planning officer in the Iveragh Gaeltacht of

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

Biography

A native of Moscow, Bayda first became interested in languages at the age of thirteen. He was particularly interested in Celtic languages, and by the time he went to university he had learnt some

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

and

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

. At

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

, he studied

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

and

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

. To order to improve his Irish, he spent one term at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

. He later spent time in the Irish-speaking communities of

An Spidéal Spiddal ( ga, An Spidéal , meaning 'the hospital') is a village on the shore of Galway Bay in County Galway, Ireland. It is west of Galway city, on the R336 road. It is on the eastern side of the county's Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking area) a ...

and An Cheathrú Rua, and attended

Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge (; English: "The Irish Language University Academy") is a third level educational and research institution headquartered in Galway, Ireland. It was established as part of the University of Galway in 2004, to fu ...

. He was a lecturer in Irish at Moscow State University for more than fifteen years, and received his doctorate from there in 2009, with a thesis entitled ' (). In 2019, he was appointed as a language-planning officer (or ) for the Iveragh Gaeltacht (or ) of

, with the responsibility to devise and implement a plan to revive the Irish language there. In this role, he has advocated that the Gaeltacht regions be given their own senior ministry within the Irish government. Bayda speaks ten languages: Russian, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Icelandic, Swedish, English, Dutch, German, and French.

References

External links

Interview
on

Radio Kerry Radio Kerry is a full-service, licensed radio station that operates from the franchise area of County Kerry in Southwest Ireland. Radio Kerry was established in 1989 and began broadcasting on 14 July 1990. The station headquarters are in Tral ...

(21 February 2019)
Interview
on

BBC Radio Foyle BBC Radio Foyle ( ga, BBC Raidió Feabhail) is a BBC Northern Ireland local radio station, serving County Londonderry in Northern Ireland. It is named after the River Foyle which flows through Derry, the city where the station is based. T ...

(28 February 2019)
Interview
on

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 ( ga, RTÉ Raidió 1) is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for th ...

(14 March 2021) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bayda, Victor 21st-century linguists 21st-century Russian educators Academic staff of Moscow State University Celtic studies scholars Irish language activists Linguists from Russia Linguists of Germanic languages Linguists of Indo-European languages Linguists of Irish Living people Moscow State University alumni Russian philologists Year of birth missing (living people)