r/Scotland • u/BulkyIllustrator6352 • 4d ago
Whats Your Relationships with Scots Gaelic?
Hello! I am currently doing a research project focused on the current linguistic climate in Scotland. I study archaeology, so I'm interested broadly in the culture surrounding the language and how it manifests. For this project, I'm looking more at how often you interact with the language. Do you speak Scots Gaelic? If so, when did you learn it, and how often do you use it? If not, are you interested in learning it at all? Do you think there's any validity to people talking about language revitalization? Anything you are able to talk about, I am all ears. If you live in Scotland and don't give a gaf at all, that's also super important. Thank you!
13
u/turach-air-shearach 3d ago
I'm from Glasgow grandfather spoke it, mother never learned because it was "old fashioned" so had pretty patchy Gàidhlig as a child but got much better as an adult.
Other half is from a native speaker from the Outer Hebrides, so at home speak a mix of both it's just more satisfying to say some things in one language or the other.
I think in terms of language revitalisation the first step is probably to get people who were brought up speaking the language to keep doing so. GME also needs to stop being a political football. The vast majority of GME is in areas where the language has speakers so it should be completely uncontroversial imo.
I would also say that I have never really encountered any space as hostile to Gàidhlig as this subreddit. Most people irl seem to be at worst indifferent to the language but on here the naked animosity towards it is quite shocking .
34
u/biscuitsgymnastics 4d ago edited 4d ago
From the West coast and currently learning it via a mix of Duolingo, learngaelic, speak Gaelic and hopefully local courses (hard to get on because they book up very quickly)
In terms of use that can be complicated. I'm from a village with a Gaelic name and many local nature spots in Gaelic and surrounded by villages all named in Gaelic. My area and family speak mainly in Scots and through Gaelic study I've picked up on how many shared words there are between Gaelic and Scots.
Me and my wife try to use the Gaelic we're both learning as much as we can daily, even if it's just small things like telling each other we're going to have milk in our coffee or something.
Also finding a lot of joy in learning Scots Gaelic songs which I'm also sharing with students who I teach guitar to who respond very well to it.
As for importance, I feel it absolutely vital that both Gaelic and Scots are brought back to the forefront all over the country. Losing these things is the same as losing part of our identity and culture and we should be doing all we can to repair the damage that's been done to them both.
I'll be doing all I can to send my children to Gaelic speaking schools so that they are fluent in both Gaelic and Scots.
Edit: To add in, I know many fluent Gaelic speakers who grew up with it and have gone on to use it in their careers in music and the arts, as well as one who is now a TV presenter in Gaelic. Also met many folk in the 40+ age range who grew up with Gaelic speaking grandparents but never really got fluent themselves but express regret at this and are trying to reconnect with the language.
53
u/J-Joker 3d ago edited 3d ago
Tha Gàidhlig agam, agus bidh mi a’ bruidhinn Gàidhlig a h-uile latha. Dh’ionnsaich mi i aig Sabhal Mòr Ostaig. Tha mi a’ Glaschu agus cha robh Gàidhlig nuair a bha mi òg. Tha a’ Ghàidhlig glè chudromach dhomh, agus tha mi a’ creidsinn gur e – dhomhsa – pàirt chudromach a th’ innte de bhith nam Albannach.
And now for English speakers...
I have Gaelic and learned it via Sabhal Mòr Ostaig (which I strongly recommend btw). I went on their course callled "An Cùrsa Inntigridh", you go from a complete n00b to speaking, writing and understanding somewhat complex structures in about a year. Gaelic is very important to me. I use it every day (mostly online but some offline - my inner monologue is in Gaelic). I am from the Glasgow area and never had any Gaelic prior to learning in 2023 (I never even heard it spoken anywhere) but I was always aware of it, and felt that it was something I should have.Learning it has helped me see Scotland in a new light - especially the landscape and the towns, whose name often tells a story.
Finally, I see it to be fundamental to my sense of Scottishness. It's just part of me like that.
7
u/KnoxCastle 3d ago
You started learning it in 2023 and now your inner monologue is in Gaelic? So in your head you don't think in English any more. Wow. That's impressive. Have you really picked up the depth of language to go that deep so quickly?
13
u/J-Joker 3d ago
It is a concious effort stlll. Sorry I might have accidentally over-sold that one. So what I mean is that I actively think in Gaelic, I jounal in Gaelic, which in turn helps me reflect in Gaelic. It is still very much a work in progress, but I hope to get to automatically thinking in Gaelic within the next few years. It's hard work, but it's a lovely feelign when you catch yourself doing it. Although it can be emabarassing sometimes when you walk into a Costa at 8am and accidentally say "Tha mi ag iarraidh latte mòr, taing."
I don't think that 3 years is necessarily a short-time. It depends on how much you are able to put into it. Obviously for most of us, we are in English/Scots-speaking communities and workplaces, but you can immerse yourself in Gaelic in small but meaningful ways. So, I listen to BBC Reidio nan Gàidheal every day (my favourite podcast is Fad Botal Fìon where it's just three women talking about day-to-day life in Gaelic), jounalling as mentioned, or even posting on my socials in Gaelic. BBC Alba also has some surprisingly enjoyable Gaelic TV as well.
6
u/Embarrassed-Art-5076 3d ago
that's amazing, good on you.
I'd love to learn it, and hope to one day when the weans are a bit older.
10
u/J-Joker 3d ago
Honestly, learning it is a commitment but maybe not quite as much as you think. There's a BBC podcast called "Speak Gaelic" you might find useful to get started. Plus, Duolingo is actually quite good if you want to be casual with it. Siuthad! 😄
2
u/Embarrassed-Art-5076 3d ago
aye, I've made a few half arsed attempts over the years. did the Duolingo thing over COVID as well.
I'm currently studying for a CCNA to try to get a new job, once that's done I'd like to think I could give it a bash.
currently working full time and have a 4 year old, a 3 year old and another wean due in march though, so spare time is a bit of a premium.
6
u/BulkyIllustrator6352 3d ago
Thank you!! That's beautiful, and I'm glad that learning it has been so rewarding for you. Would it be okay if I quoted you in my project? Specifically, the quote: "Learning it has helped me see Scotland in a new light - especially the landscape and the towns, whose name often tells a story." No one will see it except my teacher. Totally okay if not!
2
→ More replies (4)2
u/downinthecathlab 3d ago
I’m Irish so grew up learning Irish in primary and secondary school (I’m hanging around this sub cos I’m married to a Scot now). My Irish was never great and I’m 25 years out of school now but I understood about 40% of what you wrote!
11
u/Oldmanshouts 3d ago
Spoke Gaidhlig until I was four on Skye, lived between England and Paisley ( not the posh part) until I was 13. Came to Australia, started to relearn Gaidhlig 5 years ago, had a heart attack 3 years ago, lost most of it....now learning again. So hard to get conversation here in Western Australia. 75 years old now...
2
25
u/BonnieWiccant 4d ago
I speak Gàidhlig fluently and have done since I was young. I have family that still use it as their main languages at home and thats how I learned it and 99% of the time I only ever use it when I speak with them but these days I'm meeting more and more people who are able to have a conversation with me in Gàidhlig which is super cool. I currently live in Glasgow and in the last year I've met a handful of people who could speak to me in Gàidhlig which doesn't sound like a lot but is actually super surprising.
I think people would be surprised at how often they interact with Gàidhlig without even knowing it. A lot of words, names and geographic names we use here in Scotland come from Gàidhlig that have become so normal people don't realise they're using Gàidhlig words (or bastardized Gàidhlig in a lot of cases). This isn't even to mentioned all the street signs that have both english and Gàidhlig in them which is far more common up north but is becoming more common in the lowlands. All new service vehicles (police cars, ambulances ect) have both English and Gàidhlig on them.
Gàidhlig has had a massive impact on Scotland and in many ways still does. Yes not very many people speak it these days but the number of speakers is rising and there are more Gàidhlig speakers today than there has been in decades and while accepting I am clearly biased I think this is undeniablely a good thing.
4
u/BulkyIllustrator6352 4d ago
That's so awesome to hear! I'm actually studying abroad in Glasgow next semester, so that's super cool to hear. I'd be super interested in some of your favorite things about Scottish culture! Also, do you notice a change in how you view the world, people, and the environment around you compared to other people due to being bilingual?
23
u/Albannach02 3d ago
After reclaiming my Scottish Gaelic heritage in my 20s, I worked in Gaelic broadcasting for almost three decades and brought up my family with Gaelic as their first tongue (using it alongside other languages).
Funnily enough, I seem to know much more Scots than others around me, but it isn't part of my everyday life, unlike Gaelic. (I put the limits on Scots down to an anglicising educational system, as I tend to autodidacticism.) Because Gaelic has been used almost everywhere in Scotland for placenames (and even south of the Scottish-English border), it seems a natural, comprehensible part of the landscape. Non-Gaelic speakers lose so much by living in a bland, colourless landscape IMHO.
On my deathbed I'll have the comforting thought that my family has increased the number of Gaelic speakers by comparison with when I was born.
Occasionally I come across the denialists that proclaim: "Gaelic was never spoken here!" Often they come from somewhere like Dumfries (Dùn Phrìs) or Edinburgh (at one time Aodann Bruthaich but more commonly Dùn Éideann). Dé maith a bhith bruidhinn! 🤷♂️
5
u/unsheenashashin 3d ago
I'm related to Donnie from dotaman, guessing you crossed paths with him in the broadcasting industry?
1
u/Albannach02 3d ago
Yes, he was a colleague, although we rarely worked together, as children's programmes were outside my remit.
2
u/unsheenashashin 3d ago
Think he's chucked the hats and guitars now, does home renovation stuff apparently 🤷🏻♂️ I'm not close to him or anything, he was my dad's cousin, they grew up together
2
1
u/Good-Sheepherder3680 3d ago
Totally forgot Dotaman! Had no clue what was being said in it but would watch this and Di a Nis in the good old days when there were only 4 channels.
1
u/Slainte_Moi 3d ago
Perhaps you are familiar with Annie MacSween?
2
u/Albannach02 3d ago
The Gaelic world is a small place. I've met her, but her son was a colleague for a while.
15
u/Otherwise_Fan_4864 3d ago
I grew up in Glasgow in the 60s and 70s, and the city was awash with Gaelic culture - churches, Masonic lodges, and pubs, and with ceilidhs or ceilidh dances available in places like the Christian Institute or Freemasons' Hall every weekend. My father was from Caithness, and my mother from Argyll. Both were native Gaelic speakers.- but barely passed a word of the language on to their offspring; and this was a common pattern. I had many neighbours, cousins and schoolmates with at least one Gaelic-speaking parent, but very little effort was made to pass the language on.
So I'm pretty much indifferent to the language.
5
u/TonsAgain2 3d ago
Are masonic lodges part of Gaelic culture?
9
u/Otherwise_Fan_4864 3d ago
I think Gaelic-speaking lodges - just like Gaelic-speaking churches - are, of course. Don't you?
1
7
u/GordonLivingstone 3d ago
I'm Scottish with no personal gaelic heritage. My knowledge of the language is limited to a few words used in names of places and mountains. I am unlikely to
However, I am in favour of support of the language. It is an important part of the culture of Scotland. The introduction of gaelic place names on signposts does give it more prominence and, in many cases, explains where the English names came from.
No doubt good for tourism as well.
17
u/GaryJM 4d ago
I don't speak it and (as far as I know) I don't know anyone who speaks it. According to the last census, there are only 900-odd speakers in my city (of 150,000 people) so it's very rare here. I've never thought about learning it. If other people want to learn it though then that's cool and it's good that more resources for that have become available.
As for revitalisation, I could see the decline in the use of the language slowing or perhaps even stopping but I can't imagine it expanding much. Ireland has made a big effort to educate people in Irish and they have the situation now where a lot of people report that they have some ability to speak the language but very few report that they actually do habitually use it.
6
u/BulkyIllustrator6352 4d ago
Very interesting. Do you see the loss of Scots Gaelic as something that equates to losing part of Scottish culture (I only ask because I've heard this opinion before), or do you believe it is just inevitable and won't cause much disruption? Kind of unrelated, I'd be curious as well to hear what you view of Scottish culture is in general. Thank you!
10
u/GaryJM 4d ago
I would see losing Scottish Gaelic as losing a part of Scottish culture, the same way that something was lost when Pictish and Norn went extinct. I don't think it would be disruptive though; as far as I know, the number of monolingual Gaelic speakers is zero. The language would just... fade away.
Is it inevitable? I'm not sure. Apparently there are around 70,000 Gaelic speakers and UNESCO consider a language with under 100,000 speakers to be endangered but languages can survive with only a few hundred speakers as long as there's enough pressure for new generations to learn it. The risk is when kids grow up with the language but then move out of the area, have kids of their own and don't pass the language on. The Western Isles - where Gaelic is most-spoken - has a decreasing population and a low percentage of young people. If those demographic trends continue then it does seem like Gaelic will eventually die out unless there's a serious change.
What would you like to know about Scottish culture? That's kind of a big topic!
5
u/MiddleAgedBones 3d ago
100% agree. There needs to be a policy shift to protect Gaelic’s vernacular communities, including the Western Isles and Highlands but also places young Gaels need to move to for work like Glasgow and Edinburgh. Because this is what is leading to fluent or native households in this generation not passing the language on.
2
u/BulkyIllustrator6352 4d ago
Thank you! This is incredibly helpful. I guess some specific questions about Scottish culture that I have are: What are your favorite traditions/folk stories, if you have any? What are some misconceptions about Scottish culture that annoy you? I've also heard from a professor that Scotland is very focused on environmental protection. Do you think that's true, and if so, do you think there are any correlations between that and the fact that most Gaelic borrowings into English are in place names and geography (sorry if that's too abstract).
3
u/GaryJM 4d ago
I'd say my favourite traditions were the ones to do with Hogmanay (New Year). Getting the house all clean and ready for the new year, first-footing (being the first person to visit someone's home after the start of the year), Auld Lang Syne, steak pie dinner... More recently, people go down to the river on New Year's Day for a very brief swim. Too cold for me though! Scotland didn't celebrate Christmas for a long time (we solemnly observed it in true Calvinist fashion) so we have a lot of New Year traditions and few Christmas ones.
Favourite story? Tam 'o Shanter by Robert Burns. A guy stays out late drinking then has to ride home in a storm past a haunted church and he gets chased by witches.
I would agree that Scotland is focused on environmental protection. We've got some pretty ambitious targets for reducing pollution emissions and restoring nature. Of course, we've got a long way to go with restoring nature because we're one of the most nature-depleted places in the world. There's also a lot of tension between our desire to be greener and our desire to exploit our oil and gas reserves.
I don't think there's a direct relationship between language and conservation.
1
u/Round_Hope3962 3d ago
Curious to know which city it is you stay in? I don't know of any where the number is that low.
14
u/Straight-Hippo-313 3d ago
I live on the Outer Hebrides and it’s the main language here. People use it all the time, primary schools are Gaelic medium by default, but you can opt out. The Gaelic medium classes are definitely bigger than the English medium classes. It’s also a big part of religious life, parts of mass are in Gaelic in my parish. I would add though that religious life is very important here, too.
I moved here, so I’m currently learning it, but definitely see a greater use here than in a bigger city for example.
5
u/stellatundra 3d ago
I'm from Lewis, however I've been away for a while. When I was in primary it was the total opposite. The English classes were larger than the Gaelic and it was only compulsory up until 2nd year of secondary school. The majority of people dropped Gaelic as soon as they could in favour of French, Spanish or even Latin. Such changed days but its great to see!
24
u/KnoxCastle 3d ago edited 3d ago
I grew up in Ayrshire and have lived in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Outside of place names the only time I've ever encountered Gaelic has been when I got excited as a kid when Postman Pat came on the TV and then got deflated when I realised it was the Gaelic version and I couldn't understand it.
Fair play to anyone who wants to learn Gaelic but it's a very alien language for my actual, real culture that I was brought up in actually for real. I've never heard a conversation in Gaelic or knowingly met a speaker.
I feel as attached to Gaelic as I do to Breton or Cornish or Catalan. Absolutely support anyone who wants to learn it for any reason but not part of my culture.
You're American so I'd compare it to something like Navajo and how you feel about that and how that fits into your culture. I'd guess that the typical Americans experience of Navajo is similar to the typical Scottish persons experience of Gaelic.
3
u/InitialMysterious780 3d ago
Americans don't descend from Native Americans do they? the "american" culture was created by British People which they still retain.
22
u/Hopeful-Project5504 3d ago
You say "not part of my culture" then name places you've lived which are literally gaelic names. If you live in Scotland, Gaelic is part of your culture whether you like it or not
7
u/Klutzy-Ad-2034 3d ago
Place names are just a collection of syllables that refer to a location for most people most of the time. I don't think about cookoos on a hill when I catch the 37 bus to Penicuik.
So yeah, a little cultural legacy from the place names but not an important or deep one.
6
u/lgf92 Reiver Maimer Extraordinaire 3d ago
Similar to Norse/Brythonic place names which you can find all across the north of England. It doesn't mean that English speakers in Yorkshire feel a close cultural connection to Norwegian or Danish.
1
u/Hopeful-Project5504 3d ago
The anti-gaelic sentiment in Scotland is truly baffling. Didn't realise we had Norse speakers, norse television programmes or norse schools. Maybe get a wee bit further north some time
1
10
u/Economy-Gate3604 3d ago
I live half way between Oban and Fort William. I hear people speaking it very occasionally, usually in pubs and always the speakers are 70-odd years old or above.
I’m English, so can’t speak it. But my son, who is two years old, was born and raised here. Since we have not intention of ever moving away, I guess he’s Scottish? My village’s primary school is split between teaching in English or Gaelic, so when he’s old enough to start school I’m strongly considering sending him to the Gaelic split of the school to learn the language.
I grew up in a very rural part of Somerset in a household that celebrated the old poetry, writing, music, etc. of the area. As a result, I’ve felt connected to that land and “the old” more generally my entire life. Since I want the same for my son, it feels only natural he should learn Gaelic so he can be a part of the traditions and cultural practices of his home in their native language.
I go climbing in Morvern quite a lot, and there’s a pub over there with a Gaelic speaking and arts group that meet once a week. I think I’ll start going when I pass it. I’ll never be fluent, but I would like to learn a little bit. Particularly if my son learns.
Lastly, I hear many of the younger local Scots around here take the position of: “it’s a dead language, why bother? I could spend that time learning something more useful globally like Spanish.” Needless to say, none of them know any Spanish, but I see the sentiment as a damming indictment on the way we all value things today. Sure, learning Gaelic won’t make you any money or mean you can go on holiday to South America easily. But it will mean you can consume the art, history, and culture of the nation, and in a way I can’t think of a more valuable thing to fill your life with.
10
u/Glaic 3d ago
From the western isles, learnt it as a first language before learning English is school. Use it daily. I'm in the 30-40 age bracket.
6
u/blueskieshelpme 3d ago
Similar story. Most of our education up until 2nd /3rd year was gaidhlig.
Fucked me over in maths trying to learn all the jargon again.
It was more of a normal language for us at home as well.
Op it’s a combination of revitalisation but stopping its destruction.
The hard part is continually losing communities for development or because people think it’s pretty and want to retire in these places
People don’t have the opportunities to make the same kind of living as say the north of England so they have to leave. It’s not as simple as supporting a language, it needs communal support, economic change and improvements across the board to make it viable for people to live and thrive in. Not just those that have money or have made wealth and want to retire early.
5
u/Round_Hope3962 3d ago
Mise cuideachd, ach tha mi fuireach air taobh an ear. Bruidhnidh mi Gàidhlig gach latha ri càraidean agus teaghlach.
4
u/hespeon 3d ago edited 3d ago
Grew up and live in central belt and speak very little but want to learn more as my granny who helped raise me was a native speaker and I still have living family in the island she came from.
My grandmother sadly passed on when I was still in school and I regret not learning properly from her when she was still here but I’m hoping that learning more as an adult will help me feel closer to her and reconnect more with my extended family.
EDIT: I was exposed to a lot of Gaelic growing up by my grandmother and her friends, she had Gaelic children’s books and I watched children’s Gaelic tv at her house. And also from spending most childhood holidays in the Gàidhealtachd sometimes with other family who still use it as their main language, so it was quite a cultural shock to me when I got older and realised how disconnected from it most people are where I live.
1
u/MiddleAgedBones 3d ago
Highly recommend the gaelic college in skye for learning!
2
u/hespeon 3d ago
I’m currently a full time student so I’m hoping to go once I’ve finished my degree! Unfortunately I can’t afford the summer school in the mean time but it’s very much something I’m aiming for eventually. :)
1
u/MiddleAgedBones 3d ago
They have online part time courses so once you have graduated and have more time it’s something that might interest you.
5
u/Purplepumpkinpoop 3d ago
In Central Scotland and had a couple of lessons in P7 from a teacher who happened to speak it and offered lunchtime sessions. From that, all I remembered were a nursery rhyme and how to say hello and goodbye. Visiting the highlands often for work meant having to learn to pronounce place names and awoke a curiosity in learning more. Have been ploughing away on duolingo and with YouTube and tiktok videos to try and learn as much as I can. I think more people should be able to understand and speak at least SOME Gàidhlig just for understanding and connecting better to the West Coast and Islands.
I am aware of demand on the primary school in Glasgow meant they had to expand. I wish I had learned more at a young age. It's supposed to help you learn other languages too.
I'm not sure its a nationalist type thing or if it makes anyone any more or less Scottish. But it does make place names and old sayings make more sense. This makes me feel more connected to Scotland, but not necessarily any more Scottish than anyone else.
10
u/theeynhallow 3d ago
I come from the only place in Scotland without Gaelic heritage (northern isles) but over time being so intimately connected with the Highlands and Islands it’s gradually become an important part of my cultural makeup. I’m at a conversational level and hope to be fluent in the next couple of years. It’s already part of my work and I hope it’ll continue to be so.
I’m volunteering at the Mòd in Glasgow this week and I think some people would be amazed by the number of Gaels and Gaelic speakers who are around. There are kid’s events with hundreds of them singing songs and reading poetry in Gaelic, and many folk will come up to you and chat in Gaelic like it’s very normal. We also have a permanent Gaelic community in the west end.
8
u/Klutzy-Ad-2034 3d ago
The politics of Gaelic language secondary schooling in Edinburgh is quite fraught. I'm not accusing any particular individuals of using Gaelic language schooling as a way of evading catchment areas but, if the Gaelic school were at Gracemont High not JGHS I think take up would be lower.
4
u/Albannach02 3d ago
The politics is the other way round: parents that want Gaelic Medium Education have to push very hard to be allocated premises, and councils exert themselves to resist that pressure. (They don't like change or having to allocate resources to anything new, even if funding comes from elsewhere.) Generally, the pressure for buildings is given a sop in the form of premises that are soon outgrown. This is what happens when demand for change meets councils' natural resistance to it.
1
1
u/TooLongDugong 3d ago
Parents definitely push for Gaelic education as a cheaper alternative to fee-paying private schools, especially if they live in areas where state schools have a bad reputation. Very few people at Gaelic primaries have parents who habitually speak Gaelic at home: it's impoverished but middle-class parents looking for an educational advantage (and there are studies that show learning a second language improves children's development, regardless of the language).
Exactly the same thing happened in Ireland with Irish-language education, where it became received wisdom that Irish-language schools were better and a lot of Scottish parents seem to think the same. It's also legitimately good to send your kid to a school where other parents give a fuck and aren't just tossing them over the nearest school wall.
I think even if the Gaelic school was in Gracemont, parents in areas with shitty schools would still send their kids there rather than to English-language classes. But certainly it helps if it's somewhere nicer (although not I'd want my kids going to Bonnington primary - they'd probably end up in the Water of Leith).
8
u/amri_black 3d ago
I'm an English immigrant in Edinburgh so few speakers in my life but I have met some before through work and working with young people from the Western Isles. I think its great that Gaelic and Scots have become official languages now and there is likely going to be more government support for increasing the number of speakers.
I have a kid who I'm prioritising learning Scots with though as that's much more commonly spoken and will actually be useful for her (and me) and I love Scots.
I would theoretically like to learn a bit of Gaelic, mainly so I can pronounce it well but I'm under no illusion I'm ever gonna learn it to fluency.
2
u/AlbaStee Socialism is fine, in moderation. 3d ago
Scots with an English accent can be a stunning thing to hear.
Same with those raised in Scotland to Indian or Pakistani parents. They have a hint of their parents accent, but they speak mainly Scots. Gorgeous.
10
u/hi_hola_salut 3d ago
Central belt - it’s not part of our everyday lives, sadly. Historically Scots words were the norm but we are losing those to Americanisms.
Young people don’t go to the pictures to see a film. They watch a movie!
Some language is lost with traditions. They don’t go guising at Halloween. They don’t first foot.
I personally think it would be lovely if we could teach our kids a little Scots Gaelic in primary schools, but realistically known there is too much we are asking of teachers to fit into the curriculum already, and I know the difficulties with getting language specialists into primary schools.
I think we need to fight to keep our heritage, like teaching Scottish country dancing was the norm in every primary school, bagpipe lessons in the north, special local knitting techniques. The language itself is harder to preserve, it’s not enough to just put it on signs. It’s very different to English, and so would require dedicated effort and a decent level of proficiency to teach.
In Ireland they teach Irish in primary schools so everyone has a basic level of understanding. That proves we could do it here too if we committed to the bit. It would be hard to get started, as even supportive parents like myself would struggle as most of the population have no knowledge to fall back on. In Ireland, kids can get help from parents as grandparents! But in time it would work.
But is it something we should be focusing on? What would we cut to provide funding for this? Modern foreign languages would be far more beneficial to our kids in the job market.
3
u/Character-Ad793 3d ago
Welsh is taught in Wales also. I find it funny tho as neither my dad and his girlfriend speak it and her eldest an possibly her siblings were taught Welsh in school so if she's stuck with anything she speaks to her teachers seen it happening when I was visiting once, she asked my dad as he is actually Welsh an he was like the mad Italian Glaswegian fuckedifahknow. I had a wee chuckle to myself then asked her what she'll do in regards to it an she said the teachers would help her out
4
u/Scottishspyro Teuchter 3d ago
I absolutely hate the americanisation of the world, and have started making an effort to drop American phrases.
We do the messages Go to the pictures We go guising We hae a blether We hae a keek We hae a run aroon We hae a fly cup We hae a cooriedoon
→ More replies (2)4
u/hi_hola_salut 3d ago
I’m trying to make sure my kids know they are Americanisms, and teach them the Scots so they can go between the two! We go guising and coorie in too 😆
→ More replies (11)
9
u/deny_evaade 3d ago
I'm currently learning Gàidhlig. I didn't even know we had other languages in Scotland until I was 14-15 when I met my now mother in law who had it as her first language. She would punish her daughters by making them watch BBC Alba, so they each speak a tiny amount.
I was fascinated but never interested. My MIL passed away about 4 years ago and I regret never asked her to teach me. I come from the lower western isles and I found that a lot of people do still speak it here, so I started learning it. I can hold basic conversations now and read some children's books.
I want to teach it to my two kids when I learn enough. I really hope we start to see a big uptick in the number of people who speak it in the coming years.
4
u/Subaruchick99 3d ago
Moved back to Scotland, West Coast, 9 years ago (originally from Glasgow but have lived and worked across the UK and abroad)
Have learned a little Gaelic and would love to properly learn it, it’s important to me that it doesn’t die out. I know a few fluent speakers and love to hear it being spoken.
Am not brilliant with languages, but have a fair bit of Spanish and German. Spanish I learned at school in the US and German from living and working in Austria. The main thing that actually helps me learn is being able to speak with others, so I wish there was more opportunity to speak the little Gaelic I’ve learned.
5
u/lowkeyterrible 3d ago
I'm from the central belt and just don't encounter Gaelic very much, outside of place names etc.
As a kid I used to love watching the Gaelic shows, Na Daoine Beaga was a huge hit with me as a kid who loved fairies. Dotaman as well. I swear I have memories of understanding them as well, which means as an adult I kind of wish there had been more of it so I could've learned it the way most of us learn a language - immersion in childhood.
As far as connection to the language goes, I feel so much more connected with Scots than I do Gaelic. I appreciate the cultural impact of both languages, but Gaelic feels more like a foreign language, and Scots feels like uncovering something native to me. I wish both languages had greater recognition and respect, things like the Scots Wikipedia disaster I think genuinely set us back quite a bit and it winds me up. I wish there was a genuine modern revival with greater use in schools etc. I have loved seeing the wee Singaporean (?) woman who has learned Gaelic and I believe Scots as well, totally off her own back from the other side of the world, making tiktoks and enjoying the culture. I love seeing people use Gaelic but yeah, just feels like it's not for me at this point.
Ultimately though, I'm learning Spanish. It feels vibrant, energetic, alive, and I can share it with so many people. Spanish gives me access to so much more of the world, where Gaelic would give me access to so much more of certain parts of Scotland. If I could download the language into my brain I would, but my resources are spent on Spanish now. I take weekly classes, and I don't even think they do Gaelic classes in my area. I also hear what others have said in this thread about Gaelic seeming really insular and hard to get into, and I'd agree. I'd support us going the way Irish and Welsh have, and desperately want to see Scots being treated better, but until then, you'll see me at Spanish classes.
4
u/ciaran668 3d ago
My grandfather spoke Gaelic fluently, and his grandmother didn't speak any English at all. Even though I live in England, I am learning Gaelic to honour my grandfather. I personally want to see both Gaelic and Scots to be like Welsh in Wales where most people have at least basic understanding of the language.
5
u/windy_on_the_hill 3d ago
I have no Gaelic.
Occasionally dealing professionally with people on Lewis, I realise this is a barrier to full engagement. I rely on them to apply ideas locally.
If I was seeking to live/work in some areas, I would want to pick up some Gaelic. Given the unlikely chances of that, I spend my time on other things.
4
u/Tir_an_Airm 3d ago
I dont speak it.
I wish I did and I wish everyone learned it. Its such a beautiful language.
5
u/Dapper_Cucumber_3507 2d ago
I’m from the Western Isles, grew up in a house where my parents spoke English all the time but my grandparents all had Gaelic as their first language. My dad also had Gaelic as a first language when he was wee but lost it when he went to school and was forced to speak English. My mum’s parents made the conscious choice not to teach their kids Gaelic because they viewed it as holding them back at the time.
I myself am the youngest of 5 siblings and the only one who was in GME from the age of 3. Growing up I considered myself to be dual native Gaelic and English and could converse and write as fluently in either language. Received the academic prize for fluent Gaelic in secondary school. So all this to say my Gaelic was at a high standard when I was in education. But my friends didn’t really speak it and it was mostly a language for school and grandparents for me which is a huge issue still with GME and its ability to produce truly native speakers.
I lived on the mainland for twelve years during which I never got the chance to use Gaelic. I’d occasionally watch bbc alba but otherwise nothing so my Gaelic deteriorated massively. I then moved home for a job which is in the same field as I was doing away but which requires me to speak Gaelic daily, fluently. It came back very quickly but I still have the odd issue and I feel my vocabulary is not what it was. I also had somewhere along the way picked up an accent that was a strange sort of mixture of Uist and Lewis.
The way I see it Gaelic has two big problems and they’re at loggerheads with each other. One is that it is incredibly hard to produce new truly fluent speakers out of GME. It’s GREAT for kids who have Gaelic at home already but for others they just don’t do enough practice outside school or have enough immersion in school as, in the vast majority of cases, GME is just a separate class in a school where the other classes speak English. In some schools they’re a majority but still. In order to maintain standards and be able to train teachers, the language is being homogenised by decision makers down in Glasgow. The grammar is being simplified, the spelling is being simplified, and vocabulary is narrowed, erasing regional differences which can be vast. I understand why they feel the need to do this but it means we already are losing big chunks of the language in this generation WITH fluent speakers. They struggle with songs and poetry that are older because the vocabulary is so unfamiliar even at Higher or advanced higher level.
The other problem is resistance to this change (understandable) and snobbery (less so) from native speakers. Because I didn’t come from a Gaelic speaking house, I’ll never be native to a lot of them. Even though I’ve had a fair few people at work who have this attitude assume that I do come from a Gaelic-speaking house. I always correct them but I do wonder if that colours their opinions of me. I’ve heard people gossiping about colleagues and their Gaelic. People are very opposed to providing spaces for learners to practice and speak or will answer learners in English and then complain to a fellow native speaker about how the learner was terrible. It’s not everyone, it’s not even most but it’s some. And for the most part it comes from a place of pain over what’s being lost but it’s counterproductive.
And then perhaps in this last comment I’m being hypocritical as I know my Gaelic could be better than it is. It does get my goat sometimes seeing people move to the islands from England or the lowlands, take a couple of courses in Gaelic to the point where they’re probably about B1, and then be put in job roles working in Gaelic conservation or promotion. I think it contributes to the homogenisation. However I do also know that these jobs are often poorly paid and they’re hard to recruit into. I’m sure the recruiters would prefer a native speaker if they had the choice so I don’t know what the options are really
3
u/AccountForDoingWORK 3d ago
My kids started at GME with my oldest coming in from P2. COVID hit and we switched to home ed for a year, and when we asked to come back, we were told by two different schools that my rising P4 kid was ‘too old’ to come back into immersive GME.
I feel Scotland’s approach is very insular and exclusionary compared to what I’ve seen/heard about for ESOL in the U.S./Welsh for immigrants in Wales/French for immigrants in France, etc, where they have protocols for working with late-learners even. I’ve talked to a few other people who have interestingly had similar experiences in GME (different schools even) where there seems to be some sort of hierarchy and our kids were clearly not particularly welcome.
For myself, I came in very keen to learn Gaelic, and even did a year at Sabhal mòr Ostaig (I live in the Highlands and just for place names alone it’s useful to know), but after my kids were kept out of GME I didn’t feel any continuing desire to learn a language that didn’t feel like it was for everybody.
1
u/Fun_Cookie8050 3d ago
Yes, absolutely. On one hand, there’s a shortage of teachers in GME so they want to prioritise families that have Gaelic, but also it really excludes others and stops the language growing.
We live in Edinburgh. My husband has Gaelic and would love our children to go to GME but unfortunately we live on the opposite side of the city from the primary and the commute is just not possible for us. What I would love is if all primaries had Gaelic lessons, so that children immersed at home could transfer to GME secondary once they are old enough to commute themselves.
1
u/AccountForDoingWORK 3d ago
The one in Edinburgh is where we started - I used to commute 45 minutes each way for it until we got a taxi service (which you can organise through the council, as a heads up). The old head (Kate something?) was amazing, she was very welcoming and inclusive. She was also from a multi-national family so she 'got it'. But she left at the end of the year and from that point on is when we were told that my then-8 year old would be too old to be in immersive education, which - by the way, is the absolute best way to learn a language (as I'm sure you already know) and something kids of all ages can do. The culture shift was immediate and unfortunately extended to the other school we tried for.
2
u/Fun_Cookie8050 3d ago
I’m so sorry that was your experience. As I said, its so sad that this approach stops the language spreading (and theoretically creating more GME teachers)
9
13
5
u/Ska1dskaparma1 3d ago
I’m from Caithness, which historically has more in common culturally and linguistically with Orkney and Shetland than with much of the highlands. Our place names are Norse, and the only Gaelic speakers I’m aware of in the county are from out west.
I think there was a bit of Gaelic spoken in the parts of the county bordering Sutherland in the past, but it was never spoken in the coastal areas. They spoke Norn until about 500 years ago (latest), then moved to Scots.
I’m very supportive of encouraging Gaelic in traditionally Gaelic areas, but we often get dragged into it because we’re technically in the Highlands. The indiscriminate use of it on our road signs a few years ago really riled people up and a lot of the signs ‘vanished’. There is still a good bit of historical animosity towards the Gaelic ‘teuchters’ up here.
2
u/Scottishspyro Teuchter 3d ago
We get labeled it in the north east as well, when historically very little Gaelic was spoken here. Doric replaced Gaelic nearly as quick as Gaelic replaced Pictish.
1
u/Hellolaoshi 3d ago
I am a Lowlander with Gaelic-speaking ancestors. I want to learn Gaelic, but I am aware that there are other influences on Scotland.
As far as I can make out, the area you are in, plus the Orkneys and Shetlands, was Pictish up to a certain point. That is to say that if you had lived where you live now at the time of King Arthur 😄 🤣 you would be speaking a different Celtic language than the one that the Gaels of Scotland were speaking at that point. In that time period, you were differently Celtic.
Now, this also applied to the Orkneys and Shetlands. The King of Orkney is mentioned in Arthurian legends from time to time, because he was in communion with other groups in Britain.
Of course, after that point, the Vikings came along and the cultural situation changed. This is why Norn was spoken in Caithness and the Orkneys and Shetlands.
2
u/Ska1dskaparma1 3d ago
Probably yeah, up until about 1000 years ago (give or take). The Norsemen did a pretty great job of wiping that culture out, from place names to DNA. Nothing of it survives except archaeology.
Point being, we’ve not spoken a Celtic language here for about 50 generations, so it’s very hard to justify trying to slide it into public life under the guise of ‘restoring’ it. I wish we could restore Norn, but the last speaker died like 150 years ago so we’ve missed that boat.
Not to be pedantic but the Orcadians and Shetlanders refer to their archipelagos in the singular: Orkney, Shetland. They hate when they’re called ‘the Orkneys’ 😂
8
u/J2Hoe 3d ago
I speak fluent Scots. Some don’t think it’s a language, but that’s bizarre. I’ve been trying to learn Gaelic too.
→ More replies (1)1
u/undergrand 3d ago
A language is a dialect with an army, a navy and a dictionary. I'd say the SNP is "working on it".
9
u/tattiesbljt 4d ago
Don't speak it and don't know anyone that does. The only time I have ever seen it used in the capital city is for train station names.
10
u/JeelyPiece #1 Oban fan 4d ago
"Scots" is Scots for "Scottish", please call Scottish Gaelic "Scottish Gaelic" when speaking English.
Gaelic's grand, as are Gaelic speakers. There's a wee bit of an issue with learners picking it up not too well and then being put in charge of Gaelic things that fluent speakers ought to be in charge of. It can come off as predatory, and probably the best way to take the language away from those who have been culturally embedded from birth.
Scotland's good at that kind of thing, holding up an aspect of its culture but entrusting its care to those not "of the culture" because we tend to think Scottish people are shite.
3
u/BulkyIllustrator6352 3d ago
Oh, cool, I didn't realize that. I always thought that when we Americans said Scots Gaelic, it was just slang or a shortened version of Scottish Gaelic. Thank you for the clarification!
7
u/nemetonomega 3d ago
Aye, was confused by that, as I speak Scots, but not Gaelic.
(To clarify, this response is in English, not Scots)
5
u/unclassicallytrained 3d ago
I’m Scottish and it didn’t bother me, nor would it bother most Scots- your intention was clear. An interesting clarification nonetheless.
2
u/Coldthots 3d ago
I’m originally from a town in Argyll, kids could learn Gaelic at school (depending on which primary) and it was offered in secondary school though very limited spaces.
Part of me wishes I’d tried harder to pick up more than I did, but I moved to Glasgow and I don’t see it often enough now to worry about needing or wanting to learn it anymore.
2
u/Apprehensive_Tip4979 3d ago
39 from Argyll. I don’t speak a word, but our local minister was a native speaker. We had Gaelic classes in primary school, none at secondary. I was also in school choirs in primary and secondary school where we sang in Gaelic at the mid Argyll music festival and the MOD. The lyrics we wrote down phonetically as English speakers though
2
u/BonnieScotty 3d ago
I was never taught it or offered the opportunity to be taught it at all in school. I did know people who were offered it at other schools (one went onto going to the Gaelic speaking school in Glasgow). I mostly know the accents and can use this to figure out how certain words are pronounced from that. I’d love to learn it as I’ve always found it really pretty sounding.
2
2
u/Character-Ad793 3d ago
Wish I was taught Gaelic when I was younger but obvs wasn't. I think it'd be good for it to be taught at school like in Wales tho
2
u/Either_Bend7510 2d ago
I no longer live in Scotland, but i grew up in the North East and didn't get much exposure to Gaelic (it was all Doric, really). The only exception was when you were home sick from school and all the Gaelic kids shows came on :D I still think fondly of Dotaman, haha!
I wish I had more knowledge of it, I truly wish it was taught in schools. I'm so jealous when I chat to Irish people who learned Irish in schools ;;_;;
2
u/scotswhahey 2d ago
As someone who is Scottish but now lives in Mallorca where the local Catalan dialect is very much spoken and taught in schools, I find it a shame we didn’t learn Gaelic growing up. However like Spain, Madrid doesn’t learn Catalan or Basque so why should Edinburgh learn Gaelic? Yet look at wales, they’ve managed to preserve Welsh well in the north.
5
u/SecretHipp0 3d ago
From Glasgow and do not speak Gaelic. Don't have an issue with it per se but I think its importance to contemporary Scottish life is overstated for nationalist political means.
I don't think it needs to be on Police Cars or on every train station sign, for me it's a waste of money that benefits very few people.
I don't know anyone that speaks Gaelic nor that wishes they did. I should add for context that I'm from an Irish Catholic family.
I still don't understand why or how Gaelic came to be the de facto second language of Scotland behind Doric or Scots even. Arguably in terms of actual users the Polish language probably has more use than Gaelic.
Anyway that's just my experience and opinions on it
3
u/ThirdLifeLucky 3d ago edited 3d ago
I love it. It has renewed my life and helped me to understand this country to a far greater extent than I did without it. It is only a benefit to Scotland but it is being killed and we can't stop it because that would be rude to the people who took it.
Most people don't know it and badly misunderstand its history yet they'll spout forth as though they should be taken seriously about it.
Yes, it was spoken there.
4
u/ExiledWeegie 3d ago
Live near Glasgow. Mid-40s, academic, grew up on west coast. No Gaelic in my family, zero exposure in daily life beyond the train station signs. Learning Gaelic was something I romanticised as an idealistic teenager but never got around to doing. As an adult now, I have zero interest in learning it: personally, I feel time is limited and there's no point learning a language that opens up a small amount of new culture and doesn't allow me to communicate with people whom I don't already have a language in common with. I've focused my energy on learning European languages such as French, which enable me too reach outwards instead of inwards.
In saying this, I'm very glad that Gaelic is being promoted more and I love that people speak it. But it's not for me.
2
u/tehmungler 3d ago
I was born in Elgin, lived in Aberdeen for uni, then Edinburgh and finally Fife. To the best of my knowledge I have never encountered a gaelic speaker, and have no interest in learning it (who would I speak to?). I think learning French, German, Italian etc much more useful life skills (though basically everyone speaks English of course). I'm not against trying to preserve it, it just has zero material impact on my life. For reference, I'm 47 years old. Hope that helps OP.
4
u/December126 3d ago
For me personally, I'd rather learn a foreign language since that opens the door to travel, be able to speak to people who don't speak any English and a foreign language is always great to have on your CV, but all of those things just cannot be said about Scots Gaelic, I mean it would look good on your CV but it's extremely rare to find jobs that look for Scots Gealic speakers. I'm attending Russian online classes and studying independently, I like that there's this whole Russian speaking world that I can unlock from learning the language and it's just not the same with Gealic. However, I do like the language and wish it had more speakers, I often say if I could magically become the president of an independent Scotland, I'd push for everyone to learn the language so in a couple generations time, everyone's native language would be Scots Gaelic, with English as a second, but I mean realistically something like that will never happen.
3
u/ScrambledWasp 4d ago
Not sure how far spanning your research goes, but I’m learning it from the local Gaelic society/Duolingo in Alba Nuadh (Nova Scotia)
2
u/Sea-Bean 3d ago
Does your Gaelic society pronounce it Gah-lic or Gay-lic in NS?
4
u/ScrambledWasp 3d ago
Gah-lic, understanding here is Gay-lic may confuse people with Irish
1
u/Sea-Bean 3d ago
That’s reassuring. I have some friends whose kids do a summer camp in Cape Breton and they call it Gay-lic. Always makes me cringe :(
1
u/manachalbannach 3d ago
they’ll probably say gay-lick when speaking english but other way when speaking it
1
u/Sea-Bean 3d ago
Yes that’s what I’ve found. Maybe it used to be that way once upon a time? Or when the Scots arrived in Cape Breton? Scots these days pronounce it Gah-lic, when speaking English, so it just rubs the wrong way a bit.
3
u/PoachTWC 3d ago
Don't speak it, don't know anyone who does speak it, have no interest in speaking it, and only see it because the government decided one day to pretend everyone does speak it and so it needs to be on all the railway signs and emergency vehicles.
2
u/DaveBinM 3d ago
Originally from Glasgow, but live outwith Scotland now. Been learning Gàidhlig for a wee while with Duolingo. For me, it’s about understanding some music that I like, and being able to read more things when I’m back and travelling around Scotland.
2
u/Highland_Fether_68 3d ago
I used to live on the Isle of Skye (1990's) and it was fairly widley spoken there by the older generation, there was a guy called donny, proper pish head, could not understand a word he said in English, but was told he was clear and lucid in Gaelic.
In the Highlands a lot of road signs are firstly in Gaelic then English. Laughably they have recently removed the English sign for culloden battelfield and replaced it with a Gaelic sign, now the tourists cant find it :-)
I know 2 blokes that can kinda speak it, ish, both from the outer hebredies, but they are not fluent by any means.
After 37 years in Scotland, i may have met a fulent speaker but they have not said, the few people i have met are partial speaker with the exception of Alcho Donny from Skye.
I do think its important to keep it an alive and living language, there is a drive to make it more common but from my expeirence in the Highlands its not widley spoken, even less widley read.
2
u/Standard-Dog-3776 4d ago
Q1 no I dinnae spik the Gaelic. Q2 nay interested at a'. Q3 no, fits deid is deid.
Grew up in a Doric speaking area. Only a few people spoke it very broadly though. At school we learnt Lowland Scots poetry and some Doric poems around Burns.
I'd met the grand total of 1 Gaelic speaker before uni and then I met a couple more proper Gaelic speakers. To be honest the only reason I recognise the language is due to the volume of time it got on BBC Alba.
Professionally I have had next to zero relation with Gaelic, had some colleagues who required it though. However I have had to act as a translator for Doric, an officially unrecognised language. (Before we go on the is it a dialect or language I'd argue that if it isn't mutually intelligible then it's another language)
First time I'm hearing the phrase Scots Gaelic, isn't it Scottish Gaelic or more predominantly just Gaelic?
3
u/BulkyIllustrator6352 4d ago
Thank you! As for the Scots Gaelic thing, I personally have no idea. In America (which is where I'm from), everyone calls it Scots Gaelic to differentiate it from the other Gaelic languages (Manx and Irish). I believe Scots Gaelic might just be American slang for Scottish Gaelic.
5
u/Sea-Bean 3d ago
I agree, it should be Scottish Gaelic, not Scots Gaelic, which I also sometimes hear in Canada.
Also be sure you’re pronouncing it like Gah-lic and not Gay-lic. Gay-lic is how foreigners might refer to Irish Gaelic, although it is just called Irish in Ireland. For some reason I haven’t figured out yet Canadians even in Nova Scotia seem to all pronounce Scottish Gaelic as Gaylic. So it’s not wrong per se, just… not the native way I guess.
I don’t speak it but do an alright job with Gaelic place names since I grew up in Scotland and still go hillwalking when I’m over. It would be cool to see the number of speakers increase, but I think it’s more realistic that we’ll see a greater increase in Scots? When I was over this year I was surprised to hear all my nieces and nephews saying “jamp” for the past tense of jump, and after the third one said it I had to ask- apparently it’s being taught in schools now. It was a bit jarring for my older brain because as a kid we were often told to speak properly and not use the Scots words (even though our grandparents and distant cousins from less well off parts of the family did. It was a class thing. Sad.
→ More replies (4)
0
u/tristanthorn_ 4d ago edited 3d ago
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but no one from my generation was taught it or can speak it. I see little value in using valuable resources in trying to keep it alive when the money could be spent elsewhere.
If you’re going to learn a second language, at least choose one that could help your employment prospects. Time to stop living in the past, let’s think of the future.
Edit: “no one from my generation” almost none of my generation
4
u/hespeon 3d ago
"No one from my generation was taught it or speak it.” Citation desperately needed!
→ More replies (3)7
u/manachalbannach 3d ago
many employment prospects within gaelic :) if people wanna learn it, let them
0
u/Ok-Message-7461 3d ago
If people want to learn it then fine
But using taxpayer money to brand public vehicles with it in areas that have never spoken it feels forced, and an odd use of money
6
u/Fairwolf Trapped in the Granite City 3d ago
But using taxpayer money to brand public vehicles with it in areas that have never spoken it feels forced, and an odd use of money
Unless you live in Orkney or Shetland you don't live in an area that never spoke it.
7
u/manachalbannach 3d ago
“There has been no additional cost to the Scottish Ambulance Service associated to the implementation of Gaelic branding on SAS vehicles.” I am also sure that road signs only have gaelic put on when a sign is new or replaced. Still against it?
→ More replies (5)1
u/BulkyIllustrator6352 3d ago
Thank you for your comment! Would it be okay if I quoted you in my assignment? It's not going anywhere besides my teacher's eyes. Totally okay if not as well!
1
1
1
u/JamesTheMannequin Aberdeen 3d ago
My grandparents (both sides) spoke Gaelic, though my grandmother (mother's side) was more interested in me learning Latin, for church. I learned a bit when I was young, but over time my grandmother taught me Latin and French.
I don't remember many people speaking Gaelic when I was a kid. Just my grandparents. Maybe my da a bit.
I have Alba gu bràth tattooed on me, along with my family heraldic in Latin. Past that, I've not had much interest in the language(s) as an adult.
1
u/YamaHardOn69 3d ago edited 3d ago
My relationship with Gaelic is a bit different. I'm English but my dad was from Ayrshire. However, I have an older sister (who's a fair bit older than me) spent her formative years on Lewis so she actually has it, although I'm not sure how fluent she is now.
I live in Glasgow, and have made sure I know how to read and pronounce Gaelic as I spend a lot of time in the highlands and islands. I've always loved learning languages which helps. I've done this through a mix of classes, duolingo and self study. I also like some stuff on BBC Alba. I feel passionately we should protect it, along with our other native tongues, as it's in the situation it is due to systematic campaigns waged against it for many years.
For most central belt Scots though, it barely features in their lives.
I recently got back from two weeks in the Hebrides where I managed to use quite a lot. You instantly see how people open themselves up so much more when you make an effort like that. Nobody says you have to be fluent to get use out of a language!
1
u/__anna986 3d ago
My eldest child speaks it, my younger kids understand it but usually slip into Irish when they try to speak it. My mum in law has always used it with them with like songs and stuff. I don’t speak it myself but it’s a lovely language xx
1
u/CptCave1 3d ago
I spoke and understood it as a kid, of course I was told I shouldn't be speaking Gaelic and it eventually was forgotten.
Have considered relearning but there's a lot more other things that are higher priority just now.
3
u/InevitableBook2440 3d ago
FWIW I've come across a lot of people in this situation (with various languages) and many of them have found that it comes back quite quickly with exposure and practice. Worth a try if you ever get the time? There are a lot more free resources for learning now
1
u/Moongoosls 3d ago
I interact with it daily, but I don't speak it and I'm not Scottish, in the form of place names in the mountains. I've learnt a few words that describe certain features etc.
In Sweden we have a similar issue with Samé languages, an interesting comprison?
1
u/ayeayefitlike 3d ago
I don’t speak it - I’ve tried learning on Duolingo but it’s not the same as really learning a language. I grew up in Aberdeenshire and speak Doric, which is itself slowly dying out as well as kids were told to stop ‘speaking slang’ in schools, and now live in the Borders where Gaelic was never really spoken widely (it’s arguably the only area of Scotland where that’s the case). So to me it’s not hugely relevant, and I’d like to see the same care taken over our other languages, but I do support revitalisation.
1
u/CassowaryNom 3d ago
Gaelic. Or Scottish Gaelic, if you must. Not to be confused with Scots, which is a Germanic (depending who you ask) dialect/language.
As a foreigner living in Scotland, I don't speak any Gaelic, beyond being able to recognise the most common words on signs. I very rarely encounter people speaking it in public. My ex partner's mum and sister speak it fluently, though, and I know a lot of people trying to make sure their kids learn it even if they themselves don't speak any.
1
u/giant_sloth 3d ago
Almost non-existent due to where I grew up and what my parents spoke but I do like that it exists and is spoken. I find it a tremendously descriptive language which often gives hidden meanings to place names.
1
u/LevelImprovement7267 3d ago
The telly programme that used to be on and everyone seemed really depressed.
1
u/PostCaptainKat Swish Flair 3d ago
I learned it, had it, lost it and I’m now regaining it with a mix of conversation groups and BBC alba. People that say it’s not spoken at all in the central belt usually mean they personally don’t know anyone. We’re not a majority by any means but we are here.
1
u/blinky84 3d ago
I'm in the Highlands and our kids TV programming in the 80s and 90s used to have Gaelic segments. Some of it was dubbed versions of cartoons, some of it was original Gaelic programming. One original program was Dòtaman, aimed at pre-school kids.
There was a bit of a weird thing where a lot of kids thought it was in English later on, because they'd grown up watching and understanding it, despite not speaking Gaelic.
We also commonly got taught to sing Gaelic songs phonetically, without actually knowing the meaning.
My point is that for me, Gaelic was a presence but it wasn't taught as a language - and when I tried to learn it as a language I failed miserably.
1
u/No-Boat-5688 3d ago
Looking at primary schools locally I have been told the Gaelic one, from multiple sources, can’t really support neurodivergent kids so that has ruled it out for us. This will most likely mean my kid won’t learn it.
My partner is from the East coast and never learned and I’m from England.
1
u/Sea-Tax-6612 3d ago
I did go to lessons because the council funded free ones. It was fine until we got to grammar then I just didn’t understand it and gave up. I would have liked to persevere but I had other things on at the time. I have read recently that more people actually spoke it in the past that was originally thought. People in Ayrshire would speak Scots, English as well as Gallic due to trading. I’m going to say apparently here though as it’s something I read but can’t remember where from.
3
u/InevitableBook2440 3d ago
Parts of Ayrshire were Gaelic-speaking until probably some point in the 17th or 18th century (longer if you count Arran). It's in lots of place names around there even now. It's interesting how this seems to have been almost completely forgotten about. I think there's a fairly active local history group that looks into all this
1
u/GlassTheory5749 3d ago
I'm a Highlander but never learned it either, just picked up the odd word from tourist signs and my granddad's old maps.
1
1
u/AmazingOrange 3d ago
I would love to know Gaelic but I really do not enjoy learning new languages so whenever I start I quickly abandon the idea. Other modern languages might be more useful on holiday or something, but I know how much it would mean to the Gaelic speakers I know if I could speak their language.
1
u/Strange-Selkie 3d ago
I know some words and phrases. Mainly interested because we got Gaelic children’s programmes on tv when I was wee… Dottoman, padraig post, etc and these days that doesn’t happen so I wanted to show my kids there’s another language here as well as Scots and English.
1
u/siobhaire 3d ago
im from Stirlingshire and im in my 20s. im learning Gàidhlig and so are a couple of my friends. I make sure to use it daily.
1
u/sqnch 3d ago
I grew up in Aberdeenshire in the 90s and 00s. I had zero interaction with Gaelic other than a kids tv programme on after school that my parents would actively make fun of. Although there are some prominent local things that have taken their name from Gaelic (Benachie, Inverurie etc) Doric was the main spoken dialect I grew up with.
First time I really encountered Gaelic was on a sailing trip to the Hebrides and some people would talk to you first in Gaelic and I had to apologise and say I only spoke English. It kinda felt like being in a foreign country haha
1
u/Top500BronzeOW 3d ago
My relationship is getting drunk and asking folk if they know what a cù is, when they say "aye, its a cow" I say "nah, its a dug".
1
u/Alt_Desk 3d ago
https://go-gaelic.scot/about-gogaelic/12-explained/
https://scilt.org.uk/A12ApproachtoLanguageLearning/tabid/1715/Default.aspx
Are you aware of the 1+2 languages curriculum?
I know regions that teach Gaelic from 3 - 18. The other additional language is dependent on the language teacher available to offer secondary level teaching input. So the high school often dictates the language in their catchment.
The village I lived in had a Gaelic nursery, and primary school teachers across the catchment were trained to teach Gaelic and French.
I studied Gaelic at University.
1
u/MarieCry 3d ago
Central Scotland. Lived here all my life, 28F. Don't speak it and don't know anyone who does. My friend is learning it right now on Duolingo (she doesn't know anyone that speaks it though to my knowledge) and I see it on signs sometimes. That's the end of my interaction with the language.
1
u/Which-Island6011 3d ago
Lots of punks have learned it and even done records in Gaelic! Many send their kids to Gaelic school in Glasgow. Some have gone on to teach Gaelic. Most of us have never been taught it in schools, Duolingo is shit and we have no contact/connection to it.
1
u/capybarge 3d ago
From a town nearby Edinburgh, unfortunately speak zero Gaelic. My school didn't even have it as an option for languages.
1
u/mumofonehuman 3d ago
Hi I’ve learned a little in the past, and my son has always shown a great interest in other languages so we got him some picture books with Gaelic translations and he now knows his colours, shapes and numbers. I’m in the central belt. None of my family speak it. I just thought it’d be nice to try learn some.
1
u/TheCrabbitCoo 3d ago
I'm fae a wee toon just ootside Edinburgh. It's spoken mair in the Highlands & Islands. I mind when I was wee (I'm 52 noo) the news used tae come on the tv in Gaelic. I just thought it was funny when english yins were used mid sentence as there were nae Gaelic yins for them like "coca-cola" 🤣. The Gaelic news here stopped aboot 40 odd years ago. I'm glad it's being kept alive. It's a shame it's no prevalent doon here, there's only yin nursery, primary and secondary school here teaching it.
1
u/boinging89 3d ago
Like a lot of other Gen X I have an unreasonable resentment of it because it ruined kids holiday telly when I was in school.
1
u/Sir-Chives 3d ago
Gaelic speaker from Aberdeen. My grandparents spoke it so I knew a little then learned it more extensively as an adult. It is a beautiful language and I'm passionate about it and our celtic cultures preservation so I try and speak it with my kids and I have to seek out opportunities to speak it. I think we should all have been taught in school.
Would highly recommend learning it to all but it is much much harder than learning Spanish, French or German as other than modern words it is so structurally different to English.
1
u/EvilAlexxxx 3d ago
Hi. I'm from Nova Scotia. My grandparents spoke Gaelic but they didn't pass along the language to my mom. A few years ago I started reading about minority and endangered languages and I was sad about their potential loss. It then clicked for me that I was part of a language's decline, so I decided to learn Gaelic as an adult. I use it quite often. I think there's tremendous validity and importance to people talking about language revitalization, all the more so if the talking leads to action.
1
u/Ryan_ST211 3d ago
Im from skye. Went through gaelic medium primary school. I dont speak it with my family at all as it was discouraged a couple generations before me (a story alot of other gaels have). I do speak it loosely with friends and my girlfriend, and other people back on skye but i dont live there anymore. I have tried to get into gaelic communities where i live now (Inverness)
I wouldnt say im properly fluent, i am actively trying to become fluent now though including online lessons, speaking it whenever i can, watching bbc alba, listening to music etc.
Its the language of the highlands which is most of what i know in my whole life, weather its spoken or not its incredibly important to our history and to all of scotland. Its important to my culture and the culture of almost everyone i know in some way.
There is techinically a revival, this most recent census was the first in records where gaelic speakers rose by any amount.
1
u/undergrand 3d ago
It's so complex!
There are very few native speakers of gaelic where I grew up (West Coast mainland). You will be hard-pressed to. any native mainland speakers of gaelic at all which I think is important context. I met one in my life, he lived in Dingwall and died a few years ago aged 105. His dialect was very hard to understand for my brother and sister who learned island gaelic.
I didn't learn gaelic and know only a few phrases and words spoken (please, thank you, 123, what's your name) because my brother and sister learned gaelic through attending a gaelic medium primary school (it started two years too late for me). Learning gaelic gave them a lovely connection to gaelic speaking heritage, especially music, 'mouth music' and participating in the gaelic Mod festival. But it isn't really a part of my "authentic" Scottish heritage at all, not clear if any of my ancestors would have spoken Gaelic.
I'm generally pro language revitalisation but recognize the required investment is huge and think when you are making policy Scotland wide you have to recognise most Scots have 0/low genuine connection to native speakers, and not all regions of Scotland have any recent history of gaelic speaking at all. So you are saying to a bunch of English speakers they should consider learning a language no one with hundreds of miles of them speaks natively, and hasn't been used in their region for 100s of even 1000+ years. Like getting everyone in France to learn Breton, Spain Basque, or England Cornish. Or as we are mostly descendants of invaders and not recent settlers, like encouraging new Zealanders to learn Maori etc. so... Probably a net good thing, but definitely nuanced.
I also think some of the gaelic placenames on road signs are suspect/made-up - it's fine if it's something like Inverness where the root is clearly Gaelic, but weird when the actual placename has a different and also ancient heritage (eg Nordic Dingwall) - I think there's risks of erasing/brushing over the complex linguistic and cultural heritage of Scotland with an unnuanced/non-localised focus on Gaelic language revitalisation.
I think indyref colours the debate too, and some Scots with no social/family/cultural relation to gaelic but a strong desire to express their Scottish identity want to say they speak Scottish gaelic and the Scots 'language' rather than English.
1
u/caelizz 3d ago
i live in northeast scotland, it's really not spoken here as far as i know. i am originally from the netherlands, so as well as dutch i had ease learning english because they are both germanic.
although i know i would barely use gàidhlig, i am still very interested in learning to keep the language alive, and you never know when it might come in handy! however i'm finding it quite difficult due to the germanic nature of all my current languages! but there's a gàidhlig class that runs sometimes near me so i've been going to that, and also using speakgaelic website.
so far i think it is beautiful language and definitely deserves aggressive revitalisation!
1
u/Right-Bullfrog1272 3d ago
I was born in South America and lived in Scotland for a while, now living in England. I've been studying Gaelic on and off for a couple of years now and have found it an incredibly rewarding cultural experience. I do my Duolingo lessons daily, I often listen to BBC Alba and have accumulated some books in Gaelic over time. I guess it's a huge special interest of mine, so I'm probably biased, but I do think there should be more of an effort to preserve the language and pass it on.
1
u/Apprehensive_Room29 3d ago
I have friends who spoke it growing up. I've tried to learn a couple of times using the apps, but I'm too old for it to sink in. I like seeing it on the Scotrail signs just so I can learn a bit more.
1
u/Good-Sheepherder3680 3d ago
I remember having the option to go to classes in primary school outside school hours but no one went as it isn’t spoken in our area. Dotaman was watched but not understood in the days before BBC Alba as it was a kids show and when there was only 4 channels it was better than non-kid shows when young.
The only person I’ve known to speak it fluently is a friend from the Isle of Harris and teacher from the Highlands. I have had a couple of colleagues from Inverness and Speyside who can speak bits and pieces as they had fluent grandparents but that’s it.
They’ve taught me a few phrases but Doric is the dialect I would speak that sadly seems to be increasingly disappearing from the younger generation as they’re all developing generic transatlantic YouTube type accents. I don’t think it helps that it was discouraged speaking this when younger in schools and the rest of Scotland take the piss out of how it sounds too so unless you are confident enough to stick to your accent a lot of people are too affronted (ashamed) to speak it in front of non-Doric speakers.
1
u/LongAd4728 3d ago
I'm not Scottish (Welsh - I know a little Cymraig, no Gaelic) but I live on the Western Isles where Gaelic is extensively spoken in every day life. I suggest you make contact with this organisation, a cafe in Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, devoted to the promotion of the Gaelic language.
1
u/Easy_Drama1819 2d ago edited 2d ago
I have just started learning it on Duolingo(two months ago), so am at a very low level.Tha mi a baille faisg air Glaschu😊, but live in England.
I'd been thinking about starting to learn for a while.It annoys me that I can't always pronounce place names in the Highlands and Islands and thought it might be nice to bridge that gap.In general I am interested in language learning and linguistics.Sadly, I don't have any ways to practically apply it in my every day life, but I plan to continue anyway.The last folk in my family to speak Gaelic lived on Islay in the early 1800s.I am planning a big trip to the Hebrides in a few years time and hope I can use what I have learned then.
0
u/robster98 Inverclyde 3d ago
I have some Gaelic, I’ve learned on and off for a couple of years. I was inspired by a mate of mine who speaks it fluently - he learned from his nana who hailed from Lewis. I can read and speak it to some degree but I am not fluent.
I don’t use the language. Culturally and historically it’s not really embedded into the area south of the Clyde, or the wider “Old Strathclyde”, case in point the old name for it is Ystrad Clud which comes from Old Welsh, same story in the North East. Gaelic does occasionally pop up, but authentic use isn’t as common as “manufactured Gaelic” like transliterated town names which can feel forced.
Gaelic is more of an authentically North West (but not Far North) thing. I was able to read signs when I was in Oban, Fort William and Inverness, but I still had no opportunity to speak the language while I was in any of those places.
Gaelic revitalisation is very important, it’s a beautiful language that deserves to be cherished, but there’s nuance that people miss. Some talk about it being “the language of Scotland” wholesale, and it’s not - it never has been. But it is here, with us, and anyone else who wants to learn should absolutely do so.
7
u/bellybanton 3d ago
Gaelic was spoken everywhere in Scotland (except the south eastern corner near the border and the Northern isles) for hundreds of years. It’s not accurate to say that it was never the language of Scotland.
2
u/robster98 Inverclyde 3d ago
“Gaelic was spoken everywhere in Scotland (except…”
You’ve tried to dispute my point and accidentally proven its validity.
I appreciate the Gaelic language is something that is close to many people’s hearts. Many people have vested interests and cultural affinity with it and the wider Gaeldom, and that is completely valid. Very few people will dispute that Gaelic has place in Scotland.
That doesn’t mean everyone feels the same as you or should feel the same. I have an appreciation for Gaelic - I speak some! - and I also have an appreciation for Scotland being a meeting point for, and melting pot of Goidelic, Brythonic, Norse and Anglo culture and language.
The name Aberdeen is just one example. It has a Gaelic form, but it was twisted orthographically from its English name. “Obar Dheathain” means nothing in Gaelic. Its Old Welsh cognate “Aberdon” means “mouth of the River Don.” Many places have similarly twisted or transliterated names, Johnstone is a particularly egregious one with the name “Baile Iain”.
That in itself proves my point: Scotland is not one thing and it never has been, and it’s richer for it. It’s not unreasonable to call out a hegemonic take regardless of which “side” it’s coming from. I’d call out someone who bigged up English and/or Scots as “the language of Scotland” in the same manner.
There’s that nuance I talked about.
4
u/bellybanton 3d ago
I haven’t expressed any feelings about Gaelic. I was just pointing out that you are wrong that it wasn’t spoken as the language of Scotland for hundreds of years. It was never spoken in the south eastern corner of Scotland because that area was controlled by Anglo Saxon rulers for so long, and the northern isles were part of Norway. It was spoken everywhere else for centuries. You say it was never embedded south of the Clyde, but Renfrewshire, Ayrshire, and Galloway are littered with Gaelic place names. Even Glasgow has loads of areas with Gaelic names.
Right next to Johnstone you have Kilbarchan. Further up the road there’s Kilmacolm. West a bit there’s Lochwinnoch, Kilbirnie. South west a bit there’s Dalry. Houston’s parish church is called Killellan.
My statement is far more accurate than yours, claiming that it was only spoken in the north west of Scotland. It was spoken everywhere north of Perth until the 19th century. The oldest Gaelic writing we have was written at Deer in Aberdeenshire in the 900s, when Gaelic was indisputably the language of Scotland.
→ More replies (2)
1
u/Top_Tap_3205 3d ago
Most Lowland Scots will go through their life having no direct contact with Gaelic. There are place names (but almost all are Anglicised, I think), TV programmes (on their own channel now, whereas before they were on mainstream channels), and some signs are bilingual. This is just my own rule of thumb, as someone who grew up in Edinburgh, but Gaelic only becomes a significant thing if you're both north of the Antonine Wall and West of the A9. And I expect I'm being generous.
Personally, I find our relationship with Scots more interesting and relevant from a cultural perspective. But you're an archaeologist, so that's moot
1
u/SlowScooby 3d ago
Are you no interested in Scots as opposed to Scottish Gaelic? Scots is / was the language of where the majority of Scottish people live now, and it’s completely different. It’s a cousin of English and German. There’s also Doric from Eastern Scotland. I’ve been learning Dutch and there’s a surprising amount of commonality with Doric, Scots and English.
3
u/BulkyIllustrator6352 3d ago
Scots is definitely another language that is super interesting and history-laden. For this project, I am just focusing on Scottish Gaelic, but in the future, in the broader schemes of research, I'd study Scots more thoroughly as well. I want to study linguistic archaeology, which has the ability to trace the movement of languages, which would be fascinating in Scotland!
1
u/DisastrousTurnip3553 3d ago
I've lived my whole life between the Stirling area and the Ayrshire coast. I don't speak or understand Gaelic. I've got no interest in learning. Tbh learning Spanish, French or Italian would be more useful for me.
1
u/BiggestNizzy 3d ago
I am from Kilmarnock, other than a few signs and it written on police/ambulance/fire equipment I have never come across it.
We all speak a hybrid English/Scots here.
1
u/smooth_relation_744 3d ago
I’m Scottish born and bred. I live in Scotland. I don’t speak Gaelic. I have absolutely no interest in learning it. I understand what language revitalisation is, I understand why it would appeal to some, but Gaelic holds no interest for me. I’m far more interested in Scots as a dialect, with regional variations being particularly appealing. Maybe it’s my predominantly Lowland heritage, but i see Gaelic as dead and useless. It’s not like it was Latin and underpinned several other languages & still had some use in, for example, law. I appreciate this will be an unpopular opinion, but that’s the truth of it. I don’t see why it’s considered more important than, say, Pictish. Neither really serve a purpose in the modern world, wouldn’t help us going forward in the world, but looking at the role they played in the past is perfectly reasonable.
3
u/srbloggy 2d ago
Highlands here, this pretty much sums my thoughts on it up so thanks for saving me a type.
-3
u/No-Reward8036 3d ago
I have no relationship with it at all. It was not a universally spoken Scots language. I loathe the stupid insistence of adding it to police cars and ambulances et al. The majority of Scots do not and will never speak Gaelic.
6
u/amBrollachan 3d ago
Must be exhausting for you getting so riled up at something that has absolutely no impact on your life.
6
0
u/Wolfie_015 3d ago
I don't speak Gaelic, I don't know anyone who does speak it and I have no particular interest in learning it. It's not commonly used to really interest me and in my opinion it doesn't hold any benefit in modern day usage so I really don't see the point. I'm also against it being forced onto people via the curriculum, if people absolutely desperately want to learn it (for whatever reason) then they should make that decision themselves.
Also just to point out - Scots is entirely different from Scottish Gaelic. I do speak Scots (as most people do) but not Gaelic. Hope that helps! 😄
0
u/the_chiladian 3d ago
Edinburgh, 21, absolutely nothing.
No classes about it, no exposure to it. Gaelic was never really spoken in the central belt, so it does make sense. Most interaction I have with the language are when a police or ambulance passes
8
u/amBrollachan 3d ago
Gaelic was the dominant language of almost all of Scotland, including the central belt, for hundreds of years. From around 1000-1400 AD. Gaelic was the administrative and legal language of Edinburgh in the 1000s. It receded into rural communities in the 14/1500s. Then it had a huge upsurge in the central belt once again in the 17/1800s following the highland clearances.
2
u/the_chiladian 3d ago
Aw fair enough then, my Dad was wrong. But then again that's almost 1000 years ago, which is kinda crazy
3
u/MiddleAgedBones 3d ago
When it was at its peak, but plenty speakers following the clearances from 1800s+
1
u/Lakeland-diver 3d ago
It's an interesting point. I had wondered where the push for Gaelic was being driven from and why not a simmilar push for Brythonic (certainly in Strathclyde). I do chuckle seeing Gaelic on road signs in Gretna.
-7
u/No-Delay-6791 3d ago
It's a dieing language. It's dieing because it doesn't have a purpose or a need, if it did, it'd be fine.
Unfortunately the Scottish Government have tried to weaponise it. Enhance the differences between countries to promote their separation ideology.
My only interaction with it is seeing the stupid writing on ambulances. It couldn't be more pointless. If you want people to understand that the big white van with blue lights on it and sirens is an ambulance, say so. Don't use it as a mobile billboard for a pet project.
Utter waste of public resources.
7
u/Round_Hope3962 3d ago
Actually it's dying due to years of persecution against it up until recently. Even in my own time (I'm 34) a friend of mine's school teacher was pressured into leaving after teaching the pupils some Gaelic on European languages day. I've spoken Gaelic my whole life and speak it pretty much every day. I never got the opportunity to go to school and use the language there because there just wasn't the opportunity for me to do so at the time.
2
-2
u/kingpowr 3d ago
Agreed, it’s a complete waste of money.
1
u/Round_Hope3962 3d ago
Not really. It generates interest and tourism. And anyway, as Gaelic speakers we are also tax payers. We have the same rights to having things in our language as everyone else does and we also contribute to the Scottish economy so that should be reflected.
→ More replies (5)
-2
u/Tundur 3d ago edited 3d ago
I wish Gaelic well, but it was never the language of the Lothians so there's not much foundation for it here. Moreover, about 40% of Edinburgh residents don't identify as Scottish. We don't have stats for schoolchildren but it's very plausible less than half of them are born identifying as Scottish.
It's not exactly fertile grounds for revival of a niche language! I think we'll be lucky if a generalised Scottishness survives in Edinburgh for another generation.
1
u/Tioraidh25 Comfortably right independence 3d ago
I think we'll be lucky if a generalised Scottishness survives in Edinburgh for another generation.
That ship has already sailed, it's going to be the London effect. The roots of it are also starting to take place in Inverness.
30
u/Guilty-Jellyfish-855 3d ago
I live in the Hebrides and it's common here, kids learn it at school and there are many families, especially older generation, who use it every day as their first language. Since moving here, I've taken it up on Duolingo (though I don't find it a particularly useful tool for real life situations) and hoping to do a beginner's course via local college at some point. It's a beautiful language, lots of place names in Scotland come from Gaelic and would usually describe a particular feature of the place. I've never met a speaker before when I lived in the Central belt, though now living in the Highlands I see that Glasgow has some really strong Gaelic/teuchter connections if you're in those circles. I've also come across it before when holidaying in other areas of the West Coast (Ardnamurchan peninsula) locals speaking at the pub etc. Edinburgh is more Scots (another language).