BBC Alba

I think more people in Scotland can speak French…..

About 87,000 speak Gaelic.

pòg mo thòin

I speak/understand a bit. I always say that I have hillwalkers Gaelic as I can understand the names of land features.

My wife is a native Gaelic speaker. She didn't start learning English until she went to school.

Learn Mandarin it'll be more useful

BBC Alba always has subs when I watch it. Mostly music stuff I watch it for though.

pòg mo thòin

One of the few sayings i know. I work with 3 guys from Lewis and like Scotroutes wife they didn't learn English until they went to school.

A number of areas of Scotland never spoke Gaelic. The Orkney and Shetland Islands being two. Pretty sure the north-east in general too.

The NE is littered with Gaelic place names.

I was thinking Doric

Aberdeen Uni says....During the eleventh century, Gaelic was the main language of most of Scotland (including parts of the North East)

So, not all the NE.

Theres some places in Fife im pretty sure have what would qualify as a distinct dialect

I speak/understand a bit. I always say that I have hillwalkers Gaelic as I can understand the names of land features.

Was it you that started to learn, but then found you was learning the wrong version? Something like the difference between whats spoken on Skye and whats spoken on Lewis?

I could be totally getting that wrong.

Yep. Oh the fun we've had in the Scotroutes household arguing about the pronunciation of an dorus and the likes 🤕

Fwiw

BBC alba had subtitles on through out all of their trnsmt coverage yesterday in spoken Gaelic ..... The interviews in English were the only bits not subtitled.

Is your TV broke ?

It was also on BBC Scotland from 10 in English.

Our three kids all had Gaelic lessons through both primarys they attended. One can just about hold conversation, the others can basically count or insult each other....

Cupa tì no copan tì? @Scotroutes 😊
I will never forget one of my first Gaelic tutors scratching his head in bewilderment/despair and saying.
"Here I am a Skye man trying to teach a load of Argyll folk how to speak Lewis Gaelic"

I’ve been learning mainly through Zoom lessons for 2 years. Like Scotroutes initially to get a better understanding of pronunciation and meaning of landscapes.
Slow going, I’m not a natural at languages and an English accent doesn’t help, but pleased to have have been doing it.
Not really expecting to use it out in the real world, I’m not sure of the reception me mangling their language would get out in the Western Isles.

In any conversation about the prevalence of Gaelic speakers in Scotland, it’s worth keeping in mind it was actively suppressed within our lifetimes - my wife’s aunts and uncles were beaten at school if they were heard speaking Gaelic (and for being left handed!).

Despite being a north-easter who didn’t grow up around it, and doesn’t speak it, I’m an enthusiastic supporter of investment in keeping it alive as a significant part of our Scottish cultural heritage - it’s a beautiful, poetic language.

I live on Mull, there are still some native Gaelic speakers here, they teach it in the schools here and there are some active language classes for adults plus a Gaelic choir.

Like Scotroutes I have Hillwalkers Gaelic as many of the mountains and their features are named as a description:

Beinn Dearg - Big Red hill
Dhu Loch - Black Loch
Lochan Uaine - Small Green Loch
and the hundreds of Geal Charns - Grey Hills

In the libraries Gaelic Bookbug sessions are run - singing and rhyming sessions for pre-schoolers and they are increasing in popularity. It's a lovely langauge.

scotroutes
pòg mo thòin

I have no Scottish Gaelic beyond a few hill names, but guessing that's the Scots version of the original name of Shane MacGowan's lot?

Irish a little bit. Mum and dad used to speak it constantly when they didn't want and me sisters to know what they were on about. We gradually learnt some of our own language. Pretty similar to Scots.

As a scot, I'm ashamed to ask this...

Is it pronounced Ga - as in "guard" of honour.

Or Gae - as in, with "gay" abandon?

Does it vary with location?

Irish or Scots?

As a Scot, Gah-lic the language
The folk are Gaels (gales)

Confusion is understandable

Cheers scotroutes, that makes sense.

There used to be a local folk band round these parts, "the Gaels".

It wasn't unknown for a couple of band members to be escorted from their Saturday afternoon jam in the pub, by the local constabulary!

Happy days 🤣

Our three kids all had Gaelic lessons through both primarys they attended.

Interesting.
My boys didn't. Thud transferred to a primary school in Stirling with a Gaelic-speaking stream, but he never learnt it.

Dog walker round the river can speak fluent Gaelic, but I doubt he watches Trnsmt.

My mum was a native gaelic speaker. My siblings and I only have a few words as my dad wasn't so it wasn't spoken in the house.

Funny thing was when she was seriously ill in her 80s she had stopped responding to English but answered when a gaelic speaking nurse spoke to her.

Learn Mandarin it’ll be more useful

You may not have the opportunity to send your kids to a Mandarin school, but if you want them to grow up bilingual you may be able to send them to a Gaelic school, or a Welsh one in our case.

If we'd had a choice between say a French school or a Welsh one it'd have been a tough choice.

My mum was a native gaelic speaker. My siblings and I only have a few words as my dad wasn’t so it wasn’t spoken in the house.

That's a bit of a shame. I've read that the best way to approach it is to have one parent always use one language to the kids and the other parent the other.

I loved it (like many others) when the rugby was only shown on alba. The commentator was hilarious.

He became a bit of a cult figure. Hugh Dan the man!

it’s worth keeping in mind it was actively suppressed within our lifetimes

Depends who you're talking about. I grew up with Dotoman and Telefios (and that shortbread soap about a croft or something) on the telly. It wasn't suppressed but it sure as anything wasn't seen as useful.