Introduce Gaelic to children at school
I am a 58 year old Scot living in England and have only recently discovered the learning Gaelic site on the Beag air Bheag site on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s Radio Alba. I now wonder why I waited so long before starting. The site is very clear, instructive and great for learning pronunciation. I have discovered that Gaelic is a wonderful lilting language and recommend it to others. We must not allow our native tongue to go the way of others such as Manx and Cornish - although there appears to be a revival of the latter. But how do we get over the apathy hurdle? One answer is I suppose to introduce Gaelic to children in school - the younger the better. To make that happen we must press our politicians. This has been a great success in Ireland I believe. Gaelic and other endangered languages will die only if we allow it to happen. I for one feel that I am doing something, however little, to try and prevent its demise.
Sent by: Robert
Comments
I agree, I watched a video about Iona when I lived in Scotland (before moving) in Scottish Gaelic but didn't understand, my teacher had to translate and I got so upset. Now living out of Scotland, I have taken up the hobby to learn my home land language.
To Dan: Your comment is not very well researched. If you delve deep into the origin of our identity, it is definitely the Scottish (Gaelic) identity that most shaped our country. The language, however, did not deal well with influence from the north of England. Whilst so called 'lowland' culture/language can appear different nowadays from so called 'highland' culture/language, Scottish (Gaelic) was spoken over the vast majority of Scotland. Of course in some areas, the language was in the minority. I put it to you that Scottish (Gaelic) should indeed be central to Scottishness. After all, it is the original language of the Scots. I urge you to read The Identity of the Scottish Nation; an Historic Quest by William Ferguson. Another great book is Celtic Identity and the British Image by Murray G. H. Pittock. For too long now Scots themselves have propagated the notion of a 'Scotland of two peoples'. That is erroneous. Scotland has merely lost many Scottish (Gaelic) speakers; the language has retreated. The people are the same; we are one 'ethnicity' for want of a better word, note I do not subscribe to ethnic nationalism. We are who we are - we have just lost our native language. I also think "Scots" (Scottish English/Anglian) has a huge part to play in the future of Scotland. It is the distinct, unique way Scottish people expressed/express themselves in Anglian speech.
I'm 14 and think there is very little help available for learners, especially outside of Scotland. Having got to a reasonable level through ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Alba and various books, I decided to reasearch courses. They are all prohibitly expenisve - the cheapest is £450! My local council can't pay for it (even though I'm in full time education), so I'm unable to do the course.
I agree with Robert. I am a Scot living in England and I am also a linguist and training to be a language teacher. Gaelic was never spoken nor taught where I come from but I do think it's important to maintain the language. I will be learning Gaelic when I'm finished my teacher training course and hopefully one day when I return to Scotland to teach, it may be an advantage to have studied some Gaelic.
Whilst travelling throughout Europe I came across a fellow Australian in France - who to my suprise could speak French, fluently. Asked how he could speak French, he replied, that his school undertook a trial and taught French (obviously) but also mathematics and possibly another language in French. The key therefore to introducing a language to school children is to make it mandatory and teach more than one subject in the language. I believe this should be done in the different regions of Britain (and Ireland) to the corresponding historic language (Cornish to Cornwall, Welsh to Wales, Scottish Gaelic to the highlands etc) before there are no teachers left to do so. In England perhaps give them a choice. To let the languages die out is in-excusable. Ireland, especially, needs to legislate for this. Lycka till, good luck.
I do agree with Dan here, as much of Scotlands heritage is in fact Norse and Germanic. However Gaelic is also very important, especially in the western isles and highlands. I do believe Gaelic should be taught in Schools, as well as Scots. Perhaps even allow for a choice between the two after being introduced to them. The truth however is, that Scots is spoken by so many, and the truth is that it need not be learned, but simply be taught as a written language.
What is often missed, is that Gaelis is often not the natural heritage of the vast majority (especially low-land) of Scottish people, Scots is. Scots is paying a price for the fanciful promotion of celticness.
I feel introducing Gaelic at a young age is a good idea. Why not introduce them to French and German the languages they will encounter once they move over to a high school. Though I feel there is one language they should be taught is SIGN LANGUAGE, at 32 it is something I would like to learn. I work in a supermarket and we have deaf customers and it would be nice if I was able to say "Hi, how are you?". Children at the age 4/5 don't have as many fears unlike an adult so one hour out of the week being introduced to a deaf person and learning to communicate with them I feel would be a big benefit in the long run.
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