The SNP's latest vote-stealer looks like an absolute bhuannaiche

[tamada]

SNP plans on making all of Scotland a Gaelic speaking nation.

Gaelic primary and secondary schools could be built across Scotland, with corresponding investment in the number of Gaelic teachers to staff them, as the SNP seeks to make the whole country a ‘gàidhealtachd’ – a place where the Gaelic language is spoken. ...According to party sources, they are also exploring the creation of a recognised “gàidhealtachd”, with the “ambition being for the entirety of Scotland to be a Gaelic speaking country”.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/ ... np-3201037

[AlexO]

Dont know whether to laugh or cry at this latest garbage from the SNP. A language that is spoken/ understood by about 0.1 % of Scotland's population and absolutely no one in the rest of the world?? Same as we will spend 20% more on the Scottish Health Service, oil prices must be about to sky rocket. Honestly they should think about teaching Doric (a strange language that people from the North East speak) at least most of us can understand about 10% of that one.

[Whistler]

SNP plans on making all of Scotland a Gaelic speaking nation.

Gaelic primary and secondary schools could be built across Scotland, with corresponding investment in the number of Gaelic teachers to staff them, as the SNP seeks to make the whole country a ‘gàidhealtachd’ – a place where the Gaelic language is spoken. ...According to party sources, they are also exploring the creation of a recognised “gàidhealtachd”, with the “ambition being for the entirety of Scotland to be a Gaelic speaking country”.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/ ... np-3201037

Tam,

I would hate to see the language die out, my dear father was a Gaelic speaker. This call however should not destroy proficiency in English Very pro Scotland being independent and would be totally delighted to secure a Scottish passport, but in reality we are in a part of the world where English is the dominant language.

[AlexO]

SNP plans on making all of Scotland a Gaelic speaking nation.

Gaelic primary and secondary schools could be built across Scotland, with corresponding investment in the number of Gaelic teachers to staff them, as the SNP seeks to make the whole country a ‘gàidhealtachd’ – a place where the Gaelic language is spoken. ...According to party sources, they are also exploring the creation of a recognised “gàidhealtachd”, with the “ambition being for the entirety of Scotland to be a Gaelic speaking country”.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/ ... np-3201037

Tam,

I would hate to see the language die out, my dear father was a Gaelic speaker. This call however should not destroy proficiency in English Very pro Scotland being independent and would be totally delighted to secure a Scottish passport, but in reality we are in a part of the world where English is the dominant language.

It will not die out Whistler, it will continue to be a language used in the Western Isles etc. But to have it shoved down peoples throats as 'Its going to be mandatory to speak Gaelic in Scotland, no way. Wee suggestion, have a survey of all the halfwit SNP MSP's and MP's and if they dont speak/write fluent Gaelic they have to resign and pay back all the costs for plastering Gaelic on everything from road signs to cop cars and ambulances.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

The SNP should re-introduce Old Norman for the civilised lowlanders or did these Normans speak French?

[Whistler]

Scotland was part of Ireland. St Columbia and St Munn came from ireland. They landed on the Isle of Bute which is still known as the Holy Isle. They came to bring Christianity to Scotland and probably spoke latin and a form of The Gaelic.

[Whistler]

Scotland was part of Ireland. St Columbia and St Munn came from ireland. They landed on the Isle of Bute which is still known as the Holy Isle. They came to bring Christianity to Scotland and probably spoke latin and a form of The Gaelic.

[tamada]

The SNP should re-introduce Old Norman for the civilised lowlanders or did these Normans speak French?

Good question since fleeting alliances with the French came and went, so a quick Wiki came up with the following.

"Northumbrian Old English had been established in south-eastern Scotland as far as the River Forth by the 7th century. It remained largely confined to this area until the 13th century, continuing in common use while Scottish Gaelic was the court language until displaced by Norman French in the early 12th century. English then spread further into Scotland via the burgh. ...

Incoming burghers were mainly English (especially from Northumbria and the Earldom of Huntingdon), Flemish and French. Although the military aristocracy employed French and Gaelic, these small urban communities appear to have been using English as something more than a lingua franca by the end of the 13th century."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_o ... s_language

So Gaelic was a hugely significant language but was already in decline except maybe western isles. My mother came from a large family that straddled the World Wars. They didn't have many native Gaelic speakers in their rural community near Invergordon in the northwest. None of her siblings and neither parent spoke Gaelic but she did recall her grandparents and some older relatives being fluent in Gaelic.

I wonder where the SNP are going to find all these qualified Gaelic language teachers?

[Laan Yaa Mo]

That is great reading. Some of the native leaders are trying to keep languages like Cree, Ute, Ojiwa, Mohawk, Cheyenne, Comanche et al alive in Canada and the U.S., but are experiencing the same problem. They are beginning to achieve some success.

[tamada]

I think the retention of native tongues is essential to a nation's appreciation of their history and legacy of their forebears. The idea of compelling a nation to learn, speak and use a dead language is a bit off the wall IMHO. Scots Gaelic sounds more Norwegian than the Irish derivative and unlike the Scandinavian languages, they haven't adapted a simpler, phonetic styling of the words pronunciation so what one sees in print doesn't sound anything like what one thinks it should from the spelling.

This serves no purpose, or Chan eil seo a ’frithealadh adhbhar sam bith as they would possibly say on Benbecula.