tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694118162752568388.post1008135566336429681..comments2024-01-18T05:55:50.381+01:00Comments on Scotland Unspun: GaelicAlex Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577153712026023661noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694118162752568388.post-80353815714073469222010-10-02T20:23:08.981+02:002010-10-02T20:23:08.981+02:00To claim to promote multiculturalism and then work...To claim to promote multiculturalism and then work to undermine the revival of Scottish Gaelic is hypocrisy of the highest order.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694118162752568388.post-86991534718644061892010-09-22T22:48:31.883+02:002010-09-22T22:48:31.883+02:00@cum oan,
Wee disagree here. It is estimated that...@cum oan,<br /><br />Wee disagree here. It is estimated that 1.5 million Scots speak Scots. I think the rest of us speak a combination of English and Scots. Certainly there's an element of bilingualism involved in that we speak more English in formal situations and to foreigners and more Scots in the playgrounds and pubs.. As the saying goes we think in English and feel in Scots. Scots was the official language of Scotland not that long ago and was the language of the court well after union.<br /><br />I can remember the first time reading old Scots. For once I was more than intellectually engaged, I really felt that I belonged to it. Regardless of the fact that some vocab no longer exists, the feel of the language made me feel like I was really reading for the first time..Alex Porterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06577153712026023661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694118162752568388.post-70889545513581705552010-09-22T22:39:50.910+02:002010-09-22T22:39:50.910+02:00All Scots speak a second language unfortunately it...All Scots speak a second language unfortunately its their only language its called English.<br /><br />Anyway Gaelic is not a highland language, its the only language that was used throughout the whole of Scotland. In the 1970s schools in the west highlands of Scotland were still forcing school children to wear wooden placards round their necks as a punishment for speaking their own language. Wonder where they got that idea from. !!!!!!!!!!cum oan get affnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694118162752568388.post-74808608783534998692010-09-21T21:49:05.313+02:002010-09-21T21:49:05.313+02:00anyways
I was talking to some east europeans
toda...anyways<br /><br />I was talking to some east europeans<br />today(latvians, Estonians,slovak,polish)<br /><br />there English is not great but they all speak Russian and thats how they communicate with each other.<br /><br />I said to them since the fall of the soviet union do the children learn their native tongue or Russian.<br /><br />They all said the younger generation are being brought up to speak their own native language(unlike them)<br /><br />But as one said their main trading partner is Russia so they still need to learn Russian.<br /><br />so the moral of the story is<br /><br />perhaps in an Independent scotland<br />the people will choose to return to their native language.<br />and use the language of the English secondNikostratoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06581441869560921339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694118162752568388.post-25522940242351191962010-09-21T15:07:21.452+02:002010-09-21T15:07:21.452+02:00We can all agree that speaking more than one langu...We can all agree that speaking more than one language is A Good Thing. That is the case whether children speak Gaelic, Urdu, Polish, Chinese or anything other language in addition to English. <br /><br />I am very much against the attitude of Glasgow City Council towards bi-lingual children. They seem to have bought into the idea that children with English as a second language are a problem. This is quite a wide-spread point of view in the press although it is not backed up by evidence – schools in Glasgow which have big multi-cultural populations like Holyrood, Shawlands and Hillhead are all in the top ten performing schools. <br /><br />Rather than seeing bilingual children as a problem, the Council needs to see the huge opportunities that lie in having a bilingual workforce in waiting. It’s great if kids speak more than one language - but it’s great because of the opportunities that creates for those children, and for their potential employment. It shouldn’t really be about “preserving “ a heritage. You only have to preserve something if it is in danger of decomposing. If Gaelic has reached that stage it can’t be saved as a living language. It can only be preserved as a dead one. <br /><br />PS: I am not saying Gaelic is a dead language by the way - I am saying that talking about preserving it gives that impression.Indyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04383904151475839441noreply@blogger.com