Gaelic

[Guest Anonymous]

Sorry?

 

I don't see why a minority language should have so much funding and dictate to everyone else. I don't pay my liscence fee to hear a foreign sounding language in my own country.

 

Get a grip.

 

[JustMe]

Sorry?

 

I don't see why a minority language should have so much funding and dictate to everyone else. I don't pay my liscence fee to hear a foreign sounding language in my own country.

 

Get a grip.

 

 

 

Oh dear, the licence fee angle. Extend that a bit and I could argue that Premiership football should not be shown and the Grand Prix coverage should stop when Coulthard retires from a race. Could use the same arguement agains the majority of the soaps.....nice idea to get rid of them.

[Pooks]

The license fee is an unfortunate thing. Nobody likes to pay for something that they may never use. Hopefully once the analogue switch off happens then the license fee will be removed in return for a subscription based package such as Sky. That way you aren't forced into paying for something you might not want.

[deardron]

Do you actually have Gaelic in Shetland schools (as being part of Scotland)?

 

This support to Gaelic originates from the EU action to support minor languages in Europe and I think this is a good idea (until it becomes exagerated over the top). It's about cultural richness and things like that. After all, you can sell it to tourists: "an area in UK whose people speak the old Celtic language - WOW!! 8O " instead of English that everyone is bored with. Well, I see it as a foreigner who might visit UK, it does matter for me. I personally quite regret that Norn is died for some centuries, if you had preserved it, it would have been really tough!

 

Why is English like an all-eating monster? I'm sure had the Faroes and Iceland been sold to England their inhabitants nowadays would have spoken only English.

[Njugle]

Do you actually have Gaelic in Shetland schools (as being part of Scotland)?

 

Nope. We're only a "recent" addition to Scotland

 

Why is English like an all-eating monster? I'm sure had the Faroes and Iceland been sold to England their inhabitants nowadays would have spoken only English.

 

A universal language is a good thing, it's just a shame for us that it has become English as it makes us lazy, ignorant and complacent in a language sense. In some cases even arrogant, pompous and bigotted.

 

It is a fact that language and dialect evolves naturally, and it should not be gerrymandered by people on their social, cultural and political high horse.

 

The sad and ignorant culmination of this evolution currently, if allowed, is for us all to become 'americanized'. It's happening already.

[peeriebryan]

A universal language is a good thing

Esperanto?

[Njugle]

A universal language is a good thing

Esperanto?

 

Sure, if we could get a united nations agreement on it, and have it in schools and in american schoo....... oh wait that is ridiculous isn't it. They're too busy re-writing evolution.. And George Dubya can hardly speak english....

[Guest Anonymous]

Dis Gaelic thingy is a kind of a strange een. I ken it haes nae place here in Shetland but in a strange wye I'm kinda jealous at how dey're fighting tae preserve it. I wish we could do da same wi wir tongue an culture. I mind being in da company o a group o young AHS pupils an dey wir pleepsing about haeing tae learn French, so I asked dem whit idder languages wid dey prefer tae learn. I honestly expected dem tae say stuff like Latin, Spanish or something else but dey all one by one started tae say stuff like Norwegian and Faroese. Wid it no make mair sense(fae a historical perspective) tae learn wir schol bairns Norwegian?. And we da auld midder land just across da water dey could pop across an practise da lingo. Learning a second language is no just aboot business connections, it's aboot building confidence. Why force da bairns an young folk tae learn languages dey hate?. In Faroe my young Faroese friends speak, by order, 1st Faroese, 2nd Danish, 3rd German, 4th ENGLISH an den een o dem wis toying wi Spanish "just for fun" 8O . But den whit hope ir dey when it's all controlled by a Stalinist scottish exec? .

[Lowrie]

I think da difference wi a lot o idder countries is dat they start teaching bairns idder languages at a much younger age when dir brains are more 'sponge' lik. Why should da same no be done here?

[peeriebryan]

I was in China last year and visited a Chinese/Norwegian couple. Their 4yr old could talk Chinese, Norwegian and English (although quite often used the different language's volcabulory interchangably)

 

The older bairn (about 7 I think) was fluent in all 3 languages and was learning Japanese

 

On another note, I just walked past the Glasgow Gaelic Primary School in the west end of Glasvegas this morning. The bairns were all running around shouting in Gaelic. I just hope they're as profficient in English.

[deardron]

On another note, I just walked past the Glasgow Gaelic Primary School in the west end of Glasvegas this morning. The bairns were all running around shouting in Gaelic. I just hope they're as profficient in English.

I have no doubt, because the scope of Gaelic is still so small. If they're watching football translations, or movies they're all in English. That's how Icelanders learn English nowadays, it's not up to school education that most of young Icelanders are fluent in English from 13-14 years age. So let alone your Gaels.

 

In Russia there's over 100 nationalities having their own language. I've almost never had any problem with them, they all speak Russian, except some odd accents. So I see no problem for children growing up in billingual environment, they normally speak both languages.

[McFly]

I've known quite a few people from the Western Isles, at Uni and then at work and none of them spoke more than a few phrases in Gaelic.

 

It's not the mother tongue of Gaels of our generation, English is and Gaelic is something they learn as a second language (if they learn it at all).

 

It's sad, but I think it will inevitably die out.

[peeriebryan]

So we're paying 3.5 million to support a Gaelic college.....

 

Gaelic college gets funding boost

 

I want the Gaelic language and culture to be part of that future, not just destined to become a historical curiosity

I think it's a bit late for that

[Jonners]

just walked past the Glasgow Gaelic Primary School in the west end of Glasvegas this morning. The bairns were all running around shouting in Gaelic. I just hope they're as profficient in English.

 

I think it's probably safe to say they would be.

 

I think we should be pretty supportive of efforts to keep gaelic alive. We're all pretty sensitive as Shetlanders when it comes to the dilution of our own way of spikking. Surely we should try and support other areas, like us, that differ from the norm. I think there's still room in the world for people to speak in different tongues.

 

As for the 'oh, it's inevitable' argument that gaelic will die out - that's just ridiculous. Far from being in a powerless situation, the powers-that-be are doing all they can to keep gaelic going. Legislation is being put in place - with money stacked behind it - to keep gaelic alive. The people in the areas where gaelic is spoken also want to keep it alive. A new gaelic television station is going to be set up. I know lots of Gaels in Glasgow and almost all of them still speak gaelic. I think it's a very healthy state of affairs.

[deardron]

Good points, Jonners. Some time ago Welch could be in the same position where Scottish Gaelic is today, but after preserving measures were taken (incl. its broad teaching in schools, limitating of the usage of English etc), it became the most 'surviving' of all Celtic languages, whose position are strong today. The same measures are being taken in the case of Gaelic, so let's wait and see.