Anyone speak Scottish gaelic?

[RossEM]

A mate wants a tattoo in Scottish...online dictionaries don't work as you can't put a whole phrase in, so there's no way of telling if the words are in the right order or whether the grammar is correct! Can anyone help???

[Aled]

Can't help with the Gaelic, but there are some speakers on the Runrig forum.

Cheers

Aled

[HDAV]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/alba/foghlam/learngaelic/

Might help

[aldivalloch]

What does your mate want? I have a friend who's currently doing development work in promotion of Gaelic. He would be able to help with translation.

 

I'm going to be away for the next week and won't be on the forum, but if I can help please let me know. I'll check the thread when I get back.

[utectok]

My sister in law is a gaelic translator pm me the text and I'll get her to translate it.

 

[RossEM]

Cheers for your help guys

[nabbers]

A topical story; 20 years ago I bought a house in a remote part of the Hebrides. I put up a Sky dish and was the only house around to own a telly. One day a neighbour asked if they could bring some friends and watch a documentary about a nearby Island called Scarp.

 

I said that I only had 2 chairs so anymore would have to bring something to sit on.

 

At 8'45 on a Tuesday evening, I found myself making tea for 25 people who turned up, each with chair and my front room resembled a chapel meeting. The TV was on, the opening credits and a lady sing in the garlic....

 

I was looking forward to learning more about the nearby Island, the film "Rocket Post" was about there, a Nazi scientist who went on to develop the V1 an V2 doodlebugs experimented with sending inter island post by rocket before ww2 and made a fool of himself when his rocket exploded.

 

One hour later I was non the wiser, as my new friends left taking their chairs with them, I begged them to tell me what the program had said, it was all in bloody Gallic! "Och you wouldn't be interested, it was just local stuff", they said.

[mr smith]

Just how widespread was the gaelic language around Scotland?

[utectok]

Big community in glasgow. Gaelic schools in glasgow and Edinburgh. Mostly spoken on the islands my sister in law is from Harris

[Dr_Scholl]

Just how widespread was the gaelic language around Scotland?

 

Most people in the Highlands spoke Gaelic until the mid 1800's or so.

 

After that, it went into decline and is now only spoken as a community language in the Western Isles, and to a lesser extent Skye and Tiree. Even in those areas it's dying. There are no monolingual Gaelic speakers anymore.

[spanj]

A mate wants a tattoo in Scottish...online dictionaries don't work as you can't put a whole phrase in, so there's no way of telling if the words are in the right order or whether the grammar is correct! Can anyone help???

 

Why would you want a gaelic scottish tattoo if you werent scottish a dn couldnt speak gaelic scottish?

[mr smith]

The reason i asked about how widespread the language was train station signs are slowly being changed to have english and gaelic on them,possibly even in area's where it wasn't even spoken.

[walshie]

Do you really trust anyone on here to give you a proper answer? Your mate could well end up with "I **** my pants" on his arm forever. Mind you, no-one would ever know.

[Davie_M]

The reason i asked about how widespread the language was train station signs are slowly being changed to have english and gaelic on them,possibly even in area's where it wasn't even spoken.

 

Thats the snp galic was never the languge of scotland

[mr smith]

Thats the snp galic was never the languge of scotland

 

Kinda thought that would be the case,transport scotland(government body) are likely to be the culprit.Dunno if it's for the tourists or some kind of brainwashing before the vote 2014.

[Gutty Boots]

The reason i asked about how widespread the language was train station signs are slowly being changed to have english and gaelic on them,possibly even in area's where it wasn't even spoken.

 

most road signs on A roads have all been changed to have both languages on, wonder how much all those cost!

[mr smith]

most road signs on A roads have all been changed to have both languages on, wonder how much all those cost!

 

Wonder who's getting to recycle the old signs.

[four-wheel-drive]

I do not speak Gaelic but I do quite often talk a load of rubbish if that is of any help to you.

[Davie_M]

Kinda thought that would be the case,transport scotland(government body) are likely to be the culprit.Dunno if it's for the tourists or some kind of brainwashing before the vote 2014.

 

 

brainwashing before the vote 2014 sounds about right

[mick miller]

You should see all the Gaelic programming the beeb provide on freesat, all from the licence fee and all to cater for a relative 'handful' of people. Money well wasted yet again.

 

In the 6 years of working in Jockland I never once heard Gaelic being spoken.

Edited September 13, 2012 by mick miller

[Aled]

Well i've visted Scotland (outside a 6 Nations weekend) 2 and i heard gaelic spoken and sang on both occasions........however one visit was to the Isle of Lewis and the other was to the Isle of Mull.......

Tight Lines

Aled

Edited September 20, 2012 by Aled

[aldivalloch]

I'm often surprised by the lack of awareness that the average Scot has about his or her heritage. I see DavieM asserts that "galic (sic) was never the language of Scotland", Well, it was the language of an awful lot of Scotland, exceptions being much of Caithness, and the Lowlands.

 

By the way, DavieM, I see you're from Hamilton. That'll be Hamilton, just south of Glasgow, which took its name from the Gaelic "Glaschu", will it not?

 

A huge number of the place names of Scotland are either Gaelic, or derive from it.

 

One of the reasons that the Gaelic and Scots languages have declined is that they were "discouraged" by the education system, the former particularly so. And whilst I don't want to get into the complex matter of the the Old and the Young Pretenders (the Young being Bonnie Prince Charlie) who came to Scotland in the 18th century, chasing their own personal ambitions, it is absolutely the case that the reaction of the British government to the risings they fomented was brutal in the extreme, and intended for once and all "rebellious Scots to crush" (see the original National Anthem, verse 2).

 

I see it as a sad thing when the legacy of that bruatlity is likely to be the loss of the language, its culture, its traditions and its literature.

 

Of course, plenty people, particularly those outside the Highlands and Islands will see it as no big deal. Well, just wait until YOU are only allowed to speak Arabic......

[four-wheel-drive]

I'm often surprised by the lack of awareness that the average Scot has about his or her heritage. I see DavieM asserts that "galic (sic) was never the language of Scotland", Well, it was the language of an awful lot of Scotland, exceptions being much of Caithness, and the Lowlands.

 

By the way, DavieM, I see you're from Hamilton. That'll be Hamilton, just south of Glasgow, which took its name from the Gaelic "Glaschu", will it not?

 

A huge number of the place names of Scotland are either Gaelic, or derive from it.

 

One of the reasons that the Gaelic and Scots languages have declined is that they were "discouraged" by the education system, the former particularly so. And whilst I don't want to get into the complex matter of the the Old and the Young Pretenders (the Young being Bonnie Prince Charlie) who came to Scotland in the 18th century, chasing their own personal ambitions, it is absolutely the case that the reaction of the British government to the risings they fomented was brutal in the extreme, and intended for once and all "rebellious Scots to crush" (see the original National Anthem, verse 2).

 

I see it as a sad thing when the legacy of that bruatlity is likely to be the loss of the language, its culture, its traditions and its literature.

 

Of course, plenty people, particularly those outside the Highlands and Islands will see it as no big deal. Well, just wait until YOU are only allowed to speak Arabic......

 

There is nowt wrong with Arabic the reason that people speak English and not Gaelic and it is the same with Welsh and other languages its that it limits you in who you can converse with ok you may find a few thousand people that speak your language but when compared to English that is spoken over most of the world.

 

Yes you could say that more people actually speak Mandarin or Hindi and that would be correct and if you want to go to India or China that would be fine but in the end the best language to speak is English as you can usually find someone that understands you.

 

The one problem I have always thought about being British is if we decide to learn another language which one do we go for French German etc etc but if you are from another country and want to learn a language the one to choose is English.

 

Another thing that always peas me off with the Scots is they are always saying about independence for Scotland but they forget that half of our government in recent years have been not English but Scottish (Brown Blear etc etc) we could well argue that we would be better off without them.

Edited September 20, 2012 by four-wheel-drive

[aldivalloch]

Oh, dear, four-wheel-drive, the irony of my comment about Arabic seems to have escaped you. It was aimed, tongue firmly in cheek, at the PW posters who believe - rightly or wrongly - that Islam is hell-bent on the destroying the culture of the westen world and replacing it with its own.

 

As to your assertion that English is a very convenient and useful language in that it is widely spoken and understood, well, you're absolutely right, and it's dead handy for most Brits that that is the case, given their generally lamentable capacity to learn other tongues!

 

But what I was really trying to get across is my belief that it's entirely possible to have an "official" national language (English) without detriment to what one might call "regional" languages like Gaelic, Scots and Welsh. They're important components in maintaining heritage and identity, and should be nurtured and preserved.

 

And, as I said before, the Gaelic language was deliberately suppressed after Culloden as part of a deliberate and often quite brutal policy of subjugating the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. That's a nasty historical fact that just won't go away.

 

As for your final comments about Scottish politicians in Westminster, stop for a moment and consider this. Who voted Tony Blair in? I think you'll find that he represented an English constituency...... And yes, independence is a hot topic in Scotland, and it's entirely possible that you might consider yourself better off without the Scots. But the indignant furore that got up on PW, last time the subject was broached, about the Scots wanting to secede from the Union, left me thinking that you're all a little bit worried and scared that they're actually going to go!

[four-wheel-drive]

Oh, dear, four-wheel-drive, the irony of my comment about Arabic seems to have escaped you. It was aimed, tongue firmly in cheek, at the PW posters who believe - rightly or wrongly - that Islam is hell-bent on the destroying the culture of the westen world and replacing it with its own.

 

As to your assertion that English is a very convenient and useful language in that it is widely spoken and understood, well, you're absolutely right, and it's dead handy for most Brits that that is the case, given their generally lamentable capacity to learn other tongues!

 

But what I was really trying to get across is my belief that it's entirely possible to have an "official" national language (English) without detriment to what one might call "regional" languages like Gaelic, Scots and Welsh. They're important components in maintaining heritage and identity, and should be nurtured and preserved.

 

And, as I said before, the Gaelic language was deliberately suppressed after Culloden as part of a deliberate and often quite brutal policy of subjugating the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. That's a nasty historical fact that just won't go away.

 

As for your final comments about Scottish politicians in Westminster, stop for a moment and consider this. Who voted Tony Blair in? I think you'll find that he represented an English constituency...... And yes, independence is a hot topic in Scotland, and it's entirely possible that you might consider yourself better off without the Scots. But the indignant furore that got up on PW, last time the subject was broached, about the Scots wanting to secede from the Union, left me thinking that you're all a little bit worried and scared that they're actually going to go!

My thoughts on the Scottish independence I do not think that it would be a good idea I'm not scared but I fail to see the point we live in a tiny group of islands and I think that we all need each other as a whole we still have some influence in the world or would you prefer that we was insignificant like Monaco.

 

As for us forcing the Scots to speak English this has happened to us many times over many hundreds of years from the Normans to the Romans etc etc that is how we got our language in the first place a bit of this and a bit of that until we ended up with English as it now is being restricted to a language that is only spoken in a small area restricts you in so many ways TV radio finding work.

 

I do agree that we could well try much harder to learn different languages having said that the problem then is which ones do you learn If I was young it would be French and as soon as I had mastard it I would go and live there as it has to be better than this **** hole we live in.

Edited September 20, 2012 by four-wheel-drive