But tha mi a' bruidhinn Beurla!
Yesterday Ministers unveiled new legislation to protect Scotland’s native tongue.
Under the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Bill the law will give Gaelic official recognition and require all public bodies to have a language policy. Councils will have to take account of any guidance on Gaelic-medium education from a new Bòrd na Gàidhlig quango. Education Minister Peter Peacock said the bill, which was beefed up following public consultation, would make it easier for people to use Gaelic
Peacock said that he was unhappy with progress in providing Gaelic teaching since the Standards in Scottish Schools Act was introduced in 2000. Councils will be required to set minimum levels of demand to trigger an entitlement to Gaelic teaching. If they do not stick to the policy they could face court action or lose grant in aid.
I think this enforcement is absurd. In my view Peacock’s plan is cultural imperialism.
Out of a population of around 5 million only 60 000 or 0.12% Scots speak Gaelic. In schools the number of pupils receiving nursery, primary and secondary education in Gaelic was 2,661 in 2002-03 and 2,879 in 2003-04.
The Scottish Executive propose to increase spending on Gaelic from £650 000 to £3.5 million over the next 3 years. This sum is to be made available for Gaelic Medium Education and for a new Gaelic Development Agency - Bòrd Gàidhlig na h-Alba - supporting Gaelic language and culture. A QUANGO that no doubt will become a right royal pain in the arse as it pushes one of the world’s most introverted and useless languages.
In Ireland you cannot work in education and other public sector jobs unless you have a competence certificate in Irish Gaelic. I can see this coming in Scotland.
Scots Gaelic is not part of my Scottish heritage, or millions of others. It is culturally irrelevant to me.
If Gaelic is deemed important why aren’t other languages being promoted in the same way? There are tens of thousands more Urdu speakers in Scotland than Gaels. A case can also be made for Italian, Polish, Lithuanian and Irish as languages of significance to Scottish culture.
‘Tha mi a' bruidhinn Beurla’.
5 Comments:
Thanks for the translation. A little poetic licence on my part I guess.
Excellent that you are joining in the debate.
Hi Rab
Evience for this claim comes from Gordon Wells. Gordon wrote a book called Teach Yourself Urdu which was immediately commissioned by BBC Scotland as a series on the telly. It has been repeated thee times as a consequence of demand.
Hi Brumach
If facts concern you you'll know that Gaelic is only spoken by 1% of the Scottish population. If you nip across to http://www.gaelic-scotland.co.uk/Current-status.html you'll see that it isn't me who makes this assertion.
I am immensely proud of my heritage. I hail from a village called Crossmaglen in South Armagh. And thus regards another comment from Norway I know my surname is Gaelic in origin! To be entirely accurate it is Erse.
We had to change our name when we became part of the Irish diaspora. The reason was to avoid bigotry from people who weren't enamoured that we settled in their country.
If I ever meet you I'll take you to the 'house' in Glasgow where my mum was born. She'll be able to tell you all about bigotry and oppression. No worries.
I was taught about the evils of bigotry sitting on my granpa's knee when I was 4.
I'll take you over to Bellshil where my dad was raised. The peeps will regale you with stories of just how shit life was made for them. Not just for the Irish in Scotland but Poles and Lithuanians as well.
Can you guess why? What common denominator do these three cultures share? Big clue, the initials are R.C.
But I forgive our oppressors, as we are all Jock Tamson's bairns.
Thus as someone whose family has been the victims of bigotry I can assure you that I am nothing of the kind!
To suggest such a thing is pure mental man. It is also grossly insulting.
Regards the situation in the Free State I would suggest you have a wee look at a big fat law book called EU Law written by Paul Craig QC, Professor of English Law, St John's College, Oxford, and Grainne de Burca, Professor of European Union Law, European University Institute, Florence. Grainne is pronounced 'Gronya' in case anyone is stuck.
In it you will find out all about the problems non-Irish Gaelic speakers have had getting jobs in the public sector in Ireland. Not 30 years ago but now in the present day.
To suggest that there are fewer speakers of Urdu in Scotland than Gaels is just not true. Look at the official statistic above, and then look around you.
My article does not down Gaelic.
I do think however that our priorities should lie elsewhere. I also think we should be more outward looking as a nation.
If it were possible to arrange a public debate would you be interested in taking part? I'd look forward to that.
If you are of Irish descent why are you putting down both the Irish language and Scots Gaelic??
A confused Paddy!
I think you gotta appreciate Diarmuid that if I am putting down Scots Gaelic I'm in the company of 99% of my countryfolk.
I think we have more urgent and pressing priorities in Scotland.
I am a bit of a psycholinguist by trade. At both a surface and deep structural level my post doesn't put down Irish Gaelic at all.
All right?
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