The Dragon's Muse

Not Dead Yet!

Apparently, a new Scottish census will claim that Gaelic is dying. But not so fast! The outlook for Gaelic is actually quite bright, according to this article.

The census will not identify a huge increase in adults seeking lap-top learning from sources such as learndirect Scotland's internet partnership with Sabhal Mor Ostaig, the Gaelic college on Skye.

And it will not take account of the "Runrig factor" - an explosion of cultural self worth driving Gaelic into mainstream entertainment and making the language "cool" again.

That pride is reflected in the arts and television, where the current affairs programme Eorpa attracts three times more viewers than Newsnight Scotland and Speaking Our Language was watched by 100,000 more people than BBC's River City.

John Angus Mackay, the director of the Gaelic Broadcasting Committee, said: "History drove Gaelic to the margin, and 20 years ago I despaired. It was an idiosyncrasy on the edges.

"But there is a tremendous hunger for it now as Scotland finds its feet, and we examine our identity.

"In numerical terms, it is a language spoken by old people.

"The [census] figures certainly reveal fewer speakers, but not the higher proportion of the young learning Gaelic.

"In language development, they talk about 'normalisation'; that's when a language stops being an idiosyncrasy.

"Gaelic has normalised. It's going back where it came from, and where it belongs. High visibility is what's needed."

That visibility will increase. The new Gaelic Board for Scotland, which met for the first time last Friday - in Glasgow - learned that the government is committed to providing it with a broadcasting licence under the new Communications Bill, which will lead to a Gaelic television channel, a "Holy Grail" for so long.

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The language may already have received the ultimate imprimatur. The burger giants McDonald's have for the first time decided to translate their brand to a "foreign" language. Their Fort William restaurant is to known as "MacDhomhnaill's".

Kewl!

I would really like to learn Gaelic and hope to some day. One of the real treats of a trip I made to the Isle of Lewis was hearing the language spoken by native speakers in the course of every day life. And on Skye, listening to Gaelic language programming. Maybe I'll be able to understand what they're saying one of these days!