A thread for (Scots) Gaelic learners

[Black_and_White_Stripes]

I'm considering learning the language, I just wondered how others have got on with it? I know a there was an uptake in it after the indy referendum. 

Edited September 2 by Black_and_White_Stripes
Amended title

[A Diamond For Me]

I learnt Gaelic as an adult - starting as a student - and now speak it fluently.  I think the decision to study it has been about the single best decision I've made in my life, as it's given me so, so much: friends I would never otherwise have met, books I would never otherwise have read, the experience of taking part in Gaelic Psalm singing - and not least my daily bread, as I work with Gaelic as an academic.   You also get to know excellent words like sitheannach ("abounding in venison"), and who couldn't use a word like that in their life? 

I've found the Gaelic community to be welcoming and friendly, and if you're up for putting the effort into getting to a good level with the language, you will absolutely have something valuable to contribute to the community as a speaker and also as someone with your own particular experience, interests and expertise.  My experience has been that, with it being a minority and endagered language, the contributions that people can make by combining their Gaelic with their experience in, say, botany, or photography, or knitting, or organisng walking groups or whatever, are genuinely appreciated and are genuinely welcomed as something valuable to the community.  That's certainly a nice feeling.

There are a few Gaelic speakers here, @Crùbagis one, and @DiegoDiegohas at least some Gaelic as I saw on another thread the other day.  Not sure if they and others are native speakers or learners like myself.

I'm happy to give advice if it's wanted.

[Black_and_White_Stripes]

5 minutes ago, A Diamond For Me said:

I learnt Gaelic as an adult - starting as a student - and now speak it fluently.  I think the decision to study it has been about the single best decision I've made in my life, as it's given me so, so much: friends I would never otherwise have met, books I would never otherwise have read, the experience of taking part in Gaelic Psalm singing - and not least my daily bread, as I work with Gaelic as an academic.   You also get to know excellent words like sitheannach ("abounding in venison"), and who couldn't use a word like that in their life? 

I've found the Gaelic community to be welcoming and friendly, and if you're up for putting the effort into getting to a good level with the language, you will absolutely have something valuable to contribute to the community as a speaker and also as someone with your own particular experience, interests and expertise.  My experience has been that, with it being a minority and endagered language, the contributions that people can make by combining their Gaelic with their experience in, say, botany, or photography, or knitting, or organisng walking groups or whatever, are genuinely appreciated and are genuinely welcomed as something valuable to the community.  That's certainly a nice feeling.

There are a few Gaelic speakers here, @Crùbagis one, and @DiegoDiegohas at least some Gaelic as I saw on another thread the other day.  Not sure if they and others are native speakers or learners like myself.

I'm happy to give advice if it's wanted.

That's very interesting, thank you! I would like to write more, but just about to leave for the game. Just one thing, when you refer to the Gaelic community, is that in general or is there a Gaelic community in the West of Scotland? Apologies if that seems like an ignorant question, but whilst I'm aware of a community centre in Partick, that's about the extent of my knowledge of the language's speakers in Glasgow.  

[A Diamond For Me]

I meant the language community in Scotland (and in the diaspora, especially in Canada) generally, but also locally.  For instance I do stuff online and with the media that contributes more widely, and also locally in Edinburgh where I live - mostly with the Gaelic church, but also in conversation circles and things like that.

There's quite a large Gaelic-speaking community in Glasgow, and there are things like running groups, a fives team, walking groups, music nights etc which meet locally. Especially in and around Patrick, as that was historically where the Highland migrants settled.  The Gaelic community is less concentrated in Partick than it used to be, but that's still where the Gaelic book shop is, where the commnity centre is and where a few pubs which Gaelic speakers frequent are (The Park, The Lismore and The Islay).  And of course there's loads of stuff that's connected to the university and the Gaelic schools.

[CarrbridgeSaintee]

13 minutes ago, A Diamond For Me said:

I learnt Gaelic as an adult - starting as a student - and now speak it fluently.  I think the decision to study it has been about the single best decision I've made in my life, as it's given me so, so much: friends I would never otherwise have met, books I would never otherwise have read, the experience of taking part in Gaelic Psalm singing - and not least my daily bread, as I work with Gaelic as an academic.   You also get to know excellent words like sitheannach ("abounding in venison"), and who couldn't use a word like that in their life? 

I've found the Gaelic community to be welcoming and friendly, and if you're up for putting the effort into getting to a good level with the language, you will absolutely have something valuable to contribute to the community as a speaker and also as someone with your own particular experience, interests and expertise.  My experience has been that, with it being a minority and endagered language, the contributions that people can make by combining their Gaelic with their experience in, say, botany, or photography, or knitting, or organisng walking groups or whatever, are genuinely appreciated and are genuinely welcomed as something valuable to the community.  That's certainly a nice feeling.

There are a few Gaelic speakers here, @Crùbagis one, and @DiegoDiegohas at least some Gaelic as I saw on another thread the other day.  Not sure if they and others are native speakers or learners like myself.

I'm happy to give advice if it's wanted.

How long did it take you to get to a reasonable standard?

I’d love to learn it but it seems like so much effort

[A Diamond For Me]

15 minutes ago, CarrbridgeSaintee said:

How long did it take you to get to a reasonable standard?

I’d love to learn it but it seems like so much effort

I was basically conversational and reading at a reasonable level (though with lots of dictionary-thumbing) after two years, but I would say it was a summer school in Stornoway between my third and fourth years at uni that I made the breakthrough to really speaking it.  That's when I had my first dream in Gaelic (in which I was a tour guide in Bucharest, showing Metallica the delights of that fair city) and first felt confident speaking in Gaelic to people I didn't know.  My Gaelic is much better now than it was then, as of course you keep learning.

I started uni in 2008, and learning resources are much, much better now than they were then.  I know some people who have gotten to a pretty good level of fluency much faster than I did - partially because innate capacity for it, partially because of the better resources.  And I don't just mean online dictionaries and things like that, but for instance a friend of mine does (? did - not sure if he still does them) gaming streams in Gaelic, where he plays some computer game and chats about while doing so, and then he puts those on YouTube afterwards.  I know some people who are really into their gaming, and find that watching those videos is really useful for just getting a good, immersive dose of natural, everyday Gaelic in a way that's fun and attractive and doesn't feel like doing homework.  There's an Australian guy in Japan who's learnt the Gaelic dialect of East Perthshire, now mostly extinct, from work that was recorded and published in the 60s, and he's also done videos where he's smashing up zombies or whatever and speaking in East Perthshire Gaelic.  A guy I know runs classes in Blairgowrie and though it's mostly standard Gaelic he teaches, he uses those older resources to make it more local to the area, so you've got classes of people learning with collections of 19th century folktakes and videos of an Australian guy smashing up zombies, which sounds like a pretty fun combination to me.

Edited May 11 by A Diamond For Me

[Salt n Vinegar]

Well done to any Gaelic learners. I've been learning for a while "informally" via Speaking our Language, Teach Yourself Gaelic etc and the relatively new Speak Gaelic TV/online series. There's also Duolingo.

I would definitely recommend finding some fluent speakers and sticking to them like glue!  I know a few and we meet up quite regularly so that definitely helps.  I've never met a Gaelic speaker who wouldn't encourage and help learners so don't be afraid to ask.

[Oystercatcher]

I started duolingo at lock down,  still going strong with a 1245 day streak. 

I really like it. It still trips me up but I need to immerse myself more by maybe watching bbc alba air an telebhisean and listening to rèidio nan Gàidheal 

[A Diamond For Me]

Can highly recommend listening to the radio as a way of getting some immersion.  When I was a student I would have it on when I was making the tea, cleaning etc.  Even if you only get one word in fifty at first, stick to it and in a few weeks you'll get one in thirty, then one in twenty and so on.  And just as importantly you'll getting used to the rhythm and intonation of the spoken language, getting used to how it flows.

[Black_and_White_Stripes]

Thank you for your responses and advice, @A Diamond For Me. Can you clarify whether you studied Gaelic at university, or whether it was something you learned, as a student, in addition to your undergraduate course? 

I will only be able to devote a few hours per week to Gaelic. Though, I may also be to listen to the radio, as you advise. 

[A Diamond For Me]

I did it as part of my degree.  There's a register of courses and tutors here - not sure how up to date it is, but in any case that website is an excellent place for all kinds of resources.  Glasgow uni will also have night classes (here) and things like that, as does the council (here).

SpeakGaelic is a new online course that's available for free.  I've never used it, but it's had quite a lot of money put it into, so the resources are of a good quality.

Duolingo most people probably know of, that has a Gaelic course.  Mango Languages is similar to Duolingo, though not gamified in the same way.  I use it for other languages, but a handy thing about it is that the courses for minority and indigenous languages are free.

 

[Black_and_White_Stripes]

3 minutes ago, A Diamond For Me said:

I did it as part of my degree.  There's a register of courses and tutors here - not sure how up to date it is, but in any case that website is an excellent place for all kinds of resources.  Glasgow uni will also have night classes (here) and things like that, as does the council (here).

SpeakGaelic is a new online course that's available for free.  I've never used it, but it's had quite a lot of money put it into, so the resources are of a good quality.

Duolingo most people probably know of, that has a Gaelic course.  Mango Languages is similar to Duolingo, though not gamified in the same way.  I use it for other languages, but a handy thing about it is that the courses for minority and indigenous languages are free.

 

That's wonderful. Thank you so much. 

[A Diamond For Me]

'S e do bheatha!

[Derry Alli]

Trevor Carson is fluent in it.

[Black_and_White_Stripes]

32 minutes ago, Derry Alli said:

Trevor Carson is fluent in it.

That would surprise me, since he is an . 

I really shouldn't lower myself. 

[Derry Alli]

1 hour ago, Black_and_White_Stripes said:

That would surprise me, since he is an . 

I really shouldn't lower myself. 

Is that why you're wanting to learn it?

[Black_and_White_Stripes]

19 minutes ago, Derry Alli said:

Is that why you're wanting to learn it?

My partner's gran spoke it and she wants to learn it, so it would be a good shared interest to have. I love the Western Isles and potentially may retire there, in which case I feel obliged to speak it. It fascinates me; it's an endangered language; and learning a new language will hopefully sharpen my mind. That's in addition to the benefits listed by @A Diamond For Me. 

 

Why you have chosen to refer to Trevor Carson in this thread, is unclear, besides an obvious attempt at trolling me. Have you anything worthwhile to add to it?

[mathematics]

@A Diamond For Me, do you do translations? 

[MazzyStar]

I tried but gave up. 

[Black_and_White_Stripes]

1 minute ago, MazzyStar said:

I tried but gave up. 

Did you find it very difficult, not have the time, or just didn't apply yourself? Not meaning to be cheeky, btw, genuinely interested.