Do you speak Scottish?

I remember when I moved to Spain and I met people from the country who were always enthralled that I was from Scotland. There was even a girl in my portuguese class who started showing me pictures of my home city Glasgow when she visited, as if I had never seen it, and proclaimed her love of Scotland. Yet, the number one question I was asked by everyone foreign I encountered was, "Do you speak Scottish?" I don't think they nor I even knew what 'Scottish' was, however, there was this vague idea of Scottish people having their own language. That which is not English. And it is true, we technically do have a language that is Scottish. 

Perhaps they did not realise that the name for this was Scots Gaelic. If you think about it, a tourist in Scotland may think that the Gaelic language is thriving with every police car having the word 'poileas' and every ambulance 'ambaileans'. Yet, it is spoken in relatively few places. The Scottish Gaelic language has a history that is traced back to 500 AD. For five or six hundred years Gaelic was thriving and expanded across most of Scotland but it began to lose the competition with Scots-English in the 13th century and then retreated to usage only in the Highlands. By 1755, there was only 23% of the Scottish population that spoke Gaelic, which had decreased by 1901 to 4.5% and 100 years later to 1.2%. The spread of the Gaelic language throughout Scotland increased with the 1999 establishment of the Scottish Parliament. Since then, a 2001 census showed that now only less than 60,000 people in Scotland spoke Gaelic, with most of them being concentrated in the Western Isles. 

It is not only a language that is spoken in Scotland. The Canadian province of Nova Scotia, which inhibits a significant community of Scottish immigrants and their descendents, have a Gaelic language heritage. According to the Gaelic Council of Nova Scotia, the province is the only region outside Scotland where the Gaelic language and culture is contributed into community life. Nova Scotia is also home to 'The Gaelic College', founded in 1938, which is devoted to the study and preservation of Gaelic language and culture. At least they are doing more than we are. 

It is scary to think that it is estimated that one language dies out every 14 days. Scottish Gaelic language is disappearing at an alarming rate. It makes me wonder if my grandchildren will be asked the same question when they travel abroad in the future, "do you speak Scottish?" But you are probably asking yourself, "why should I even bother to learn the language at all?" Yet, Gaelic remains an important aspect of our cultural life, which requires to be nurtured and cherished. Language is of real value both economically, socially and historically. Gaelic is not a dead language and in order to fully communicate with our community in Scotland, it is important to learn it. Our lack of appetite to learn the language is due to Gaelic enduring centuries of pressure from England. After the Union of Crowns in 1603, James VI aimed to unite his subjects under one language and encouraged clan chiefs to send their eldest child to English-language public schools in the lowlands. Following the 1707 Act of Union, religious schools, which served the wider community, embraced the aim of anglicising the 'uncivilised' provinces, instructing in English even where the pupils previously spoke only Gaelic, and punishing the use of their native tongue. This resulted in the 1872 Education Scotland Act that specifically excluded Gaelic from classrooms. Therefore, by learning Gaelic, we are resisting the colonisation of England and retaining our own identity. 

I wrote this article because a recent study released today details that Scots Gaelic will be dead within a decade. We need to put in radical action. The study by a team of Gaelic experts and sociolinguists at the University of Highlands and Islands (UHI) found that only 11,000 people were habitual Gaelic speakers, after a rapid decline during the 1980s when the density of native speakers fell below 80%. Professor Conchúr Ó Giollagáin, the lead author of the study and an expert in Irish and Scots Gaelic, said "The situation is so critical; the vernacular community is falling apart and those charged with supporting Gaelic need to face up to these issues. " Over the last year, the Western Isles council, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, has increased Gaelic education in all schools and made it the principal language for all children starting primary, provoking clashes between the Conservatives, the SNP and Scottish Greens. Despite these efforts, the study, which involved research throughout the Western Isles, in Staffin, a Gaelic-speaking district of Skye, and Tiree, an island in Argyll and Bute, found that even in Gaelic-speaking families, English was the default language. It found that there was a general indifference among the young regarding the place of Gaelic in their lives. Therefore, policy is possibly not the best solution to tackle this problem.

It is clear that the idea of putting Gaelic on public signs and official vehicles has masked deep-rooted institutional indifference. This act is only a superficial recognition. In reality, the real speakers of Gaelic in Scotland are completely marginalised. There has been progress in the promotion of the Gaelic language. For example, the first piece of legislation to give formal recognition to the Scottish Gaelic language was the Gaelic Language Act of 2005. This aimed to put Gaelic at an equal status with English. Yet, Gaelic still faces many challenges and the solution could remain outside of Scotland. It may be we have done all we can to promote Gaelic? Perhaps we need to see a need for the use of Gaelic?

I think the main reason is the lack of motivation to learn Gaelic in the Scottish population. We have to become more educated on its importance, its history and have its use incorporated to a greater prestige in our daily lives. There is no doubt that there has been efforts at this. For example, Scots language radio broadcasts, television programs and newspapers are available throughout regions where Scots Gaelic is spoken. But, should this be provided in all regions throughout Scotland? Additionally, there is a new Gaelic drama called "Bannan" that aired on the BBC which is based on the Isle of Skye. Media outlets do exist to learn and promote the usage of Gaelic but why are we not?

Personally, this study that has been published today should be a wake up call for us all. A wake up call at how our history is rapidly declining. It should make the government more alert that the education system has to be revived. We could make Gaelic an optional language in all schools throughout Scotland, in the same way as Spanish and French. Surely there is more likelihood that we will use Gaelic with living in Scotland than Spanish or French. Ultimately, Gaelic is close to being diagnosed with a terminal illness. We have to stop the illness in its tracks. Even if it is listening to a podcast in Gaelic, starting a petition, learning it on Duolingo, it is crucial now. There are not even in any petitions to plead the government to make Gaelic compulsory in schools or on anything related to the language of Scots Gaelic. After all, the fact that there are people who speak the language in our own country that we are incapable of communicating with should be the key reason to motivate us. Then we can fully answer that question with, "Yes I do speak Scottish."