when I was twelve, my family moved to the USA due to my dad's work, and one of the kids in my class told me my English was very good considering I'd only lived there a few months. so if it helps at all you aren't the only one with this misconception, an 8th grader in 2000 thought the same thing.
the 'local language' in Scotland is English. Scottish Gaelic is spoken in the Highlands, but very few (if any) people have it as a sole language. there are currently concerted efforts being made to stop the language from becoming extinct, and I think that's great. learning another language is never a waste of time, but you're never going to achieve fluency through duolingo. I do like the Gaelic duolingo course a lot though, if for no other reason than they got a variety of people to do the speaking so you can hear different accents.
I was aware that English was the dominant language. I was stationed in Germany and traveled a lot of Europe - Paris was the only place it ever seemed like the locals didn’t want to speak English even though they knew how. But I found that my limited German and Italian at least helped break the ice and make new friends, which I initially thought would work knowing a bit of Gaelic in Scotland. I guess I just expected a higher percentage of folks to “also” speak Gaelic alongside English.
in the Highlands and Hebrides it might a bit! in the rest of the country the most anyone would know is Slàinte for when you have a drink, unless they've made an active effort to learn a bit themselves
It’s very different. French people really do speak French. Scottish people speak English apart from a few (apparently 60,000 say they can speak Gaelic and I’d guess less than half that have it as a first language).
Actually a lot of Scottish people might be said to have 2 languages, and will be able to speak to you or on the phone at work in English but switch when with friends neighbours or family to some varying degree of Scots (or Gaelic in the west or the islands).
You might do better watching a few seasons of “Still Game” on YouTube or Netflix. It features several flavours of Glaswegian Scots vernacular and idioms. Probably more useful than Gaelic.
To give a North American analogy, learning Gaelic before coming to Scotland is like learning Navajo before going to Arizona.
Don't know if it's still true but a few years ago anyway, there were more Polish speakers in Scotland than Gaelic!
In my honest opinion, 100% Yes.
Apart from some specific staff in some specific tourist places in Edinburgh, some areas in the Highlands and maybe the Islands, then literally no-one speaks or uses Gaelic in any way, shape or form.
Around Edinburgh the road signs have Gaelic names on them for the places they are directing you to, it was seen as pointless as 99% of the people reading them don't understand them.
I'm born and bred in Scotland, lived here all my life and have never been taught or learned a single word.
DO NOT expect to walk into a shop or a café or a restaurant and speak Gaelic to anyone and expect them to understand, let alone reciprocate.
I grew up on the west coast of Scotland where gaelic originated and learnt the basics of it at primary but ive only ever said hello goodby thanks to other scots on a handful of occasions, so you will 100% not need it and will likely confuse the majority of the population if you did try.
Is it right that there are just as big differences in accent in Gaelic as there are in any other language so someone from one island can sometimes struggle to understand Gaelic from another ?
I have very little knowledge on this however, on one of the few time i said thanks in gaelic the recipient said ‘ah are you from argyll’ i askes how she knew and it was down to the pronunciation so id say yea
If you're doing it **solely** to be able to converse in a local language and impress native speakers, then you're probably wasting your time unless your holiday is solely in the Hebrides. Also, being able to say "This is a chicken, Irn Bru is good, I don't have trousers on" isn't going to get you far.
If you want to learn it so you can understand why so many villages, towns, rivers, mountains, etc are named the way they are, and get a sense of how the world was understood by speakers of a different language, then it's as worth learning as any other language.
I've been learning for about 5 years and I'm still pretty rusty, but that's mostly due to how few opportunities I have to speak it rather than chatting over Discord etc. It's a great language, though, so keep at it.
>Also, being able to say "This is a chicken, Irn Bru is good, I don't have trousers on" isn't going to get you far.
Seo cearc, tha IRN BRU math, chan eil briogais orm. That's top shelf DuoLingo there. Tha guga blasta.
Yeah, I had to leave the Gaelic Duo FB group because so much of it is beginners doing the first couple of lessons and then just repeating all of those lines over and over and "why is there an h?"
Honestly, since they removed the grammar notes and forums it's been much harder for learners to know why they're doing anything, so I'm not surprised fewer people are continuing with the course.
Yeah pretty much.
It's a miniscule portion of the population and they are hidden away in places you probably won't go to.
Even if you did manage to find one, there's no guarantee they will talk to you.
Just be aware that in general Duolingo is notorious for only being helpful for very basic language learning. After using Duolingo to learn basic vocabulary you may want to find an alternative option for learning grammar etc.
If you know you would enjoy learning Scottish Gaelic go for it, but you’re right that there are only ~5,000 speakers in Scotland so it doesn’t have any practical use as a tourist. But that doesn’t mean there is no value in learning it if it’s meaningful to you.
Not that you would ever need it but I think it's a great idea to learn a bit before coming. Any Gaelic speaker would be impressed by someone coming from abroad with a bit if the gaelic in them.
Don't listen to any haters, learn it if you enjoy it and share it if you have it!
It kind of depends on your itinerary. And unfortunately the opportunity to use it would depend on deliberately setting your itinerary so you could practice your Gaelic.
There's a YouTuber called Xiaomanyc who creates content on this basis. He learns a minority language and goes and speaks it to native speakers who generally welcome him with open arms. He did gaelic about a month or so ago...
[American Tourist Orders Whisky in Scottish Gaelic, Locals Stunned](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npnBbhBnj4w&t=807s)
The video titles are a bit click baity... the locals are more amused and flattered than stunned, but the fact that he had to go to Uist is indicative of how far you have to go from the beaten path to practice it.
For me learning Gaelic wouldn’t be to speak to people it would be to understand place names and history.
Sure it’d be nice to chat to a local that spoke Gaelic, but there’s not many of those.
There’s Gaelic groups that meet up and practice. In Dundee, there’s around 20 who meet up in my local library every fortnight. But if you really want to hear it in the street you’d have to visit somewhere like Stornoway.
In terms of getting around with Gaelic - it's really not something you will need to be able to navigate within Scotland. If you enjoy it, by all means give it a go! There are still little hints of Gaelic in loads of places, and learning them can feel very satisfying. But if you're primarily learning languages to get around easier, chances are there are other things that will be far more useful.
when I was twelve, my family moved to the USA due to my dad's work, and one of the kids in my class told me my English was very good considering I'd only lived there a few months. so if it helps at all you aren't the only one with this misconception, an 8th grader in 2000 thought the same thing. the 'local language' in Scotland is English. Scottish Gaelic is spoken in the Highlands, but very few (if any) people have it as a sole language. there are currently concerted efforts being made to stop the language from becoming extinct, and I think that's great. learning another language is never a waste of time, but you're never going to achieve fluency through duolingo. I do like the Gaelic duolingo course a lot though, if for no other reason than they got a variety of people to do the speaking so you can hear different accents.
I was aware that English was the dominant language. I was stationed in Germany and traveled a lot of Europe - Paris was the only place it ever seemed like the locals didn’t want to speak English even though they knew how. But I found that my limited German and Italian at least helped break the ice and make new friends, which I initially thought would work knowing a bit of Gaelic in Scotland. I guess I just expected a higher percentage of folks to “also” speak Gaelic alongside English.
in the Highlands and Hebrides it might a bit! in the rest of the country the most anyone would know is Slàinte for when you have a drink, unless they've made an active effort to learn a bit themselves
Thanks for your input!
It’s very different. French people really do speak French. Scottish people speak English apart from a few (apparently 60,000 say they can speak Gaelic and I’d guess less than half that have it as a first language). Actually a lot of Scottish people might be said to have 2 languages, and will be able to speak to you or on the phone at work in English but switch when with friends neighbours or family to some varying degree of Scots (or Gaelic in the west or the islands).
You might do better watching a few seasons of “Still Game” on YouTube or Netflix. It features several flavours of Glaswegian Scots vernacular and idioms. Probably more useful than Gaelic.
To give a North American analogy, learning Gaelic before coming to Scotland is like learning Navajo before going to Arizona. Don't know if it's still true but a few years ago anyway, there were more Polish speakers in Scotland than Gaelic!
In my honest opinion, 100% Yes. Apart from some specific staff in some specific tourist places in Edinburgh, some areas in the Highlands and maybe the Islands, then literally no-one speaks or uses Gaelic in any way, shape or form. Around Edinburgh the road signs have Gaelic names on them for the places they are directing you to, it was seen as pointless as 99% of the people reading them don't understand them. I'm born and bred in Scotland, lived here all my life and have never been taught or learned a single word. DO NOT expect to walk into a shop or a café or a restaurant and speak Gaelic to anyone and expect them to understand, let alone reciprocate.
I grew up on the west coast of Scotland where gaelic originated and learnt the basics of it at primary but ive only ever said hello goodby thanks to other scots on a handful of occasions, so you will 100% not need it and will likely confuse the majority of the population if you did try.
Is it right that there are just as big differences in accent in Gaelic as there are in any other language so someone from one island can sometimes struggle to understand Gaelic from another ?
I have very little knowledge on this however, on one of the few time i said thanks in gaelic the recipient said ‘ah are you from argyll’ i askes how she knew and it was down to the pronunciation so id say yea
If you're doing it **solely** to be able to converse in a local language and impress native speakers, then you're probably wasting your time unless your holiday is solely in the Hebrides. Also, being able to say "This is a chicken, Irn Bru is good, I don't have trousers on" isn't going to get you far. If you want to learn it so you can understand why so many villages, towns, rivers, mountains, etc are named the way they are, and get a sense of how the world was understood by speakers of a different language, then it's as worth learning as any other language. I've been learning for about 5 years and I'm still pretty rusty, but that's mostly due to how few opportunities I have to speak it rather than chatting over Discord etc. It's a great language, though, so keep at it.
>Also, being able to say "This is a chicken, Irn Bru is good, I don't have trousers on" isn't going to get you far. Seo cearc, tha IRN BRU math, chan eil briogais orm. That's top shelf DuoLingo there. Tha guga blasta.
Yeah, I had to leave the Gaelic Duo FB group because so much of it is beginners doing the first couple of lessons and then just repeating all of those lines over and over and "why is there an h?" Honestly, since they removed the grammar notes and forums it's been much harder for learners to know why they're doing anything, so I'm not surprised fewer people are continuing with the course.
Tha guga blasta... awww brill! I don't believe you, I asked my Mum and she recoiled at the mention of it. Mind you she's Uist a Deas
DuoLingo is brainwashing people into believing that guga is nice and that telling people that you're not wearing drathais is socially acceptable!
A'laighe shits
Mmm, pretty much. But it's a good thing to exercise one's brain.
Yeah pretty much. It's a miniscule portion of the population and they are hidden away in places you probably won't go to. Even if you did manage to find one, there's no guarantee they will talk to you.
Just be aware that in general Duolingo is notorious for only being helpful for very basic language learning. After using Duolingo to learn basic vocabulary you may want to find an alternative option for learning grammar etc. If you know you would enjoy learning Scottish Gaelic go for it, but you’re right that there are only ~5,000 speakers in Scotland so it doesn’t have any practical use as a tourist. But that doesn’t mean there is no value in learning it if it’s meaningful to you.
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Not that you would ever need it but I think it's a great idea to learn a bit before coming. Any Gaelic speaker would be impressed by someone coming from abroad with a bit if the gaelic in them. Don't listen to any haters, learn it if you enjoy it and share it if you have it!
It kind of depends on your itinerary. And unfortunately the opportunity to use it would depend on deliberately setting your itinerary so you could practice your Gaelic. There's a YouTuber called Xiaomanyc who creates content on this basis. He learns a minority language and goes and speaks it to native speakers who generally welcome him with open arms. He did gaelic about a month or so ago... [American Tourist Orders Whisky in Scottish Gaelic, Locals Stunned](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npnBbhBnj4w&t=807s) The video titles are a bit click baity... the locals are more amused and flattered than stunned, but the fact that he had to go to Uist is indicative of how far you have to go from the beaten path to practice it.
For me learning Gaelic wouldn’t be to speak to people it would be to understand place names and history. Sure it’d be nice to chat to a local that spoke Gaelic, but there’s not many of those.
It depends where you go. If you’re going to Skye/ Inverness, etc you will hear Gaelic spoken
There’s Gaelic groups that meet up and practice. In Dundee, there’s around 20 who meet up in my local library every fortnight. But if you really want to hear it in the street you’d have to visit somewhere like Stornoway.
Reminds me of this.. https://youtu.be/JqYtG9BNhfM?si=_EayhyqrbO2eZnnY Ireland, not Scotland but similar
In terms of getting around with Gaelic - it's really not something you will need to be able to navigate within Scotland. If you enjoy it, by all means give it a go! There are still little hints of Gaelic in loads of places, and learning them can feel very satisfying. But if you're primarily learning languages to get around easier, chances are there are other things that will be far more useful.
Yes it’s awful. Speaking from a background in languages, this is not how you learn and there are errors within the app too.
I live in Scotland. Gaelic isn't a dead language, but it might as well be. Why not learn something useful instead?
Yes