British Minority language Thread...Irish Gaelic/Welsh/Gaidhlig..

[macmam]

I am a Mum who is a Scottish Gaidhlig speaker...I have dc's to whom I speak to only in Gaidhlig they speak in English to their Dad, and would love to chat to other mams and dads in a similar situation. They go to a mainland (Scottish) Gaidhlig School and are the most fluent ones in their year groups. (They went to school fully fluent.) The class sizes are 23/24/25 and are still the most native/fluent in their years. We are very lucky in that we have close family nearby and very strong family ties to the Western Isles so they think of themselves as very 'Gaidhealach' (Island). Am losing hope in GME school though and am thinking that the local school couldn't do worse than me on my own and local schooling...Kids are in large classes amongst kids who are NOT fluent..all their language acquisition is from me, talking ALL the time at and to them...they come home with all tha crappy mistakes and horrific accent they acquire at school..I spend all my time correcting their mistakes...

(I am a pain..someone help me to get some kind of perpective....I only want them to be as fluent as me in 20 yrs time...is that too much..., yes probably..)

Macmam,

I think the situation with Gàidhlig is complicated than 'official' languages due to its increasingly limited social and cultural usage. Living in Glasgow with no structured Gàidhlig community means, with a native speaker parent, home is where the best place is to learn 'natural' language.

I can understand your concern with your kids picking up 'bad' habits from a school with kids from a predominantly English-speaking background, especially given that the Gàidhlig taught in schools is a bastardised 'standard' language that does not reflect the actual dialects spoken in Gàidhlig-speaking communities.

There is a phenomenon noticeable in places where language revival is taking place from a small language base where no natural language community exists. In Ireland, Scotland and Brittany, young speakers in particularly urban areas speak a language that is alien to older speakers. I've even heard one Irish language professor talk about the Irish spoken in Dublin as a creole, as it differs noticeably from the traditional 'gaeltacht' areas there. Partly it's due to the effect of having so many people from non-native backgrounds becoming a new wave of speakers, and partly due to having to create a standard language which takes from various dialects and periods. That being said, languages continually evolve for a number of reasons, so we're just adding to the mix in some respects.

If you're a native speaker and dedicated to speaking and teaching the language at home to your kids, I think that provides a great base. If your kids are going to school, they will learn more from their peers due to the normal influences of peer pressure. On the flip side, your kids also provide a great influence on kids with no Gàidhlig-speaking parents at home. Do you do much volunteer teaching/assistance at the school?

I do volunteer for various things and try to help on school trips. Am amazed recently at how quickly the kids start off chatting to me in english and as soon as I ignore in a "Dè bha sin?" sort of way they instantly convert and gravitate towards me and chat and tell me their news. They have an amazing vocab and confidence and it's really fab, but, I still think that peer influences whilst inevitable shouldn't be left to fester. I notice that the teachers reflect back the correct form rather than correcting as such and I think it sometimes needs to be a firmer approach with certain errors...also I think as far as poss the teachers have to supply the gaidhlig version of a word instead of letting the english one stand..(I would hope that this was the case.)

Having said all of that the teachers are doing an amazing job with so many kids in the classes now, the majority of whom have no Gaidhlig at all when they start. For me it's very much the language of the home with school support but I realise that I am in the minority. I do think that parents need to make more of an effort to learn even the basics. I go to PTA meeting and I can't get over how many parents say they can't help with the homework because they don't understand what is required!?! Good grief would they be so lackadaisical if their kids were going to an english medium school? That ramps up the pressure on the teachers (and older siblings) to provide the home support as well.

I will continue to put my kids through GME unless it becomes impossible. In general I am very happy with the school but I wish more emphasis and effort was put into the Gaidhlig and not hope that it was learnt/improved upon by osmosis alone...