Learning Scottish gaelic

[Glitterkitten24]

So I have decided that I would like to learn- since deciding this about 2 days ago I have already discovered I have been saying Gaelic wrong my whole life! (I've been saying gay-lic and it's apparently gaaa-lic, great start!)

Has anyone learned from scratch? I can't do a class as I work shifts so can't be at something on the same day each week.
I'm currently looking on YouTube as there don't seem to be a huge amount of resources online.

Any recommendations of resources you have used?

Thank you!

I have no clue where the garlic backing has come from, and therefore am going to ignore it! I'm in the central belt so gaelic is probably less my heritage than many on this thread, but I am Scottish and therefore feel it's part of my heritage even if my parents/ grandparents etc would have been just as clueless as me!

Thank you all for the links/ resources/ encouragement!

Tsk bashing, not backing.

I did a six week course at work then I used an app called LearnGaelic. It's quite fun but I can't say I've learned much

I wasn't bashing gaelic, i'm happy that people continue to want to learn it. All I was saying is that if you are learning it because you feel as a Scot that it's your heritage, that isn't necessarily true and if that is your reasoning then you should perhaps consider investigating and learning the variety of Scots that best fits your background.

I'm not saying you shouldn't learn gaelic if your background is not from the Highlands/western isles and wherever else it was prevalent, just that if you are doing it from am individual Scots heritage pov, it may not actually be your specific heritage.

"just that if you are doing it from am individual Scots heritage pov, it may not actually be your specific heritage."

Depends how far back you go tbh though...it's not true that's it was only ever prevalent in the Highlands and Islands, if you go back far enough it was the main language for most of Scotland. I mean yes, it's a very very long time ago it was replaced by norman and then Scots, but it could be really far back there in someone's heritage even if they are from some bits of the central belt.

It's also fairly interesting to look at alongside Scots and English - some of the peculiarities of Scots grammar would seem to come from Gaelic.

So it's not pointless to learn a bit of it in a heritage kind of way even if none of your ancestors are ever likely to have had it as their main language.

I'm not Gaelic bashing in the slightest - I have a degree in languages and am all for people learning another language. I think it would be a shame if Gaelic died out and know some native speakers, mostly from Wester Ross and hte Hebrides.

I do think though that it's a bit much to be rebranding Queen St Station in Glasgow as "Sràid na Banrighinn" and Anniesland as "Fearann Anna" in a part of the world where Gaelic was never spoken in the first place.

So it's not pointless to learn a bit of it in a heritage kind of way even if none of your ancestors are ever likely to have had it as their main language.

But that wasn't the statement I was answering. A poster said as a Scot it was their heritage and I've pointed out that it might not have been. And yes, maybe if you go back far enough it's possible that it might have been the language spoken by some of your ancestors but then so might have been french or Norse or whatever. I'm back at the 1700s now in my family tree and from what I've unearthed so far, gaelic is unlikely to have been my heritage. Though a great great great grandmother seems to have managed to get herself knocked up out of wedlock, her lover may well have hailed from Lewis for all I know... :o

Once again, I'm not saying that anyone shouldn't study it, just saying that don't assume, just because the SNP have spent a fortune rebranding all the signs and ambulance livery etc, that it's Scotland's language as it isn't, it's one of the languages and dialects that make up our culture.

Since the rugby often only appears to be shown on BBC Alba, DHs gaelic is coming along nicely but only in sporting terms.

"in a part of the world where Gaelic was never spoken in the first place"

It was though, both before English and because of the high level of immigration from Gaelic speaking areas into Glasgow in the 18th and 19th centuries.

I don't see any particular point to Gaelic street signs anywhere where there's not a large percentage of native speakers, but it's not the case that it wasn't ever spoken in Glasgow.

Those signs are a top down approach to raise the profile of the language. There's a project on the go at the moment that is researching the place names in and around Glasgow and a lot are rooted in Gàidhlig. The signs are also replaced when they need it and updated with a Gaidhlig translation. It's not expensive because it's done when they have to be replaced anyway-broken, vandalised, faded, stolen... Gaidhlug also has cross part support in the Scottish Parliament despite some lone MSPs bashing it now and again...

"just saying that don't assume, just because the SNP have spent a fortune rebranding all the signs and ambulance livery etc, that it's Scotland's language as it isn't, it's one of the languages and dialects that make up our culture."

It's because it's officially Scotland's second language and the other languages are treated as variants of English.

Like I said, I think most of the signs are pointless, though I must admit I like seeing them when I go home to visit my mum, where it was still in living memory a Gaelic speaking area.

And if they're going to use a second language for signs... Dun Eadinn is much nicer than Embra, even if that is less accurate than having them in Glasgow.

It cost £££ to rebrand ambulances - that was a specific cost as the vehicles were not being replaced, only rebranded to include gaelic.

Oh, my smiley vanished - the Embra bit was a joke

I learned from kids tv :)

There used to be a strange beardy man who did a lot of childrens tv with songs, simple sentences, repetition etc.

The guy from Dotaman? He was terrifying, lol

Donnie Dotaman! He actually has a newish series on BBC 'DIY Le Donnie', much less terrifying!