Re: Extra cash in bid to boost Gaelic

In message <%_Ucj.32467$jy3.31359@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, allan connochie <conncohies@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes

"Charles Ellson" <charles@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:7ds7n3ppten4vm8uc3d2e3cm4vfu8qp5tu@xxxxxxxxxx
On Thu, 27 Dec 2007 17:36:35 GMT, "allan connochie"
<conncohies@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


"Bob Jones" <bobj@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:477455AE.1000305@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
HardySpicer wrote:
On Dec 27, 2:07 pm, Bob Jones <b...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
HardySpicer wrote:

"...All of these developments have served to raise the profile of
Gaelic, and more importantly to increase the confidence of speakers in
their language and culture. The tide has turned."

I can attest to this in hearing Gaelic as the dominant language spoken
by young people amongst themselves going on their summer vacations on
the ferry from Lewis to Ullapool. No more cultural cringe - this is
the
start.

The clearances are ancient history! Better to encourage Urdu.

Hardy

Gaelic was discouraged and underfunded by not being funded at all:

That is not actually true. Gaelic was excluded from the education system
for a short period only. After that it suffered from neglect but not total
exclusion. Scots came much closer to being totally excluded and still only
recieves a tiny fraction of the funds given to Gaelic. There are of course
arguments for Gaelic receiving further funds but you don't need to put
them
forward by making up stuff.

There are plenty of people alive today who can tell you that talking
Gaelic in school would result in them being given the tawse. That is a
bit more than mere "neglect".

And as recent as the 1980's Gaelic wasn't taught in Dunblane High School due to an apparent "lack of demand", yet they somehow thought when I was there it made sense to run a Latin class for 4 people and a Russian class for 4 people. As for Gaelic, well they didn't actually suggest it as a subject to the pupils nor did I ever get asked if I wanted to learn it, despite having unanglicised placenames such as "uamh bheag" within a few miles.

One of the teachers at Dunblane High taught modern studies but also happened to be a native speaker of Glencoe Gaelic, a Gaelic teacher and a winner of the National Mod Bardic Crown. info:
http://www.puregold.freeserve.co.uk/gaelicin.htm

So, no need to recruit anyone, no need to find a qualified teacher and he asked repeatedly to be able to teach the language but was always knocked back.

Upon retirement, he taught Gaelic in his spare time and I attended one of his classes in Essex, a somewhat unusual location compared to the county of Perthshire with its many Gaelic placenames.

Denied the opportunity to take a Gaelic higher in Dunblane, I eventually got one via Telford College in Edinburgh (and an A for it).

That exclusion from the educational system was the 1980s, hardly a long time ago.

--
Craig Cockburn ("coburn"). M.Sc., CITP, CEng
Owner, http://www.siliconglen.com/
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