Strengthening policy and provision for Gaelic: the key challenges ahead
The SNP’s manifesto for the 2021 Scottish Parliament election included an unusually specific set of undertakings concerning Gaelic. These detailed commitments were welcome, and indeed overdue, as the SNP has introduced very few significant new Gaelic policy initiatives since coming to power in 2007.
The manifesto presented four main commitments: to strengthen Gaelic-medium education, to explore the creation of a designated ‘Gàidhealtachd’ or Gaelic-speaking area, to review the functions and structures of the Gaelic development agency Bòrd na Gàidhlig and to bring forward a Scottish Languages Bill ‘which takes further steps to support Gaelic, acts on the Scots language and recognises that Scotland is a multilingual society’.
More recently, on 19 April, the Scottish Government published a 34-page document setting out its policy priorities for the next three years, the remainder of the parliamentary term. Disappointingly, this wide-ranging document made no reference at all to Gaelic, Scots or the promised Scottish Languages Bill. The Government conducted a public consultation on its language policy commitments in autumn 2022, and a substantive response, including a draft bill, might have been expected before the end of 2023; this must now be in doubt given the Government’s failure to include it in the action programme.
Similarly, when First Minister Humza Yousaf announced his new ministerial team, Gaelic was not included in the list of ministerial responsibilities, even though there was a designated minister for Gaelic in every Holyrood administration between 1999 and 2016. Following expressions of concern on social media, it was intimated that responsibility for Gaelic would be assigned to the new Cabinet Secretary for Education, Jenny Gilruth. This is not a new arrangement; the languages brief was also given to the two previous Education Secretaries, John Swinney and Shirley-Anne Somerville. Much depends on the predilections of individual ministers: while Swinney clearly had a genuine interest in Gaelic, and did his best to give the language due attention amid many pressing calls on his time, this was much less apparent in the case of Somerville. Gilruth – and indeed her new boss, Humza Yousaf – has had very little to say about Gaelic in her career to date.
In considering policy for Gaelic, several aspects need to be differentiated. The first involves formal, high-level structures and frameworks: language legislation, the creation of statutory bodies, national strategies and so on. The second involves the spectrum of intermediate-level initiatives, many of them short-lived or local, that result from policy decisions by national and local government, other public bodies, or Gaelic organisations. The third, and arguably the most important, involves decisions about funding. Even well-designed policy mechanisms cannot bring positive outcomes if they have inadequate resources, and it is easy to fault the structure or the plan when the real problem is under-resourcing. Unfortunately, given the current economic and fiscal climate and the evidence of the SNP’s priorities, it seems unrealistic to expect that there will be significant increases in funding for Gaelic development, even when these are urgently needed. For political reasons, two of the principal Gaelic organisations, Bòrd na Gàidhlig and MG ALBA (the Gaelic Media Service), were given inadequate resources at the time of their creation and since then their budgets have been eroded by inflation. Any new initiatives will clearly require appropriate support if they are to succeed. Even when the outlook is unfavourable, it is important to articulate and press demands for increased funding, but it would be unwise to stake too much on the expectation that significant new injections will be forthcoming.
Strengthening Gaelic-medium education
In relation to Gaelic-medium education (GME), there are several issues that require to be addressed, as discussed in an earlier piece on ‘Expanding and strengthening Gaelic education in Scotland’. The most valuable reform would be to establish an enforceable legal right to GME. Campaigners have pressed for such a right since the 1990s. GME provision has grown considerably over the years, but many local authorities continue to drag their feet, and it is clear that national and local government and teacher education providers are not doing as much as they could to expand the supply of Gaelic teachers. An enforceable right would focus minds.
Progress in the development of Gaelic schools (as opposed to Gaelic units within English schools) has been painfully slow. For many years, policymakers have taken the view that dedicated schools provide a better environment for Gaelic language acquisition than the unit model. Yet there are still only seven dedicated Gaelic schools in Scotland, three of them in Glasgow and none in the Western Isles. Obstacles here are both political and financial in nature; building new schools necessarily involves significant capital expenditure.
The slow growth of secondary GME has been a particular disappointment. Pupils typically receive less and less Gaelic input after they leave primary school, leading to attrition of their Gaelic skills. As far back as 1994 the schools inspectorate criticised the incoherent nature of secondary GME being offered in a limited, fluctuating range of subjects,’ determined by the vagaries of resource availability’, yet the situation in 2022 is little changed. There is still only one Gaelic secondary school in Scotland, Àrd-sgoil Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu, which opened way back in 2006.
A more controversial issue is the nature of the curriculum (and wider ethos) of Gaelic-medium education: the extent to which it instills a knowledge of Gaelic culture and a sense of Gaelic identity in young people, or effectively just translates mainstream English education. This is a complex matter but it deserves more thought and scrutiny.
A designated ‘Gàidhealtachd’?
The prospect of formally designating a Gaelic-speaking area or ‘Gàidhealtachd’ gives rise to a number of difficulties and has been controversial among Gaelic organisations and activists. Most importantly, it is not clear what benefits it would bring. The Irish Gaeltacht, formally designated since the 1920s, benefits from a much stronger set of policy and funding supports than Gaelic areas in Scotland, but the designation on its own brings nothing: ‘Gàidhealtachd’ would only be a name unless strong, concrete policies and significant additional funding backed it up. It is not a short-cut to changing the political weather and producing higher levels of financial support. The SNP manifesto presents the ‘Gàidhealtachd’ as a mechanism to ‘raise levels of language competence and the provision of more services through the medium of Gaelic and extend opportunities to use Gaelic in every-day situations’, especially in the home and community, and in ‘formal settings’. These are important aims, but they could all be taken forward using existing structures and mechanisms.
Another key challenge would be defining the boundaries: a minimal ‘Gàidhealtachd’ might be limited to the Western Isles (minus Stornoway), where a majority of the population can speak Gaelic, while a more expansive one might cover all areas with, say, 15% Gaelic speakers in the population, thus taking in Tiree, Skye, parts of Islay and a few pockets of the mainland. Ireland has recently established some urban Gaeltacht areas; could there be a case for some kind of Gàidhealtachd in Glasgow, Edinburgh or Inverness given the significant concentrations of speakers there? Arguably, the lower the threshold, the less linguistically meaningful the designation; much more can be done to promote community language use in an area where 60% of the local population speak Gaelic then in one with only 20% density and few Gaelic speakers. On the other hand, it is important not to ‘write off’ areas with a lesser presence of Gaelic speakers but where there are important initiatives under way and a significant number of people are working to sustain the language.
A different kind of concern expressed by Bòrd na Gàidhlig and others is that designating a ‘Gàidhealtachd’ might lead public authorities to focus their development efforts solely on that area. This might lead to the marginalisation of the language and its effective disappearance from wider national debates.
The function and structures of Bòrd na Gàidhlig
Bòrd na Gàidhlig has attracted criticism for a range of reasons over the years, but it is important to distinguish between problems arising from the basic policy architecture and problems concerning policy decisions or operational challenges. Many of the difficulties the Bòrd has encountered over the years cannot properly be attributed to its structure or the nature of its powers. There have been numerous problems with governance and management and with unstable leadership – although there has been progress of late – and persistent underfunding has hamstrung operations.
Perhaps the most important function of the Bòrd, under the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005, is to require Gaelic language plans from public authorities. Arguably it has not been resilient enough in demanding plans with strong commitments, especially from bodies serving core Gaelic areas such as Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and the Western Isles Health Board. Some of the approved plans are arguably little more than tokenistic.
One possibility would be to create a language commissioner, an executive officer charged with ensuring that public authorities meet their legal obligations concerning the language. A language commissioner was established in the Republic of Ireland in 2003 and in Wales in 2011, and a new commissioner will now be created in Northern Ireland under the recently enacted Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Act 2022. Under the terms of the current Gaelic Act, Bòrd na Gàidhlig is given an uncomfortable mixture of roles in relation to the development and implementation of public authorities’ Gaelic language plans, leaving the organisation overstretched. It is expected to advise and work with authorities in developing their plans, give formal approval (or otherwise) to their draft plans, and then monitor these plans and ensure their effective implementation. Assigning responsibility for oversight and implementation to a new commissioner would make for a more logical division of labour.
An important challenge in Gaelic development policy, evident since the 1990s, has been a perceived disconnect between Gaelic organisations and professionals on the one hand and ordinary Gaelic speakers at the grassroots on the other. It is not easy to diagnose this problem – if indeed there really is a solid justification for such perceptions – but there is clearly scope for more participatory local language planning work at the local level. Between 1984 and 2003 the lead Gaelic organisation was Comunn na Gàidhlig, which remains in operation but with a narrowed remit, focusing mainly on community development initiatives, especially for schoolchildren. An enhanced (and properly resourced) role for Comunn na Gàidhlig could be useful here.
Gaelic policy and wider socio-economic challenges
An important but particularly complex and challenging issue is the relationship of Gaelic policy to wider social and economic problems involving housing, employment and connectivity. Gaelic communities in the Hebrides and West Highlands are experiencing immense pressures with the availability and cost of housing. This is by no means a local or regional problem, but a major structural challenge that is affecting many other areas of the UK, and indeed countries around the world. Unfortunately, it seems very unlikely that there will be a significant turnaround in the short or medium term. The recent consultation concerning Highly Protected Marine Areas provoked great controversy in Gaelic communities. Many worried that the restrictions on all kinds of fishing activities would be seriously detrimental to the economy of the Western Isles in particular and would lead to significant out-migration and community decline. Life in the islands has already been made difficult enough with the serious inadequacy of Caledonian MacBrayne’s ferry service, which has involved repeated breakdowns and cancellations and delays in the delivery of replacement vessels.
But there is only a partial overlap between policy solutions for socio-economic problems and those for language development. From the standpoint of language policy, it is important to develop targeted mechanisms that will work to increase the use of Gaelic in particular areas. The lower the proportion of Gaelic speakers in a given area, the less likely it is that improvements to general conditions will work to bring about a turnaround in the linguistic dynamics: a large proportion of those who fill new jobs or move into new homes will not be Gaelic speakers. But more targeted measures – requiring successful applicants to have Gaelic language skills – would provoke significant controversy, including among many ‘locals’ who would find themselves, or their relatives or friends, excluded from new developments or opportunities.
In Ireland and Wales, public bodies have legal duties to take into account the linguistic impact of their policies. Indeed, the statutory guidance prepared under the Gaelic Language Act also recommends that public bodies’ Gaelic language plans should contain a commitment to consider the linguistic impact of policies. Unfortunately, this part of the guidance has not received the attention that it should.
Conclusion
The current policy review and the promised Scottish Languages Bill offer the best opportunity for many years to strengthen and improve the Gaelic language planning infrastructure. Much will depend on the strength of political will at Holyrood, but clear thinking and strategic pressure from the Gaelic community will also be essential.
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‘SNP has introduced very few significant new Gaelic policy initiatives since coming to power in 2007’. That says it all really, just another policy area where the SNP have been worse than useless. I’m sure Gaelic is really close to Humza’s heart.
Added to the careless lethargy of the SNP there is the small fact that the native speakers are abandoning the language by going on an intergenerational language transfer strike. They are not passing it on and therefore the language is on its absolute deathbed. I wish it were different but there it is. The same thing is happening in Ireland despite all the froth about urban Gaelic. The Gaels are voting with their feet for the prestige and utility of English.
Why does Bella Coledonia allow those who comment to use a false name when they make comments rather than their own name?
It is also very clear that whoever MacGilleruadh is that he does have one any answers or solutions to the problems that face Gaelic in Scotland and yet there are lots world wide if he cares to look in places such as New Zealand and Hawaii which are up to 40 years ahead of the work in Scotland. There is so much that can be done in Scotland on so many fronts but he simply seems to ignore them or maybe it is that he is ignorant of them all.
So pleased he wasn’t around when Gaelic was only taught as a subject in a few primary and high schools as nothing would have been done. Where has he been when Gaelic community building has been taking place?
It’s our policy to allow people to use ‘false names’ but we will monitor whether people are doing so disuptively:
https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/our-comments-policy/
Finlay you are right, I don’t have any answers as my fear is that once the native speaking community have stopped transferring the language to their children (on the scale Conchúr Ó Giollagáin reports is the case now) the game is up. I really admire all the efforts you make to preserve and grow the language and wish you every success in that but I don’t think any number of cròileagan in the Galldachd will make up for the loss of the native speaking community.
There are lots of ways to strengthen the Gaelic community yet all you seem to do is weaken it. It is as if you simply do not know what to do in any part of Scotland. Incidentally what happens in the Central Belt has far more influence on what happens in the North of Scotland than you seem to realise. Clearly you have had very little involvement in developing Gaelic communities. Strange how researchers are parachuted in look at problems but never know how to solve them and leave the area in a worse state than before they arrived. Anyone can knock down a house but it is far more difficult to build one and it is obvious that you are not in the business of building as you would know many of the solutions.
Once again false people hiding behind false names I wonder why. What do they have to hide.
Finlay, I hope and pray that you are right. I do admire your determination.
I am really not interested in you praying for me what I am interested in is how to get solutions to the problems.
In hawaii they can take pre-school children to conversing in Hawaiian in 15 weeks. In Scotland with Gaelic at present it takes more than two years to do the same thing. Clearly there is something very far wrong.
No wonder they now have 33,000 families with children who speak and converse in Hawaiian and growing. They expect to reach 50,000 families over the next 10 to 15 years.
They started out in 1982 with only 600 fluent speakers with less than 20 children able to speak Hawaiian fluently in 1982. This has been mostly achieved through their pre-school and education systems.
Sadly it is the very poor approaches taken in Scotland that has caused this major failure. Time to change the whole structure from top to bottom.
Rather, old boy !
“….an intergenerational language transfer strike.”
========
Aye, there’s the rub.
Might part of the reason be ILLITERACY (in Gaelic) by mature speakers? This leads to damage to the prestige of the mother tongue in (increasingly former) Gaelic heartlands.
Take three men:
ONE – a retired Crofter from near Dunvegan, Skye, whose formal education ended when he was aged 14. Fifty years ago he let slip that he did not pass on Gaelic to his children. For them to “get on” he believed Gaelic would be if no value to his youngsters in an English-speaking world.
TWO- a university professor from Lewis who claimed to have no Gaelic. This was untrue. He was fluent in spoken Gaelic as I discovered accidentally when he called his mother from my home during a family crisis. Like the Skye crofter, he was illiterate in Gaelic and so claimed not to have any.
THREE- a retired professional man from mainland Argyll. He spoke beautiful Gaelic but, again, was illiterate. Unlike the two others he valued Gaelic greatly and made great efforts from his fifties on to acquire literacy. He had to in order to translate texts for Gaelic church services.
We have experience in the English-speaking world of helping adult illiterates overcome their sense of shame. They can then go on to experience the joys of reading and writing their mother tongue. Does Gaelic need to liaise with the adult education world to develop a strategy to motivate and teach mature but illiterate speakers of Gàidhlig?
There is a great deal that Gaelic speakers who do not read or write the language can do to help others learn Gaelic really well but you need to know how to use their talents and what you need to avoid doing. Sadly in Scotland those strategies have not been used or they have used the British Empire methods of teaching Gaelic which excludes native Gaelic speakers who have not learnt to read and write Gaelic in school or elsewhere. Indeed in Nova Scotia the number of Gealic speakers grew from 500 in 2004 to 2,300 in 2020 by using the talents and skills of those who could not read or write Gaelic. Scotland is at least 50 years behind on this front while continuing to use methods and strategies that exclude the group of people who are most valuable.
A terrible waste of resources.
Gaelic should be taught in ALL schools. It’s our language. My granny spoke it beautifully I am told – with an unusual form of english!( unfortunately never met her)Never got the chance to study it as it was never offered on the curriculum. If we want independence then we have to protect our heritage. Look to the Welsh. They put us to shame.
I can already hear the howls of protest from the ‘Gaelic wiz nivir spoken here’ mob!
I am a strong supporter of Gaidhlig. I see no gain in forcing it on communities resistant to it and where it really was never spoken. Quite the reverse.
Explain to me how you would persuade, say, an Orcadian or Shetlander of the value of developing Gaidhlig learning when their own indigenous modes of speech are neglected?
I agree Cynicus. I was referring to those ‘lowland’ areas which were formerly part of the Gàidhealtachd until quite recently (like Carrick) or Galloway where cooncilors love to claim ‘Gaelic wiznae spoken here’.
Then we are in accord.
One small way to reach at least some of them is via place-names. Sometimes they are not always well preserved but de-constructing and re-assembling them can often generate at least a spark of interest.
Opening Gaelic medium provision depends on parents in the area wanting the service coupled with the knowledge of how to open a Gaelic medium unit be wherever there is a demand. As yet the closest areas to Carrick and Galloway are Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire and also in the Irvine area in North Ayrshire. This does not depend on the Scottish Government to happen but parents who are interested and also knowing what to do when they are. Sadly Bord na Gaidhlig don’t seem to be very clued up as to what to do going on their record over past 5 years.
Why would anyone want to promote Gaelic in Orkney and Shetland as they had their own language Norn until recently. I know of no-one who does. Though it is strange that about 10 people from Orkney and Shetland living on the Mainland of Scotland sent or are sending their children to Gaelic medium schools in the area they are living in.
Once again why are we having to put up with false names. Are the people involved too chicken to show who they really are.
Finlay, note the initiative here to promote the learning of Cherokee: https://tulsaworld.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/cherokee-nation-opens-20-million-immersion-facility-where-english-becomes-a-foreign-language/article_efc8e322-6420-11ed-aecf-4fec10897829.html?fbclid=IwAR1hwDM723tkYSjh3ZqYlJWTaARwBPHe_y-rPcv9BlDQggBvIuRlrrdHfHs
They are down to 50 families speaking the language apparently. Interesting syllabary they have there.
As always lots of interesting things to think about from Wilson – few thoughts:
We should start with an absolute national commitment to Gaelic as part of our cultural heritage and part of the unique contribution Scotland makes to global cultural diversity- let’s start with Gaelic is a good thing and let’s all contribute to its flourishing. Particularly important to see Gaelic as an essential element in any diversity and human rights strategy.
Linguistic rights including for GME always complex and even in countries actively supporting indigenous languages and culture they are qualified. What about starting with a threshold right (just now there is a threshold for start of a consultation but not for eventual delivery). If this were set at say 10 gme primary pupils the LA could be provided with a guaranteed budget bridge to cover teacher salary (the main factor) – 10 children coming with a per capita spend + Scot Gov additional funding to 1.0 fte would remove significant issue in developing new GME.
Let’s see the National Plan and GLPs strengthened and a review of budgets to provide more support for agencies such as the Bòrd CnaG etc. – of course budget increase would be desirable but even within existing budgets better sharing of current resources will impact more – I think recent stats showed Bòrd gets 19% of Gaelic Budget – is this really what we want as a country for the leading strategy organisation?
Let’s fully exploit Gaelic Planning instead of diverting into “debates” about a Gàidhealtachd – everything that should come with Gàidhealtachd designation should come from innovative and progressive GLPs – ensuring that the language is flourishing appropriately across the country in different communities with different starting points. Crucial we empower the Bòrd or Commissioner to further support Gaelic Planning so that we take the language forward through this decade and the next building on the enthusiasm that is so palpable right across Scotland ( not everyone I know but let’s build on the clear good will of tens of thousands of people from all parts of Scotland and beyond – the first GME school opened n Canada in 2021 as many folks will know…)
Raising the threshold from 5 to 10 further disadvantaging rural communities with small local schools…
Clearly a GLP which is Highland Council wide and takes in Caithness and Nairn will have much less impact than a Stafainn or Skye specific plan. It’s easy to dismiss ‘Gàidhealtachd’ areas when studiously avoiding discussion about what that designation means in Ireland today. The most beneficial aspect which Misneachd has highlighted countless times is that it establishes community development officers in law and provides them with locally accountable participatory budgets. Strengthening GLPs incrementally over their next 5-10 years cycles isn’t really going to cut it.
Email incorrect have changed to correct one
100% Success rate.
Every single child that joins a Hawaiian pre-school group can converse in Hawaiian within 3 months and this is one of the reasons that they have increased the number of Hawaiian speakers from 600 fluent speakers of all ages in 1982 to 33,000 families in 2020 who use it everyday.
While their nurseries are different from nurseries in Scotland there are certain things we are doing here that cause the situation to them taking 3 or 4 years instead of 3 months but this can be changed almost instantly with only 5 days training.
Looking forward to the day in Scotland when it takes less than 8 weeks for a 2 or 3 year old child from a home where neither parent speaks Gaelic to have a conversational Gaelic fluency. It can be done but the will must be there to make it happen.
Wishing it would happen, does not make it occur, only wish it could.
Why is Scotland so very, very slow in revitalising the Gaelic language compared to what is happening with Hawaiian in Hawaii or the Maori language in New Zealand or even some of the Native American Tribes? Scotland is like the dog’s tail far, far, behind. Sadly.
There used to be a Minister for Gaelic. But the minister couldn’t speak Gaelic. I think it was so long ago that the last Gaelic speaking Gaelic Minister was Labour. Is there still one?
Margaret Thatcher and the Tories in London and Ediburgh was much better for Gaelic than the SNP Government in Edinburgh.
They after all gave the first money for opening Gaelic medium Primary Units in Scotland when they were in power.
All the SNP have done is downgrade Gaelic since then.
Ambiguous.
Kate Forbes has a command of Gàidhlig but is not a minister. Even when she was, she was not “Minister fir Gaelic”
*******How odd to think the Scots were the main people behind promoting the English Language during British Empire Days but also helped to wipe out numerous miority language throughout the World as Well as Gaelic in Scotland.
The Colonial or Empire Teaching Methods for Minority Languages
Scots not only set out to kill the Gaelic language in Scotland but also native and minority languages in other parts of the world in order to promote the English language. Here are some of the methods and strategies they used very successfully.
The Scots were deeply involved in killing Gaelic in Scotland long before the infamous 1872 Scottish Education Act which set out to destroy the Gaelic language and its culture in Scotland. They also took them to other parts of the British Empire and helped to promote the English language and kill lots of native and minority languages throughout the world.
These methods were called ….
The Colonial or Empire Teaching Methods for Minority Languages
*Make sure it is extremely difficult for any minority member who has lost or never learnt their language to learn it.
*Concentrate on reading, writing, grammar and translation (especially the last two) and avoid speaking it.
*Cut down on those who may be inclined to learn their language, by using English as the teaching language and use sentences that no one will ever use in daily life.
*Make the language learning so difficult that the student thinks they are at fault or poor at languages rather than the teaching methods.
*Use Grammar and translation in order to prolong the learning process so that close on 95% give up within one year and only a tiny proportion or less than 1% succeed within 5 years of learning.
*Tell them it is good for them to struggle as this is what learning minority languages are all about.
*Music must always be taught through the Empire language in order to break the ties with the minority language.
*No minority language should be taught for more than one hour each week at school. It must always be a token effort.
*Do not teach the minority language in the first 3 years the children are at school after that do the numbers and colours, animals and songs through translation even if they know them from home, year after year until they go into their high school. It will ensure they get tired of the language and feel it is of no use to them later on in life.
*Make the language learning as dry and uninteresting as possible so as many students will give up learning as quickly as possible.
*Get the students to laugh at their own language and feel embarrassed whenever they try to say a few words in it and mock others who are learning. Teachers need to do this often.
*Make sure few of the students who can speak the language ever learn to read and write it as this will often mean they will never pass it onto their children willingly.
*Once they get tired of learning the minority language teach them songs in the minority language in order to steer their attention from learning the language itself. This will further alienate them from the minority language as songs will never make them proficient. You must teach the songs through translation as it will help them to blend in with the majority language.
*Give it time as these teaching methods will become part of the system, working their way up through the teaching colleges, universities and schools.
*Get the students to tell everyone else just how difficult it is to learn a minority language and that their minority language is the most difficult one in the world to learn.
*Change the structure of their minority language by using English as the language of instruction. In time they won’t know the difference.
You missed out: Ensure the local education system completely ignores the former prevalence of the minority language. This ensures only a small minority will see it as relevant and possibly attempt to learn it.
Moray Council or Falkirk Council is like every other Council in Scotland where an organised group of parents who have to have certain numbers of children in either a Parent and child group or on a list to show that there is demand for the service.
This is not new and has been like this for at least 35 years now.
Indeed the Moray Language Centre wrote a handbook on how to set up a Gaelic nursery, a Gaelic medium primary unit and a Gaelic medium High school about 10 years ago and updated it about a year ago to include local authority nurseries and Parent and Child groups.
The Handbook is available Free for anyone who wants one by emailing the Moray Language Centre on [email protected]
Please tell us which area you are in.
The Real Victims Are the Gaelic Learners.
Those who teach English as a foreign language or as a second language never use the British Empire and Colonial methods as they are reserved for those who are in the situation for killing native and minority languages such as Gaelic.
The Scots knew what they were doing when they introduced this system of teaching into the education system in Scotland and also among other minority and native language school systems throughout the World.
We must always remember the Scots were the Cheerleaders for the English language throughout the British Empire.
It is quite clear that we are going to have to start a new Gaelic Campaign to push things connected to the Gaelic language onto the Agenda.
It is about 15 years since the last Campaign and it shows as there is little or no movement of ideas or action happening on any level be it government or at local authority level which will help to sustain Gaelic in future years.
Now is the time to start as it will take a period of time to get going as this is Scotland and we are talking about the Gaelic language.
New tactics and efforts have to designed to ensure maximum publicity is forth coming.
Sad to say Bord na Gaidhlig have failed on almost every part they have been involved in since they started.