by Emily McEwan | Oct 4, 2015 | All Posts, Language Learners, Nova Scotia, Religion
As I write this, it’s World Communion Sunday. My church, the United Church of Canada, observes this ecumenical celebration which originated with a Presbyterian church in Pittsburgh, Pennyslvania, USA. How does this relate to Gaelic? Bear with me. The Bible reading and...
by Emily McEwan | Sep 28, 2015 | All Posts, Awareness, Education, Nova Scotia
Earlier this year, I helped to create and deliver a Gaelic Awareness training session for the Harbourside Area of the Nova Scotia Council of Girl Guides of Canada. Here I’ll give a bit of the back story on that session, and tell you how to get a free e-book copy...
by Emily McEwan | Aug 31, 2015 | All Posts, Dictionaries, Language Learners
You’re learning Scottish Gaelic, and you need to buy a Gaelic dictionary. Which one is the best for you? A web search on “Scottish Gaelic dictionary” yields very mixed results. There are online dictionaries, some legit and some not really. Amazon lists a confusing...
by Emily McEwan | Jul 31, 2015 | All Posts, Linguistics, Minority Languages
Nancy Dorian is well known in linguistics, linguistic anthropology, and Celtic studies for her research on Gaelic, language obsolescence, and the sociolinguistics of minority languages. She has studied the Gaelic spoken in East Sutherland, a “linguistic...
by Emily McEwan | Jun 26, 2015 | All Posts, Dictionaries, Linguistics
If you’re learning Gaelic, it’s helpful to keep track of what other folks are doing out there so you don’t develop tunnel vision about the language community. As a linguistic anthropologist, I’ve been lucky to meet people who do important work...
by Emily McEwan | Jun 12, 2015 | All Posts, Language Learners, Minority Languages
With this post I’ve decided to poke a bit of fun at those of us who started learning Gaelic as adults. Based on my experiences on and off over 25 years in Scotland and North America, I’ve compiled a list of some of the most common types (or stereotypes?)...
by Emily McEwan | May 29, 2015 | All Posts, Media, Minority Languages
Ever since I wrote the post on Anti-Gaelic Bingo, it’s been more fun to read about Gaelic in the Scottish newspapers. I simply pull out one of my bingo cards and check off the boxes as columnists and journalists reel off predictable clichés. Nonetheless,...
by Emily McEwan | May 25, 2015 | All Posts, Dictionaries, Media, Minority Languages
Minority languages like Scottish Gaelic got 99 problems and information technology is one. Linguistically speaking, information technology (IT) is dominated by English. How on earth can minority language users carve out a space for their own technology needs and...
by Emily McEwan | May 19, 2015 | All Posts, Design, Minority Languages, Tattoos
So You Want a Scottish Gaelic Tattoo – Part Two My previous post showed you what can go wrong if you decide to get a Scottish Gaelic tattoo when you don’t speak the language. If you still have your heart absolutely set on getting a Gaelic tattoo, despite...
by Emily McEwan | Apr 24, 2015 | All Posts, Design, Minority Languages, Tattoos
So you want to get a tattoo — in Scottish Gaelic. You want to honour a family member, or your Scottish heritage, or you just think the Gaelic language is cool, but you don’t speak Gaelic yourself. What should you do? If you’ve already designed your tattoo,...
