Gaelic

“All but a dead language”? “Never native to the North-east of Scotland”? Let’s play anti-Gaelic bingo again! Aberdeen is not in the Highlands or islands of Scotland, which are traditionally thought of as the Gaelic-speaking areas of the country. But as Art Cormack describes, Aberdeen and the surrounding areas have had Gàidhlig gu leòr (plenty of Gaelic) from the distant past right up through the present. And this is a linguistic legacy that north-easterners can be proud of.

So you want to get a tattoo — in Scottish Gaelic. You want to honor 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?

Gaels in Scotland and Nova Scotia don’t tend to know a lot about each other, unless they’ve actually visited each other’s home turf. There are a lot of similarities, but also some significant differences! Here is the second half of my top ten list with #5 through #1 of the top ten differences between Gaelic in Nova Scotia and Scotland from a Nova Scotian perspective.

A few years ago, someone criticized my work, saying that Gaelic language revitalization wasn’t rocket science. Indeed, language revitalization isn’t rocket science — it’s far more difficult! Rocket science formulates and solves math problems. Something goes wrong? Find the mistake and fix it. Human error is a factor, but the math is reliable. Language revitalization, on the other hand, is not so simple…

How I customized my Apple laptop computer with a decal showcasing themes from Scottish Gaelic language and culture. I wanted my laptop not only to look beautiful, but also to make Gaelic more visible in public. Art and design provide a small but enjoyable way to raise awareness about the continued existence and use of Gaelic in the 21st century.