A Bit about Gaelic

I decided to learn Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) for two reasons. One being that I have always loved Celtic culture and therefore I have always been interested in the language as well. The second reason is heritage. This is the reason I picked Scottish Gaelic over Irish Gaelic (which is extremely similar yet often considered a separate language.) A lot of my family is from Scotland and I'm actually a member of my family's clan, Clan Crawford. But anyway, this post is meant to be a brief overview of the language. The next post will be a list of useful links to sites I use for my studies.

The last UK census showed that just over 58,000 people in the UK spoke Gaelic. This is only about 1.2% of the population, so needless to say Gaelic is not a widely spoken language. While there are several thousand others worldwide who have some level of command of the language, the numbers are still staggeringly small.

While some records indicate a slow but steady decline in Gaelic speakers, there are many revival efforts happening in Scotland and there are several Gaelic groups in other parts of the world.

An important organization in the world of Gaelic is Bòrd na Gàidhlig, which is a "public body" within the Scottish Government. It's purpose is to help handle all things Gaelic, from helping to implement Gaelic Language acts and its goals include increasing the numbers of Gaelic speakers and helping to spread awareness of Gaelic language and culture throughout the UK.

It is believed that Gaidhlig was brought to Scotland from Ireland sometime during the 4th century. Over time it developed apart from Irish and therefore we can see many differences between the two languages. Gaelic has been a major part of Scottish tradition but it has declined significantly in the face of English. For example, there were over 289,000 Gaelic speakers in Scotland in the 1750s and almost 300,000 around 1800. However, by the 1950s these numbers had dropped to below 100,000 and today the numbers continue to dwindle.


This isn't a reason to dismiss the language though! While it is not as practical as Spanish or French, for example, the language is still worth learning. It is fun, a way to explore history and culture, and a good linguistic exercise for your brain!