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IGNORE THE GAELIC NAYSAYERS!
I don't care how 'useful' a language is, or how politically charged it can be. The fact is, being multi-lingual is always useful. It is true that Gaelic may not be hugely numerically-relevant in modern Scotland, but it will undoubtedly be advantageous in future years; and regardless, it is still an Indo-European language, and can be a springboard into other languages ranging geographically from the Indian subcontinent to Northwestern Europe.
The confidence, the multicultural exposure, and the additional psychological benefits to be had from learning in another language are beyond imagining.
Please do your oldest child a favour and enrol him in the Gaelic school.
I'm not entirely sure that I want my kids mixing with the kids round here if I'm brutally honest. Think it would be way to easy for my boys to head off down the wrong path, plus we dont intend to spend a whole lot of years here.
Did you come across people who couldn't speak English then? I met a fair few who sounded fairly foreign in it, but were still fluent enough. Perhaps I should say adults - I have read several reports from people who only learned English at school.
Loads of kids at school had to learn English as their second langage as the parents didn't speek any. And if you went shopping it was safer to start a conversation in Welsh to avoid the blank expression of a shopkeeper who doesn't speek English. So I'd say 5-10%of the population didn't speek any English, and everyone spoke Welsh in conversation with the exception of (for want of a better word) ex-pats.
In that case, I'd consider that moving house and keeping your kids at the same school would be an advantage (assuming any further move would still be within Edinburgh). Remember to consider the hassle of getting them to/from school every day.
This is a good one, so I'll jump in.
Gaelic school, and maintain your heritage if it is your heritage, no braier.
I think it is a no brainer! what is it abotu the Gaelic speaking bit that is holding your wife back. If you had both schools English speaking and had a choice you would choose the better school? Why is it different that they speak Gaelic? I studied bilingualism and child language acquisition at university. It isn't a problem you and the wife not speaking Gaelic, s/he will go through a period of not speaking either language very well and there will be a period of time where their linguistic development will be behind but that is because the brain is struggling with the 2 languages, grammar building, etc however they'll hti about 7 and be fluent in 2 languages, way ahead of their peers.
being able to speak more than 1 language is hugely advantageous (not matter what the 2nd language is) and will make it easier to learn additional languages. That has all been proven in studies.
I wouldn't worry about kids being "ousted" as they go to an "odd school" kids will always find something to bully/pick on with other kids and if this is all they can find then you'll be fine.
I didn't go to a Welsh secondary school and forgot my Welsh I do wish my parents had further pushed it as kids. I ALWAYs get asked "Can you speak Welsh?", "Can you say xxx?" and I wish I could. I also always wanted to get into the media, editing on TV, camera work etc but it's a crazy business. If I spoke Welsh I could've easily got onto S4C always desperate for Welsh speakers!! See advantages.
No brainer .. Gaelic school.
Different oddities for different areas i'd say. Up bruntsfield way it's all a bit posh-mad-bizarre, dmains a bit like that village in hot fuzz, craigroyston a bit mad (all from my point of view of course, being a bit scummy myself).
SaxonRider - Member
IGNORE THE GAELIC NAYSAYERS!
Can't say I've seen many "Gaelic Naysayers" - there's a fair few who rightly (IMO) point out that it's not a particuarly useful language*, but most of us on the thread seem to agree that bilingual education is a Good Thing.
* Not useful: small country, small population, no use outside of said small country. Even French is more use!
If you want any actual verifiable facts on Gaelic use check the Registers of Scotland website, there are some stats from the 2001 census. From memory 1.2% of the population of Scotland are Gaelic speakers. There will be some more facts when the 2011 census reports, it is widely anticpated that figure will be significantly higher.
Like most aspects of history, especially when politics favor differing views over time, there is much contradictory opinion on the extent to which Gaelic was spoken in Scotland. V interesting stuff (to a neutral outsider - me)
The opinions and views on this thread have convinced her that it is a good idea to send him to the gaelic shcool.
Thank you people.
my grand daughter was at the bun sgoil in tollcross and my grandson is currently there at nursery if you want to chat to some parents from there let me know
oh and they get a bus to pick them up and take them home
For those interested in Canada, it is worth noting that there is a number of [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Gaelic ]Gaelic speakers in Nova Scotia[/url], especially on [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Breton_Island ]Cape Breton Island[/url], and that one of them is [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalie_MacMaster ]Natalie MacMaster[/url], on whom I had a crush many years ago. 😀
How are we pronouncing this particular "Gaelic" anyway?
Gay-lic (steady) or Gallick?
Good job one and all - rarely you get an almost unanimous agreement on here.
DD - it's like Gallick, but the people who speak it are called Gaels (gales).
Surely Gallic is a different word to Gaelic?
Gallic meaning essentially French, non?
[i] It is true that Gaelic may not be hugely numerically-relevant in modern Scotland, but it will undoubtedly be advantageous in future years[/i]
I've read some bollocks in my time on this forum, but this probably takes the biscuit!
@b r
I'm sure parents were saying the same thing in Wales a few years ago. Now try to get work with the government if you don't know Welsh.
[i] Now try to get work with the government if you don't know Welsh. [/i]
And they'd be next in the firing line.
These self-important people need to get a grip, stop playing politics and spend the money on giving our kids a GOOD education.
And the rest of the world is focused on teaching their kids English.
Ok, so that's the boy starting gaelic nursery from tomorrow. I should probably learn gaelic myself now - any suggestions on a starting place?
And the rest of the world is focused on teaching their kids English.
Yep, but ours already speak English.. soo.....?
SbZ - try Scotland 🙂 Sorry, I can't really help but if it's anything like the situation in Wales there'll be tons of material and classes and so on, some free some not.
Good job one and all - rarely you get an almost unanimous agreement on here.
This must be the calm before the storm.
Gaelic school, and maintain your heritage if it is your heritage, no braier.
Not sure how much Gaelic has ever been spoken in Edinburgh / Central Belt TBH.
GM schools seem to better funded so why not take advantage of it though.
Just make sure they stay up to speed with their reading and writing in English too.
My nephew went to a gealic primary school in invercldye and they got free after school childcare as an incentive to go.
This was about 5 years ago so not sure about if they still do it.
It might be one of things that is available but not advertised, so might be an idea to ask.
As a recently discovered rascist bastard who despises the scots/welsh with passion I would say go with the gaelic school. Know your enemy.
DD - it's like Gallick, but the people who speak it are called Gaels (gales).
****in' pronunciation of that language has been properly bolloxed up by people who know bugger all about it. I suppose it's because it very nearly died out before a bunch of patriotic heritage miners decided to resurrect it.
Not sure how much Gaelic has ever been spoken in Edinburgh / Central Belt TBH.
Its def more of a western isles thing these days. Its hilarious/tragic that the scottish government is spending millions changing the road signs in areas that have no gaelic heritage to ones with gaelic translations of names that never had any gaelic origin. Bloody politicians.
It doesn't matter how I say Gaelic, with my limited selection of antipodean vowels there are still some people around who think I am in charge of warding off vampires. Now that's a job title I could be getting on with.
Resurrecting an ancient thread here, but any update on your findings SBZ?
We're in exactly the same situation ourselves, and are applying to the Gaelic medium in order to get away from crap local school - how do you feel you've got on?
Dazzlingboy - he's getting on brilliantly. Very glad that we made the decision to send them there. There is a nice wee community feel to the whole thing and the staff and parents are all well motivated and friendly.
If it's Edinburgh you're in then come 2013 the gaelic side is moving to it's own stand alone unit at Bonnington primary.
Feel free to email me with any questions you may have.
May well do that - thanks. Going along tomorrow morning to check it out. Slightly nervous about the "parents (us) don't speak a word of Gaelic" side of things but I'm told that's not a problem - would you agree?
Feel free to email me with any questions you may have.
Does this include questions on wether or not there's an Afterlife?
dazzlingboy - we dont speak gaelic and it's not causing a problem. Very few of the parents do speak gaelic to be honest.
Grandaughter tandemwarrior is in the local Gaelic school and loves it. We're over on the West (Dunoon) where there is a bit more evidence of the language, ie most roadsigns are bilingual and the Royal National Mod is here again next year.
While mum & dad aren't doing any Gaelic, Mrs tandemwarriors is doing two night classes to support her. One is run by the same teacher from the primary school, the other by the local college. We can apply to get funding to pay for a course. There's even full immersion courses available at the Gaelic University on Skye.
Rob
Good, a happy ending.
One of the problems (?advantages?) that having Gallic (or Welsh) schools is that they tend to be significantly better funded than ones where English is the primary language. Hence they tend to attract the more concerned parents who make more effort for their children's education and therefore (unsurprisingly) the school does better.
This means that the nationalists then use this information to justify more Gallic (Welsh) schools. Perhaps if the invested the same amount of money, additional teachers for ALL schools, the differences would be smaller.
I am not saying that SBZ is wrong to make the choice, using the information in this thread I would have made the same choice. Learning any second language at a young age is brilliant gift that will help most people. I am not sure that in the world today, Gallic (or Welsh) would be the main choice. It ends up dividing people rather than opening up the world.
I am not sure that in the world today, Gallic (or Welsh) would be the main choice. It ends up dividing people rather than opening up the world.
On a local level learning the language allows you to fully join in your local community - if you live in an area with a high number of speakers, that is.
From what I gather you are always something of an outsider in parts of Wales if you don't speak the language. It won't open up the world, but it will open up Wales.
sadmadalan - Member
One of the problems (?advantages?) that having Gallic (or Welsh) schools is that they tend to be significantly better funded than ones where English is the primary language...
...It ends up dividing people rather than opening up the world.
And so they should be after all the effort that has been put into killing those languages over the last 400 years.
As for dividing the world, then we should all be speaking Cantonese/Mandarin as our primary language should we?
There was a mention of funding way up there somewhere^^^^^.
THey are talking about shifting teh Gealic part as it is so popular to its own site.
Supposedly Bonnington Primary is earmarked and work has begun. Easy for you and just a pedal along the cycle path.
Work has indeed started on renovating Bonnington Primary and turning it into a stand along Gaelic school. It was originally due to cost £1.8m or some similar value, but Edinburgh City Council let the listed building fall into a state of disrepair and the cost doubled.
Wont need to cycle along the cyclepath though as they have a bus which travels round the city picking the kids up and dropping them off. Good wee set up.
Only read the OP - how is this a dilemma? Language spoken world wide or a language spoken by druids?
Language spoken world wide [s]or[/s] [b]and[/b] a language spoken by [s]druids[/s] [b]some Scottish people[/b]?
FTFY
Oh FWIW - as a child, my wife only spoke Gaelic. She only started speaking English when she went to school.
Language spoken world wide or a language spoken by druids?
Pòg mo thòin