Bella Caledonia – Ghetto na Gàidhlig

As Misneachd writes: “There will not be a second chance to preserve Gaelic as a spoken vernacular language in Scotland.” This is an Open Letter to Jenny Gilruth and Shona Robison which you are invited to draw on and submit your own letter to the ministers in opposition to the cuts to community development workers

Tha a’ bhuidheann-iomairt Misneachd air freagairt mhionaideach a sgrìobhadh air Bile nan Cànanan Albannach a tha ro Chomataidh Foghlam, Cloinne agus Dhaoine Òga Pàrlamaid na h-Alba an-dràsta. Tha a’ bhuidheann a’ fàilteachadh na bile san fharsaingeachd agus a’ creidsinn gur e ceum cudromach air adhart a th’ innte a thaobh stiùireadh nas làidire bhon riaghaltas

Aonghas Pàdraig Caimbeul/Angus Peter Campbell on traditions on different islands gave us different words and different meanings. A monolingual English speaker asked me the other day what the word ‘Uisge’ meant. He’s a keen hill-walker, and he said to me that he saw the name everywhere on the map, and wondered what it meant. I

A new edition of Scrabble in Gaelic is being released in time for Christmas. The project is the brainchild of Teàrlach Wilson, the founding director of the cafe and Gaelic cultural centre An Taigh Cèilidh in Stornoway on Lewis. The Gaelic version will contain only the 18 letters found in the Gaelic alphabet (there is

Gaelic Folklore for a Multi-Species Future 1 There are few today who doubt the challenge of climate change. As I write, wildfires are burning in Tenerife, Hawaii and in British Columbia. July 2023 has been confirmed as the hottest month in the global temperature record. Much of this destruction is blamed on the era of

At the recent conference on Gaelic education held at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig between the 15th and 17th of June (1), we heard many teachers, researchers, and experts explaining the state of the Gaelic Medium Education (GME) system and about the additional aspects of minority language teaching. Teacher after teacher reported that the system we have

Màrtainn Mac a’ Bhàillidh explores innovation and action to support gaelic housing in the highlands. Màrtainn will be appearing at the Ullapool Book Festival on Saturday 6 May, see the full programme HERE. Economic inequality, and commodification of housing stock, undoubtedly present a major structural challenge which affects not only Gaelic speaking, rural and island

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

The editor of Bella Caledonia contacted me at the end of last week about a vigorous debate around “Gaelic” in relation to the Gàidhealtachd, and with the Gàidhealtachd referring to the grounding in which the Gaelic language – and a great deal more – might be said to live, and move, and have its being.

If you’ve been spending any time in the Gaelic or Gaelic-adjacent parts of Twitter over the last few days, you’ve probably been made unpleasantly aware of a filmmaker in the United States who has been trying to raise money to make a Celtic-themed television series. If you haven’t been spending time in the Gaelic or