Ghetto na Gàidhlig

Responding Creatively to The Gaelic Crisis

Like many Gaelic speakers, this week I was left reeling with the title of the new book by Conchúr Ó Giollagáin and aghast at the spin put on it by the mainstream print and online media. The news even travelled so far as CNN. When have they shown any interest whatsoever in our minoritised community? […]

Tadhail air Ghetto na Gàidhlig – Bella Caledonia

Gaelic and the Hebrides are Valuable – Let’s Strengthen Them

Le Bella Caledonia Editor

Charles (Teàrlach) Wilson argues that the Hebrides are not a remote archipelago with nice views and old-fashioned ways of life: they are a crucial and important part of Scottish society, identity, history. If we reconceive the problems of Gaelic as not a crisis of language but a crisis of how we see rural and Highland […]

Tadhail air Ghetto na Gàidhlig – Bella Caledonia

Smuaintean, fo Ghlasadh-Sluaigh

Le Bella Caledonia Editor

In this piece Fiona MacIsaac explores the impact that the lockdown has had on her mental health. Isolated in a way in which is multi-layered, from friends and events on the mainland, the sense of loneliness is only heightened. Time has lost its rigidity and seems to stretch into one infinite day. Current events […]

Tadhail air Ghetto na Gàidhlig – Bella Caledonia

A Crack Guide to Anti-Gaelic Trolls

Le Bella Caledonia Editor

1. The Deeply Unloved 100% FYOOMIN. This is your base level vanilla troll. Inhabits the Scotsman comments section. Externalises their inner pain by ranting about how Gaelic was never spoken in *insert Gaelic placename* 2. The Russian Bot Generated by the Motherland to shitpost about literally everything, including Gaelic. 60 tweets per minute, and […]

Tadhail air Ghetto na Gàidhlig – Bella Caledonia

Peat & Diesel a’ toirt buaidh mhòr air saoghal ceòl Gàidhealach

Le Bella Caledonia Editor

As BBC ALBA screen Peat & Diesel, That’s the Way We Do It, Emma Felber reports for Bella. It’s Friday night in Clerkenwell, central London, back in a time when we could go to gigs. To the south, the towers of the Barbican frown toothily down at the Guildhall; to the west, red 63 buses […]

Tadhail air Ghetto na Gàidhlig – Bella Caledonia

On Sacred Cows

Le Bella Caledonia Editor

There’s a gap between the reality of the mass of people appreciating the centrality of gaelic language and culture to Scotland – and small handful of mainstream media outlets cultivating hatred and grievance. First the good news. After the spectacular success of Gaelic Duolingo – covered here and here – and after the critical reflection […]

Tadhail air Ghetto na Gàidhlig – Bella Caledonia

On Gaelic, Language and Identity

Le Bella Caledonia Editor

Scotland is evolving as a country, as a cultural entity, as a place that knows itself. * The contradictory and dividing myths we’ve told ourselves (and been told) are falling apart. One of the enduring mythologies is that of the “divided self” – from the “double and divided” Scottish self in literature including Hogg’s The […]

Tadhail air Ghetto na Gàidhlig – Bella Caledonia

Education and the colonisation of the Gàidhlig mind … 2

Le Bella Caledonia Editor

Part two of Iain MacKinnon’s exploration of colonisation and education in the Scottish and global context – see part one here. In the nineteenth century fairly direct forms of oppressive violence and terror appear to have been used in efforts to frighten young Gaels into abandoning their language. That physical force and forms of psychological […]

Tadhail air Ghetto na Gàidhlig – Bella Caledonia

Education and the colonisation of the Gàidhlig mind

Le Bella Caledonia Editor

In 1755 the Scottish Enlightenment historian and future rector of Edinburgh University, Reverend William Robertson, delivered a sermon on the role of ‘the divine wisdom, in the government of the world’. Robertson was convinced that Christianity’s role in history was to redeem the vices and perfect the virtues of all human societies, and his sermon […]

Tadhail air Ghetto na Gàidhlig – Bella Caledonia

Scottish Gaelic’s Journey to Duolingo

Le Bella Caledonia Editor

Ciaran Iòsaph MacAonghais – a Primary Teacher from Fort William and co-creator of the Scottish Gaelic Duolingo course – takes us through Scottish Gaelic’s journey to Duolingo. [follow Ciaran at @thaseomath ] Scottish Gaelic is the latest language to feature on Duolingo – the world’s largest language learning platform. Over 50,000 people have signed up to […]

Tadhail air Ghetto na Gàidhlig – Bella Caledonia