'a strange backward looking minority'

Unread post by **Gràisg** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 11:09 am

Update: 11.00

Why does the Courier allow such racist statements against Gaelic speakers. You wouldn't allow that against any other minority or language in the UK?
annoyed Gaelic speaker | 16.11.09 - 8:46 am | #

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Great bit of news for Gaelic I reckon.
Bilingual education is the way forward.

Dave, it is money being spent on EDUCATION! Anyone that takes issue with this seems pretty 'backward looking' to me. Also,
I very much doubt Chinese is THE language we will be speaking in 20 years time. Clearly English is the universal language.
Louis | 13.11.09 - 11:53 pm | #

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The previous two comments are totally unacceptable - I am deeply offended to be referred to as "a strange and backward looking minority". Gaelic, as one of Scotland's official languages, has a use from Thurso all the way down to Argyll. Also, do you really think that children in Scotland will be at an advantage by learning Chinese? I have never seen any job advertisements for fluent Chinese speakers but I have seen hundreds for Gaelic speakers.
Alasdair | 13.11.09 - 4:45 pm | #

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Sickening racism there Dave, very worrying to hear people saying such things. Also, Chinese will never be the top business language in Scotland when we consider geographical proximity - the Dutch are actually one of our largest trade partners, yet I don't see any of the anti-Gaelic nimbys arguing for this?

Massive piece of news for you all, but tourism is one of our strongest industries. People coming here want our culture and are fascinated by the Gaelic language, they don't want to hear young pupils speaking dodgy Mandarin (Mandarin or Cantonese, by the way, which do you suggest? Or Wu perhaps? Indeed, how do we sellect which language is the most appropriate?)

Showmethemoney, who are not getting what they want and for what? Gaelic education is in very high demand because bilingualism improves cognative development - Gaelic pupils on average perform better in English and maths than their monolingual counterparts.

The Gaelic language has given Inverness the identity it has, why deny this? Bilingualism is very common in other countries and it has very positive results on education. We already have the number one world language, why not have our cultural language which will undoubtedly contribute towards improving our already excellent education levels?

This 'unfair funding' which the Gaelic language is recieving is a mere fragment of the lack of funding and attention it had recieved before the 1990s. It is not a nationalist movement, indeed it was initiated by the Conservative Party and has been supported by the Lib Dems, Labour and SNP and is now recieving approval from the European Union!

"Strange backward looking" - actually Dave, that sounds to me like outdated 19th century political doctrine which was used to justify cultural destruction and institutionalised racism.

The death of any culture on this planet is a disturbing sign of the increasingly selfish techno-consumer world.
Callum | 13.11.09 - 1:20 pm | #

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Re comments: why are so many Scots so aggressively hostile to a part of their own culture, which belongs not only to their joint history, but to the future? Other nations are desperate to have such a heritage, and doing far more to nurture what they have. I find it hard to understand why a nation once famed for its education and its openminded reasonableness can be so short-sighted, aggressive and ashamed of its own culture.

The other thing that bothers me about this knee-jerk anti-Gaelic attitude is the 'either/or' assumption. Why can we not learn Gaelic AND Chinese, if you think that's so important? Learning ANY foreign language makes learning the next one much easier. And most of the world is actually multi-libgual - it's only in poor insular, paraochial Britain that monolingualism is actually thought the norm, and something worth being proud of.

What happened to the Enlightenment??
Isobel R. | 13.11.09 - 12:24 pm | #

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Again the gaelic gets what it wants ,while others go without.
show me the money | 12.11.09 - 8:14 pm | #

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More money on a language that is only useful in the Highlands and Islands. If you want a better start in life forget the Gaelic Mafia and learn Chinese which is THE Language which we will all be speaking in 20 years time, whilst the Gaelic Language will only be spoken in a dark cold part of the Highlands by a strange backward looking minority.
dave | 12.11.09 - 5:22 pm | #

An do chuir thu do bheachd fhèin a-steach fhathast?
Did you put your own opinion in yet? - Greas ort! Seo far a bheil e:
http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news ... rooms.html

Unread post by **faoileag** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 11:19 am

Mair o' the same sort o' pysin aboot Scots:

http://news.stv.tv/opinion/137683-would ... rede-this/

He's entitled to his views, of course, and bits of them are fine (eg lamentably poor standard of English) , but it's the scathing vitriol I object to.

STV of course sits on the fence by disclaiming all responsibility for articles and comments.

Gordon · Unread post by **Gordon** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 3:10 pm

According to scientific study, if you are bilingual (Gaidhlig and English) it's far easier for you to pick up another language such as Chinese!

hen hao!

Neas Olc · Unread post by **Neas Olc** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 3:40 pm

ach faodaidh tu do beachdan a chur an cèill nas modhaile.

Fàilt ort dhan eadar-lìn. Cha dheanadh iad a leithid nam beadh iad air do bheulaibh.

Unread post by **Gràisg** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 10:04 am

tuilleadh bheachdan air nochdadh:

'Angus and Dave, you both really need to remove the tinfoil hats from your heads. Mafia na Gaidhlig? I doubt it somehow. What next, the modfather?
Callum | 18.11.09 - 6:13 pm | #

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I agree with Dave thier even as Gael and Islander, but whts happened Dave is that the Galic Mafia has hi jacked the language from the grassroots and are doing well out of Jobs for the boys and some girls i guess ,sucking money from lefty socialist Goverment agencies. meantime Gaelic in its real cultural fashion and everyday is dying on its feet here where it shoukld matter ,its becaome a cult thing to do thses days, but not for the right reasons i believe. Aw ra best!
angus ogg again | 18.11.09 - 2:58 pm | #

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Well what a hornets nest has been stirred up. The only people who really benefit from Gaelic Medium are those that teach it and in time there will be so many teachers they will outnumber the pupils. In Wales those who sent their children to Welsh language school were the middle class English sending their kids to small elitist schools where the numbers in the classes were very small, and could not speak Welsh to their own children. Gaelic is an interesting art form and will not prepare anyone for jobs outside in the wide world.It takes a huge amount of the education budget as well.
dave | 18.11.09 - 2:00 pm | #

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Personally, I know of two youngsters from the Highlands who have learnt Chinese to fluency, one from Easter Ross, one from the southern Hebrides. Both were educated through Gaelic-medium. With two languages from the start, it's so much easier to pick up a third, fourth and so on.

The irony is, exam results demonstrate time and time again that Gaelic-medium children generally have better English than those educated in English-only classes. Their linguistic and intercultural skills are considerably better. I suppose, if you really care about young Highlanders speaking a world language to the best of their ability, then let them go to Gaelic units!
Domhnall | Homepage | 17.11.09 - 5:27 pm | #

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aye even in Uist we are left out of it as the Gaelic mafia has sold us down the river to keep themselves and their cronies in jobs, here on the croft its dead on its feet,but they dont care - if they all are getting paid and sucking the liberal left wing social almost facist society that western europe has become . im glad im getting old ,nice machair down their ille !
angus ogg again | 16.11.09 - 10:58 pm | #

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It is so sickening to see such negative comments being made about Gaelic by people whose grandparents probably spoke Gaelic.
We had this in Wales a while back - the most viciously anti-Welsh-language people were those from families where the language was recently lost.
I'm also minded of the recent case in Nottingham where a postmaster wanted to insist his customers only spoke English in the shop - yet his first language was not English.
Maybe "familiarity breeds contempt" - you maybe don't realise you're losing something precious till it's gone.
But, just as Welsh is now more widely spoken in Wales than 20 years ago, so will Gaelic be in Scotland. More money for Gaelic education is a thoroughly good thing.
John Morton | 16.11.09 - 9:25 pm | #'

Unread post by **GunChleoc** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 9:45 pm

Gràisg wrote:What next, the modfather?
Callum | 18.11.09 - 6:13 pm | #

Seonaidh · Unread post by **Seonaidh** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 7:26 pm

Aidh a Ghunch! Bha còmhlan sa Chuimrigh - agus tha e fhathast beò - leis an ainm "Maffia Mr. Huws". Agus tha feadhainn a bhios a' toirt tarraing air an "Taffia". Ach chan eil mi air cluinntinn air "Eistedd-fod-father"!. Cò bhiodh am "Modfather" - Luigi MacMhario? Piero MacIlleGhiuseppe? O seadh, sin na Garlic Mafia, 's dòcha...

Unread post by **Gràisg** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 7:35 pm

Nach neonach sin tha An Comunn a' lorg 'Manaidsear Leasachaidh a' Mhoid'

Cait an deach am Modfather eile

Unread post by **GunChleoc** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 6:54 am

A' sireadh beagan sìth, 's dòcha, le Cogadh nan Soithnichean a' dol is a h-uile sian

Unread post by **Gràisg** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 4:08 pm

tuilleadh le Aonghais òg :

'Angus, why abandon Gaelic over that? If you're convinced that this is the case, don't let that get in the way.

I do wonder sometimes though why people feel the need to attack Gaelic, yet refuse to turn their attention to the UK's nuclear weapons system and the like. No doubt if we scrapped trident, we could probably have every Scot speaking Gaelic in 20 years.
Callum | 20.11.09 - 4:16 pm | # '

'nO! YOU WOULD NOT .BECAUSE THE WILL IS NOT THERE 1 ALSO OVER AND ABOVE WHAT I SAID TODAY GAELIC IS SWIMMING IN AN eNGLIFIED CULTURE ,SO THATS C--P FOR A START ,ITS NOT ITS CULTURE ANYMORE AND AS A RESULT IS USED AS A PLAYTHING OR JOBS FOR COLLEGE/uni BOYS [95 percent lefty wing whiners as usual WHO CAN COMFORTANBLY SAY 'CUDROMACH' AT LEAST 5 TIMES IN ANY GIVEN CONVERSATION, CATCH PHRASES LETS PLAY. NA TRAILLEAN IADSAN, THA MISE TOILICHTE GU BHEIL MI FAS SEAN ! AMEN
angus ogg again | 23.11.09 - 3:34 pm | # '

Unread post by **akerbeltz** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 5:15 pm

the modfather

Feumaidh mi seo a chleachdadh nas trice ann an còmhradh... ach có e?

Tha e cur gàire orm cuideachd mar a tha daoine a' gearan nach eil annainn ach mion chuid agus an latha a thig daoine ùra dhan chànan 's an latha a chuireas iad an cuid cloinne dhan sgoil, théid an càineadh-san air sgàth 's nach robh an cànan 'nan teaghlach o thùs.

Marbh leis is marbh as aonais - théid ar càineadh ge be dé nì sinn 's leigidh mi seachad beachdan nan gloic seo mar sin.

Neas Olc · Unread post by **Neas Olc** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 3:40 am

'nO! YOU WOULD NOT .BECAUSE THE WILL IS NOT THERE 1 ALSO OVER AND ABOVE WHAT I SAID TODAY GAELIC IS SWIMMING IN AN eNGLIFIED CULTURE ,SO THATS C--P FOR A START ,ITS NOT ITS CULTURE ANYMORE AND AS A RESULT IS USED AS A PLAYTHING OR JOBS FOR COLLEGE/uni BOYS [95 percent lefty wing whiners as usual WHO CAN COMFORTANBLY SAY 'CUDROMACH' AT LEAST 5 TIMES IN ANY GIVEN CONVERSATION, CATCH PHRASES LETS PLAY. NA TRAILLEAN IADSAN, THA MISE TOILICHTE GU BHEIL MI FAS SEAN ! AMEN

Wut....

Unread post by **GunChleoc** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 7:50 am

Tha an duine seo a' cur a-steach beachdan den leithid a h-uile àite. Ciamar a chanas mi axe to grind sa Ghàidhlig?

Seonaidh · Unread post by **Seonaidh** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 6:38 pm

Maybe if we all club together and buy him a whetstone and ship it out to him he'll stop.

Unread post by **Gràisg** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 5:12 pm

Right said Fred

'A language is a means of communicating information between individuals in a form understandable to each party .
In this age of super fast communications( apart from Inverness broadband of course )why are so many folks wanting to create barriers and make things more difficult.?
The GAELIC seems to have been hijacked by a few loonies.
All over UK . English is spoken in so many dialects , it is difficult to believe it is the same language.
We dont need a minority language complicating things.
fred | 27.11.09 - 6:08 am | #'

And please no other silly majority ones too?

'a strange backward looking minority'

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