Posted: 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
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 | #
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 | #
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 | #
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Again the gaelic gets what it wants ,while others go without.
show me the money | 12.11.09 - 8:14 pm | #
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
Cait an deach am Modfather eile 
tuilleadh le Aonghais òg :