Some of the folk who watch this channel have asked about Gaelic language learning, so today,
I'm going to tell you some stories about my experiences trying to learn Gaelic;
the advantages and disadvantages of different methods, and how you can have fun, meet people,
see beautiful scenery, learn quickly, cheaply, and start learning Gaelic today, even if you don't
live in Scotland. Now if that seems like a tall order, stick with me to the end, I'll show you some stuff.
I'm not a native, or a fluent Gaelic speaker, in fact I'm rubbish ach tha began gaidhlig agam agus
tha faclan gu leor agam airson began còmhradh. See, it was rubbish. Normally I make videos about the people, places and events
in Scottish history, and if that interests you, then click the subscribe button at the bottom,
right hand side of the screen, but in the meantime, let me tell you my story. I always end my videos
by saying Tha mi an dochas gum bith lath math leibh. Now some people might argue that I should say Tha
mi an dochas bum bith latha math agibh, somebody said Tha mi an dochas bum bith latha math dhuibh, but
I've had t-shirts, hoodies and mugs made, so I'm not gonna change it now. In fact if you fancy
a mug like this, or a t-shirt or whatever, you can get them and a translation in my shop
below this video, or in the white tab up there, or there will be a link in the description below.
When people ask why I started learning Gaelic, I normally explain how I was once ... I
was in the Bridge of Allan library, and I told the librarian that was going on a trip to the Hebrides,
and she pointed to a door, which I obviously obediently walked through expecting to find
books on the Hebrides. What I actually found was a Gaelic language class. Now in a situation like
that, a confident, self-assured person would have said, huh sorry, excuse me, I've made a
mistake, turn and left. What I did was enrolled in the Stirling Council Adult Education programme.
As I sat down, I noticed that one of the other class members was an ex-boss of mine ... nightmare!
Not only did I inadvertently have to learn Gaelic, now I had to be the best in the class. Anyhoo, the
classes were fun, and it was a good introduction to learning Gaelic. Tha mi fuar, tha mi fliuch, tha mi sgith. S e na Sassanaich a rinn e.
I'm cold, I'm wet, I'm tired, it was the English that did it. It's basically all the essentials you need
for learning any language. Now the advantages of these small, informal, weekly classes are: you
build up a relationship with a tutor, um until she dingys (ignores) you on Facebook obviously, uh it becomes part
of your social week, there's space for discussion questions and clarifications, and you probably get
some input into what you're interested in learning, depending on the flexibility of the tutor,
anyway, the point is that if there are small, relaxed, informal classes like this near you, how no (why not)
join? Incidentally, I'd be interested to know have you ever, even for a fleeting
moment thought about learning Gaelic, or do you have advice for somebody who does want
to learn? Tell me in the comments section below. Am I preaching to the converted or the disinterested?
The disadvantage of these classes, is that you're committed to be a certain place at a certain time
each week. For me it was a Thursday evening. Now that wasn't particularly good because
for a stand-up comic, they are work hours, so I only got to two and a half of the first 10 classes.
That made it kind of difficult to be top of the class right, so I was looking for a way to catch
up before the next 10 week course of classes, and had discovered week-long short courses
at Sabhal Mor Ostaig, the Gaelic collage on Skye, ahh, hoo. If you want to learn Gaelic in the Hebrides, meet people
from around the world, make a holiday of it, see beautiful scenery, you can, oh there's a bar, there's a bar right
Go there, do it, it's brilliant. It's on the southern end of Skye. It's about two miles from the ferry
port and Sabhal Mor Ostaig, it blew my mind. I loved it right. They run these week long, short courses
during the Easter and the summer holidays, and their courses, they've got various levels of courses
right. You can progress through the levels each time you go back and you move up a level and you
get to go to Skye and live on a student campus. It's just like ... but without the sex or the angst.
It was exactly like my student days, although to be fair at college I did have a lot of angst,
mainly about the lack of sex. What I'm saying is, that if you're worried about not getting any, it's
better to worry about in Gaelic, seriously; Sabhal Mor Ostaig is a genuine de-stressor. It's a fantastic
way to spend a week. You meet people, it's not hugely expensive I went on boat trips to
Knoydart, visits to Eilean Donan Castle. There's a canteen where you can practice your newfound
Gaelic over lunch, there's evening get-togethers where you can practice your Gaelic. On the Thursday
there's a ceilidh, Thursday night ceilidh and there's a pub. Are you hearing me? There's a pub,
and it's really international. I met folk from all over the world. Obviously there are Scottish people
as well, but I'm just saying it's not only for Scottish people. I think I went up for a week-long
holidays in the Skye eight times. I genuinely can't recommend it enough. Advantages, uh this is the most
sociable, fun way to learn Gaelic in a beautiful setting, and a kind of holiday environment.
For me the disadvantage is that the courses tend to fill up quickly, and certain courses
run certain weeks, so the course that you want might not necessarily fit into your schedule.
Obviously there's a bit travel as well to get there, but it's genuinely worth it. The other
problem is when a week finishes right. I remember crossing the ferry back to Mallaig, driving off,
and then I stopped about an hour down the road at Glenfinnan, you know the viaduct, Harry Potter and
there's the monument at Glenshiel where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised the standard. Anyway I went
into the wee coffee place, and as soon as I did, I was suddenly back in the English-speaking world.
Talk about coming down earth with a bang. I suddenly remembered I wasn't getting enough sex.
I tell you what, I wasn't half as worried as a bloke that served me coffee.
So what about when your week-long immersive course is finished? I'm going to leave a link
in the description to a couple of podcasts that you can get on BBC radio nan Gael. Now you can
get these internationally as well I believe, so you've got no excuse, no matter where you are.
Rory MacLean does a short podcast called Litir do luchd ionnagadh, Litir do luchd ionnagadh
It means 'letter to learners'. It's a wee five minute story every Sunday night. Now
if you haven't watched my video about the fall of Clan Macgregor and the battle of Glen Fruin,
then you should. I'll leave a link at the end. The first time I heard about this battle was on one of
Rory MacLean's podcasts. There's a translation, and an explanation of some grammar points,
but even without the grammar points right, just knowing what it says and listening and repetition
makes it sink in, eventually! If you've got a basic Gaelic, and you've got dead time in the day; when
you're driving to work, when you're out for a jog, when your man's going on about the football ...
I had a waterproof mp3 player, and when I went swimming, I just listened as a lapped the pool right, so
use the dead time through the week, gradually your understanding improves
and of course the next week you get a new wee story. There's a more basic version called Litir bheag,
which means 'little letter' right, so there's no excuse. Advantages: where you want, when you want,
and fit in to lift you from monotonous tasks. I'm struggling to think of disadvantages, um
although you probably need a little bit of basic Gaelic to start with Litir bheag,
but if you're in the UK, then you can always get that basic Gaelic from BBC Alba's TV programme
'Speaking our Language'. If you can't get it live at the time you're watching this, BBC iPlayer.
I also went to conversation groups, uh depending on where you live, there
might be a conversation group near you, where you can just pop in and sit down and chat, or
even just listen, eh conversation groups are informal, social, some of them are in pubs.
The disadvantage is you probably need to have a bit of Gaelic under your belt, uh you probably
also want to get on with other people in the group right, because it's social chit chat
and some people can be uh .. anyway, I was working as a stand-up comic, so I had more flexibility,
but my first job had been as a Physics Teacher, and I was still on the substitute teaching list,
which was great. You see there's an island in the Hebrides called Isla. It had, and still has stunning
scenery, three and a half thousand inhabitants, and nine, get that nine whisky distilleries.
That's a distillery for every 400 people. If you wanted to shake a stick at whisky you couldn't.
There's too much of it! Isla has Scotland's most miserable dogs. Every time they go
out for a walk they're jumping up and down waiting for their owners to throw a stick
but, hah, I mean sometimes the owners will pick up a stick and then they'll look down at the dog and go
I'm sorry Lucky, I can't even shake it. How am I gonna throw it? Now, international viewers might
not have heard the phrase 'more of something than you can shake a stick at', you might be
a wee bit confused, and you didn't quite understand that last stupid joke, don't
worry. Some of you have heard the phrase 'more stupid jokes than you can shake a stick at'.
Like me the first time you heard it you thought, that expression doesn't even make sense.
When was stick shake ability ever a measure of quantity? You would have understood joke
but you may be have fixated on the lack of logic in the phrase, and that blocked communication,
but of course there were others who didn't care that the phrase, more natural learners than
you can shake a stick it, was meaningless in itself, you just accepted it without analysis,
understood it and moved on, and learning Gaelic doesn't need academic analysis, just acceptance,
time, and repetition. Anyway, I joined the list of substitute teachers in Argyll and Bute,
because I wanted to be in an environment where there was more Gaelic than mainland Scotland,
and more whisky than you can shake a stick at. You get that? You're learning already. It's easy.
So there was me, a half Scottish, half African stand-up comic going to a Hebridean island to teach
maths in the local high school, in order to learn Gaelic, exotic, and I ended up sharing the house
with a Sikh from London, who was teaching English on a Hebridean island whilst writing a novel.
Now it turns out he was a complete arsehole, but the point is if there was ever a house that
deserved Arts Council funding, it was ours, but it doesn't end there, because the Gaelic teacher
in the school was an American from Maine, who had learned to speak Gaelic in Nova Scotia,
and he was now teaching kids on a Hebridean island to speak Gaelic. How messed up is that?
I went to some Gaelic classes on Isla. It was called Ulpan. I believe it's based on a methodology
that was used to reinvigorate Hebrew when the, right, Israel right. It involves a lot of group repetition
and rote learning. No questions, just repeat, and eventually is supposed to fall into place.
I'll be honest, I didn't like it. The advantage is that it's a uniform way to teach consistently
throughout the country with volunteer tutors who aren't necessarily language teachers. The downside
is that to deliver a consistent level of course it's quite rigid in structure. It wasn't for me, but
if it's your only option go for it right. The school library had lots of Gaelic language books for
teenagers, which was great, because the language is relatively simple. Some had cds that went with them,
so just like Litir bheag, and litir do luchd ionnsaghadh, I read books and then listened to them in the car.
There's actually, there's quite a lot, you get audio book versions, you get them online or in
the Gaelic Book Shop in Partick in Glasgow. Studies show that you learn a language just by hearing it,
even without classes, and it's got a hundred percent success rate. If that sounds unlikely,
think about it. That's how a hundred percent of the world learns its first language. Time,
repetition, and occasionally poop in your pants. In fact, I remember one Ulpan class ...
it doesn't matter, but remember there was a guy in Isla from Maine teaching the kids Gaelic right? Now I used
to meet him in the pub once a week for a chat, and he would correct my Gaelic, but I'm going to tell you
what, in my experience, was the best way to learn Gaelic. There should be a picture of a guy called
Finlay coming up the screen. He lives in Buckie. He's quite a character, more importantly, he offers
one-to-one, or small group, total immersion Gaelic classes. I went to his house each day for a week,
where we only spoke Gaelic, apart from lunchtime, where he lets you speak English, and gives you a
chocolate biscuit. I went several times and we went out and about, and we we did stuff, but always
in Gaelic, and my progression and improvement with Finlay was more than anything else
I ever did. If your sole objective is to progress as fast as possible, and you've got the money to do
it, then this is definitely the way to go, but there are downsides, the main one being, that compared to
Sabhal Mor Ostaig, including your accommodations, because you've got to go and live in Buckie, and it's not student
accommodation, it's more expensive, and there's not the same evening social life. At the time I'd been
working two jobs, but if I have the cash again, I would definitely go back to Buckie to spend time
with Finlay in a heartbeat. So that's how I went about learning Gaelic. I've got one more thing to
tell you. I promised you that you could start learning Gaelic today, in a fun way, no matter
where you are in the world, and you can. In a moment that video that I promised about the fall of Clan Macgregor
will be here on the screen, but remember that American Gaelic teacher that I met on Isla? He's
now back in America, but the white tab up there will take you to his YouTube channel, where you can
start learning Gaelic with Jason, right now. Tell him that I sent you, and to turn that guitar down.
There are links for all the things that I've mentioned in the description below. In the meantime, here's
the story of the Battle of Glen Fruin. Tha mi an dochas gum bith lath math leibh. Tiorridh an drasda.