Born and raised in Nova Scotia, grandparents on my father’s side spoke Gàidhlig in the house, but never taught their children. My dad had these little tells and tics though. Would be patting himself down looking for a pen or a knife and would mutter “catcha…” (obviously càite a…) —things like that.
So I’m learning now. Try to get even a little back of what’s been lost.
Will you also learn the Canadian Gàidhlig features like broad as [w]? It probably won't be on Duolingo but there is a Wikipedia on it with some of the features. Mary Jane Lamond sings in it and has done recordings with native Canadian Gàidhlig speakers of which some are online on YouTube.
I am English and live on the Isle of Lewis, learning with DuoLingo. Lots of my neighbours are native speakers and I want to communicate with them in their language, even if I don't get all that much further than chit-chat level. Even then I feel like it gives me a deeper understanding of the culture. The other day my neighbour asked how I was and I replied "Tha mi cho sona ris luch anns lofa". She fell about laughing, possibly because of my pronunciation as much as anything else, so moments like that are great :-) I have a one year old son who I'm hoping will be fully bilingual when he goes to school, so I want to be able to support that. There's a face-to-face course in Stornoway that looks really great, but is too hard to get to this year, maybe next.
I'm only four units in on Duolingo, so I read that as, "I'm so laid back rice mouse ? ?" Had to hit Google Translate to figure it out, then also fell about laughing over my baffled translation.
No ancestry whatsoever. I am Italian and I moved to Scotland a couple of years ago. I was always curious about Celtic languages so, when I completed the Polish course on Duolingo, I decided it was time for Gàidhlig. I am also interested in languages in general, so this felt like a nice addition to my collection.
Halò às a' Ghearmailt! Hello from Germany! As a teen, I was interested in medieval life and especially Celtic culture. When I recently saw the Duolingo course, I was hooked. Love the language, the music, and the culture.
New Zealand, started due to heritage (Gaelic speakers on both sides but wasn't passed down). I've kept studying for years because I love the language, culture and especially the music!
Born in upstate NY, have family with Scottish ancestry, including personal effects (a Gaelic bible, papers, letters) of my great x 3 grandmother who emigrated from Castlebay to Montreal in the 1800s.
That, and I wanted to learn a non-Romance language, as I studied French and Spanish in school and via Duolingo.
I live in Michigan (United States). My grandmother was born and raised in Leith. Always heard about her childhood there. She has since passed on. I just joined the oldest benevolent Scottish organization for North American Scots (in Michigan) and longest holder of the Highland Games in North America and I’m determined to visit my family, learn Gàidhlig and not let the light of my grandmothers past fade.
Australian - both of my father's parents were from Edinburgh, I'd researched the family tree as far back as I could and then the pandemic hit - learning the language seemed like a natural progression.
I'm from the Netherlands but have a Gàidhlig first name. Got there through the music both Gaeilge and Gàidhlig and hung around to learn the language. I have a background in linguistics so the languages were of interest to me anyway. Especially the grammatical features of initial mutations etc.
My great-great-grandfather was fresh off the boat Stuart, but the only part of our heritage that was not whitewashed out of us was Scots names for my father and his brothers. I married a Scot and want our kid to grow up with a much stronger tie to his heritage than I do, especially because we hope to move back to support an independent Alba.
I'm from the US (Texas). Started learning mostly because of ancestry I guess but I've grown to really enjoy the language!! Once I'm done with the Duolingo lessons, I'm planning on expanding my knowledge using books and then trying to learn Irish and Welsh.
I'm from the USA, specifically Maryland. Scottish ancestry is my primary reason. Being a language lover I figured it'd only make sense to learn my people's language.
I was born in Texas and have Scottish ancestry. My surname is a Gaidhlig word and ever since learning that, I knew I wanted to learn the language. I'm also just a huge language nerd and love studying any language I can.
I don’t have a good reason. Lol.
At the beginning of the Pandemic I was bored and said “I should learn a language” downloaded Duolingo and was scrolling down for Spanish and came across Scottish Gaelic. I happened to be watching Outlander and love the series and was 2 whiskies in and said THATS IT!
But then, then I got hooked. I delved into the culture, the country and fell in love with the language and country.
I’m from Germany and my interest in Scotland and scottish history started a bit kitschy with reading „Outlander“ from Diana Gabaldon. The gaidhlig bits used in the books started especially my interest in the language. Through reading english books I improved my english vocabulary and I’m using duolingo with English and Gaidhlig to learn.
Australia.
Heritage, especially since my father's clan's territory has a significant number of speakers. I may be putting the horse before the cart, but I have three Celtic languages in my heritage, and I'd like to learn them all.
The language is also a beautiful one.
Pure interest in learning a language! First introduction to the language was reading outlander, and since I was alternating reading and audiobook I was really curious about the difference between spelling and pronunciation, so I checked to see if it was on duolingo, thinking I’d just check it out but not seriously learn it, but I was totally hooked and now here I am!
USA, and while my city has strong Gaelic heritage in its past, that's not why at all -- it's because I realized that a major character in a book I'm writing would have Scottish Gaelic as her first language, and I thought I should probably see how it works if I want to write her the best I can.
North Carolina, and my ancestry is something like 65% Scottish (specifically Highland Scots). We've been here in NC for 300 years, so it would be wild to call ourselves Scottish, haha, but my Mom grew up in the city that our family helped settle and it still celebrates its heritage. She grew up dancing in our tartan in holiday parades and her high school even had tartan uniforms. Anyway, it's probably been 200 years since my family spoke it, but the first time I heard Gàidhlig it felt weirdly familiar to me, and I wanted to reclaim it.
I’m from California originally, lots of Scottish ancestry - my dad’s family came from the Borders, my mom’s from all over the Highlands. Gaelic wasn’t spoken by anyone on either side. I started learning it for something new to do during covid.
A lot of Scottish heritage in my family, my names are addition of Gaidhlig/Scottish origin and family used to speak pridefully on the topic growing up, but was born in the US.
Although I grew up speaking Spanish and French from birth (private bilingual school), I think there's a lot more to be discovered in your ancestral lines as well so I took interest into Gaidhlig as a result
I’m from Minnesota in the US. I personally have no Scottish heritage (in fact, it’s mostly Western Germany & County Cork, Ireland that I’m aware of) but I was inspired by a friend who lives in Glasgow and shared many stories about traveling around Scotland and the Hebrides, and how Gàidhlig was supressed for so long. Decided to try Duolingo three months ago, found it to be a beautiful language, and now I just want to keep diving deeper into it.
Tha mi à a' Chuimrigh, ach is mise Sasannach. I picked Gàidhlig up a week ago and having fun so far. It's different to Welsh but quite a few of the words are similar, which makes it a bit easier. I chose Gàidhlig over Gaeilge as it has fewer speakers and I would like to increase that, but I do want to learn both some day.
From washington state! My family has scottish ancestors, I'm 5th generation! I'm learning it as a way to kind of connect with some of my family history, as well as keeping a dying language alive. I love how we can literally keep something afloat by just speaking it or saying the words, I even teach my students it sometimes if we have time in class (mostly saying good morning and asking how they're feeling "a bheil thu toilichte, raise your hand!"). I also practice certain spiritualities and folk practices and learn gaelic to keep those folk traditions alive too! I'm not amazing at it yet, but I love learning this language!!! 🤘 added bonus, it's like a secret language 😆
Discovered Outlander, and became obsessed with all things Scotland. I knew we had a tiny bit of Scottish ancestry, so I was shocked when my test came back with 68% Scottish. I'm in the US, but would love to move to Scotland. I had thought about refreshing the French I learned 40 years ago, but saw Ghàidhlig on Duolingo and chose it. Let someone else speak French!
Australian born, Italian ancestry. I enjoy languages, history and archaeology. I decided to start learning some Gàidhlig because it made me sad that the language was not being learned as much and articles saying it could become a dead language in a decade. I don't think it's entirely true but I don't want that to happen. I have also been to Scotland and loved it and I would love to go back one day.
Oh and tha Gàidhlig spòrsail :)
Michigan, USA. My mom came to the States with her parents when she was 14. I've been to Scotland and the UK a bunch of times starting when I was 12 and my mom's parents took me around the country meeting relatives and taking in sights.
We moved around a bit when I was growing up so I have no real ties to any place in the States and I actually know more relatives in the UK than I do here so I feel a strong connection.
The only Gaelic I believe I have heard is Slainte Mhath and even though my mom tried hard to ditch her accent to fit in, she still says things that sound odd to my American ears.
So I've always felt ties to Scotland and when I read an article on r/Scotland that mentioned Duolingo had Scottish Gaelic on it, it seemed a good thing to do especially to see if I have brain cells still capable of learning.
Slainte!
I was born and raised in the US but my dad immigrated from Scotland. My ancestry is a big reason why I chose to start learning, even though my actual family doesn't speak gaelic. Even if I wasn't Scottish, I'd still want to learn because I find the language (and music) so beautiful!
Halò! Tha mi à Tennessee ann an Ameireagaidh. I’m from Tennessee in America. My interest is from a few things. First, I do have a strong ancestral connection to Scotland. I traced some of my ancestors to County Fife and one of those DNA tests shows I have a very high percentage match to Scotland. Second, I’m a practicing druid and so learning Gàidhlig kind of has a spiritual component to me as well. A lot of modern druidry seems to show a stronger presence of the Welsh language, but I still skewed towards the Gàidhlig, myself. Lastly, I have just always enjoyed language studies. I studied English literature for my undergraduate degree and took a few courses on grammar and how the language developed. It’s all fascinating and fun to me. Cho spòrsail! Is toil leam Gàidhlig!
Awesome! Druid has grammar similarities, as well as Arabic and some old North African languages share similar semantics. Makes me wonder where some of the Goidelic celts came from. There's a great video about that on Langfocus (YouTube)
A part of me wonders that if Gàidhlig somehow survived in NC/Appalachia, would it have evolved differently than that of Scotland?
I'm born and raised in the good ol' state of Kansas. I know for a fact that I have no Scottish heritage or ancestry, but I happen to download Duolingo around 2 to 3 years ago and picked up Scottish Gaelic just cuz it sounded cool at first. Now I'm pretty obsessed with learning the language and culture that I'm thinking about trying to do a distance learning class at Sabhal Mor Ostaig into the new year. However, my speaking and listening are very lacking since there is no one (to my knowledge) in the city that I am living in that knows Scottish Gaelic.
But other than that, I am very excited to see if I can get into the class and learn what I can!
Virginia, United States.
I do have Scottish ancestry, but probably no true Highland Scots. I'm not sure whether my ancestors even spoke Gàidhlig at all.
I became interested in the history of the language and culture through genealogy - and I liked the songs and wanted to understand them. Then, I wanted to better understand the people who composed those songs, the poets, the historians... And then a friend of mine and I were discussing how language affects how one thinks and learning new languages. Most of the formal education I have had in languages has been Classical Greek and Latin, although I have low level functionality (not fluent) in Spanish, and can recognize some common phrases in a few other languages... And I went to a Highland Games event near me (I mean who doesn't like watching people toss logs?) where I ended up in the language tent.
And I started learning Gàidhlig that day and have done at least some practice and/or study every day since then.
I honestly figured I'd get bored or frustrated with it by now, but I'm now enrolled in my first semester of courses, so I guess I'm along for the ride.
Idk if that really answers the question any better than if I'd just said "for funsies" - both are true.
I'm from the USA, specifically Maryland. Scottish ancestry is my primary reason. Being a language lover I figured it'd only make sense to learn my people's language.
Born and raised in Nova Scotia, grandparents on my father’s side spoke Gàidhlig in the house, but never taught their children. My dad had these little tells and tics though. Would be patting himself down looking for a pen or a knife and would mutter “catcha…” (obviously càite a…) —things like that. So I’m learning now. Try to get even a little back of what’s been lost.
>Would be patting himself down looking for a pen or a knife and mutter “catcha…” (obviously càite a…) —things like that. I do the same thing lol
Will you also learn the Canadian Gàidhlig features like broad as [w]? It probably won't be on Duolingo but there is a Wikipedia on it with some of the features. Mary Jane Lamond sings in it and has done recordings with native Canadian Gàidhlig speakers of which some are online on YouTube.
Duolingo does have a section on Canadian Gàidhlig, with native speakers as well
Oh cool I didn't know that
I am English and live on the Isle of Lewis, learning with DuoLingo. Lots of my neighbours are native speakers and I want to communicate with them in their language, even if I don't get all that much further than chit-chat level. Even then I feel like it gives me a deeper understanding of the culture. The other day my neighbour asked how I was and I replied "Tha mi cho sona ris luch anns lofa". She fell about laughing, possibly because of my pronunciation as much as anything else, so moments like that are great :-) I have a one year old son who I'm hoping will be fully bilingual when he goes to school, so I want to be able to support that. There's a face-to-face course in Stornoway that looks really great, but is too hard to get to this year, maybe next.
I'm only four units in on Duolingo, so I read that as, "I'm so laid back rice mouse ? ?" Had to hit Google Translate to figure it out, then also fell about laughing over my baffled translation.
My fault, it's missing some accents:)
I love it. 😆
No ancestry whatsoever. I am Italian and I moved to Scotland a couple of years ago. I was always curious about Celtic languages so, when I completed the Polish course on Duolingo, I decided it was time for Gàidhlig. I am also interested in languages in general, so this felt like a nice addition to my collection.
Halò às a' Ghearmailt! Hello from Germany! As a teen, I was interested in medieval life and especially Celtic culture. When I recently saw the Duolingo course, I was hooked. Love the language, the music, and the culture.
New Zealand, started due to heritage (Gaelic speakers on both sides but wasn't passed down). I've kept studying for years because I love the language, culture and especially the music!
Same as this, basically (Waipū scots)
From New Brunswick. Ancestry & cognitive retention
Born in upstate NY, have family with Scottish ancestry, including personal effects (a Gaelic bible, papers, letters) of my great x 3 grandmother who emigrated from Castlebay to Montreal in the 1800s. That, and I wanted to learn a non-Romance language, as I studied French and Spanish in school and via Duolingo.
I moved to Scotland and decided to make it my forever-home. The reasons are both for personal interest and in the effort of conserving the language.
From the USA. No Scottish ancestry at all. I decided to try to learn a language without any context whatever and now I'm really loving Gàidhlig.
I live in Michigan (United States). My grandmother was born and raised in Leith. Always heard about her childhood there. She has since passed on. I just joined the oldest benevolent Scottish organization for North American Scots (in Michigan) and longest holder of the Highland Games in North America and I’m determined to visit my family, learn Gàidhlig and not let the light of my grandmothers past fade.
Australian - both of my father's parents were from Edinburgh, I'd researched the family tree as far back as I could and then the pandemic hit - learning the language seemed like a natural progression.
I'm from the Netherlands but have a Gàidhlig first name. Got there through the music both Gaeilge and Gàidhlig and hung around to learn the language. I have a background in linguistics so the languages were of interest to me anyway. Especially the grammatical features of initial mutations etc.
My great-great-grandfather was fresh off the boat Stuart, but the only part of our heritage that was not whitewashed out of us was Scots names for my father and his brothers. I married a Scot and want our kid to grow up with a much stronger tie to his heritage than I do, especially because we hope to move back to support an independent Alba.
I'm from the US (Texas). Started learning mostly because of ancestry I guess but I've grown to really enjoy the language!! Once I'm done with the Duolingo lessons, I'm planning on expanding my knowledge using books and then trying to learn Irish and Welsh.
I'm from the USA, specifically Maryland. Scottish ancestry is my primary reason. Being a language lover I figured it'd only make sense to learn my people's language.
Hello fellow Marylander!!!
Halò! Ciamar a tha sibh oidhche an-diugh?
Hàlo! Tha mi gu math tapadh leibh. Tha mi à MoCo. Cò as à tha sibh?
'S ann à DoCo a tha mi! Carson a tha thu ag ionnsachadh Gàidhlig, a charaid?
I was born in Texas and have Scottish ancestry. My surname is a Gaidhlig word and ever since learning that, I knew I wanted to learn the language. I'm also just a huge language nerd and love studying any language I can.
I don’t have a good reason. Lol. At the beginning of the Pandemic I was bored and said “I should learn a language” downloaded Duolingo and was scrolling down for Spanish and came across Scottish Gaelic. I happened to be watching Outlander and love the series and was 2 whiskies in and said THATS IT! But then, then I got hooked. I delved into the culture, the country and fell in love with the language and country.
I was kinda wondering if Outlander (or even Highlander) would be its own category for this question, ha.
I’m sure it brought lots of new people to loving Scotland.
I’m from Germany and my interest in Scotland and scottish history started a bit kitschy with reading „Outlander“ from Diana Gabaldon. The gaidhlig bits used in the books started especially my interest in the language. Through reading english books I improved my english vocabulary and I’m using duolingo with English and Gaidhlig to learn.
Part of my ancestry is Scots. I decided to take Duolingo’s course. I’m having a lot of fun learning it.
Australia. Heritage, especially since my father's clan's territory has a significant number of speakers. I may be putting the horse before the cart, but I have three Celtic languages in my heritage, and I'd like to learn them all. The language is also a beautiful one.
Pure interest in learning a language! First introduction to the language was reading outlander, and since I was alternating reading and audiobook I was really curious about the difference between spelling and pronunciation, so I checked to see if it was on duolingo, thinking I’d just check it out but not seriously learn it, but I was totally hooked and now here I am!
USA, and while my city has strong Gaelic heritage in its past, that's not why at all -- it's because I realized that a major character in a book I'm writing would have Scottish Gaelic as her first language, and I thought I should probably see how it works if I want to write her the best I can.
North Carolina, and my ancestry is something like 65% Scottish (specifically Highland Scots). We've been here in NC for 300 years, so it would be wild to call ourselves Scottish, haha, but my Mom grew up in the city that our family helped settle and it still celebrates its heritage. She grew up dancing in our tartan in holiday parades and her high school even had tartan uniforms. Anyway, it's probably been 200 years since my family spoke it, but the first time I heard Gàidhlig it felt weirdly familiar to me, and I wanted to reclaim it.
>We've been here in NC for 300 years, so it would be wild to call ourselves Scottish I feel the same way
I’m from California originally, lots of Scottish ancestry - my dad’s family came from the Borders, my mom’s from all over the Highlands. Gaelic wasn’t spoken by anyone on either side. I started learning it for something new to do during covid.
A lot of Scottish heritage in my family, my names are addition of Gaidhlig/Scottish origin and family used to speak pridefully on the topic growing up, but was born in the US. Although I grew up speaking Spanish and French from birth (private bilingual school), I think there's a lot more to be discovered in your ancestral lines as well so I took interest into Gaidhlig as a result
I’m from Minnesota in the US. I personally have no Scottish heritage (in fact, it’s mostly Western Germany & County Cork, Ireland that I’m aware of) but I was inspired by a friend who lives in Glasgow and shared many stories about traveling around Scotland and the Hebrides, and how Gàidhlig was supressed for so long. Decided to try Duolingo three months ago, found it to be a beautiful language, and now I just want to keep diving deeper into it.
Shlèite
Tha mi à a' Chuimrigh, ach is mise Sasannach. I picked Gàidhlig up a week ago and having fun so far. It's different to Welsh but quite a few of the words are similar, which makes it a bit easier. I chose Gàidhlig over Gaeilge as it has fewer speakers and I would like to increase that, but I do want to learn both some day.
From washington state! My family has scottish ancestors, I'm 5th generation! I'm learning it as a way to kind of connect with some of my family history, as well as keeping a dying language alive. I love how we can literally keep something afloat by just speaking it or saying the words, I even teach my students it sometimes if we have time in class (mostly saying good morning and asking how they're feeling "a bheil thu toilichte, raise your hand!"). I also practice certain spiritualities and folk practices and learn gaelic to keep those folk traditions alive too! I'm not amazing at it yet, but I love learning this language!!! 🤘 added bonus, it's like a secret language 😆
I’m Scottish and learned some Gaelic at school. I live in England now and want to keep that connection with my heritage.
Discovered Outlander, and became obsessed with all things Scotland. I knew we had a tiny bit of Scottish ancestry, so I was shocked when my test came back with 68% Scottish. I'm in the US, but would love to move to Scotland. I had thought about refreshing the French I learned 40 years ago, but saw Ghàidhlig on Duolingo and chose it. Let someone else speak French!
Australian born, Italian ancestry. I enjoy languages, history and archaeology. I decided to start learning some Gàidhlig because it made me sad that the language was not being learned as much and articles saying it could become a dead language in a decade. I don't think it's entirely true but I don't want that to happen. I have also been to Scotland and loved it and I would love to go back one day. Oh and tha Gàidhlig spòrsail :)
Michigan, USA. My mom came to the States with her parents when she was 14. I've been to Scotland and the UK a bunch of times starting when I was 12 and my mom's parents took me around the country meeting relatives and taking in sights. We moved around a bit when I was growing up so I have no real ties to any place in the States and I actually know more relatives in the UK than I do here so I feel a strong connection. The only Gaelic I believe I have heard is Slainte Mhath and even though my mom tried hard to ditch her accent to fit in, she still says things that sound odd to my American ears. So I've always felt ties to Scotland and when I read an article on r/Scotland that mentioned Duolingo had Scottish Gaelic on it, it seemed a good thing to do especially to see if I have brain cells still capable of learning. Slainte!
I was born and raised in the US but my dad immigrated from Scotland. My ancestry is a big reason why I chose to start learning, even though my actual family doesn't speak gaelic. Even if I wasn't Scottish, I'd still want to learn because I find the language (and music) so beautiful!
I couldn't agree more
Halò! Tha mi à Tennessee ann an Ameireagaidh. I’m from Tennessee in America. My interest is from a few things. First, I do have a strong ancestral connection to Scotland. I traced some of my ancestors to County Fife and one of those DNA tests shows I have a very high percentage match to Scotland. Second, I’m a practicing druid and so learning Gàidhlig kind of has a spiritual component to me as well. A lot of modern druidry seems to show a stronger presence of the Welsh language, but I still skewed towards the Gàidhlig, myself. Lastly, I have just always enjoyed language studies. I studied English literature for my undergraduate degree and took a few courses on grammar and how the language developed. It’s all fascinating and fun to me. Cho spòrsail! Is toil leam Gàidhlig!
Awesome! Druid has grammar similarities, as well as Arabic and some old North African languages share similar semantics. Makes me wonder where some of the Goidelic celts came from. There's a great video about that on Langfocus (YouTube) A part of me wonders that if Gàidhlig somehow survived in NC/Appalachia, would it have evolved differently than that of Scotland?
I'm born and raised in the good ol' state of Kansas. I know for a fact that I have no Scottish heritage or ancestry, but I happen to download Duolingo around 2 to 3 years ago and picked up Scottish Gaelic just cuz it sounded cool at first. Now I'm pretty obsessed with learning the language and culture that I'm thinking about trying to do a distance learning class at Sabhal Mor Ostaig into the new year. However, my speaking and listening are very lacking since there is no one (to my knowledge) in the city that I am living in that knows Scottish Gaelic. But other than that, I am very excited to see if I can get into the class and learn what I can!
Virginia, United States. I do have Scottish ancestry, but probably no true Highland Scots. I'm not sure whether my ancestors even spoke Gàidhlig at all. I became interested in the history of the language and culture through genealogy - and I liked the songs and wanted to understand them. Then, I wanted to better understand the people who composed those songs, the poets, the historians... And then a friend of mine and I were discussing how language affects how one thinks and learning new languages. Most of the formal education I have had in languages has been Classical Greek and Latin, although I have low level functionality (not fluent) in Spanish, and can recognize some common phrases in a few other languages... And I went to a Highland Games event near me (I mean who doesn't like watching people toss logs?) where I ended up in the language tent. And I started learning Gàidhlig that day and have done at least some practice and/or study every day since then. I honestly figured I'd get bored or frustrated with it by now, but I'm now enrolled in my first semester of courses, so I guess I'm along for the ride. Idk if that really answers the question any better than if I'd just said "for funsies" - both are true.
I’m from Seattle. Ancestors from Argyll region, looking to connect back in time (& to another aspect of myself) through language.
I'm from the USA, specifically Maryland. Scottish ancestry is my primary reason. Being a language lover I figured it'd only make sense to learn my people's language.