Gaelic

[Paigntonian]

According to the last four census figures there's no-one in Scotland who only speaks Gaelic and 1.1 percent who speak both Gaelic and English.

[Jackdaw33]

No 'v' in Welsh either. The sound is represented by 'f'. English 'f' is represented by 'ff'.

[fiveleaves]

Wittgenstein's private language argument might be worth reading. Can one speak a language known only to yourself?

[fender62]

poppty ping

[andres]

What is the point in learning Gaelic when it is not widely spoken in the world.

[Mamyalynne]

Presumably to be able to converse with other Gaelic speakers or read Gaelic literature?

I'm sure people have more reasons for learning it as well as tradition and keeping their Heritage alive.

[Buenchico]

>>> What is the point in learning Gaelic when it is not widely spoken in the world.

Most Gaelic speakers have never consciously 'learned' Gaelic, Andres. They've simply 'absorbed' it because it's the language that their parents and other family members normally converse in, it's the language that they're taught in at school and it's the language that's used in their local shops, their libraries and their community centres. While they're all able to speak English as well, English is very much a 'second language' in their day-to-day lives.

You might just as well ask why people in Barcelona learn Catalan, even though it's not widely spoken throughout the world. While they can all speak Spanish, Catalan is very much their first language simply because it's the language that they're brought up with and the language that everyone in that beautiful city uses in everyday life.

[gness]

Andres. We enjoy speaking to others in our language and we really enjoy singing our songs in our language when we get together in pubs....and will again soon I hope. Why not?

[andres]

I wasn't being nasty but just wondering .

[gness]

I didn't think you were being nasty, Andres. I read your post as a statement rather than a question and gave you my reasons for enjoying our language.