My adventures learning Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig)

It was my interest in Irish music that lead me to Scottish Gaelic language and music. After developing a liking for Irish music, I discovered that there were groups who sang in Scottish Gaelic, such as Capercaillie and Runrig. I really liked the sound of the language and wanted to learn it, mainly to understand the songs.

In 1996 I finally got round to learning some Scottish Gaelic. I used Teach Yourself Gaelic and a number of other books but didn't get very far, mainly due to lack of motivation and dedication. I also spent a couple of weeks exploring the Hebridies hoping to use what little Gaelic I knew. Unfortunately I didn't meet many Gaelic speakers there.

My visits to Glencolmcille in Ireland, where I studied Irish in 2005 and 2006, inspired me to have another go at learning Scottish Gaelic. Since then I've worked my way through Colloquial Scottish Gaelic and Teach Yourself Gaelic, and am also using the Gaelic lessons on the BBC. I'm making much more progress this time and feel much more motivated. When I listen to Radio nan Gàidheal I can now get the gist of what they're talking about, though don't understand everything.

I've also started learning songs in Scottish Gaelic. These are songs I've listened many times so I already know the tunes. Learning them is 'simply' a matter a memorising the words, which is both fun and challenging.

I would like to spend some time studying Scottish Gaelic in Scotland, possibly at Sabhal Môr Ostaig, the Gaelic College on the Isle of Skye (Eilean Sgitheanach), sometime in the not too distant future. I hope that by that time I'll have a fairly good knowledge of the language.

Information about Scottish Gaelic

Scottish Gaelic language courses, dictionaries, etc.

Other languages I've studied:

Arabic, Cantonese, Czech, Esperanto, French, Hungarian, Gaelic (Irish), Gaelic (Manx), Gaelic (Scottish), German, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Taiwanese, Turkish, Welsh