LearnGaelic.net, a new interactive website was launched today (Wednesday, 19th October 2011), providing a one-stop-shop for anyone interested in learning Gaelic.
The service was launched at an event held at the Royal National Mòd in Stornoway and is the result of a unique collaboration between Bòrd na Gàidhlig, MG ALBA, the BBC, the Board of Celtic Studies Scotland and Sabhal Mòr Ostaig. LearnGaelic.net has also received financial support from the Scottish Government.
The core aim of the website is to present enhanced Gaelic learning resources in a single online portal where, through time, learners of all ages and abilities can source the help they require when learning the language.
The website is split up into three broad areas of content for adult learners focusing on beginners, intermediate and advanced, with a further three sections for young learners at stages under five, primary and secondary school, with detailed guidance for parents, carers and teachers.
The website draws together newly commissioned content including a brand new online dictionary and thesaurus, a searchable Gaelic terminology database and guidance on Gaelic grammar, all of which are essential tools for learners and users of Gaelic. Additional language tools are also available such as spellcheckers and web browsers.
A range of existing resources that offer quality Gaelic learning materials have also been incorporated into the website including more than 400 video clips from the popular television series Speaking our Language. Information about the Gaelic language and culture is also available through links with new resources recently launched by the Open University.
Dr Alasdair Allan MSP, Minister for Learning and Skills (with responsibility for Gaelic & Scots) was in attendance to endorse the new website, and said: ‘The Scottish Government is committed to a vibrant and sustainable future for Gaelic in Scotland, and with recent research showing high levels of interest in where and how people can learn the language, initiatives like LearnGaelic.net must be welcomed. As a Gaelic learner myself, I warmly welcome these new resources.
‘The site should have something for everyone – beginners, youngsters and teachers – and I expect it to become an important resource in Gaelic education.’
A dedicated freephone helpline will also be made available from Friday 21 October which will allow users to gain expert advice, directed to appropriate resources pertinent to their individual needs, as well as being assessed on their level of fluency.
In addition, for those also keen to learn Gaelic on a face-to-face basis, full details are available on where people can find Gaelic classes and courses in their own areas.
Until we see the site, we won’t know the answer to this, but an important missing link seems to be in the speaking of the language.
Most of those keen to learn the language are eager to be able to speak it and – critically, to understand what they hear when Gaelic speakers use it.
How many of us have spent time digesting a phrase book on a plane on the way to somewhere whose language is utterly unfamiliar to us – and forgotten that we may well learn to ask the key questions – but we won’t have a clue what the answers mean?
And we are told there is no money to fill in the potholes…..
Like or Dislike:
0 
1
kintyre1, a nation must have more than infrastructure. It must also have a soul or the infrastructure becomes meaningless.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Perfectly good road signs have been scrapped at huge cost to the taxpayer and been replaced by gaelic/english signs so confusing they are sure to cause accidents .
Like or Dislike:
0 
1
Think yourself lucky you’re in Scotland, not Wales – where the two languages on road signs are not distinguished by colour, and are far mor difficult to read.
Like or Dislike:
0 
1
A perfectly good language was scrapped, also at huge cost to the taxpayer, to be replaced by English which most of the highland population didn’t speak. It seems fair enough to me to restore the original names.
I’d be interested to know of any actual reports of people crashing their cars because there was Gaelic on a road sign. Anyone so limited perhaps shouldn’t have a license.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
What was the cost to the taxpayer of ‘scrapping’ Gaelic? Typical spurious, historically inacurate, propagantist SNP spinning. How do parents feel about money being spent on Gaelic teacher while crucial educational resources are being sqeezed. Our situation is made all the worse now that we have that king of SNP spin and duplicity, Mr Michael Russell, as our MSP. Just watch! This is going to get much worse.
Like or Dislike:
0 
1
The real difficulty with Gaelic is that it never was a national language.
Various governments of various hues have poured millions of pounds in to trying to support Gaelic. But the decline seems inexorable. The reality is that Gaelic is such a minority language – relegated to the North West of an island on the North West extremity of Europe – that it is hard to see how in fact it can survive. Indeed whilst I am prepared to be corrected such is the extent of the decline that I don’t know of any mainland community where Galeic is the community language.
Like or Dislike:
0 
1
This website is a good first step for many,who,like myself,are interested in learning Gaelic,which,after all is to the worlds understanding,the language of Scotland.
Looking at Wales,they teach Welsh in most ,if not all secondary schools.The children may feel it is of no benefit,but at least they get the chance!
What’s the problem with trying to retain the language?Is it not a part of Scotlands heritage?Or do we really want to all sound like BBC English???
Like or Dislike:
1 
0