Scots Gaelic: an introduction to the basics

by George McLennan

The purpose of this book is to provide a brief introduction to the Gaelic language with a selective discussion of its main features. In contrast to native speakers, who absorb the language as children, adults who are learning Gaelic from scratch often derive much benefitfrom knowing why the language takes its shape.

Genres: Language, Nonfiction

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this although I appreciate its appeal might be somewhat er... niche.
I've been learning Scots Gaelic as a side-quest during the lockdown while continuing to improve my Portuguese and rake over the dying embers of my o' level French. I've got a few words and phrases from Duolingo but I had a lot of questions: Why do the spellings change? What the hell are all these little extra words for? How are "tha" and "chan eil" related? And so on. This book answers all those questions and explains the basic mechanics of the language. Even better, it shows the links between Gaelic and other European languages. I had always thought of the celtic languages as being *very* different from romance languages at a deep level (disregarding modern imports from English and slightly older overlays from Latin brought by Christian missionaries in the 6th century) but it turns out that the Indo-European origin of Gaelic still show as faint similarities between words in English or in the romance languages. It was a real eye-opener and *exactly* what I needed at this precise moment in my efforts to get to know this new language.
Just to be super-clear about what it is and isn't, this won't teach you how to speak Gaelic; although it does have some vocabulary, it's not really designed to do that. What it does do is provide a map of the territory so that the student feels like they can make sense of what they're learning. It's pretty slim but packed with information, and it brings in a lot of fairly deep linguistic background, but it's not highbrow or hard to read.

[Miles Gould · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short and interesting overview of Gaelic, relating features and vocabulary of Gaelic to those of other European languages. Gaelic seems a lot less strange when you see a word's cognates in French and Greek (eg *eaglais*, church, versus *eglise* and *ekklesia*), or when you learn that the broad/slender vowel distinction also applies in Italian.

My main interest in Gaelic is in not butchering the names of hills I climb, and I'd have liked more about pronouncing Gaelic words given their spelling - there's some of this, spread throughout the book, but the vowels in particular aren't well explained, and the lenited consonants (a page to which I frequently referred back) have their pronunciation given in terms of English equivalents, many of which are ambiguous. What does it mean to say that something is pronounced like English "gh"?

[Ancestral Gaidheal · Rating 5 out of 5]

If only every language had a book like this you could read before undertaking a course in said language.

This is a slim volume, but packed full of useful information, including a brief history of the development of the Gaelic language, pronunciation, why letters are pronounced a certain way, and why it appears this language using more letters than others. Accents are explained as are long and short vowels, the changes for past/present/future tense, prepositions, counting (the old fashioned way) and differences in dialect and a likely explanation as to why they might occur. There is also explanations for words imported from other languages and their spelling and pronunciation.

All of which information gives you a head start when trying to read what’s being spoken by your tutor, or sounded from your CD/computer. It all makes much more sense now and I don’t feel so lost wondering where the sound originates.

Although this book is only 80 pages long, its a great reference and I will keep it close by whilst I learn Gaelic until I have its contents memorized and can fumble my way through written text, confidently sounding out the words using McLennan’s explanations as a guide.

[Joseph L. Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really great little book on all the wonderful features of Scots Gaelic. For those intimidated by the language, this is the perfect book to assuage those fears and remind you of just how connected Gàidhlig is to English.

For those that tend to remember new vocab better when they understand the etymology of a word or phrase, this book is ideal. A great way to understand the very basics of the language, its grammar and its common vocab before you go further in your own learning.

(It's also great in hinting at where Gàidhlig is going in the years to come, thanks to the inevitable grammar simplification that comes with age. Thank goodness says this learner!)

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

I completely agree with the author’s comment that adults learning a language from scratch derive much benefit from knowing why the language takes shape as it does.

Gaelic is more of a challenge than French, Italian, German. I’m on my fifth attempt, but lack of teaching materials and teachers (especially as I live in Kent!) in the recent past was a big problem.

I belong to the last generation who studied Latin at (state) school routinely (no Latin, no university in Scotland then!) Not only did I enjoy it but it has helped me learn other languages by providing a framework.

I like to learn as I would tackle a jigsaw. Start with the edges and fill in the rest later!

The addition of Gaelic to Duolingo was a spur to this more successful go at Gaelic. It’s a language you need to hear as well as see, preferably at the same time, but I need explanation as well as repetition. I like to link new learning with old learning and understand patterns. (I have an unfashionable enthusiasm for etymology.)

This isn’t a book only accessible to those learned in linguistics.

I will be returning to it regularly in the future.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introduction to the elements of how the Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) language works in its most fundamental features. More grammatically technical (deductive) than your average colloquial Scottish Gaelic introductions which are based on learning the language inductively without gaining a depth of grammatical elements.

If you're like me and the inductive method isn't enough and you need more understanding of the deductive grammatical components (you want to see how the sausage gets made, as it were) then this short book is a good introduction.

Side Note: I plan to follow this book up with the "Progressive Gaelic: A complete academic course in Gaelic for beginners" series by Moray Watson.

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

My only problem/suggestion with this book - which was otherwise brilliant - is that it assumes you know every structure in the english language. I know how to form a sentence but it's so ingrained that I don't remember what each part of the sentence is called.

I wasn't expecting this book to teach us english as well but a little bubble of 'subject means this' etc, would have really helped as something to flick back to remind yourself.

[Michael Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book to keep near, if you're interested in Scots Gaelic like I am.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a "learning Gaelic" book, but is nevertheless an interesting and informative read for Gaelic learners. It gives an overview of the history, evolution, and regional variations of the language, as well as giving examples of English cognates for many words. It is written in a very accessible style, making it easy and enjoyable to read. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Scottish Gaelic, whether a learner of the language or not.