There's a song. A gaelic song.
But furst, a wee guide tae the gaelic… Moonwatcher's Survival Guide tae Gaelic.
Noo let’s bae quite clear. Iss iznae intended iz a means tae speakin, readin or writin fluent Gaelic, iz ye'll soon fine oot. Tae dae aht, ye hiv tae hiv bin boarn unner a clump a heather, in eh moors a Sooth Uist, tae generations a shepherds who’ve never bin aff the islands ither thin tae attend the annual Mod!
So this is just what the title suggests – A Survival Guide. Based on my own experience of having lived and worked in the Highlands for almost 15 years, with frequent forrays to Lewis and Harris, Skye, Benbecula and South Uist (never been to Barra – yet!). When I first moved up here I attempted to learn the language, getting as far as the various pronunciations of the vowel ‘a’ before calling it a day at that! Gaelic is an old, venerable language and, in taking this light hearted look at it, I want to first of all state categorically that I have every respect for the people who speak it and live and work in the most inhospitable parts of the United Kingdom – ‘at the edge of the world’. Following Culloden, gaelic was banned, and every effort was made to wipe it out, along with kilts, crofters, bagpipes an tattie scones. Nowadays, great effort is on-going to research, preserve and teach the language, an ah'm gled tae say the tattie scones urr stull gaun stroang iz well
I especially want to mention one Tommy MacDonald from Uist who, as well as being a principle gaelic historian and campaigner for the language, introduced me to it’s finer points, one memorable evening in a Brighton hotel bar, overlooking the Pier, some years ago. He also introduced me on that occasion to the malt whisky ‘Bunnahabhain' and taught me how to pronounce it properly in the gaelic (Boon-a-havn, meaning Mouth of the River). Cheers Tommy.Right, here we go. First you have to get your Scottish Gaelic and your Irish Gaelic sorted out. Both are very similar, but the Irish pronounce it ‘Gay-lik’ while the Scots pronouce it ‘Gah-lik’ as in garlic. People will correct you if you get it wrong.
Next you have to consider spelling. You have to accept that much of written Gaelic looks nothing like it sounds, for instance; If you were travelling down the centre of Uist looking for a place called Skipport you could be forgiven if you missed your destination by passing, without a second glance, a road end signpost displaying something like ‘Sghiphort’. I know I did the first time. And that’s an easy one. If you heard someone tell you to drive out to ‘Amen-soo-y’ in Harris, the last single track road leading off to apparent nowhere you’d consider risking your car suspension on would be signposted ‘Amhuinnsuidhe’ but that would be your destination! It’s worth bearing the following in mind when dealing with The Gaelic. For example, the letters ‘MH’ can be pronounced ‘Emm’ with silent H, or ‘Vee’ as in the letter V, or MH can also be completely silent and not pronounced at all – I think! The lesson really is not to trust what the letters in gaelic words tell you, the words probably sound something completely different.
If you’re driving in the mainland highlands of Scotland you’ll probably be disappointed at the absence of Gaelic being spoken. Not a lot of people actually speak the language fluently on the mainland. Some speak it but cant read it and vice versa. A lot of money is being spent in teaching it in schools and community colleges in an attempt to both revive it and avoid it’s loss as generations pass on, taking it with them. Many road signs in the northwest mainland have dual english/gaelic placenames displayed. Many shops, banks etc have their names in gaelic. This is interesting, especially to tourists keen to embrace the highland culture.
It’s a different story in the Western Isles (The Outer Hebrides as they were called when I was at school). Here it can become a bit of a nuisance as you venture forth along the single track roads of Lewis, Harris, Benbecula and the Uists where many (most?) of the signposts are in gaelic only. You’re in Gaelic speaking territory now and you’ll soon know it. First indication is the safety announcement on the ferry. Above the rumble of the engines as it pulls out of the harbour, you’ll hear the cheery captain’s recorded voice tell you all about the seven warning blasts on the ship’s horn followed by the one long continuous blast, thus signifying the ship is heading for the bottom of the Minch to the theme tune from 'Titanic' (one blast would enough for me!) and that you should make your way to the nearest muster station, don your lifejacket and not panic. All this is narrated in gaelic and completely incomprehensible to the uninitiated (to be fair, they do repeat it in english but by that time everyone’s queuing up at the cafeteria for food. Unless it’s a rough day - then everyone’s queuing up at the loos clambering to call 'Hughie' on the porcelain telephone!) So, on roads in the Western Isles they drop the english altogether and you’re left to decipher between the signposts and the map as to where you are and where you might be going. Moonwatcher Travel Tip – get yersell a bliddy good map!
It's said that when you're in gaelic company, and it's realised you're a non gaelic speaker, they'll switch to speaking english as a matter of politeness to the stranger in their midst. Aye right! I've experienced little evidence in support of this claim. You can find yourself standing at the bar listening for key words to reassure yourself you're not the butt of some derogatory comments or gaelic joke – paranoia is a terrible thing. However, in listening to a conversation, certain words occur frequently. 'Agus' was one I picked up early on. I'd hear a conversation;
"Gaelicgaelicgaelicgaelicgaelicagusgaelicgaelic"
Now, to the uninitiated ear, that just sounds like... gaelic. But note the appearance of the word 'agus'. I used to think they were talking about Haggis. It seemed every conversation was dominated by haggis! Haggis obsession seemed to rule the Western Isles. Until I found out that agus meant simply 'and'. Okay, so that doesn't help in translation of the conversation, but at least you know their talking about more than one thing. The most useful translation tool however is listening for english words and filling in the gaps.You need to bear in mind that gaelic is a very old language and many modern words have no gaelic equivelant. It's like a tartan rosetta stone thing. So when you hear;
"Gaelicgaelicgaelicgaelicgaelicgaelicgaelicgaelicgaelicgaelicgaelichelicopter."
All imediately becomes clear. They're talking about the fishing boat that got into trouble in the Minch earlier in the day and the Coastguard helicopter that flew out from Stornoway to pluck the four man crew to safety – easy when you know how!
But for me the real beauty of gaelic lies not in the spoken word - but when it's set to music, and that leads me to that song I spoke of.
Siol Ghoraidh
Mac Ruairidh
Clann Raghnaill
Clann Dhomhaill
Linn gu linn
Ainm gu ainm
Air an sgiath seo dh 'Uighist
'S mi beo an drasd
Translation;
The geneology of Goraidh
The sons of Ruari
The sons of Ranald
The sons of Donald
Generation to generation
From one name to another
To walk this corner of Uist
My time is now.
The above is from the song 'Siol Ghoraidh' (pronounced SHEE-ALL GAW-REE), written by the brothers Callum and Rory MacDonald of the band Runrig. All credit, rights and copyright to them. Almost fourteen years ago some 50 thousand people stood on the banks of Loch Lomond on a lovely midsummer's evening singing along with lead singer Donnie Munro to this song during a live Runrig concert. My family and I were among them – an unforgetable moment.
http://www.runrig.co.uk/
Bob.