The August issue of Am Pàipear carries a Gaelic article by Gordon Wells entitled “Uibhist ioma-chànanach agus pròiseactan SMO” (“Multilingual Uist and SMO projects). It suggests that other communities coming to terms with multicultural or multilingual growth may find some useful points of comparison with the longstanding Hebridean experience of bilingualism.
It also highlights how Sabhal Mòr Ostaig (SMO), Scotland’s Gaelic college, has been working with European partners over a number of years on development work, particularly for language learners, that is rooted in the everyday experiences and accounts of the residents of Uist (and other Hebridean Islands) through projects such as Guthan nan Eilean. You can read the article here.
Today, 4th August 2014, marks 100 years since Great Britain entered the First World War – An Cogadh Mòr.
Here, retired headteacher Willie Macdonald reads out extracts from the emotionally intense poetry of the North Uist bard Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna, and discusses them in Gaelic and English. The conversation moves on to focus on the impact on families, including Willie’s own, of the losses suffered in the First World War, and the land raids undertaken by returning soldiers hardened by conflict, and willing to face imprisonment in pursuit of their claims to decent crofting land.
Willie was recorded by Mary Morrison and Laura Donkers for the project “An fheadhainn tha laighe sàmhach“, run by Comunn Eachdraidh Uibhist a Tuath. You can find the book of Dòmhnall Ruadh’s poetry, with full parallel English translations, via this link to the Gaelic Books Council.
The August issue of Am Pàipear carries a Gaelic article by Gordon Wells entitled “Uibhist ioma-chànanach agus pròiseactan SMO” (“Multilingual Uist and SMO projects). It suggests that other communities coming to terms with multicultural or multilingual growth may find some useful points of comparison with the longstanding Hebridean experience of bilingualism.