Certainly. They think it's a waste of taxpayer's money to change road signs and put "Ambaileans" next to the word "Ambulance".
For example, if you dare to go onto X/Twitter, you can find things like this: https://x.com/redskykite/status/1185329313320714240
How prevalent that kind of view is though, I'm not sure. Is it common or is it a vocal minority?
If you're reading this and fall into this category please reply, I'd like to know your take.
Certainly. They think it's a waste of taxpayer's money to change road signs and put "Ambaileans" next to the word "Ambulance".
That seems like a bit of a leap. I can't see any "hate" in the Twitter post you linked to. They're concerned about government spending on a minority language. That doesn't imply hatred of the language. It could just as easily be motivated by hatred of government mismanagement.
That's fair, however there are people who have more... vitriolic expressions of the same sentiment.
I think we're getting bogged down in semantics though, I was just curious as to whether people like or dislike the language, whether they know any, whether they think it should be promoted, repressed, or just left to its own devices and if it thrives or dies, so be it.
I never learned it at school (I think one of the RE teachers also taught Gaelic but she was a bit of a laughing stock and more people did Latin than Gaelic). I certainly don't despise it, I just don't speak it, read it, or understand it.
Are there any communities that speak primarily Gaelic (as there are a few in Wales who speak Welsh)? If not then I don't think Gaelic really has much of a place in modern Scotland other than as cultural heritage. Much like the kilt. No-one wears a kilt on an everyday basis, but it's nice to break out the tartan for a wedding or Burns night, etc.
According to Wikipedia:
Across the whole of Scotland, the 2011 census showed that 25,000 people (0.49% of the population) used Gaelic at home. Of these, 63.3% said that they had a full range of language skills: speaking, understanding, reading and writing Gaelic. 40.2% of Scotland's Gaelic speakers said that they used Gaelic at home. To put this in context, the most common language spoken at home in Scotland after English and Scots is Polish, with about 1.1% of the population, or 54,000 people.[47][48]
So there's people that speak it at home, but I don't know to what extent that would extend to out of the home. But if that does happen anywhere, it's bound to be the outer hebrides, with 52.2% of people understanding it there. Everywhere else is tiny percentages.
To kick things off here is my view:
I'm a native English speaker from the north of Scotland. As a teenager I thought Gaelic was a waste of time. Why bother learning a dead language? As I've aged, explored the world, read some history, etc I've come to change my mind and have been learning Gaelic on and off for about 5 years, mostly via Duolingo. I am in no way fluent, capable of following a conversation, or even confident in writing/reading Gaelic. I'm a dumbass, basically. But I'm trying.
I think it's good to have a common language for the peoples of the world to communicate, with English basically filling that role. However I also think it's good for peoples to have their own unique language as well. To create an identity for themselves, to express themselves, to communicate with similar people without everyone and their dog from around the world jumping in. For example, Germans can discuss German issues online in German without the worry of Americans, Brits, or anyone fluent in English really, jumping into their threads and distorting the discourse.
This isn't really viable in Scotland. So few of us know Gaelic that most Scottish culture is still done in English or Scots (which is similar enough to English it's understandable by an English speaker with half a brain).
Gaelic was previously outlawed and even when not outlawed often repressed in schools (even children in the playground would be punished for talking it amongst themselves). So there's a tiny bit of a fuck you to colonial oppression going on for my motivation as well.
I guess it kind of comes down to how you view the relationship between the UK and Scotland. Are you a global citizen, European, Brit or a Scot? Are you some combination? Do you want local culture to be accessible to anyone, do you want local culture for local people? Do you think trying to revive an almost dead language is a waste of time when we could focus on learning more "useful" foreign languages? Do you think the revival of the Gaelic language is only a political ploy to strengthen the independence movement? Do you think it's nationalistic twaddle?