Halifax: Scottish Gaelic speaker coming to Cape Breton to teach dying language

[Harold F. Schiffman]

Via the edling-list, February 25, 2007

Scottish Gaelic speaker coming to Cape Breton to teach dying language

By JAMES KELLER

HALIFAX (CP) - When Joy Dunlop was growing up in Scotland, she learned
Gaelic songs and dances without the slightest idea of what the words she
was singing actually meant. So she set out to learn the language that once
dominated Scotland and much of Nova Scotia and, years later, she's
preparing to visit a small Cape Breton community to teach a dying piece of
the region's history. "I liked the music, I liked the way the words sound,
and I wanted to understand them," says Dunlop, 23, in an interview from
Connel, Scotland.  "Once I understood what I was talking about, I felt
like I could put more feeling into it."

Dunlop, who started learning the language in grade school before attending
a Gaelic college, will be heading to the western Cape Breton community of
Mabou in early March. She's been selected for a five-month volunteer
position with Feis Mhabu - a local group dedicated to promoting Gaelic -
to stage language, dancing and singing classes for children and adults. A
century ago, there were an estimated 100,000 Gaelic speakers in Nova
Scotia, mostly in Cape Breton and the northeastern mainland. That number
has fallen to fewer than 500 today.

It's important to ensure it doesn't disappear forever, says Dunlop, whose
native country is aggressively trying to revive the language now spoken by
about 60,000 Scots. "It's so intertwined with the history. A lot of places
in Cape Breton were all Gaelic, and you can definitely still see the
remnants of what that was like," says Dunlop. "I think it would be a shame
if you lost that, because you'd lose such a big part of your culture."
Dunlop's trip is part of an agreement signed five years ago by the Nova
Scotia government and Scotland's Highland Council to promote Gaelic in
both countries.

It's the same partnership that saw 40 Scottish children and their parents
visit three Nova Scotia communities last summer to hold weeklong Gaelic
immersion courses. "If we don't invest in this, it will dry up," says
Bernadette Campbell, the chair of Feis Mhabu. "If we don't make an effort,
I think we then have to look at Nova Scotians and say that we've let a
beautiful language with beautiful poetry and songs disappear from our
lives." The Highland Council advertised the position in Scotland and
helped Feis Mhabu narrow down the seven people who applied.

Campbell says Dunlop's experience in Gaelic was impressive. She works for
a group that organizes Gaelic festivals and competitions in Scotland, and
she has experience teaching the language in schools and other settings.
She also hosts a weekly Gaelic program on a local radio station. Morag
Anna MacLeod of the Highland Council says the council has a lot of
experience teaching Gaelic, especially to children, and is eager to share
that expertise with Nova Scotia. While the number of Gaelic speakers in
Scotland has been shrinking for years, MacLeod says the council is anxious
to see the results of the country's next census, which she hopes will show
the trend is reversing.

"People feel it's important to preserve and to develop the cultural and
linguistic heritage of the country," says MacLeod. The Nova Scotia
government recently set up an Office of Gaelic Affairs, which has more
plans in the works. One idea is to set up a formal exchange program to let
young people from Nova Scotia and Scotland trade places as they learn
Gaelic. And the province's Education Department is working on a Celtic
curriculum to teach students about the region's native language and
culture.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/02/25/pf-3665452.html

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