‘This year we have Canadians, Australians, English, Irish, Swedish and Breton visitors.  Our commercial supporters are in place and Dunoon is a good venue.  I’m looking forward to it, although, where the Gaelic language is concerned, there are always issues.’

Indeed there are. The recent National Plan for the language reveals that Gaelic remains in a ‘perilous state’.  At the last Census, the number of speakers had fallen below 60,000 but Bord na Gaidhlig, the statutory body charged with reversing the trend, is not entirely pessimistic.  It recognises that things may get worse before they get better but also acknowledges some very hopeful signs: the decline in numbers is slowing down; the number of young speakers is actually rising; and there is a further group of almost 27,000 speakers who understand some of the language and may yet carry their interest to fluency.

Gaelic medium education - teaching all subjects through the Gaelic language - is the bedrock of this embryonic revival and, with excellent timing, a new £4 million school has just opened in Glasgow’s west end, which will take pupils through from nursery to secondary learning. It is hoped that a similar school will open soon in Inverness.

Wales has long had its act together in this area and boasts half a million speakers. The Welsh have also been more proactive in broadcasting, but there is now gathering momentum for a digital Scots Gaelic television channel supported by Parliament and the BBC. The Mod is the type of event which enables BBC Alba to test new delivery and programming ideas in the run-up to digitisation. 

Success or failure, however, ultimately depends on the people:  the Gaels (and non-Gaels) in the cities and crofting communities who speak and support the language, not for trendy or financial reasons, but because it is an expression of themselves, something unique which explains a great heritage and describes the land......

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