Progress in Gaelic

I reached a milestone of sorts last night on my Gaelic (Gàidhlig) Higher course through eSgoil (https://www.e-sgoil.com).

We currently meet two nights a week online, with two brilliant eSgoil tutors - Eoghan on a Monday and Julie-Ann on a Thursday. With Eoghan we practice speaking in the language, with Julie-Ann it's reading, writing and listening. Last night's session was the last with Eoghan prior to our prelims, although for the conversation part, the prelim mark is actually going to be our final mark (unless we screw up!). My first prelim, the conversation exam, is in 2 weeks time, and last night, in our final session with Eoghan, we just spent the evening in break out rooms, with one other student, in my case with a great lad from Sligo. The two of us just blethered in Gaelic for 55 minutes, going well beyond the questions we needed to practice for the 10 minute conversation exam. As a confidence booster, it was a great way to end the first part of our course.

I set myself a goal three years ago of trying to gain a degree of fluency in 5 years (after 30 years of on and off learning!), starting/refreshing with Duolingo, and for the first time last night think I might be within a shot of that. I'll never be a 'fíor Gael' or 'true Gael' (as they say in Ireland!), but I'm not trying to be - I have no Hebridean ancestry that I know of, although those MacGillivrays of mine from Inverness left Mull at some point way back when! I just want to have enough of the language to be able to hold my own in a conversation with some of the friendliest folk on Earth, to do my bit to keep the language alive, and to help with some areas of my family history research, where I do occasionally come across the language. 

I am so glad I'm doing this course - that highest apple gets closer by the day! I cannot recommend eSgoil enough - it's just brilliant, the course is free, the tutors and students are fantastic, there's a lot of craic along the way, and it's a great follow on from Duolingo and the BBC's SpeakGaelic for adult learners, if you're looking to push yourself further. 

Suas leis a' Ghàidhlig!

 

PS: This week is World Gaelic Week, aka Seachdain na Gàidhlig - if interested to find out more about the language and events happening throughout the week, visit https://seachdainnagaidhlig.scot.

 

 

Chris

Pre-order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.