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Make learning it a requirement for immigration. If the locals want to preserve it without their own effort, they can sell it in exchange for living in their cou
by beaner 6y ago
Make learning it a requirement for immigration. If the locals want to preserve it without their own effort, they can sell it in exchange for living in their country.
- ashtonkem 6y agoCountries can make language learning a requirement for immigration when they’re already attracting a large number of immigrants; it’s not uncommon to see work permits in rich European countries list fluency in the official language as a requirement. This naturally reduces the level of immigration, but that might be an acceptable trade off if you’re already an attractive country. But is Scotland really attracting enough immigrants to make that a requirement? If a country isn’t already an attractive spot for immigration, such requirements would effectively bring immigration to a complete and utter stop.
- corty 6y agoThe other question would be, would that really change anything? There are only few speakers of Gaelic among the natives, you may hear it on the hebrides, but the rest only speaks English or Scots. Teaching immigrants Gaelic that they will immediately be unable to use is pointless.
- ashtonkem 6y agoIf Scotland was attractive for immigrants, it would do a lot. Such a requirement would reduce immigration, but it would also rapidly increase the population of Gaelic speakers. That being said, I find it highly unlikely that there is a country that both has a country with a dying language with enough demand for immigration that immigrants would be willing to revitalize the local language. That combination seems possible, but highly improbable.
- GordonS 6y agoFluency in Gaelic would be a pointless requirement thought, since the point is that very few locals speak Gaelic. Gaelic is only really spoken on the west coast, and even then very sparsely and mainly by older people. I don't like the idea of a language dieing out, but realistically I don't see Gaelic going any other way; any opportunity for a Gaelic renaissance has long since past. Disclaimer: I'm Scottish
- ashtonkem 6y agoI think Gaelic has finally fallen below the necessary threshold for survival; all that remains is for the last native speakers to age out of the population. There are a couple of languages that have or are going through this process on mainland Europe, including Occitan, Bavarian, and Franconian. The creation of the modern nation state and globalization have been very hard on non-major languages.
- GordonS 6y agoI agree - it was on borrowed time since the 1600's when it was forbidden, and we were apathetic in modern times. A few futile efforts were made, which never seemed serious even in their conception. Scots Gaelic is all but dead. Realistically, it would be a very tough sell to try to cling on any longer - as you mentioned, globalisation has taken a toll on languages. Personally, my father spoke basic Gaelic, and his parents spoke it as a second language to English, so I don't feel particularly sentimental about it.
- ashtonkem 6y agoThe only chance Gaelic has is the separation of Scotland from the United Kingdom. You occasionally see old languages come roaring back when a group of people is split back out from a larger political entity that they’d joined. This basically happened to modern Czech in the 1800s, with the elites rushing to revive a language that had been losing out locally to German. But that ... is a much bigger ball of wax than just Gaelic.
- yunruse 6y agoInteresting idea of selling the language. Paying people to learn a language in their own time might be a brilliant initiative – it would generate a lot of intrigue, for one, and it may well be useful as an aid for those who are poor.
- simias 6y agoIf locals don't speak it what's the point? They'll reverse to English as soon as they are here. It's not like they're going to speak in within their families. They'll learn just enough to pass the entry test and that'll be the end of it. It's very hard to learn a language, it's even harder to force people to learn it if they don't want to. Integrating yourself into your country of adoption is very hard, forcing immigrants to learn a minority language would make it even harder. Can you imagine if, say, France asked Syrians refugees to learn Breton instead of French? That would be insane.
- PopeDotNinja 6y agoIt'd definitely be an interesting turn of events to see Scottish Gaelic kept alive by immigrant communities that needed to learn it, and then just kept using it because other immigrants also spoke the language.
- jacquesm 6y agoI don't like those tricks. The Netherlands has a 'inburgeringsexamen', which requires you to know all kinds of crap about our country and details about royalty which ordinary dutch people would not know and would not care for. Teach immigrating people practical things, local customs and ways in which the norms differ from elsewhere if you want them to feel at home faster, don't use them to act out your pet peeves and favorite anachronisms.
- beaner 6y agoI agree with your sentiment. But I'm also hesitant to simply throw ideas like this out the window. To an extent I feel like learning a language and getting in touch with the history of a new place can help to put the other things you mentioned into context, amplify the sense of closeness with the new culture, and potentially result in better integration even if the language is archaic.