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Its quite curious seeing this headline, Duolingo recently added Gaelic and alongside the Scottish Independence movement it seems at least within my bubble to be
by daleharvey 6y ago
Its quite curious seeing this headline, Duolingo recently added Gaelic and alongside the Scottish Independence movement it seems at least within my bubble to be having somewhat of a revival,
396k active learners @ https://www.duolingo.com/enroll/gd/en/Learn-Scottish-Gaelic https://www.duolingo.com/enroll/gd/en/Learn-Scottish-Gaelic including a large amount of people I know, I havent started yet but have been tempted
- maaarghk 6y agoThe headline does feel surprising but then it goes on to mention on the ground research that people who learn the language the "normal" way (i.e. from parents and the community) are the population in scope for the study.
- ashtonkem 6y agoThe definition of a language being “living” or “dead” is centered around native speakers. I would bet that a tiny percentage of Gaelic duolingo learners will ever use it in conversation.
- prerok 6y agoPersonal anecdote: I have had the privilege of meeting a person teaching Gaelic as a second language. I think we can still learn a lot of nuances of expression from dying (or dead) languages and they will always provide us with insights for those willing to learn. That said, I think there is no artificial way in preventing a language from dying. If everybody in your neighbourhood speeks a different language then it's near impossible to cling to a different language.