Over a century before the BBC’s Speaking Gaelic team were building a community of modern learners, the Highland News was doing the same with its regular feature Our Gaelic Page.
A couple of weeks ago, I shared a chance language learning find in the BNA – the regular Gaoluinn Irish language lessons in The Irish Independent. I’ve spent some time this week on the trail for similar resources for Gaelic in vintage newspapers. Did anything like Gaoluinn exist in Scotland?
Our Gaelic Page
Well, around the turn of the 19th Century, it happens that The Highland News was publishing this regular page packed with language learning content. Although Our Gaelic Page didn’t consist of lessons in the sense that Gaoluinn did, it featured poetry, prose, song, a learner’s Q&A section, and even recent exam paper questions.
Its aims are clearly different from those of Gaoluinn – this a page for those with Gaelic, who want to maintain or improve it. But it offered a wealth of material for that end; in some ways, the content reminds me a little of the NRK podcast Språkteigen – discussion of language simply for the love of learning it.
Clàrsach nan Gaidheal
Its regular song section, Clàrsach nan Gaidheal – the Gaels’ Harp – is a great find for anyone interested in traditional music. Editions ran into the hundreds, each one offering background notes, lyrics in Gaelic and English, and even the music in the form of what I think are chords. Annotation like m, n and r aren’t familiar to me, though, so if anyone has an idea about what they refer to, I’d love to hear from you!
An edition of the Gaelic song series, Clàrsach nan Gaidheal from The Highland News, 1898.
Exam Reports
One of the more academic inclusions consists of exam reports from various places – sometimes Glasgow, sometimes as far as London. As well as the top performers’ names, we get, unusually, a rundown of all the exam questions, too. Newspapers as a repository of past papers is a brand new genre for me (and one I quite like, I must admit!).
That said, the exams take quite a different tack from the more communicative approach of today. This is Gaelic being taught much as Latin and Ancient Greek were – declensions and conjugations by rote. As much as I love that traditional take, perhaps treating the language as a written classic wasn’t the best strategy for reviving it in conversation.
Gaelic examination reports from The Highland News, 1902.
Our Gaelic Page seems to have run from 1897 to 1902 – at least that’s what turns up in the BNA scans. But it’s certainly not the only focus for learners a century ago. Further searches turn up plenty of other evidence for an active, enthusiastic community at the time. Amongst the tidbits are reports from language societies, notices seeking teachers for adult classes, and ads for new reference books. Nothing new there – in fact, it’s heartening to draw a continuous line between learners then and now.
In any case, it’s a lovely glimpse into life as a language learning a hundred years back, as well as a great reading resource for this modern-day learner. I’ll doubtless be dipping into more of Our Gaelic Page over the coming months.