high up north e m i t a n o p u Once rgh.

This e called Edinbu

nd since there is a plac pital of Scotla ca e th en be h in s city ha means Edinburg h ic wh n, an de w town, 1437. Dn i into old and ne d de vi di is , of two Gaelic only consists rt pa r de ol e known wherein th it is not very gh ou th Al ible s. street the most incred of e on is it everywhere the world. aces all over pl l fu ti au in be and nd biggest city co se e th is and h Edinburg 0 inhabitants 00 6. 48 t ou ab name is Scotland with By the way: My g. do ly ar ul aoric one part ide you to extr gu to g in go m are plenBobby and I hermore there rt Fu . es ac pl worth dinary ies which are or st g in st re ty of inte side of my home rk da us mo fa e d... mentioning. Th but be surprise me r fo g in th city is no arted! EH,AE Lets get it st

CONTENTS
FACTS: > Language > Short history time line > Things to do in the capital of Scotland Typically Scottish: > Kilts and bagpipes > The Tartan Weaving Mill > Scottish Sweets and Desserts > Shortbread House > Scotch Whisky > Haggis Rezept > Music in and from Scotland > Traditional folk music > Ceilidh Culture and Sights: > Arthurs Seat and the Royal Botanic gar dens > Literary Edi > Storytelling Center > David Hume > The Scott Monument > Fairytales > Camera Obscura > Lickety Splits Surroundings: > > > > > Rosslyn Chapel St. Andrews Borders Highlands Loch Ness > Art > Bobby Lifestyle: > vintage shopping > Old Town Bookshop > Second hand book shopping > Pubs and Nightlife

Dark side of Edinburgh: > Ghost Tour > Jekkyl and Hyde > 10 ways to die

Politics: > Parliament > Independence

Photo by Johanna Lesnik

Chan eil mi tuigsinn Gidhlig I dont understand Scottish Gaelic

by Elfi Heinke
tish Gaelic also called Gidhlig the lowest figure ever. Those live mainly in the Highlands (aGhaidhealtachd) and in the Western Isles (Na h-Eileanan an Isa). But there are also Gidhlig speakers in Glasgow (Glaschu), Edinburgh (Dn Eideann) and Inverness (Inbhir Nis). Gaelic belongs to the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages and was spoken by the Scots of the Kingdom of Dalriada. It is closely related to Irish and Manx Gaelic. All of them descended from Old Irish, which was brought to Scotland around the 4th century AD. In the 800s the Scots dominated the Picts. Because of this Pictish was replaced by Gaelic across a large part of Scotland. Still later Gidhlig succeeded in displacing Old Norse in many of the Viking-dominated areas in north and west Scotland. In South East Scotland

Language

Scotland without Gaelic would be like a country without heather moorland. Languages are always part of the culture of a country and of course of its history. In Edinburgh you will not meet many people who can speak Gaelic. But if you want to discover western and northern Scotland it is maybe very helpful to know a little bit about this old but very interesting language. About 60,000 people in Scotland (Alba) can speak Scot-

this language never gained much of a foothold because the main language there was the Middle English spoken by the Angles dominating this part of Scotland. In 1755 289.772 22.9% of all Scottish inhabitants could speak only Gaelic. Just 136 years later the picture had changed utterly Gaelic-only speakers were not much more than 1% of a population of 4,025,647. Only about 5% were bilingual in Gaelic and English. And it was getting worse and worse. In 1971 Gaelic-only speakers had declined to 477. There are a lot of reasons for the decline in Gaelic. The most important one has been the historical dominance of Edinburgh in particular and central Scotland over the political and economic development of the country. In this area they never spoke Gaelic. Because of that it was rather their language influencing the others. Other reasons are the growing ruling classes of English. If you wanted to be part of the upper classes it was not enough to speak Scots. This language became anglicised, now known as Scots English. Anyway the Highlanders were at best second class citizens. The Scottish Parliaments Gaelic Language Act 2005 should change something. The

language was afforded a degree of official recognition. Gaelic was also adopted as the primary language of the Western Isles Council. Meanwhile road signs across the Highlands appear in a bilingual form. To renew a Gaelic revival in Scotland BBC launched a Gaelic only news channel, called BBC Alba. In 2006 a Gaelic only secondary school opened in the city of Glasgow. Scotland without Gaelic would be like a country without heather moorland. There would be nobody who has to starve as a result of it, but the nation would be immeasurably poorer.
DID YOU KNOW TH AT: > the Scottish Gaelic alphabet is wr itten with just 18 letter s? > every letter of Scottish Gaelic alphabet is named after a tree or shrub? Like: B = Beit h (Birch), C = Coll (Hazel ), G = Gort (Ivy), M = Muin (Vine) If you want to learn more Gaellic, have a look on this page: http://www.bbc .co.uk/scotland/alba/fogh lam/beag_air_ bheag/

Scots is a key part of our nations heritage and culture. It is also a living Culture Minister Fiona Hyslop language.
by Alisa Elinger
Scots a dead language? No way! Nowadays, Scots is being revived in schools. More and more books in Scots are being published so children can learn it, and use it automatically for the rest of their lives. Besides, Scots is spoken in the everyday life of many Scottish families. There are plenty of people who say Aye when they are asked if they speak Scots. Either you are standing in a queue in a supermarket or if you take a guided tour through the Parliament buildings, you will hear Scottish words. There is often a debate if Scots is either an autonomous language or a dialect or even slang. It is true that Modern English and Scots have the same ancestor, namely Old English. In the Middle Ages, the tribes of Angles and the Saxons invaded Celtic Britain. The present English developed from the Germanic tongue of the Saxon, while the Angles Germanic language is the mother language of Scots. Since the Angles had a massive impact on the Northern English language, the Old Northern English developed differently to the spoken English in the South. The former language of Scottish Kings, Gaelic, was replaced by the new Germanic language calledInglis. However, in 15th century, the English spoken in Scotland was so different that it was called Scottish or Sots. As you can see, at the present time English and Scots are sister languages. But they are autonomous languages. However, times were changing. As James VI became King of both Kingdoms, England and Scotland, Scots lost its status in Scotland since English became the language of services and administration. More educated people wanted to forget about the Scots language and the culture. Many poets or philosophers such as Robert Burns and David Hume were not afraid to show their nationality in the language they used. Robert Burns kept

the almost forgotten tongue alive in literature. Without him, its not certain whether this particular Scottish language would still exist. Nevertheless, the question of Scots is not completely solved. Has a dialect its own dialects? You see, Scots has its own as for example Glaswegian, Doric, Ayrshire and Shetland. Overall, most Scottish people consider that Scots has a high impact on history, on culture but most of all on local identity.

IMPORTANT WORDS: NOO - NOW MOCKIT - VERY DIRTY LAVVY - OUTSIDE TOILET WHEESHT - BE QUIET EEJIT -IDIOT SHUG -HUGH ! Just joking. Useful sentences are following...

full E-Book: http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/edinburgh/13742874