Call for lessons to keep Scots language alive

Published on Tuesday 17 July 2007 01:10

OOR ain tongue could be taught to bairns in schools, if campaigners get their way.

The Scots language should be put on a par with Gaelic, according to some responses to a Scottish Executive consultation into how languages are taught.

Responding to A Strategy for Scotland's Languages, experts warned that sounds such as the "velar fricative", as in loch, are disappearing.

Matthew Fitt and James Robertson, who run the Itchy Coo publishing company - which published Scots versions of Roald Dahl's The Twits and Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped -

said the annual tradition of children reciting a Rabbie Burns poem was not enough.

They said: "In a country which shows such affection for and pride in its national poet, it is ironic that its school children are not able to fully understand and appreciate that poet's work."

Many Scottish children do not know that "brae" means hillside and "burn" means stream, they claimed.

Author Janet Paisley, who writes in Scots, said teaching the language in schools was long overdue.

She said: "I had to do an enormous amount of work to relearn my language as a writer, and I'm still angry about that."

Published in February, the draft language strategy includes the principle that the Scots language should be treated with "respect and pride".

The Executive strategy also says Scots should be encouraged within the curriculum.