When even Argentinians realise Gaelic is 'very precious', it will surely survive

The Scottish diaspora is spread far and wide across the world and the people who left this country took many of their customs with them. But while tartan and bagpipes remain, in many places their language – Scots or Gaelic – was lost.

In the early 1800s, two brothers set sail from the Isle of Bute en route to Argentina, where they prospered in the shipping industry. Now, two centuries later, in a heart-warming development, a descendant of one of them, Guillermo Santana MacKinlay, of Buenos Aires, has not only learned Gaelic but also taught it to others, including many with “no connection with the language or ancestry”.

The Ceòlraidh Gaelic Choir, founded in Buenos Aires in 2002 by Guillermo Santana MacKinlay. It performed at The Mòd in Dunoon in 2018. Mr MacKinlay is pictured back right. | contributed

“I listened to my mother, my family and I got interested, little by little, in my Scottish heritage. This is how I received proudly the language lost when they came here,” he said. “It is not that you have to leave aside English but it is about Gaelic adding another perspective to life. The language is very precious.”

With supporters like these, Gaelic, in trouble in its heartlands, will surely survive for many years to come.