Tuesday 1 March 2011

Aye Can, can you?

In the excitement surrounding the release of the 1911 census we must not forget the 2011 census which is about to be taken here in Scotland. One of the questions is: “Which of the following can you do? Understand, speak, read or write: English, Scottish Gaelic, or Scots?”

English and Gaelic are fairly easy to answer. However, can you speak Scots? In fact, what is Scots? Well to help those of us in Scotland to answer this question more effectively a website has been set up by the Scottish government: www.ayecan.com. This website has snippets of the spoken Scots as well as a written description of the various dialects.

If you’re not living in Scotland though it’s definitely worth a look and a listen. See how much of the Scots you can understand! Listen to what your ancestors may have sounded like and see if any of the words are still spoken in your family today.

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