What New Scottish Gaelic Learners Think—and What They Should Know Instead

When new learners step into the world of Gaelic, they often bring with them a suitcase full of assumptions

Scottish Gaelic is a beautiful, ancient, and often misunderstood language. When new learners step into the world of Gaelic, they often bring with them a suitcase full of assumptions—some harmless, others that can get in the way of real progress.

Let’s unpack the most common assumptions that new learners make—and what they should know instead.

1. “It’s just like Irish, right?”

The Assumption: New learners often believe that Gaelic and Irish are basically interchangeable—like American and British English.

The Reality: While Scottish Gaelic and Irish are related languages and share a common root (Old Irish), they are distinct languages with differences in grammar, pronunciation, spelling, and vocabulary. If you try to speak Irish in a Gaelic conversation, you’ll be understood sometimes—but not always. It’s like assuming Spanish and Italian are the same. Close cousins, yes. Identical, no.

2. “I can just read it phonetically… right?”

The Assumption: Gaelic spelling is just quirky and once you learn the rules, you can pronounce it like any phonetic language.

The Reality: Gaelic spelling is deeply historical and etymological. It preserves sounds and structures from centuries ago. Learning pronunciation means learning completely new rules—and exceptions. Letter combinations behave differently in different environments, and some words change pronunciation depending on where they appear in a sentence. A “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” approach doesn’t work here.

3. “The grammar must be similar to English.”

The Assumption: Learners often expect word order, tense, and sentence structure to match English.

The Reality: Gaelic is a VSO language—verb-subject-object—which is different from the English SVO pattern. You say “Chunnaic mi an cù” (“Saw I the dog”), not “I saw the dog.” Gaelic also uses prepositional pronouns, no verb for 'to have', and frequent mutations like lenition. It’s like learning to rewire how your thoughts are built—daunting, but fascinating.

4. “It’ll be easier if I focus on vocabulary first.”

The Assumption: Memorising a bunch of vocabulary lists will give learners a head start.

The Reality: Vocabulary without structure is like bricks without mortar. You might learn that taigh means “house”, but if you don’t understand how to say “in the house” (anns an taigh), “to the house” (don taigh), or “the house’s roof” (mullach an taighe), you’ll be stuck. Gaelic is a highly inflected language—what happens around the word matters just as much as the word itself.

5. “I’ll never need to use the genitive case… right?”

The Assumption: Learners think complex grammar like the genitive or dative case is old-fashioned and optional.

The Reality: While spoken Gaelic is evolving, and some simplification is happening, cases still matter, especially in written, formal, or traditional language (songs, stories, prayers). Even in everyday speech, you’ll hear genitive forms like bun na craoibhe (“the base of the tree”) or doras an taighe (“the door of the house”). Dismissing them outright will leave gaps in understanding.

6. “Gaelic is dying anyway—why learn it?”

The Assumption: Some learners (and sadly, outsiders too) assume Gaelic is a ‘dead’ or irrelevant language.

The Reality: Gaelic is still spoken in communities across Scotland, especially in the Hebrides. It’s used in media, education, music, and cultural events. And the number of learners is growing globally. Learning Gaelic isn’t just a linguistic exercise—it’s a statement of support for cultural preservation and revival.

7. “If I don’t sound fluent in a few months, I must be bad at it.”

The Assumption: Gaelic should come quickly—and if it doesn’t, it’s your fault.

The Reality: Gaelic takes time, repetition, and community. The sounds, grammar, and mindset are very different from English. If you're feeling overwhelmed, you're not alone. Most fluent speakers today once struggled too. Keep showing up. Celebrate the progress—not perfection.

8. “Surely no one has ever thought of this Gaelic project before!”

The Assumption: Some new learners come in with enthusiastic ideas—like podcasts, kids' books, translation apps, or YouTube series—and assume they’re the first person to ever try it.

The Reality: It’s wonderful to bring fresh ideas to the Gaelic world—but it’s even better when you do your research first. There are already hundreds of brilliant Gaelic creators, teachers, activists, and artists out there. Learn from them. Support them. And if you still have something unique to add—brilliant! But always approach with humility, respect, and a willingness to collaborate rather than reinvent the wheel.

9. Let’s pause to say thank you.

Before we go any further—a heartfelt thank you to the hundreds of volunteers who have given their time, energy, and love to Gaelic over the past 30 years.

From local conversation circles and summer schools to radio shows, websites, community classes, children’s books, and digitised archives—these projects weren’t created in a vacuum. They were built by passionate individuals and groups, often unpaid, working tirelessly to keep Gaelic alive for future generations.

To every person who helped organise a class, run a choir, write a blog, teach a song, host a learner, or translate a leaflet: tapadh leibh uile. Without you, the path for today’s learners would be much harder—and far lonelier.

Final Thought:

Gaelic doesn’t ask you to master it overnight. It asks you to fall in love with it. Let go of your assumptions, embrace the unexpected, and enjoy the journey. Whether you’re learning for heritage, culture, music, or curiosity—you’re part of something meaningful.