O Ghlùin gu Glùin | Passing on Gaelic’s Linguistic Feast
Host: Kieran Walker
Guest: Lewis MacKinnon
Cha bhith thu nas òige ri ionnsachadh | You’ll never be younger to learn
What is the worth of language? What drives people to learn and pass on a language? Is it food for the soul?
This visit was a journey into the heart of the value of Gaelic and how it feeds us. A language and its culture have many ways to offer us sustenance and enrich our lives. In minority language communities it is often a conscious choice to pass on this linguistic feast to the next generation, and it can be a great, and worthwhile challenge.
In conversation with our host Kieran Walker and his guest Lewis MacKinnon, we heard stories of the value of learning and passing on language.
About Lewis MacKinnon
Lewis MacKinnon is an advocate for diversity and inclusion. His work involves Gaelic language and cultural development, supporting initiatives at the community, institutional and government levels that pertain to Gaelic language and cultural reclamation and renewal and advancing socio-economic opportunities for Nova Scotia’s Gaelic community. He is a community activist, poet, writer, musician, speaker, Gaelic tutor and author having published and recorded number of books of poetry and music CDs.
’S e tagraiche airson iomadachd is for-ruigheachd a th’ann an Lodaidh MacFhionghuin. Tha an obair aige a’ toirt a-staigh leasachadh na Gàidhlig cànain is a cultuir, is i a bhios a’ toirt taic ri iomairtean aig ìrean na coimhearsnachd, nan stéidheachdan is nan riaghaltasan a bhuineas do dh’ath-bhuannachadh is do dh’ath-ùrachadh is cothroman sòisealta is eaconomaigeach do choimhearsnachd Ghàidhealach na h-Albann Nuaidhe adhartachadh. ’S e neach-dèanadais na choimhearsnachd, bàrd, sgrìobhadair, neach-ciùil, labhraiche, taoitear na Gàidhlig is ùghdar is e a bhi a’ cur ann an cló uimhir do leabhraichean-bàrdachd is air a reacòrdadh iomadh clàr-ciùil.
What we heard
Reclamation
Growing up, Lewis MacKinnon felt he carried his Gaelic heritage and language responsibility as a burden. It was something he valued and took seriously but it came with a painful awareness of the minoritization of his ancestors—“those first years were heavy.” But the decision to speak Gaelic exclusively to his children when he became a father transformed Lewis’s feelings around the language: “I realized it was a gift. The burden became light.”
Born in Inverness, Cape Breton, and raised in Antigonish county, Lewis described how his father was a fluent speaker but did not pass the language on to Lewis and his siblings when they were children. Instead he heard his father speak Gaelic with aunts and uncles, and when his great uncle Dùghall—who was more comfortable speaking Gaelic than English—came to live with the family when Lewis was five, he heard even more Gaelic in their home.
It wasn’t until he went to study at St Francis Xavier University—at the time the only institution offering a Gaelic program in Nova Scotia–that Lewis started more seriously to learn to speak the language. His years at St FX helped him get over the “language hump” on the way to fluency and set him on a path to cultural reclamation.
“It’s been a continuous path of reclaiming and reconnecting to my linguistic and cultural identity and I think that path is still unfolding.”
Passing it on
Lewis always knew he wanted to pass his Gaelic language and culture on to his children. He became a father when he and his wife, Siùsaidh, adopted their sons Nathan and Tyler in 2010. The boys were eight and six when they joined the family. For the first year, Lewis spoke to them often about Gaelic and its importance to him, then one day he decided to bite the bullet and switched to speaking to them entirely in Gaelic. He has spoken only a few words of English to them on about five occasions since 2011.
He had three rules:
Only Gaelic - He would speak no English to his sons and make sure he used Gaelic to discuss every topic under the sun, showing that the language has validity and didn’t have to be contained to a certain domain or only shared at certain times in certain contexts. He spoke it to them at home, in public and in front of their friends.
No correcting - When the boys made mistakes when learning the language, Lewis would simply repeat back the correct form.
Have fun - He tried to make it as light as possible, using jokes and making up silly, absurd situations to encourage cognitive engagement alongside humour. He gave Gaelic nicknames to all their friends and even made up imaginary friends so he could play with even more language scope.
“Why am I doing this?” The shower story
It didn’t always feel easy, however, and Lewis talked of experiencing something of a crisis of confidence after a particularly demoralizing conversation with a visiting Gaelic scholar from Scotland. This individual expressed very negative views around the idea of Gaelic identity, deeming it to be ‘divisive’. It was one of the lowest moments on Lewis’s journey as he really questioned “what am I doing this for?”
The next day he described how he was in the shower when his sons came in one by one to use the bathroom. From behind the shower curtain, Lewis wished them good morning, in English, and asked them how they were. They were deeply perturbed. “Daddy, is that you? Are you sure that’s you?” “Dad, are you ok?” When Lewis arrived downstairs after his shower his sons staged intervention—“we think there’s something wrong with you—you’re not speaking Gaelic to us! We don’t like it when you don’t speak Gaelic to us.” Lewis said that, “from that moment on, I knew that it was the language of the heart for both of us and that made all the difference.”
Identity as connection
Lewis talked of the importance of fostering a sense of identity in children, and how this is especially important to nurture in youth who have been adopted. Anything that anchors them to place, community and family is important, especially in the longer term—“these are the things that are sustainable over time—to foster a sense of self-worth, a sense of ‘I matter, I have a role, I have a place in my family, my community.’” Lewis hopes his boys now see Gaelic as “a beautiful rich heritage” and believes they would probably want to pass it on to their own children.
He spoke of how having the boys really helped him reframe his attitude to Gaelic and the heaviness he had been carrying with it. He realized that if taking up the language and its cultural identity felt like an onerous task to his boys, “you could forget it!” He learned to approach language acquisition as connected to live-giving energies and the best parts of being human. He spoke of how cultural anchors are so critical—they connect us to an ancient past and are also so alive now.
In the latter half of the conversation, Lewis and Kieran explored themes of generosity, gratitude and using heritage language to connect diverse individuals. Lewis spoke of how he feels gifted to have had so many family and community members who shared Gaelic with him. It’s something he now wants to give out freely to anyone who’s interested.
“What language do you speak?”
He feels he’s become more grounded around questions of identity, and able to appreciate and connect to others’ language and cultural identity as a result. Instead of asking people ‘where are you from’, he now asks what languages they speak and finds this question opens up much richer and more insightful conversations. He and his gym buddy count each other's reps in Gaelic and Tamil, and when he used to take his boys swimming they would listen out for dads speaking their heritage languages with their kids in the locker rooms.
“I wanted [my boys] to know that this is what humans do…we’re the same as other groups - we have our language too…this is wholesome and healthy.”
The end of the conversation was full of encouragement to use what language you have, and to know that it’s never too late to start and never too late to go back and correct mistakes. Lewis stressed the importance of knowing “why you are doing what you are doing” and believing that it is worthy and we are all capable - “If I can do it, everybody on this call can do it!”
What we said
After listening to the guest, discussing what we’d heard in the breakout rooms, and then returning to the main room, we shared our reflections in the chat. Below is a sample of our comments. Read the full transcript here.
Many decisions have to be made to turn a community away from its language, but one decision at a time - like speaking Gaelic to your children, friends and so on - is all it takes to create a different story
I heard such love and dedication in the ways Lodaidh is sharing Gaelic with his children and community
Tapadh leat a uile. Nam b' i mo chaint biadh, ’s e brot a bhiodh ann. Glè theth agus ithe gu math slaodach
I've got to bite the bullet and bust out my broken Gaelic on my toddler. She won't judge me haha and we'll both be better for it!
Encouraged to add lightness to my study and continue my studying to sing some Gaelic songs
For me, as a Gaelic learner, the Gaelic language is an extension of the welcoming, nurturing Gaelic culture. That spirit nourishes me as a musician, a Gaelic learner, and a human.
Nourished by remembering how many people love this language and are working to share its beauty and wisdom.
The above are direct quotes from participants, edited only to correct typos. Thank you to all who shared their thoughts and gifts! Tapadh leibh uile!
Also heard
The music at the beginning of the visit was John Morris Rankin and Howie MacDonald playing at the 1986 Mabou Céilidh.
The song Lodaidh sang at the end of the session was ‘A Fhleasgaich an fhuilt chraobhaich chais’. Lyrics can be found in An t-Òranaiche and there are recordings of it by both Lauchie Gillis and Dan Alex MacLeod at the Beaton Institute. See the Language in Lyrics database for details.
Resources
For anyone inspired to start or give a boost to their language-learning journey!
A massive collection of Gaelic learning resources from Scotland: https://.learngaelic.net
Online and in-person learning in Cape Breton: https://gaeliccollege.edu/learn/online-learning/
Duolingo in Scottish Gaelic: https://www.duolingo.com/course/gd/en/Learn-Scottish-Gaelic
Nova Scotia Gaelic Affairs video lessons: https://www.youtube.com/@gaelicns/playlists
FIOS newsletter to get the latest updates on classes and events in Nova Scotia: https://www.gaelic.ca/calendar-1
…and these are but a few!