Did you know? There are 4 Languages Spoken in Scotland

 Did you know Scotland has four languages? We visited in 2013 and had no idea. Recently a BBC News article highlighted the language called "Doric." I knew of English and Gaelic, but didn't know about the other two. Here's the story from various articles in BBC News:

                  (Photo: A Bagpiper in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2013: Credit: RGutro)

The 4 Languages of Scotland 

(taken from several articles on BBC News in 2021)

Doric, Scotland’s little-known fourth “language” after English, Gaelic and Scots. Colourful yet guttural, the rural north-east dialect is a subset of vernacular Scots, officially protected by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

But it is also the one most Scotland natives have problems deciphering. Its ragged tones, cadences and irregular verbs are often mocked as unsophisticated and socially awkward. This “mither tongue” (mother tongue) is spoken widely from Peterhead in Aberdeenshire to Nairn in the Highlands, where one in two people speak it, according to the University of Aberdeen. And yet it remains a paradox: it was once forbidden to be taught in schools and its currency is such that plenty of Scots do not even know Doric exists.

(Photo: Tom and Rob in Edinburgh, Scotland on vacation in 2013. Credit; R.Gutro)

WHAT ARE THE OTHER 3 LANGUAGES OF SCOTLAND? The Scots language is one of Scotland’s three official languages, with English and Gaelic. The 2011 census indicated that one and a half million people claimed to speak Scots, making it the largest minority language in Britain. But still it is ignored. Scots receives only a fraction of the government money spent on Gaelic.

ABOUT THE SCOTS LANGUAGE - According to BBC News, In the Scottish Parliament, Scots prose and poetry is hewn into the exterior decoration of the building, but scarcely a word on the interior. Yet Scots was once the tongue of most lowland Scots, of the Royal Court and great poetry. Alistair claims that the demise of the language is due to the departure to London of Scotland’s King James VI, to the received pronunciation of the BBC, and to generations of teachers insisting their pupils speak 'proper English'.

WHAT SCOTLAND SPEAKS - Scotland is a country divided by common languages. Everyone speaks English, but the farther north you travel, the more Scots, Gaelic and Doric lilts fill the air. Scots is spoken by around a third of the population – with pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary differing from its English-language cousin – while indigenous Gaelic is a Celtic dialect of Irish descent and predominantly the tongue of the Outer Hebrides.

 SOURCE: http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20210321-scotlands-little-known-fourth-language