scotland’s MINORITY LANGUAGES TRAINING

led by Ishbel McFarlane

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A new government project brings together Scotland’s three native minority languages: Scots, Gaelic and British Sign Language (BSL).

Ishbel McFarlane's new project uses her award-winning show, O is for Hoolet, as a starting point for training on Scotland's native minority languages. The pilot programme, which covers Gaelic, BSL and Scots, was funded by the Scottish Government. The training has been created in association with Deaf Action, The Scots Language Centre and Fèisean nan Gàidheal.

Ishbel McFarlane is a theatre maker and Scots Language campaigner. She has been touring her solo show about minoritised language, O is for Hoolet, since 2015. She approached the Scottish Government in 2016 to propose a full day of Minority Language training for workplaces. The proposed workshop would cover all of Scotland's native minority languages, and allow employees to explore how Scotland’s linguistic richness can be celebrated and supported in their workplaces. The Scottish Government are directly funding the pilot project, including the creation of the materials, the gathering of the team, and the delivery of the first two sessions.

The training team includes Ishbel McFarlane leading the training and the Scots Language portion of the day, Catherine Tinney leading the Gaelic language portion of the day, and Fiona Stewart leading the BSL portion. Ishbel, Catherine and Fiona are all fluent users of their languages. As well as the leaders, there are around ten other team members behind the scenes – including stage managers, producers, BSL interpreters, and consultant specialists in the languages. 

The training is designed for workplaces and is an informative and transformative day. It gives participants a chance to learn about the three languages, to think about minoritised language in general, to explore the responsibilities that organisations and individuals have to foster multi-lingualism, and even to learn some useful signs and words for use in day-to-day life.

So far we have trained staff from:

*Scottish Government
*Historic Environment Scotland
*Fife Council
*National Galleries of Scotland
*National Museums of Scotland
*National Library of Scotland
*The Scottish Qualifications Authority

To find out more about the training contact: weareferal@outlook.com