ggreig

When the census takes place on 27th March, for the first time there are to be questions in the Scottish form about the Scots language – can you understand, speak, read or write it? – and to help folk answer the questions there’s a web site with samples to read and listen to.

Since Scots is often regarded as a dialect of English¹, some help’s a good idea; and if you’re not one of those required to answer the questions, then it may still be interesting to listen to some voices that you don’t usually hear.

For those looking for something a bittie different, I would recommend haein a listen to Aberdeen and the North East, Orkney and Shetland. I had to concentrate hardest to follow the Caithness speech.

¹ There’s certainly a close relationship between Scots and English, and it’s understandable that there would be disagreements about whether they’re far enough apart on the spectrum to be regarded as separate languages. For an article about why Scots can be considered a language rather than a dialect, read here.

If you can cope with the official examples, then for a few laughs you might like The Wither Forecast (in Doric), Doric call centre, Taysiders in Space (Dundonian Star Trek), or Scotland the What?.