What languages do peoplee speak in Scotland?

[aragon017]

I'm doing a report on Scotland and I need to know what languages people speak.

[Mamie]

Scots, Gaelic and English plus whatever languages immigrants speak.

[Jacquelyn]

Yes, there is Scots spoken in Scotland, as well as Gaelic and English, but in Scots the dialects vary terribly, For instance "what" in English is "whit" in Glasgow and "fit" in Aberdeen. Many from the Aberdeen area speak Doric which is a countrified dialect which my uncle spoke, being from Udny, Aberdeenshire. Here is an example. In English "where is the dog?" translates into "Fars i dug?" In English "why" translates into Doric "Fit wye?". In Aberdeen nobody asks "do you want", they say "Are ye needin'" and so on. That's coming from my part of the woods. I am from Aberdeen.

[Hirta]

There are several debates on several forums on Scotland.com as to whether 'Scots' exists as a distinct language. Some say it does, whereas some say it is called a language only by nationalists who are keen to assert a distinct national identity from the English and thus to justify independence. I'll let you work which side of the fence I sit on on this issue! Some are on the politics and history forums.

[ANDY-J]

The European Union in Brussels lists Scots as a national minority language which means that efforts are made to preserve it as a part of our heritage.It was placed on the list at the request of the government in Westminster who could hardly be accused of having a political motivation for preserving the language.

[-Geordie-]

well if you think about it there are as many people in the government of Scots, Irish, Welsh origin as there are who are English.

[Hirta]

Originally posted by ANDY-J
The European Union in Brussels lists Scots as a national minority language which means that efforts are made to preserve it as a part of our heritage.It was placed on the list at the request of the government in Westminster who could hardly be accused of having a political motivation for preserving the language.

No political motivation? I doubt it! Maybe to appease nationalists, maybe because Westminster has an 'unusual' number of Scots in it, maybe to promote Scotland as a seperate area worthy for tourists to visit, who knows? But I think to say that there's no political motive involved would be highly naive.