Inverness 21-23 June '09

I travelled to Inverness from Edinburgh by train on Sunday 21 June. The scenery was amazing and I would recommend travelling by train for the reason. When I arrived in Inverness, I grabbed a cab to the B+B I was staying at. The driver was a lovely chap who had visited NZ a few times so we had quite a chat on the way. I stayed at the Highlander B+B in Ardconnel Street, which was very close to the main streets and the train station.

The next day, I had arranged to meet with DJ MacIntyre, Director of Cli. Cli is a charitable organisation that represents the interests of adult Gaelic learners, and provides them with representation and a voice on issues relating to the Gaelic language. I spent two very valuable hours talking with DJ about Cli and its activities in relation to Gaelic language revitalisation. The two main activities that we focused on in our conversation were Ulpan, the new way of teaching Gaelic, and Cothram, Cli's monthly magazine.

Ulpan is based on a teaching system developed for the teaching of Hebrew, and that was later adopted in Wales (Wulpan). It is structured in 214 lessons of 90 minutes each. The idea is that learners can access the lessons at their own pace and in their own time.

Cothram, Cli's monthly magazine, is a bilingual publication that contains Gaelic language interest stories. The word 'cothram' means opportunity. It includes articles about other language communities, interviews with people involved in Gaelic language revival, and also specialist vocabulary sections with information about specific subjects such as curling, dog commands and bagpipes.

I want to thank DJ for the time he gave to me and also to commend him for the important work that he and Cli are doing for the Gaelic language and its adult learners.

I spent most of the rest of my time in Inverness trying to get internet access, and without much success. There was no access in the B+B I was staying at and I did manage to get limited access for 30 minutes at the public library. However, it was very difficult to find. In the end I did find a place with access, but when I went back (twice) with my laptop, it was closed. So that was a little disappointing. However, Inverness is a beautiful town and is definitely worth a visit. It is close by to Culloden, the site of the routing of Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Jacobite supporters, and Loch Ness, the home of the legendary Nessie.