Uploaded February 2025 | Updated September 2026, 9 hours ago
Gaelic writer and Edinburgh resident Martin MacIntyre talks to Gordon Wells. In Part 5, moving on from other multilingual contexts the conversation turns to questions of literacy and literature in a Gaelic context, where many of the most fluent speakers of Gaelic do not habitually read or write it. Martin reflects on the lasting legacy of the historically poor treatment of the language in education, while also recording his appreciation of the Gaelic oral tradition, and of songs and stories created by speakers who were not writers.
This film contributes to a small collection which forms one part of an extension series of the Island Voices project, in which its "capture and curation" model is used for more languages in addition to English and Gaelic.
The Martin MacIntyre Collection:
Gael in Edinburgh documentary in four languages –
Gaelic youtu.be/b8VHM1hN1gA
English youtu.be/DQUypf4DZGI
Catalan youtu.be/uftWdspWfr8
Welsh youtu.be/l1xlfT_2j8s
Conversation –
Full Version youtu.be/3IZr9MpdaiY
Short Cuts guthan.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/martin-short-cuts-pdf.pdf
Poetry –
Canaidh youtu.be/V-R3EYZxjo0
Foghar Dhùn Èideann youtu.be/IY8KhBLQMB0
Litearras san Smior youtu.be/QxKBK7krLfE
Further background:
guthan.wordpress.com/2025/02/03/gael-in-edinburgh
About Island Voices/Guthan nan Eilean:
guthan.wordpress.com/about
Gaelic writer and Edinburgh resident Martin MacIntyre talks to Gordon Wells. In Part 5, moving on from other multilingual contexts the conversation turns to questions of literacy and literature in a Gaelic context, where many of the most fluent speakers of Gaelic do not habitually read or write it. Martin reflects on the lasting legacy of the historically poor treatment of the language in education, while also recording his appreciation of the Gaelic oral tradition, and of songs and stories created by speakers who were not writers.
This film contributes to a small collection which forms one part of an extension series of the Island Voices project, in which its "capture and curation" model is used for more languages in addition to English and Gaelic.
The Martin MacIntyre Collection:
Gael in Edinburgh documentary in four languages –
Gaelic youtu.be/b8VHM1hN1gA
English youtu.be/DQUypf4DZGI
Catalan youtu.be/uftWdspWfr8
Welsh youtu.be/l1xlfT_2j8s
Conversation –
Full Version youtu.be/3IZr9MpdaiY
Short Cuts guthan.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/martin-short-cuts-pdf.pdf
Poetry –
Canaidh youtu.be/V-R3EYZxjo0
Foghar Dhùn Èideann youtu.be/IY8KhBLQMB0
Litearras san Smior youtu.be/QxKBK7krLfE
Further background:
guthan.wordpress.com/2025/02/03/gael-in-edinburgh
About Island Voices/Guthan nan Eilean:
guthan.wordpress.com/about
