BBC ALBA are set to offer a comprehensive learning package for Gaelic language.

A new, wide-ranging, multi-faceted learning brand has been announced, offering the most comprehensive approach to learning Scottish Gaelic in a generation.
By John A. MacInnes
Published 10th Feb 2021, 09:22 BST
Updated 10th Feb 2021, 09:41 BST
The new project aims to enhance Gaelic learning skillsThe new project aims to enhance Gaelic learning skills
The new project aims to enhance Gaelic learning skills

SpeakGaelic will launch from September 2021 with a course, a dedicated on-demand learning website and complementary programming across BBC ALBA platforms, including BBC ALBA YouTube, ensuring international availability.

This new brand will offer the most significant transformational change to learning and using Gaelic in almost thirty years and is set to be a focal point for adult learners and speakers.

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Aimed at increasing the uptake and usage of Gaelic, the project will launch in four stages across 2021-2023, each directed at a different proficiency on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL) scale of A1, A2, B1 and B2. SpeakGaelic will offer users the option of face-to-face classes, self-guided online learning, and media content through a variety of platforms – or all three at the same time. It will never have been easier to learn and use Gaelic. As well as complete beginners, SpeakGaelic will be aimed at enabling lapsed or less confident speakers to use their Gaelic with confidence.

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The initiative will complement and extend the range of options already available to learners through other sources.

SpeakGaelic will be delivered by media organisation MG ALBA, with Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the National Centre for Gaelic Language and Culture as lead academic partner, and the BBC as media content provider.

SpeakGaelic is funded by the Scottish Government; the principal body for promoting Gaelic development, Bòrd na Gàidhlig; the BBC; and MG ALBA, which delivers BBC ALBA in partnership with the BBC. It will be delivered over a three-year period at a cost of £2.4 million in total.Iseabail Mactaggart, Director of Multiplatform Content at MG ALBA, said: “SpeakGaelic is an unprecedented partnership initiative to deliver a unique combination of ways for people to take up – and improve – their Gaelic. This is exciting, and important for the future of Gaelic. All of us at MG ALBA are proud to be a part of an initiative we hope will prove game-changing for the future of the language. I’m personally looking forward to using the resources.”

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