Is Scots English?

paul   Mon Apr 13, 2009 3:43 pm GMT
<<I know the dialogue is brief in these "Sweet Sixteen" clips but what is there about the speech you don't understand? >>

For this trailer they cherry-picked a few lines that were spoken in understandable English. However, most of the dialogue in the film was wholly unintelligible....
Damian London E14   Tue Apr 14, 2009 8:04 am GMT
Surely nobody outside of Scotland could fail to understand our very own Dr Who! Did you know he comes from Bathgate, in West Lothian...just imagine it! Even old ladies down in Eastbourne can understand everything the good Doctor says.

btw: Just what would we do without our precious and invaluable Oyster cards?...mine is one of my very bestest of mates here in London Town.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00jz2t4/Doctor_Who_Planet_of_the_Dead/
Damian London E14   Tue Apr 14, 2009 8:14 am GMT
"Sweet Sixteen"......

***However, most of the dialogue in the film was wholly unintelligible....***

Then your subtitles are also invaluable, like my Oyster card, Paul. I so love being bilingual - I feel desperately sorry for monoglots! ;-)
Bob   Tue Apr 14, 2009 9:24 am GMT
Being bilingual is only useful when it's the two languages you speak and understand.

It doesn't help me to better understand Mandarin or Hindi films than the average monoglot.
curious   Tue Apr 14, 2009 10:54 am GMT
I'm a bit dizzy.. I thought Scottish was a celtic language now I've discovered that this language is quite similar to English??? How on earth??
thanks for your kind explanation.
Leasnam   Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:39 pm GMT
<<I'm a bit dizzy.. I thought Scottish was a celtic language now I've discovered that this language is quite similar to English??? How on earth??
thanks for your kind explanation. >>

There are basically 3 languages used in Scotland:
1). Scottish Gaelic - a Celtic language
2). Scots (Lallans) - a Germanic language closely related to English
3). English and its Scottish form: Scottish English - a Germanic language

You have to specify which is which, because you could use the generic term "Scottish" to describe them all
Lazar   Wed Apr 15, 2009 6:23 pm GMT
Exactly. There's Scottish English (a dialect of English), and then Scots (a Germanic language related to English), and then Scottish Gaelic (a Celtic language, closely related to Irish Gaelic).
Damian London SW15   Thu Apr 16, 2009 11:17 pm GMT
Gaelic (pronounced as Gallic in Scotland) is very much a minority Language confined to the western and north western Scottish fringes - strongest on the outer Islands of the Highlands.

Most of us are happy to just chug along in our lovely Scottish accented English with its regional variations. I have to say my own Edinburgh Scottish accent is proving to be quite a unique selling point on the very hectic dating scene down here in London - along with all other attributes of course..... ;-)

How about my cool fellow countryman Bryan - the banker from near Glasgow?...the guy in the salmon coloured shirt with the rolled up sleeves. True Lowl;and Scottish accent of the Queen's English.

As Bryan the Banker explains at the end when he is so abysmally voted off he hadn't fully revealed to Anne Robinson his true sexual identity....she didn't ask him whether he liked musicals for starters! She always asks that when she suspects a bloke of batting for the other side as they say down here in England! ;-)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jzxjk
Robin Michael   Fri Apr 17, 2009 2:04 pm GMT
I was thinking about whether or not 'Scots' could be classified as a distinct language or merely a very poor way of speaking English, when a thought occured to me.

In Aberdeen Scotland, I worked briefly in the BT Call Centre. As part of the job we were required to sit a test in which we were asked if we could understand various British accents.

The work in the Call Centre was extremely poorly paid and the general conditions were also very poor. The work attracted Indian postgraduates who could get a Visa to study in the UK to be followed by a period of working in the UK.

When we saw a training video of the sort of people that BT expected to recruit to their Call Centres it was obvious that they expected to appeal to the lowest economic subgroup (Scottish Untouchables) in society.

However these people were all expected to communicate in "English".

I think it is true to say that Scottish men have broader accents then Scottish women.
fraz   Mon Apr 20, 2009 11:20 am GMT
There are still a lot of words from old Scots hanging around in modern Scottish English. But some of them are dying out as successive generations edge towards a more standardised version of English. My gran used lots of Scots terms that I no longer commonly hear today.
Bill   Tue Apr 21, 2009 4:24 am GMT
<< My gran used lots of Scots terms that I no longer commonly hear today. >>

Fraz - What terms are these?