Scots

Damian in Edinburgh   Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:42 pm GMT
It's really good to know that you people find us Scots and our ain leid so interesting. Check back through the Antimoon threads over the last couple o'years or more and you'll see that the topic of Scots and/or Scottish English has been discussed at length over and over again. I dinnae feel inclined to say anything more about it myself so just chat among yourselves.

***I am living in Scotland more then two month and I still do not understand this people. It is normal English but with very different pronunciation***

Yuliya: Is it us as people or the way we speak you don't understand? Probably both - poor you, but you must take us as you find us - we're not going to change just for you, you know. What else did you expect? This is Scotland and we have our own way of speaking English, and even that varies according to where you happen to be in our country. Two months isn't long enough to become accustomed - hang around a wee bit longer and in time you'll find yourself talking just the same as us. For your sake I only hope you're not in Glasgow. :-)
RĂ­ Innse Gall   Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:08 pm GMT
It'll ne'er be a leid till King Jamie comes hame!
Geoffrey Saxby-Louis   Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:33 pm GMT
Hmm...I caught something about King Jamie there. I guess this is not the time to mention the French part of my family who decided against coming to Jamie's aid?. Oh dear and thinking about it the Saxby's were slightly orange too. Time for a subtle change of subject...

Personally I find Glaswegians more difficult to understand than someone from say Edinburgh or Dundee but if I concentrate and strain I can usually figure out what the nice fellow is saying.
Sarcastic Californian   Wed Feb 28, 2007 12:59 am GMT
<<<<<Is Scots part of English or is it a separate language?>>>>>

Well, there's Scots-Gaelic---a separate language from English, right? Though I don't think it's spoken in Scotland anymore...correct me if I'm wrong, Scotsmen.
Travis   Wed Feb 28, 2007 1:11 am GMT
There's Scots, which is an Anglo-Frisian Germanic language (the closest language to English) and then Scottish Gaelic, which is a Goidelic Celtic language; the two are totally different languages, and are only related in that they are both Indo-European languages and the latter has had a good amount of influence on the former. Neither of them are extinct, even though Scottish Gaelic is limited to only the outer extremities of northwestern Scotland today.
Sarcastic Californian   Wed Feb 28, 2007 2:43 am GMT
Do those NorthWestern Scots speak it as an everyday language?
Lazar   Wed Feb 28, 2007 7:03 am GMT
As you can see here ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ScotlandGaelic2001.gif ), Scottish Gaelic is used as an everyday language by most people in the Outer Hebrides, by many people in the Inner Hebrides, and by a small number of people in mainland northwestern Scotland.