I'm a total hybrid/ mongrel being half Spanish (not a simple identity in itself) and a quarter Irish. I speak Castilian and English, but both have flavours of where I've been and who I've been speaking to. I'm an unconscious mimic, but I love that I have that multiplicity of identity, and that I can swap and change and 'code switch' if necessary, though I'm far more comfortable effing and jeffing (what one boss described as my industrial language 🙄🤣, it was a crap situation. I have purposefully adopted a regional accent as a way of mitigating a town / gown situation, and although I've been in the Midlands for the majority of my years I've never lost my northern vowels, yay! So yes language and accent are identity markers and camouflages and fascinating.
I'm really glad to read your story, Sue, and completely understand that unconscious mimicry that can happen. I feel I do a bit less of it than I used to, which is interesting in itself just to observe rather than make anything of one way or another. My mother-in-law is from Shetland and though she's 70 and left 53 years ago to live all over Scotland, you wouldn't know it! I'm fascinated by the fact that for some of us, we do change while others just don't.
I am SO here for chatting about language and identity and belonging! I was born in England but grew up in Wales and learned Welsh in school from age 5 until 16. I can still understand spoken/written Welsh to a conversational level, but I'm not confident to speak it anymore (and don't get much opportunity living in NE England!). I also feel like a total imposter claiming any kind of Welsh identity because I'm Saes (English) by birth and family, but at the same time it's Wales rather than England that feels like home.
Love this insight, Ellen. And that you have Welsh, even if you don't currently use it. My kids are in Gaelic Medium Education which is a similarly immersive language environment but I also get that they have a funny relationship to the language. It's the school language and, despite all my hopes and intentions, after a certain point, we stopped using it at home at all. Mostly because the way I use my Gaelic for work makes them cringe!
I’ve been going back over my DNA results and ancestry this morning after watching ‘Humans’ yesterday on the BBC. I’m mainly French/Irish on my mum’s side (though the Irish possibly has Scottish roots way back) and British/Cornish on my dad’s side but don’t speak any of those languages. I love Scotland, would move there tomorrow, and years ago tried to find a course to learn Gaelic but couldn’t, so had a little buzz of excitement when I read about the Bill in your post. English is an interesting language as it combines mainly Germanic and Latin influences (I think) and isn’t overly gendered like some languages, but it can still feel less lyrical and musical than many regional dialects.
This is so interesting, Jaimie! And yes, English is actually a really hard language for beginners to learn because of its idiosyncrasies and there being so many exceptions to the rules. Gaelic is quite a logical language once you overcome the initial learning hump. I used to teach beginners and intermediates using the Speak Gaelic online course materials which is aligned to the Common European Framework for language learning (A1, A2 and so on) and it is such a musical language.
Madainn mhath, I just disappeared down the Speak Gaelic course rabbit hole! Thank you for mentioning it…so you used to teach it 🤔Substack seems such a perfect place for a beginners course 🤓….
I relate to this so much 🙏 almost monthly I second guess my use of Scots in the novel I'm working on bc I'm worried about how I'll be seen when I'm being an ambassador but have had the everyday use of the language drummed out of me too
We're singing from the same hymn sheet, Becky! Completely understand this. Even surrounded by Scots speakers at a book launch the other week, I wasn't able to confidently use it.
I'm a total hybrid/ mongrel being half Spanish (not a simple identity in itself) and a quarter Irish. I speak Castilian and English, but both have flavours of where I've been and who I've been speaking to. I'm an unconscious mimic, but I love that I have that multiplicity of identity, and that I can swap and change and 'code switch' if necessary, though I'm far more comfortable effing and jeffing (what one boss described as my industrial language 🙄🤣, it was a crap situation. I have purposefully adopted a regional accent as a way of mitigating a town / gown situation, and although I've been in the Midlands for the majority of my years I've never lost my northern vowels, yay! So yes language and accent are identity markers and camouflages and fascinating.
Now that Shetland accent is a fascinating hybrid isn’t it?
It really is! I’m researching the dialects of Scots at the mo in my day job and it's fascinating how it and Orcadian developed!
I'm really glad to read your story, Sue, and completely understand that unconscious mimicry that can happen. I feel I do a bit less of it than I used to, which is interesting in itself just to observe rather than make anything of one way or another. My mother-in-law is from Shetland and though she's 70 and left 53 years ago to live all over Scotland, you wouldn't know it! I'm fascinated by the fact that for some of us, we do change while others just don't.
I am SO here for chatting about language and identity and belonging! I was born in England but grew up in Wales and learned Welsh in school from age 5 until 16. I can still understand spoken/written Welsh to a conversational level, but I'm not confident to speak it anymore (and don't get much opportunity living in NE England!). I also feel like a total imposter claiming any kind of Welsh identity because I'm Saes (English) by birth and family, but at the same time it's Wales rather than England that feels like home.
Love this insight, Ellen. And that you have Welsh, even if you don't currently use it. My kids are in Gaelic Medium Education which is a similarly immersive language environment but I also get that they have a funny relationship to the language. It's the school language and, despite all my hopes and intentions, after a certain point, we stopped using it at home at all. Mostly because the way I use my Gaelic for work makes them cringe!
I’ve been going back over my DNA results and ancestry this morning after watching ‘Humans’ yesterday on the BBC. I’m mainly French/Irish on my mum’s side (though the Irish possibly has Scottish roots way back) and British/Cornish on my dad’s side but don’t speak any of those languages. I love Scotland, would move there tomorrow, and years ago tried to find a course to learn Gaelic but couldn’t, so had a little buzz of excitement when I read about the Bill in your post. English is an interesting language as it combines mainly Germanic and Latin influences (I think) and isn’t overly gendered like some languages, but it can still feel less lyrical and musical than many regional dialects.
This is so interesting, Jaimie! And yes, English is actually a really hard language for beginners to learn because of its idiosyncrasies and there being so many exceptions to the rules. Gaelic is quite a logical language once you overcome the initial learning hump. I used to teach beginners and intermediates using the Speak Gaelic online course materials which is aligned to the Common European Framework for language learning (A1, A2 and so on) and it is such a musical language.
Madainn mhath, I just disappeared down the Speak Gaelic course rabbit hole! Thank you for mentioning it…so you used to teach it 🤔Substack seems such a perfect place for a beginners course 🤓….
Oh my god, Jaimie that is genius!!!
I’m very excited now! 😃 I sense plans are being made….🤞🏻💕
I relate to this so much 🙏 almost monthly I second guess my use of Scots in the novel I'm working on bc I'm worried about how I'll be seen when I'm being an ambassador but have had the everyday use of the language drummed out of me too
We're singing from the same hymn sheet, Becky! Completely understand this. Even surrounded by Scots speakers at a book launch the other week, I wasn't able to confidently use it.