Posie's Blog. Tales of island life on a hebridean hill farm

Posie's Blog. Tales of island life on a hebridean hill farm

Tuesday 21 June 2011

What's in a language......

Exams over, and I have decided it is far more stressful to be the parent of a child sitting exams, than the candidate, especially when said offspring have thankfully inherited the completely laid back attitude to life their father the happy farmer has. This year my stress levels doubled as I had two teenagers putting me through my paces with their exams. I appeared to be the only one who suffered from exam stress in this house, which is a good thing, except when one teenager gets exam times totally wrong and is on the bus instead of in the actual exam. Lots of motherly flapping and the issue was soon sorted and said child was thankfully unfazed and sat the exam quite confidently, unlike mother who was a quivering heap of jelly on the floor at home. Other teenager then announces they have just realised they copied their candidate number down incorrectly on all exam papers and only realised their mistake when they could not log into their details on SQA website…more jelly wobbles and panicking, until I am reassured this is not going to affect the paper or mark. So finally the exams are over and I can pack my bag of nerves away for another year having endured lots of teasing from my laid back eldest two, who really could not work out what all of my fussing was about.

The laid back attitude continues when eldest daughter drops into the conversation as an aside remark that she has won the school’s award for Gaelic this session and will be presented with a £50.00 book token at the forthcoming awards ceremony. Truly proud mum is immediately texting nearest and dearest to spread the happy news, while eldest daughter is completely unfazed. It is a real asset that when success knocks at her door, she takes it in her stride.  Her real sense of pleasure and success is not awarded by other people or how others perceive her; it comes from deep within, from a journey through her own talents and ability.

Eldest was only 7 when she decided she wanted to learn more Gaelic, having been immersed in the Gaelic culture by her Seanmhair and Seanair ( the happy farmer’s parents) who conversed in their mother tongue to my youngsters. For years she sat in the evenings with a local Gaelic tutor learning to converse in a language which inspired her. This year, not having studied Gaelic at school for a number of years, she opted to study Gaelic and sat her Higher Gaelic exam. In April I was invited to a conference at the local Gaelic college where there were children from across the island showcasing their Gaelic studies, youngsters of all ages, singing, performing and giving speeches in Gaelic. I watched with huge pride as my eldest daughter took to the stage with her peers, in front of the large assembled crowd, and gave a fluent presentation in Gaelic. It is quite something to see your own child converse comfortably in a language you know only a few garbled phrases in, and for me it was especially poignant as both her Seanair and Seanmhair have now passed on, but their mother tongue is living on through the future generations. They would have been so proud to see their granddaughter take to the platform, to know that their Gaelic heritage is being nurtured, preserved and is passing on to the younger generations. A language that is so vitally important, because locked up in the language is the humour, dialect, idioms and culture of generations of islanders, it is a language that for many years was persecuted, has struggled at times to survive and in recent years it has strengthened, and is today embedded in the present and the future of the island. My daughter now holds the key to her own island roots and heritage and for that I incredibly grateful and extremely proud.
Gle math agus slainte! (Well done and good luck).

Until next time…

37 comments:

mrsnesbitt said...

I would definitely agree that teenagers of today have such a laid back attitude! Horizontal even! Dx

Pondside said...

Well done to your teenagers - and to you for surviving exam season!
The story of your eldest daughter's interest in Gaelic is inspiring. There are still lots of Gaelic speakers in Cape Breton - my dad's generation grew up using it before it was beaten out of them at school - and children are taking it in school now so that it will not be lost.
Very interesting piece!

Milla said...

GCSEs?? God, end of y7 and y9 have been stressful enough. Yup, for me, not them!!!
Well done to your daughter, indicative of great things come August and results, I hope!
Beautiful, pin-sharp pictures. That's some camera - and a steady arm - you've got!!

Maggie Christie said...

Llongyfarchiadau to Eldest (from a mum in a similar situation, but in Welsh) and pob lwc for the exam results. We're only in years two and four here so no such worries... yet!

Frances said...

Oh Posie, reading this just made me so happy for you and for your Gaelic scholar. To be that young and to be devoted to truly learning something that represents a connection to history...well, let me again offer congratulations to all involved.

I studied Latin to learn order, and some spelling rules, and to help with the tests needed to be accepted to university ... oh, also to read Ovid. I also learned and re-learned French over decades, and once learned and almost totally forgot Russian.

Reading posts like this one make me wish I had been a bit more assertive with the French. And added some others to my wilting mind.

Bravo to you and yours! xo

bayou said...

How lucky those children are to have been told another language by their grandparents. Here, it is the other way round, we could learn two other languages to the twins but their mother is totally against it. In this matter, I am powerless. Great reading about your stress because you are able to make fun out of it. I am so glad that I have an equally leaned back life now. My own resolution about those times was always that one day there will be payback time after all those efforts. I was right :-).

Norma Murray said...

Congratulations on having such a talented family - though I wouldn't wish going through those 'exam' years ever again.

Molly said...

Posie - I wish I was a teenager! (All that worrying we do and it all comes out right in the end!) Congratulations to your brilliant daughter! Her grandparents (and parents) must be so proud of her!

diney said...

It's such a relief that exams are over for the year, and well done to you all for surviving, and to your modest daughter!

Chris Stovell said...

A job well done by all your teenagers AND their mother. So pleased for your eldest daughter. I'm still not speaking nearly enough Welsh, although I try to do what I can.

Fennie said...

Posie

Horribly late I know - but I have a large book of Gaelic songs at home, with the music. They were collected in the Hebrides in the 1920s and set down for fear of their being lost. I inherited them from my Mother. It would be lovely if they could return to the Hebrides and to someone who would use them. So drop me a line on my blog should you want them for your daughter.

Jan said...

JUst discovered your blog...and really enjoyed it! I once had 2 sons doing exams simultaneously...so I can FULLY EMPATHISE/SYMPATHISE...!
Hopw to visit you again, Posie.

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