A Good Sign For The Future

In more news on the growing acceptance and respect in Scotland for its native language, the Scotsman reports on the growth in Scottish language signage across the country:

“GAELIC is being used to promote firms even when most of the staff do not speak the language, a study has found.

A review of the use of bilingual signs discovered that they are being increasingly adopted by companies as a way of raising their profile.

The findings will be presented to members of the Scottish Parliament’s cross party group on Gaelic, at Holyrood today.

Tesco in Inverness and the new Sainsbury store in Nairn already use Gaelic signage, and a forthcoming Asda in Inverness has indicated it will also do so.

Tom Matthew of Reference economic consultants said most of the assisted organisations were not particularly “Gaelic” in nature. “Less than half have staff or volunteers who have the language. Most organisations make no use of Gaelic in their dealings with the general public.”

He said the main motivation for using Gaelic was a desire to support the language while also raising the profile of the company.

“People tended to think using Gaelic signs would give them something different, help them stand out from the crowd and give them a bit of an edge over their rivals.”

He said the increase in customers for firms using bilingual signs come mainly from Gaelic speakers and tourists.”

The BBC carries a news report with video on the findings presented to the Scottish parliamentary committee.