Teacsa Beurla gu h-ìosal / English text below
Tha mi làn cinnteach gum bidh fios agaibh gu bheil Sabhal Mòr Ostaig suidhichte ann an àrainneachd eireachdail agus eachdraidheil ann an ceann a deas an Eilein Sgitheanaich – sgìre cho breagha ’s a tha ann an Alba! Tha an Sabhal Mòr air cosnadh cliù dha fhèin mar ‘Ionad Nàiseanta Cànain is Cultair na Gàidhlig’. Seo dhuibh an aon ionad foghlaim àrd ìre far am faigh thu oideachadh gu lèir tro mheadhan na Gàidhlig agus far a bheil thu air do chuairteachadh leis a’ chànan agus an dualchas. Tha a’ Cholaiste a’ tarraing oileanach bho air feadh an t-saoghail agus ’s iadsan a tha a’ faighinn tlachd ann an coimhearsnachd Ghàidhlig le cothrom air leth airson an cànan ionnsachadh agus a bruidhinn.
Tha Sabhal Mòr Ostaig a’ tairgsinn chùrsaichean aig ìre tòiseachaidh suas gu ceumannan ann an Gàidhlig agus faodar roghainn a thoirt asta bho dhiofar chuspairean gu ruige cùrsaichean iar-cheumnach agus rannsachadh trachdasan. Cuideachd tha na cùrsaichean gan lìbhrigeadh air astar le tidsearan sgileil. ’S e àite-ionnsachaidh anabarrach sònraichte a tha ann an àrainn chàirdeil na Colaiste far am faigh thu ceòl ’s craic nan cèilidhean no farsaingeachd a’ bhlàir a-muigh. Sin uile agus tha na ceudan, fiù ’s na mìltean, air fàs eòlach air Sabhal Mòr Ostaig tro na ‘Cursaichean Goirid’ a tha a’ ruith aig àm na Càisge agus an t-samhraidh agus a tha cho tarraingeach. ’S fhiach sùil a thoirt air an làrach-lìn againn!
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig was founded in 1973 by the late Sir Iain Noble as an educational and social centre for Scottish Gaelic, with a vision to raise the status of the language and to be the first establishment of higher education in the Hebrides since the downfall of the Lordship of the Isles in the late-fifteenth century. His centre has surpassed the aspirations of its founder to become ‘The National Centre for Gaelic Language and Culture’.
The Sabhal Mòr or ‘Big Barn’ and its steading were a part of its founder’s plan to revive Skye’s economic fortunes and explore linguistic regeneration as an economic driver in the Highlands and Islands. In 1993 Sabhal Mòr Ostaig signed an academic partnership agreement with the University of the Highlands & Islands and today it delivers a wide range of programmes of study from introductory language and short courses to apprenticeships, diplomas and undergraduate and postgraduate degrees ranging from one-year masters degrees to PhDs. The College is the sole further and higher education institution where students are fully immersed in Scottish Gaelic, both as a medium of instruction and within a Gaelic-speaking community, on campus and through distance learning. It offers unparalleled resources: the living language in all its richness and diversity, active researchers working on Gaelic-related topics across the humanities and social sciences, and teaching courses and professional learning for teachers in Gaelic medium education.
Sabhal Mòr’s researchers have played an important part in developing academic registers of written Gaelic and in creating an ecology of scholarship in which Gaelic-medium research can stand alongside scholarship in majority languages. Using Gaelic to investigate Gaelic society from within enables us to challenge conventional narratives about the Gàidhealtachd, often shaped from afar and in a different tongue. This is difficult work, as is the work to bring new focus to and develop new spheres of language-use for any minoritized language and culture. With and for our students, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig is building a research community and with it an academic discourse that is both about and in Gaelic. This work resonates deeply, making a lasting impact on all the communities it serves.
This article was written by Professor Hugh Cheape
