When she was growing up on North Uist, Linda Macleod spent a lot of time with her grandparents and was surrounded by Gaelic songs and stories.
As a youngster, everything she did, from baking to working on her father’s croft was amid the language she loved and it seemed the most natural thing in the world for her to study Gaelic at Glasgow University where, with the help and support of “fantastic lecturers” at the institution, she graduated with a first-class honours degree in 2010.
In the intervening years, Linda’s passion hasn’t abated – it’s the opposite – and that explains why she has become involved in broadcasting and other ventures.
And now, she will continue her work to create a new audience when Seachdain na Gàidhlig – World Gaelic Week – is held across Scotland from February 19 to 25.
What is Linda Macleod’s role as Gaelic ambassador?
The packed programme has been designed to encourage both fluent native speakers and those who aren’t as confident with their Gaelic to come together and participate in various events at community level, some of which are inter-generational.
Linda has no doubt of the power of such initiatives as a means of reminding people of the beauty and potency of the words, music and culture in which she is steeped and she was a ubiquitous figure at last year’s Royal National Mod.
As she said: “It’s vital that Gaelic has a place in our communities, so it’s important we learn from the older Gaelic-speaking members of our communities and normalise Gaelic in as many social settings as we can.”
As part of her role, she has been urging organisations, companies, and individuals to promote and market any Gaelic events they will be hosting in the coming weeks.
She explained: “Say a Gaelic Phrase Day is back this year, so I’ve been encouraging people to think about theirs, so they can share those by video on social media on Thursday February 22.
“Seachdain na Gàidhlig have also partnered with educational publishers Twinkl Alba and created a comprehensive selection of Gaelic resources that can be used by teachers in primary and secondary schools for both Gaelic medium classes and learners.
Preserving Gaelic for the next generation
“To get Gaelic speakers thinking and conversing about local dialect, I’ve also decided to launch a new project called Dè Chanas Sibhse? I’ll be preparing five short videos that include Gaelic words, phrases, proverbs, and customs about the weather from my native island of North Uist and concluding each video asking the audience ‘Dè Chanas Sibhse?’/‘What Do You Say?’
“The videos will be shared one a day, from Monday to Friday, on my social media pages and I’m hoping people will comment and share words and phrases from their dialect, so we can gather as many as we can. Who doesn’t like talking about the weather?”
Linda is fully aware that Gaelic faces challenges in launching a resurgence. But she is nothing if not positive about the impact which she and others can make.
As she concluded: “Seachdain na Gàidhlig shows how much we can do to help support the language at community level. Events like these aid individuals and organisations to play their part in learning and preserving the Gaelic language for the next generation.”
Further information is available at: seachdainnagaidhlig.scot/
