CÀBHA (Ceistean Àbhaisteach) - FAQ

Carson a tha a’ Bheurla cho gann is cho beag?
Mhothaich sinn gum bithear a’ leughadh cànan an dara chuid Gàidhlig no Beurla ma tha duilleag gach aon ann.  Oir is e “Gàidhlig air beul an t-sluaigh” mar shuaicheantas againn, bha sinn a’ lorg dòigh anns am bhite a’ leughadh barrachd Gàidhlig na Beurla gun ghluasad eadar duilleagan eadar-dhealaichte.  Tha a’ Bheurla air an aon duilleig còmhla ris a’ Gháidhlig mar sin, ach cho gann is ann an àite nas “iomallaiche” no litrichean nas lugha na a’ Ghàidhlig.

Why is there so little English and in such small letters?
If there are separate pages for each language, we noticed that people would tend to read either the one or the other.  Since “Gaelic on the lips of the people” is our motto, we have tried to find a way to maximise the presence of Gaelic for everyone who views these pages without having to shift between pages.  That is why the English is found on the same page as the Gaelic, but less of it and just that little bit more difficult to get to or in small letters than the Gaelic.

Carson nach eil sinn a’ leantail GSG (Gnàthasan Sgrìobhaidh na Gàidhlig) gu dlùth?
Tha tòrr stuth air ur duilleagan dhan luchd ionnsachaidh.  Nì riaghailtean GSG a’ chùis do fhileantaich, ach chan eil iad buileach cho freagarrach dhan luchd-ionnsachaidh.  Tha a’ mhór-chuid dhiubh ag ràdh gum bheil eadar-dhealachadh ó/ò agus é/è ’gan cuideachadh, gum bheil na faclan giorraichte (mar ri am > rim) no rudan eile mar sin a’ cur dragh orra a thaobh leughadh agus fuaimneachadh.
Agus air an taobh eile, ged a tha e ceart gu leòr a bhith a’ giorrachadh fhaclan san chànan labhartha, chan eil seo cho riatanach san chànan sgrìobhte - cha sgrìobhear rudan mar “shan’t, d’ya, whazzat” sa Bheurla a bharrachd.
Is e co-réiteachadh a thaobh ghnàthasan sgrìobhaidh ann an iomadh dòigh a tha sinn ’ga chleachdadh mar sin - cuimhnich nach eil gnàthas-sgrìobhaidh air an t-saoghal a chòrdas dhan a h-uile!

Why aren’t we strictly following the GOC (Gaelic Orthographic Conventions)?
A lot of our pages are designed for Gaelic learners.  The GOC rules are all very well for native speakers, but many learners find them unhelpful, a lot of whom say they find distinctions like ó/ò and é/è helpful and that the abrreviated particles (like ri am > rim) or other things are not helping either when reading or trying to pronounce Gaelic.
And on the other hand, even though it is fine to run these together in spoken Gaelic, this is a written text - and you won’t find words like “shan’t, d’ya, whazzat” in English either.
So in some ways the way we spell is an attempt at a compromise - and please remember that there is no spelling in the world that has no opponents!