Announcing the 2nd Anual Gaelic Immersion

The Scottish Club of Tulsa, along with its Gaelic Studies Group, will host the Second Annual Gaelic Immersion Weekend October 15-16, 2005 at the University of Tulsa College of Law.

We are thrilled that Muriel Fisher, a native Gaelic speaker, has agreed to come back and teach the course for the second year. Muriel is a wonderful teacher, both knowledgeable about her subject and very skilled at conveying that knowledge in an effective and entertaining way. She grew up on the Isle of Skye and did not learn English until age six.  She peppers her teaching with stories about her childhood, which adds an invaluable cultural aspect to the language course.  She is not just a native Gaelic speaker, however, she is also an accomplished and sought after teacher.  She is

• founder and director of the Tucson Gaelic Institute (established in 1983)
adjunct professor of languages at the University of Arizona (1996-present)
• language instructor at Pima County Community College (1993-present); and
• instructor at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Scotland’s Gaelic College

All those who speak Gaelic, are learning Gaelic, or are interested in learning Gaelic are welcome.  Registration for the weekend is $90, which includes the registration fee, the course materials, and lunch on both Saturday and Sunday.  Seats are limited, however, so send your registration form and fee in soon. Questions may also be directed to Chris Merle, chrislmerle@yahoo.com

[2005 Flyer (PDF)] [2005 Registration Form(PDF) ]

Note- As the time gets closer, we'll post information on places to stay. There is a cluster of hotels of various price ranges at 31st & Memorial where I-44 and US 64 (Broken Arrow Expressway) intersect.

A bheil Gàidhlig agaibh?

Interested in learning Scottish Gaelic? We have started a Gaelic studies group. We meet Wednesday evenings from 7-9. Contact Chris Merle for details at a SCOT club meeting or by email.. There is no cost for the class, but there will be a cost of materials and photocopying. We are currently using Teach Yourself Gaelic with audio (CD or cassette) as our base course material. Thanks to a generous donation from the club we also have the first two seasons of the Speaking Our Language videos, cassettes, and other reference material.We now have the workbooks and audio cassettes for Series 3 and 4. We hope to purchase the video tapes for SOL soon.

Like all languages you need to hear how it sounds to be able to prounounce. No where is this more true than in Gaelic. Gaelic uses only 18 letters of the Roman alphabet, but its various combinations represent over 50 sounds. The key to pronouncing Gaelic is the angry cat noise. Hopefully having an interest in things Scottish you've heard how to correctly pronounce the ch in the word loch. For the next sound, add a hard k sound to it. And there is a breathy quality to Gaelic, so breathe through the words when you say them.

Here are just a few phrases in Gaelic (or a taste of Gaelic) with a rough pronunciation to get you started.

Some Gaelic Resources on the Internet

• Sabhal Mòr Ostaig - Gaelic college on the Island of Skye (This is the place to start)
• Murielof Skye - Tucson Gaelic Institute
• Beag air Bheag {Little by Little} A taste of Scottish Gaelic for absolute beginners from BBC Scotland.
• Radio nan Gaidheal - Gaelic language radio from BBC Scotland.
• Akerbeltz.org - Gaelic Resources on the Internet.
• Scottish Gaelic Learners Association of the Bay Area. (lots of useful phrases and resources.