Writing Style
Stoidhle sgrìobhaidh
If we read in any language, we will be aware that the writing style can be very different depending on what we are reading.
News reports, language plans, books, magazines, and blogs can (all) have a very different style, and there are many different types of book: formal, technical books, children's books, learners' books, old books and so on.
At level B2 we should be reading a variety of resources, and becoming familiar with Gaelic being used in different styles, registers, and dialects.
Read these two passages first and answer the questions which follow.
A’ chiad earrainn Gaelic
Sa bhliadhna 1908, cheannaich an Riaghaltas Eilean Bhatarsaigh bhon Bhan-tighearna Gordon Cathcart airson £6,250.
Chaidh a roinn 'na leth‑cheud croit is a h‑ochd.
Fhuair teaghlaichean à Barraigh agus à Miughalaigh na croitean.
Ach cha b' ann gun strì agus ùpraid fad bhliadhnaichean roimhe seo a fhuair na daoine a bha ga iarraidh, fearann ann am Bhatarsaigh.
Feumar a dhol air ais mòran bhliadhnaichean gus sealladh fhaighinn air cor nan daoine sin, agus air dè ghluais iad gu strì a bhuannaich an t‑eilean dhaibh ann an 1908.
An toiseach, beagan mun eilean fhèin.
Dè 'n seòrsa àite a bha ann am Bhatarsaigh?
B' ann le Clann Nèill Bharraigh a bha Bhatarsaigh, còmhla ris na h‑eileanan beaga eile mun cuairt air Barraigh, gus an do reic iad an oighreachd ann an 1838.
Gheibhear a' chiad iomradh air anns a' chunntas a chaidh a sgrìobhadh mu na h‑Eileanan an Iar, leis an Deadhan Munro, sa bhliadhna 1549.
The first section English
In 1908, the Government bought the Isle of Vatersay from Lady Gordon Cathcart for £6,250.
It was divided into fifty‑eight crofts.
Families from Barra and Mingulay acquired the crofts.
But it was not without struggle and years of uproar before this that the people who wanted it got land in Vatersay.
We have to go back many years to get an insight into the status/condition/circumstances of those people, and what moved them to a struggle that won the island for them in 1908.
Firstly, a little about the island itself.
What kind of place was Vatersay?
Clan MacNeil of Barra owned Vatersay, along with the other small islands surrounding Barra, until they sold the estate in 1838.
The first report of it can be found in the account written about the Western Isles, by Dean Monro (Dean of the Isles) in the year 1549.
An dàrna earrainn Gaelic
Bha Ludovic na chabhaig, agus aithreachas air.
Bha e air fuireach thall ro fhada air chèilidh.
Dh'aindeoin nan rabhaidhean a fhuair e, bu ghann a thàrr e nall às an eilean 's an làn reothairt a' tighinn na dheann.
Gu dearbha, b' ann air èiginn—a bhriogais dheth 's am baidhsagail air a dhruim—a fhuair e nall gu Geàrraidh a' Bhota, dìreach mun do dhùin an fhadhail.
Thiormaich e e fhèin mar a b' fheàrr a b' urrainn dha le badan feòir agus dhìrich e chun an rathaid.
Bha Eòghainn Mhurchaidh shuas air Cnoc 'Ic Phàil aig caoraich.
"Dhuine gun tùr," dh'eubh e nuas, "'S ann ort a chaidh an sàbhaladh!
Deich mionaidean eile 's bha thu bàthte, cinnteach.
Nach tu bha gun tonaisg, ge‑tà."
Ach cha robh ùine aig Ludovic fuireach ri còmhradh.
Smèid e agus leum e air an dìollaid , 's e airson na b' urrainn dha de dh'astar a dhèanamh mun dorchnaicheadh i, 's gun lampa no dad eile air a' ghliogaid baidhsagail a bh' aige an iasad.
Bha rathad na mòintich timcheall nam bàgh na chùis uabhais le tuill 's le claisean, 's bha e gu math doirbh dha astar a dhèanamh.
Bhiodh e na b' fheàrr dheth, ge‑tà, nuair a ruigeadh e Àird a' Chlachair.
Bhiodh rathad air a thearradh agus a' ghaoth na chùl an uair sin.
Shaoil e gun dèanadh e an Tobhta dheth ann an trì cairteil na h‑uaireach mus biodh cus uallaich air Màiri Anna.
The second section English
Ludovic was in a hurry, and was regretful
He had stayed over too long visiting.
Despite the warnings he received, he barely made it over from the island with the spring tide racing in.
Indeed, he only just got across to Geàrradh a' Bhota—with his trousers off and the bicycle on his back—just before the ford closed.
He dried himself as best he could with tufts of grass and climbed to the road.
Eòghann Mhurchaidh was up on Cnoc 'Ic Phàil at the sheep.
"(You) reckless man," he said, "You certainly had a lucky escape [were certainly saved] there!"
Ten more minutes and you would have been drowned, for certain.
You weren't completely witless [without sense], though."
But Ludovic didn't have time to stay chatting.
He waved and jumped in the saddle , wanting to cover as much distance as he could before it got dark, and without a lamp or anything else on the wreck of a bicycle he had borrowed.
The moor road around the bays was a nightmare [dreadful affair] with potholes and ditches/furrows, and it was very difficult for him to cover any distance.
He would be better off, though, when he got to Aird a' Chlachair.
He would have a tarmac [tarred] road and the wind behind him then.
He thought he would make it to an Tobhta in three quarters of an hour before Màiri Anna (Mary Ann) was too worried.
Why don't you have a go at this task! If you have a Gaelic speaking friend, you could do this together. If you don't—no problem—you can have double the fun!
It is clear that Excerpt One is non fiction and Excerpt Two is fiction.
Answer these questions about the two excerpts:
Excerpt One is taken from the book Bhatarsaigh and the Raiders by Lisa Storey published in 2023 by Clò Phabaigh.
Excerpt Two is taken from the short story 'Droch Àm dhen Bliadhna' by Paul MacInnes, published in the book Amannan by Chambers (1979), and also in An Guth Aoibhneach by the Saltire Society (1993), ©Annot MacInnes.