Перевести текст! languages of the british isles it may surprise you to know that until a few centuries ago there were many natives of what we call the british isles who did not speak english. the western land of wales spoke welsh; in the farthest north and the islands of scotland the language was gaelic; and a similar language, irish gaelic, was spoken in ireland; manx was the language of the isles of man, and cornish that of the south-western tip of britain. we’re not talking about dialects – localized versions of a language – which often contain alternative words or phrases for certain things; but which are forms of english, welsh, gaelic, manx and cornish are complete languages with their own grammar poetry and stories – all that we call a culture. strangely enough, there’s a strong revival of interest in them. in scotland gaelic language society has existed for eighty years. it’s dedicated to preserving the traditions of the gaelic songs, verse and prose. and more and more people in the lowland areas of scotland as well as the islands, where gaelic is still spoken, now want to learn the language. since the early 1970s, more and more people are learning gaelic and go to evening classes. now people in schools can choose to take gaelic for their final exams. in wales the welsh language society was formed in 1962 and it has been fighting to restore welsh to an equal place with english. in 1967 they won an important victory: welsh were recognized as being equally valid for use in law courts, either written or spoken. in wales some of the programmes of the fourth channel are broadcast in welsh.
