(514)  ULSTER-SCOTS (AND GAELS) SHOW US THE WAY

ULSTER-SCOTS (AND GAELS) SHOW US THE WAY

 

Martin Hogg has drawn our attention to the excellent work of the Northern Ireland Court Service in ensuring the accessibility of the courts in the languages of the people.  Thus there are guides to the courts published in Ulster Scots (Anent the Court Sairvice: A guide foir uisears o the Norlin Airlan Court Sairvice) and in Gaelic (Maidir leis an tSeirbhís Chúirte: Treoir d’úsáideoirí Chúirte Thuaisceart Éireann).  These can be accessed at http://www.courtsni.gov.uk/en-GB/AboutUs/.  Pursuing the matter further, Scots Law News finds that the NICS also produces Codes of Courtesy for the use of Ulster Scots and Irish in official business, which can be tracked down at http://www.courtsni.gov.uk/en-GB/Publications/Using_the_Court_Service/.  True, the Scottish Courts Administration provides translations of some of its leaflets in Gaelic, Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi and Cantonese (see http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/translate/index.asp), but nothing at all in Scots.  Time for reflection again on the implications of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages for the courts (see No 345), and for a debate in the Scottish Parliament again about the use of Scots as well as other languages in Scotland (see No 187 and follow links therein, and No 201)?