Signs here

A plan by Edinburgh City Council to expand the number of Gaelic signs and visibility of its culture has been branded a “waste of money” by opposition members.

I am all in favour of Gaelic education, but Edinburgh was never part of the Gaeltacht of Scotland! Our proud traditions and language is Scots. It is a unique parallel language to English and it’s knowledge and literacy is dying in the very city where it has a proud heritage in government, literacy and song for hundreds of years. Proper Scots signage and standardised language instruction is appropriate in Edinburgh. Gaelic is not part of the culture of this city.

Tim Wight

It is this simple. Scots, English and Scottish Gaelic are the languages of this country. Edinburgh is it’s capital. Our linguistic culture should be embraced especially here at the seat of our national government. Personally I don’t speak Gaelic and have no interest in learning it, but believe in an inclusive, outward-looking society.

Mark Mcghee

People are missing the point here. This is quite simple for them to implement, unlike these incredibly difficult tasks like cleaning the streets, repairing the roads etc. However, in their defence you will notice across Europe this summer on your hols that almost every other country also finds these tasks difficult. Don’t they?

David Black

Gaelic was spoken in Edinburgh and the Lothians. Monks at Newbattle spoke Gaelic. There was even a time when folks in this area spoke Welsh. As a Gaelic learner I am delighted that there is going to be more Gaelic about.

Jennie Godfrey I’m an SNP voter and even I think those signs are pointless. It doesn’t give me pleasure to say, but it’s a dying language. Let it die.

Stuart Gordon

In countries where there is more than one language they all have equal status regardless of the numbers who speak it. In Belgium German is spoken by 76,000 people in the south-east of the country and their language has equal status with Flemish and French. The king even makes three versions of his Christmas speech, one in each language. Similarly in Switzerland, where Romansh, spoken by 35,000 is on a par with German, French and Italian. You will never hear the Belgians or Swiss complaining about money being spent on minority languages, only the Scots do that.

Robert Neil