GAELIC is described as the world’s most beautiful language and Lucy Hannah is helping ensure a new generation grows up knowing how to speak Scotland’s mother tongue.
Named Young Gaelic Ambassador at last year’s Gaelic Awards, Lucy, 20, has embraced the role.
She says: “It’s changed my attitude and I feel a responsibility to promote it outside my own work and to use it on social media and with my Gaelic speaking friends.
“Much of it was due to be being inspired by the stories and experiences of other people at the awards and what a great example they are for the language.”
Now the search is on to find this year’s winners as the Daily Record proudly launches the eighth Gaelic Awards.
There are eight categories recognising contributions to Gaelic life, including a Young Gaelic Ambassador of the Year and a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Lucy was nominated by parents for her work at aGaelic childcare centre on the Isle of Skye, where preschoolers are introduced to the language at an early age.
Lucy also began learning to speak Gaelic in preschool and is a firm believer in the benefits it has brought to her life, not least the joy she gets being able to chat to her granny in her native tongue.
She says: “It’s so exciting and special when you have a child that comes in and a year later they start using Gaelic words and you know it’s because you havetaught them.
“Children are like sponges and learning Gaelic doesn’t ever take away from the English they may speak at home.”
If anything, says Lucy, it gives children an advantage, boosting their confidence and engaging their brain for further learning.
