"Including Gaelic in Interpretation - A Case Study of Fonn 's Dutchas: Land and Legacy", presented at a VSG Seminar in Inverness, April 2008

1. Including Gaelic in Interpretation:
A Case Study of 'Fonn 's Duthchas – Land and Legacy'
Introduction
This paper presents the results of the summative evaluation of Fonn 's Duthchas: Land
and Legacy. The exhibition was part of the Highland 2007 campaign and toured four
national venues in Scotland:
Inverness Museum & Art Gallery, 13 January – 17 March 2007
Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, 6 April – 10 June 2007
National Museum of Scotland, 29 June – 2 September 2007
Stornoway, 22 September – 1 December 2007
The exhibition showcased the history, culture, music, language, geology and geography of
the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. It included iconic objects, paintings and
manuscripts from the collections of National Museums Scotland, the National Galleries of
Scotland and the National Library of Scotland and from important collections in Highland
and Island museums. It also included a specially commissioned film, which showed people
from different parts of Scotland talking about their culture and heritage, and included some
Gaelic speakers.
Background on Exhibition Approach
As this exhibition was part of the Year of Highland Culture, and subsidised by the Scottish
Government, the decision was made at inception of the project to give Gaelic and English
equal weighting in the interpretation of the exhibition.
There was no front end public consultation done, however, there was a process of peer
review and consultation. The steering group included Gaelic speakers, including
interpreters and staff. Although the text was the same in both languages, it was not just a
matter of word for word translation. The Gaelic text was on average 10% longer than the
English text, due to the way in which Gaelic is constructed, and the text in both languages
was carefully thought out to make it look and flow and feel right.
The exhibition designers were also carefully chosen for their experience. They had
previously worked on an exhibition with 6 different languages, and this showed their ability
in how to deal with dual language in design. One exception to the bi-lingual interpretation
approach was the film, which was not completely bi-lingual as the people in the film were
speaking either English or Gaelic.
Evaluation Brief
A summative evaluation of the Fonn ‘s Duthchas exhibition was carried out, which was co-
ordinated across all four venues. The purpose of the evaluation was to measure the
response of visitors to the exhibition, including:
• Visitor interest and awareness of the exhibition and Highland 2007
• Visitor response to exhibition interpretation, including inclusion of Gaelic
• Impact of the exhibition on visitors, including change in perception about the
Highlands and inspiration to find out more
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2. Evaluation Process
The methodology chosen was a self-completion survey, which was piloted with visitors in
Inverness, including getting feedback from Gaelic speakers on how to phrase the
questions asking about inclusion and presentation of Gaelic.
We discovered this was a very sensitive issue, and went through several survey drafts
before we ended up with the final version.
As the exhibition itself was bi-lingual, we decided that the survey should be too, although
there were some difficulties here as none of the staff involved in designing and co-
ordinating the survey were Gaelic speakers. However, staff in Stornoway translated the
survey in to Gaelic for us, and it was offered to visitors in both languages.
Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, the uptake on Gaelic surveys was very low. And as
you can see in Figure 1, the sample sizes collected also vary greatly across the four
venues which makes a robust comparison of results quite difficult.
Total # of surveys collected Surveys collected in Gaelic
Inverness 141 3
Glasgow 33 1
Edinburgh 140 0
Stornoway 14 0
Figure 1: Survey sample sizes
Evaluation Results - Overview
There was a total of 20 questions in the survey, which covered interpretation (e.g. amount
of information, film, inclusion of Gaelic), interest & awareness of both the exhibition and
Highland 2007, exhibition impact (e.g. most liked, surprise, change in perception,
inspiration) and overall experience, as well as some demographic questions to give us a
visitor profile and put the responses in to context.
I’m not going to go through all the survey results, I just want to give you a flavour of visitor
feedback, and I’m going to focus on the two areas where there were the most responses
relating to Gaelic. One area was interpretation, where we asked visitors direct questions
about the importance of including Gaelic. The other area was exhibition impact, specifically
what visitors liked the most and what they were surprised by, where visitors mentioned
Gaelic in response to open ended questions.
Interpretation
* Importance of including Gaelic?
* Best way or representing Gaelic?
Exhibition Impact
* What did visitors like the most?
* What were visitors surprised by?
Figure 2: Areas of feedback focusing on Gaelic
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3. The responses will in the first instance relate to Edinburgh, since this was the evaluation I
oversaw myself, but where available I will reference responses from the other venues,
although in Stornoway none of the responses to open ended questions mentioned Gaelic.
First of all, though, I need to give you a brief overview of the profile of visitors who
responded, so that you can put the following responses in to context. Figure 3 shows
where respondents came from:
Local Elsewhere in Elsewhere in Overseas
Scotland the UK
Inverness 45% 15% 9% 2%
Glasgow 42% 27% 18% 3%
(1 person)
Edinburgh 28% 17% 12% 42%
Stornoway 72% 21% 0% 7%
(1 person)
Figure 3: Where respondents came from
As you can see, there are some quite drastic differences in the make-up of visitors
between the four venues, e.g. in Stornoway the percentage of local visitors is a lot higher,
whereas in Edinburgh the percentage of overseas visitors is far beyond any of the other
venues. However, if you consider that Stornoway is a fairly remote island in the Outer
Hebrides, and Edinburgh is a capital city and popular tourist destination, then those figures
may not be that surprising.
You will also have noticed that I have added some comments in the “overseas” column.
With 7% of overseas visitors, we could read this as Stornoway being the second most
popular tourist destination. However, you may remember that in Stornoway we only
collected 14 surveys, so 7% actually equates to only one person. Therefore, it is not a
particularly robust sample size.
This overview is a really good example of how important it is to put your results in to
context, in terms of both visitor profile and sample size, when you are drawing
conclusions. So if you take only one thing away with you from this paper about
consultation and evaluation, especially if you are new to the field, then please let that be it!
Figure 4 shows an overview of the level of Gaelic language skills that visitors had. As you
can see, in three of the venues the lack of any Gaelic language skills is fairly high, and this
is something to keep in mind when we look at the feedback on how important visitors
thought it was to include Gaelic.
Yes, fluently Yes, a little No
Inverness 2% 16% 82%
Glasgow 6% 21% 73%
Edinburgh 1.5% 11.5% 87%
Stornoway 28% 36% 36%
Figure 4: Whether respondents spoke or understood Gaelic
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4. We only asked visitors about their speaking and listening skills. In hind sight, considering
the wide ranging issues with Gaelic literacy, we should also have asked about reading and
writing skills to give us some further context.
But we will learn from our mistake for the next time. So, on to the results…
Evaluation Results – Importance of Gaelic Inclusion
We asked respondents to rate how important they thought that Gaelic had been included
in the exhibition on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being not important at all, and 5 being very
important.
1 2 3 4 5 Mean
Score
Inverness 6% 6% 10% 26% 51% 4.1
Glasgow 0% 9% 21% 15% 55% 4.3
Edinburgh 2% 4% 17% 17% 59% 4.3
Stornoway 0% 0% 14% 29% 57% 4.4
Figure 5: How important respondents thought it was to include Gaelic (1 = not important at
all; 5 = very important)
As you can see in Figure 5, at all four venues over half of respondents felt it was very
important to include Gaelic in the exhibition. Interestingly, Edinburgh, which you may
remember had the lowest percentage of Gaelic speakers, also has the highest percentage
of visitors who gave a rating of 5, and by no means had the lowest mean score. In fact, of
the 42% overseas visitors in Edinburgh, 24% rated the importance of including Gaelic at 5,
and 7% rated it at 4.
We then followed up that question by asking respondents what they thought was the best
way to represent Gaelic alongside English in exhibitions.
Inverness Glasgow Edinburgh Stornoway
Full translations in 45% 15% 9% 2%
Gaelic alongside
English text
Gaelic summaries of 42% 27% 18% 3%
English text (1 person)
Translations of key 28% 17% 12% 42%
headings only into
Gaelic
Other 72% 21% 0% 7%
(1 person)
Figure 6: What respondents thought was the best way to represent Gaelic alongside
English in exhibitions
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5. In all four venues, including Edinburgh, respondents felt that the best way forward was to
have full translations in Gaelic alongside English text. There were a few alternative
suggestions, while some respondents made their feelings very clear about not including
Gaelic at all. Overall though, there was a high level of support to giving Gaelic equal status
alongside English, from both locals as well as domestic and overseas tourists.
Figure 7 shows some examples of the other suggestions that were given. You’ll see that
I’ve included information on the profile of the respondents, where available, to give a little
context. These suggestions are learning towards the full equal status approach.
“English translations from Gaelic text.”
(Edinburgh, no Gaelic)
“Full translations – English with Gaelic underneath.”
(England, no Gaelic)
“Full translations when relating to Highlands and Islands.”
(Inverness, no Gaelic)
“Only Gaelic speakers entitles to decide.”
Figure 7: Other suggestions for representing Gaelic alongside English in exhibitions
The examples in Figure 8 are a bit more moderate, leaning towards a half way approach
or offering some other alternatives.
“A few captions to educate people.”
(Edinburgh, no Gaelic)
“Interesting for tourists to see the Gaelic.”
(Edinburgh, a little Gaelic)
“As a Dutchman it's difficult to understand Gaelic – but keep it.”
(Netherlands, no Gaelic)
“Something on te language itself.”
(Aberdeen, no Gaelic)
“Found English before Gaelic slightly confusing.”
(Peebles, no Gaelic)
Figure 8: Other suggestions for representing Gaelic alongside English in exhibitions
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6. Whereas Figure 9 shows that some respondents did not see the value of including Gaelic
in exhibitions at all. Unsurprisingly, none of them were Gaelic speakers!
“No interest in it.”
(USA, no Gaelic)
“No need for Gaelic.”
(unknown location, no Gaelic)
“Does not matter.”
(unknown location, no Gaelic)
“Doesn't matter – can't speak it.”
(India, no Gaelic)
“As all Gaelic speakers speak English I'd drop the Gaelic and give more information in
English – wouldn't it be better to have French, German, Italian so tourists can find out
more?”
(England, no Gaelic)
Figure 9: Other suggestions for representing Gaelic alongside English in exhibitions
Evaluation Results – Exhibition Impact
Moving on then to the impact that the exhibition made on visitors.
Here we asked respondents what they had liked most about the exhibition. This was an
open ended question, so to be able to quantify the impact different aspects of the
exhibition made on respondents, the comments were sorted into categories which, as you
can see in Figure 10, differed slightly between venues.
Category Response Rate
Inverness Interpretation 3% (1% Gaelic)
Glasgow Gaelic 6%
Edinburgh Inclusion of Gaelic 5%
Figure 10: What respondents liked most
For Edinburgh, the top 5 things that respondents liked fell in to the categories: video
(21%), paintings, variety, layout/presentation (9% each), Scottish history (8%). However,
although it did not feature at the top of the list, the inclusion of Gaelic also got an
honourable mention, and since this was an open ended question we need to remember
that had respondents been given multiple choice options the response rate may have been
much higher.
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7. Figure 11 shows some examples of the responses given to this question, that mentioned
Gaelic:
“The use of Gaelic.”
(Edinburgh, no Gaelic)
“I liked the use of Gaelic language.”
(England, no Gaelic)
“That it has both English and Gaelic.”
(USA, a little Gaelic)
“Dual language.”
(Canada, no Gaelic)
“Nice to hear Gaelic spoken.”
(USA, no Gaelic)
“Video talking about the Gaelic language.”
(Australia, no Gaelic)
“Gaelic presentation and promotion – the scale encompasses everything, not
romanticised.”
(Edinburgh, fluent Gaelic)
Figure 11: Examples of responses to the question 'what visitors liked most that mention
Gaelic
Evaluation Results - Surprise
Another question we asked respondents was whether there was anything in the exhibition
that had surprised them. This was again an open ended question with responses being
sorted in to categories. In Edinburgh, 8% of respondents were surprised by something in
the exhibition relating to Gaelic, with all but one respondent being from overseas. In
Inverness, 2 respondents (~1.5%), both from England, commented on Gaelic in response
to this question.
As already mentioned, there was no reference to Gaelic for this part of the survey in
Stornoway. You may remember from the visitor profiles that over 70% of respondents in
Stornoway were local, so it is maybe not surprising that they were not surprised by the
existence or inclusion of Gaelic in the exhibition. From Glasgow the relevant information
was unfortunately not supplied.
Responses ranged from the discovery that Gaelic existed, to surprise at the exhibition
being bi-lingual, which partly reflects the high percentage of tourist visitors in Edinburgh. A
few responses indicated that there was some pre-existing knowledge of Gaelic, but that
they had found out some new, additional information.
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8. Figure 12 shows some examples:
“I did not know there was Gaelic.”
(Mexico, no Gaelic)
“I did not know anything about Gaelic.”
(USA, no Gaelic)
“The translations.”
(France, no Gaelic)
“First exhibition where everything is in Gaelic.”
(Ireland, no Gaelic)
“How many people speak Gaelic.”
(England, no Gaelic)
“That there is a foundation to keep Gaelic alive.”
(Switzerland, no Gaelic)
“How much Gaelic is in our language.”
(England, no Gaelic)
“[There are] 4 different words for rain in Gaelic.”
(Edinburgh, no Gaelic)
Figure 12: Examples of responses to the question what visitors were surprised by that
mention Gaelic
Conclusion
So, what can we conclude from this evaluation?
As Figure 13 shows, there was divided opinion among respondents on how the inclusion
or omission of Gaelic could improve the exhibition:
“Far too little Gaelic [included in the film].”
(Inverness, fluent Gaelic)
“More Gaelic [would improve the exhibition].”
(Inverness, fluent Gaelic)
“I think the Gaelic police are taking over.”
(England, no Gaelic)
“Drop the Gaelic.”
(England, no Gaelic)
Figure 13: Examples of responses to the questions how the exhibition could be improved
that mention Gaelic
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9. Overall, despite the low level of Gaelic language skills among respondents, and the low
uptake on Gaelic surveys even in venues with moderate to fluent language skills, the
majority of respondents supported equal status of Gaelic and English, ranking the
inclusion of Gaelic as very important and supporting full translations in Gaelic alongside
English text.
The inclusion of Gaelic in the exhibition also made a big impact on tourists, especially at
the Edinburgh venue.
As the final quotes from visitors, none of whom had any Gaelic language skills, in Figure
14 show, Gaelic is very relevant to museum exhibitions and interpretation in Scotland.
“[Audio] samples of Gaelic text would be interesting.”
(England, no Gaelic)
“Poetry in Gaelic to listen to.”
(England, no Gaelic)
“More information on how many people still speak Gaelic.”
(Switzerland, no Gaelic)
“An exhibition on Gaelic poets.”
(Galashiels, no Gaelic)
Figure 14: Further examples of responses to the questions how the exhibition could be
improved that mention Gaelic
Jenni Fuchs
Visitor Studies Officer
National Museums Scotland
April 2008
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