Shetland dialect with Chloe Irvine *spoken in the dialect*

Welcome to episode 20 of the podcast. Today’s show is a bit different, and due to popular demand, we are carrying out this interview, predominantly on language, in our native tongue.

In today’s show, I speak to Chloe Irvine who grew up on the island of Whalsay and has just completed her degree in Journalism at Edinburgh Napier University. Chloe talks to us about the transition between living in Shetland and studying on the mainland (Scotland), and how she has had to deal with varying degrees of language discrimination during this time.

We speak about ways that we can protect and promote the dialect and its usage, and Chloe shares a poem in the dialect that she wrote to tackle and highlight some of the feelings that are brought to the surface when language discrimination takes place.

I’ve left a disclaimer at the beginning of the show to say that, as this is in dialect, it may be difficult to understand but, we felt that it was important for you to hear the language spoken to get a sense of how it sounds when it’s spoken amongst Shetlanders.

If you struggle to understand, play it back from the start and you’ll be surprised how quickly your ear can tune into the language.