रीस्टोर प्रोजेक्ट – Re-Store Project

When language scholars talk about Gaelic, they often talk about other “minority languages” too, drawing parallels between what’s happening in the Hebrides and in other parts of the world. In Island Voices we’ve made a big thing of connections to Ireland, for example, with our “Gaelic Journeys” series. We’ve also made links to other Celtic languages (Welsh and Manx) as well as to Basque, another European minority language. And we’ve grouped these together with other languages across the world on our “Other Tongues” page. This page goes beyond European boundaries to include some Asian languages. And now we’ve added another one – Hindi.

“Cùm do shùil air taobh an Ear”, was Norman’s advice in “Saoghal Thormoid” (here at 22.22) – “Keep your eye on the East”. But, truth be told, this is not a new film at all. It belongs originally to Series 1 (2005-2007), being first made in English and Gaelic as usual, but with the Hindi version added soon after, following a visit to India by Gordon Wells for the University of the Highlands and Islands, during which time he made contact with the Barefoot College in Tilonia, Rajasthan. He returned from India inspired by the environmental awareness displayed at Tilonia, the commitment to working with people on the ground in their own communities, and the energetic determination shown to do practical work, if need be outside established educational structures where they don’t suit local contexts. Clearly, material circumstances in the Hebrides are very different indeed from Rajasthan, but the Island Voices project has always been imbued with something of a DIY, self-reliant, “Barefoot College spirit” since that visit – which is partly why the Hindi version of the Re-Store film, which features a local voluntary project focusing on recycling furniture and books and the development of practical skills, was made so early (and sent on a disk to Tilonia as a token of appreciation).

As the official language of the Indian Union, with hundreds of millions of speakers, it obviously makes no sense to bracket Hindi as a “minority language” in that context – though it is also spoken by smaller yet significant numbers in other countries around the world, including the UK. Nevertheless, we’re happy to add it to our “Other Tongues” catalogue in Island Voices, as part of our “Sharing Gaelic Voices” theme. India is a highly multilingual nation, and it may well be that our efforts here in the Hebrides to support healthy interrelationships between our different languages could be usefully informed by closer study of the Indian context.

Here’s the film on YouTube.

As usual we have also created a Clilstore unit, so you can watch, listen, and read at the same time, and click on any word to get an online dictionary translation: Unit 6555