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.

Chloe's poem:

Is I huy tu dyit up lat du words oot,

Dirs gormless fisses, dunno tyeen whut im on aboot,
Ee lass suys im du mist ‘Scottish’ body shu’s iffer seen
If dat wir hit, why du de niffer tyeen whut I mean?
I rowl me Rs, dirs a laughter ootbrak,
Me knees dyeen wäek, me hands start tu shak,
Peerie lump wins in me trott,
Whut wis da neast point? I nearly forgot,
Wir isles ir flottin atween Norwa, Breetun un Farooe,
Fur aa dat, do ssits yunder un tinks I should knapp lik you,
Dirs nitheen rang we you ur du wye you spik,
But yun arrogant smeegin is brally ill lik,
I dunnoo tyare if yur digs ir fur a fun,
How kin you caa somewye a ‘hol’ yur niffer even bun?
Du wadder’s no see warm, im likkly ower pale,
But iffery year I see a neesik un a whale,
You cana dyit a takawa what I bide at nuyt,
But i, seen du noctilucent sky un du nordern luyts.