For those of Scottish descent, learning Gaelic is a means of understanding the values, spirituality, and thoughts of their ancestors. It is quite different from the Germanic and Romance languages and expresses a distinctive cultural history. Its roots in the British Isles are far older than those of English. There is no indefinite article. Grammatical cases and verb tenses can be indicated by mutations of initial consonants, changes in internal vowels, and the addition of endings.
Pronunciation is also difficult as the value of consonants change depending upon adjacent vowels.
This is a language that was spoken long before it was written. One would think that the written language would closely mirror the sounds one hears. However, many letters seen are never heard and letters heard are nowhere to be found in the writing. Gaelic is a verb-centered language and the verb comes at the beginning of the sentence. Gaelic has been spoken in parts of Scotland since about the 4 th Century.