Episode 12: Scotland

Rozhovor se Skotkou Clary o všem skotském. Lesy, louky, dudáci, Loch Ness či skotská národní pochoutka haggis - vnitřnosti vařené v ovčím žaludku. A proč to bylo právě Skotsko a Edinburgh, které JK Rowling inspirovaly při psaní knih o Harry Potterovi?

Chapters

• 0:07 Exploring Scotland
• 11:13 Exploring Scotland's History, Nature, and Traditions

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:07

Welcome to the English-speaking group with Kudrunat Holko. My name is Pavlina and every week I will talk to my parents from all over the English-speaking world about various interesting topics. I would also like to mention one thing If you really want to practice and improve your English, on my page on patreonpatrioncom you will find a complete list of the following conversations, with meanings, phrases and everything else that is worth knowing. And that's all from me at the beginning. Thank you very much for watching this channel and we can start.

Speaker 2: 1:09

Yeah, well, it's getting colder here in Sweden as well, so we're on the same page. And well, today we'll be talking about your homeland, which is Scotland, as you already mentioned, and I'm very excited. And the first thing I have to ask is are you a Harry Potter fan?

Speaker 3: 1:25

Yes, I'm both like the generation and definitely the right timing for me. I read all the books, but the final books were a lot thicker and actually I'm not so good at finishing really long books. But yeah, and I love the movies and yeah, I love Harry Potter.

Speaker 2: 1:45

And well, it's a widely known fact that JK Rowling she wrote most of the books in Edinburgh, and the story is also set in Scotland, so I was wondering if you've ever been to any of the Harry Potter locations, perhaps.

Speaker 3: 1:58

Yeah, so I think the general atmosphere of Edinburgh really influenced the writing of Harry Potter. It's very atmospheric, very historical, quite spooky. There is a Harry Potter walking tour. You can go on in Edinburgh to go to the specific locations that they think actually influenced the writer JK Rowling, such as Grave Friars, Bobby Graveyard so apparently there's some like weird names on the gravestones that might have influenced the names. You know, like you get some pretty quirky names in the books and yeah, there's apparently a cafe where she went in and wrote the book. But that could be a marketing ploy by this particular cafe to get lots of people to come in and there's literally a queue of people that try and get into this cafe. But I have a friend who actually works on the Edinburgh bus tours and so he knows a lot about history and says that actually, yeah, it wasn't actually that cafe, or that's more of like an exaggeration, but she might have gone through different cafes in Edinburgh.

Speaker 2: 3:04

Yeah, oh wow. Well, I definitely want to go now, very sure do. And well, there's so many other things that you know come to mind when I think of your land. You know stone castles and bagpipes and lush forests, and. But there's this one thing the heck is do people eat?

Speaker 3: 3:22

that, yeah, people actually do, and I get really mixed reactions from people like some people really like it, some people don't like it at all. But I think it's just like a blend of different meats and stuff and like traditionally it was put inside like a sheep's stomach or something, but now it's like served in a, maybe like a gelatin casing or something like that. But yeah, I'm actually vegetarian, so I have tried a vegetarian version which is not as scary as the real version, which is okay. It's probably just mashed up vegetables, but actually people need to like on special occasions mostly.

Speaker 3: 4:03

Okay so like weddings or like special events or like a burns night, yeah, which is connected to Robert Burns. I don't know if you've heard of Robert Burns, but he's a famous Scottish poet and writer and on the 25th of January, around his birthday, there's a burn tonight, which is where people like have this really formal event with, like Highland dancing and a Kayleigh, which is a Scottish kind of dancing it's like barn dancing but in a Scottish way, yeah, and they serve Haggis and they have kind of ritual for that.

Speaker 2: 4:36

Okay, that's very cool. And what would be some other like delicacy coming from Scotland?

Speaker 3: 4:42

Yeah, so shortbread is probably a personal favorite of mine. Have you tried shortbread before?

Speaker 2: 4:49

Well, I'm not sure. I've tried the Scottish version.

Speaker 3: 4:52

Okay, yeah. So that's, that's really nice, like a buttery biscuit. I do like Scottish whiskey sometimes, so there's a lot of distilleries because it's really good water from the Highlands, like really yeah. So it's also really good for producing Ale, like Scottish ale. And there's one particular kind of ale I've used like called Heather ale and dates back to Pictish times, so like thousands of years, and they use Heather instead of hops and there's a brewery that still creates that. There's also iron brew. I don't know if you've heard of it, I don't know if they actually sold it in most places in London, but it's like an orange fizzy drink. It's like Scotland's own version of Coca Cola, but it's not cola flavored, it's just yeah, is it like orange flavored when it's orange or it's strange because when you look up, they say that it's like, not orange flavored.

Speaker 3: 5:49

But it's what you would imagine orange tastes like, but it's not orange. It's really strange. Yeah, you have to try it to know what it's like.

Speaker 2: 5:59

Yeah, I definitely will. And well, yeah, I mean, scotland is obviously so much more than just the Loch Ness or Hague, as we mentioned. Well, can you think maybe of a random fact that people don't know about Scotland or Scottish people?

Speaker 3: 6:14

Yeah, so most people don't know this, but the first Working television set was created in Scotland by a Scottish inventor called James Baird. It was this real name. Yeah, because sometimes people have asked like they would ask oh, do you have TV in Scotland? What, what do you mean? I don't know. Sometimes people have asked if we actually have TV in Scotland, like like because you live in the forest or yeah, they might think that we actually live in the forest or like in a shack or something. It's like we invented the TV.

Speaker 2: 6:52

Okay, wow, that's shocking. And well, I also read that there are three official languages in Scotland, which is English, then Gaelic and Scots, and I mean, you obviously speak English perfectly, but how about those other two?

Speaker 3: 7:07

Yeah, so most people speak English here, at least now. But Scots Gaelic goes back further in time and you just all get a minority of people that speak it, mostly in the highlands and in really local areas. But unfortunately it's dying out. But there's movements to try and preserve it, like there's BBC Alba and like Gaelic radio stations that speak fully in Scots Gaelic. Can you speak it? Uh, no, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 3: 7:36

I can speak some Scots, though that's more of a dialect. But that's debatable. Some people try and say it's a language, some say it's a dialect, some say it's slang. But Scots is a lot more like English, but with its own, like certain words that have a certain meaning, like in Aberdeen it's kind of like a local dialect to say I can't fit, like I can't fit you on a boat, like firefay hen. I can't fit you. Like what are you saying? Yeah, so I can means I don't know. So can means no, and like hen is slang for like a woman or a word for a woman, and firefay is where are you from? So that's one specific to around Aberdeen, but you get so many different words. Actually, trousers comes from the old Gallic word for trousers, like the English word trousers comes from that.

Speaker 2: 8:33

So that's very interesting. I mean I don't want to be laughing, but it just sounds like you're making a joke, so that's why I was laughing, like I don't want to offend people from Aberdeen, but yeah.

Speaker 3: 8:45

Yeah, no, no, it's quite a musical accent. I've got a friend in Aberdeen who actually speaks fully in Scots, so he speaks like that all the time, even texts like that, and I'm like what's he saying?

Speaker 2: 8:56

Oh, so you don't even understand sometimes, yeah, sometimes don't know. Yeah, and you actually mentioned BBC Alba, and Alba is the Gallic word for Scotland, right?

Speaker 3: 9:07

Yeah, Kingdom of Scotland.

Speaker 2: 9:09

And so do people actually use this term. Is it like a widely known term in Scotland, Alba?

Speaker 3: 9:14

Essentially it's used more in like a traditional arty way. Now, like people will just call it Scotland mostly, but in Gallic communities they might call it Alba. But yeah, it comes from the Gallic source.

Speaker 2: 9:29

And I mean you obviously have a very specific and amazing accent in English and what would be some maybe words or phrases that we would only come across to you in Scotland? Can you think of any?

Speaker 3: 9:42

Um, yeah, so things like fit, like, which is what I said earlier, which means what, or like, what are you doing? And yeah, ken, which is like no it's interesting and well.

Speaker 2: 9:59

Next question, which I know might be like a little sensitive for some people, but I so I definitely don't want to be pushing you into anything like political or anything, but how would you describe the relationship between Scotland and England?

Speaker 3: 10:13

Yeah. So it's a funny one, because mostly people joke about rivalry with England. I don't think it's as serious as it used to be. Maybe there was in the past and like sometimes now, a bit of hostility towards English people in some places for some people, which, which isn't really great, but it's kind of dying out now. Now it's more of like a joking thing. So if there is like rivalry, it's meant in a tongue and cheek kind of way, like in a lighthearted, friendly way, like, for example, people might say like oh, who are you supporting? Like which football team are you going to support? And you'd say I'm going to support the one that's playing England. So they say that Scottish people supports the team that plays England.

Speaker 2: 11:01

Oh, like anyone who plays England, yeah, that's funny and well, if we embark on a road trip around Scotland, which places do you think that we should definitely visit?

Speaker 3: 11:13

You should definitely visit Edinburgh because it's really historical city, really amazing. You've got Edinburgh Castle there, you've got the Royal Mile with all these amazing shops and also like museums and history. And to get out the city vibe you should go to the Highlands, either the Northwest Highlands, which are a bit more wild and rugged and they have like rocks that go back billions of years, or just have a short trip to the Cairngorms, which is more like an essential part of Scotland. If you're into like hiking and stuff, but there's not many forests there, it's quite bare like Heathland with Heather and stuff, and if you're going looking at campervan or something, if you're definitely driving, then you could go Route 66, which is north of Ivernus and it's this big lake loop that goes across the border of the north of Scotland, so it goes along the coastal paths completely around Scotland. That's a really good route to do.

Speaker 2: 12:19

Yeah, route 66.

Speaker 3: 12:20

Yeah, route 66, yeah.

Speaker 2: 12:23

And what are you like the most and least about Scotland?

Speaker 3: 12:27

Yeah. So I probably dislike the weather the most the rain and the cold Because when I go to England I find that it's just way better temperature. It's more sheltered, but even Edinburgh is actually a bit warmer than Aberdeen and more sheltered from the wind. And what I like most is the nature we have here. You can access nature really easily. It's like on your doorstep if you're living in the city. Yeah, it's really nice.

Speaker 2: 13:00

Yeah, I mean I've never actually been to Scotland, but I mean it all looks amazing.

Speaker 3: 13:05

Yeah, you should come visit.

Speaker 2: 13:07

Yeah, I definitely want to go. And what? Who are some famous Scots that we should definitely learn the name of?

Speaker 3: 13:14

Yeah, so there's Robert Burns, also known as Rabi Burns. Yeah, he's a famous poet and he's like really famous because people kept his tradition alive with Burns Night, which is that formal event where you dance in a caily and have a formal dinner with Haggis, and that's on the 25th of January. My mum actually organises these Burns Nights.

Speaker 2: 13:41

Oh, cool, it's a charity event.

Speaker 3: 13:43

Yeah, she's done pretty well with it and has become like a burgess of the city by doing a lot of them.

Speaker 3: 13:50

Oh, that's, very nice yeah and a lot of charity events for Robert Burns. And so, yeah, he was. I think it was about the 18th century poet who was really influential, and, like people all over the world come together for Burns Night, I think it's celebrated in like America and all over the world, so that's really good. And yeah, historically, Robert the Bruce who fought the First War for independence and the 1300s, and for someone like living now, like a modern, I agree to like history in my head a lot. No, it's fine. Yeah, I would say, like Billy Connolly, have you heard of Billy Connolly? Like the comedian, yeah, he's done quite a few programmes. I think of one like touring Australia and stuff, and he's quite well known. Yeah, definitely follow him on social media as well. Okay, yeah, Is he?

Speaker 1: 14:49

funny.

Speaker 3: 14:50

He's funny. It's probably like one of the most famous Scottish comedians.

Speaker 2: 14:56

Okay, that's cool and I know I'm going to sound like a complete tourist in your country right now, but I do have to ask about the Kilt, the traditional skirt of Gaelic men and boys in the Scottish Highlands. Right, yeah, and well, I suppose we all might have heard the rumour that under a Kilt belongs zero underwear, so could you confirm or deny this statement?

Speaker 3: 15:20

Yeah, I would say it's true, because whenever I've asked people, are you wearing anything underneath? So we're like, no, I'm a wonderful traditional, so yeah.

Speaker 2: 15:36

And well, during which occasions would men wear a Kilt?

Speaker 3: 15:40

So it would be formal occasions, a little bit like eating haggis. It would be like weddings and burns nights and like graduation ceremonies. Most people don't wear it every day, but I do occasionally see people like walking around in a Kilt industry just sometimes. Okay, minority.

Speaker 2: 16:01

And do people from or like not people, men from your family, wear it.

Speaker 3: 16:06

My brother definitely does. He's quite patriotic. I think he's been thrown out of a club for wearing one in England, which is a bit strange. And what do you mean? Like what kind of club? Like a bar?

Speaker 3: 16:18

Oh, I was trying to get in and yeah, they didn't let him in because he was wearing a Kilt, but it could have been other reasons, who knows? And yeah, my dad doesn't. But yeah, most people do, but really occasionally, like most men do, on special occasions, and not always. You do also get tartan trousers that men sometimes wear as well. Or like a waistcoat tartan waistcoat.

Speaker 2: 16:46

Okay, I read that Scotland's national animal is the unicorn.

Speaker 3: 16:51

Is it correct? Yeah, on the coat of arms you can see the lion, which represents England, and the unicorn, which represents Scotland. And the unicorn symbol actually goes back to like over a thousand years in Celtic mythology and it's meant to represent mysticism and purity and power. The thing is in the coat of arms you can actually see like that it's got chains around it and when I first saw that at Aberdeen Uni like there was a stone sculpture of the unicorn and chains and I asked about that and someone said that that was like to represent the oppression of England. But actually apparently that's not the case. It's just what sometimes people say about it, that actually it could represent the king at the time that was trying to get control over the lands, because the Highlanders and the people were like quite unruly. So it could be a king trying to get control or just be to do with a symbol. That's like a wild spirit and it's a way of taming it.

Speaker 2: 18:03

Beautiful.

Speaker 3: 18:04

Yeah, I like unicorns. Yeah, like unicorns too, I was just a bit surprised. Yeah, yeah, it's quite cool. What about in Sweden? Is there a particular symbol there.

Speaker 2: 18:16

I should probably look this up, because I have zero clue. We have lion in the Czech Republic, but I don't know if that's what we've done.

Speaker 3: 18:24

Oh cool, yeah, lions are used quite a lot. The robber at the Bruce also has a flag which is a lion and, yeah, England uses that symbol as well.

Speaker 2: 18:35

Yeah, and well. Can you ever see yourself living anywhere else?

Speaker 3: 18:39

Yeah, I can see myself staying in Scotland, but I'm definitely quite adventurous and I quite like to live somewhere else at some point. I don't really look that Scottish and I feel like I might blend in somewhere else like Spain, and it's also sunnier in Spain, so I don't know. I think I need to see how it goes Like. For now, I'm going to stay in Scotland, of course. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 19:01

And also with the situation now and everything.

Speaker 3: 19:03

Yeah, yeah, definitely, it's kind of hard to travel now.

Speaker 2: 19:08

Yeah Well, thank you so much for sitting down with us today and telling us about your beautiful end.

Speaker 3: 19:12

No worries. Thanks for inviting me.

Speaker 1: 19:14

All the best in Sweden, and thank you to everyone who's listened to this episode as well, and I hope to see you next week. Bye.