There is something quietly wonderful happening across Britain right now, and I suspect most people living south of Hadrian’s Wall haven’t noticed it yet. Welsh-medium schools are oversubscribed. Scottish Gaelic evening classes in Glasgow are turning people away. Apps teaching Scots phrases have been downloaded by hundreds of thousands of people who have never set foot in Dundee. If you’ve been toying with the idea to learn Welsh, Gaelic, or another British regional language in 2026, I’d say the timing has never been better, and the reasons go well beyond nostalgia.
Why British regional languages are having a moment
The 2021 census figures, published by the Office for National Statistics, showed that around 900,000 people in Wales said they could speak Welsh, roughly 29% of the population. That number had held remarkably steady despite decades of English-only dominance in many workplaces. What’s shifted is the attitude. There is visible pride now, not defensiveness. Signage in Cardiff and Aberystwyth treats Welsh as the default, not a footnote. In the Highlands and Western Isles, Gaelic place names have been reinstated on road signs, and young Scots are learning the language in numbers that would have seemed implausible twenty years ago.
Part of this is cultural confidence, a feeling that these languages are not relics but living things that belong to people who live here now. Part of it is practical. The Welsh Government has set a target of one million Welsh speakers by 2050, which means genuine investment in teaching, media, and public services. If you learn Welsh and live in Wales, you are immediately more employable in the public sector. That’s a concrete, useful fact, not a romantic notion.
Free resources that are genuinely excellent
The single best place to start with Welsh is your local library, where you’ll often find physical Welsh-learning materials alongside access to subscription apps. But online, the BBC’s own Cymraeg learning strand, accessible through BBC Wales, is a proper, well-structured resource that covers pronunciation, basic conversation, and grammar without charging you a penny. BBC Alba does something similar for Scottish Gaelic, with short video lessons built around real spoken language rather than classroom drills.
Duolingo runs a Welsh course that has attracted over five million learners globally, making it one of the most-studied Celtic languages in the world by some margin. I’ve done a few dozen lessons myself and the thing that struck me was how logical Welsh actually is once you accept that it works differently to English. Consonant mutations sound alarming on paper; in practice, you pick them up faster than you’d expect. Scottish Gaelic is also on Duolingo now, and while the course is shorter, it’s a solid introduction to a language that has genuinely beautiful sounds.
For Scots, which is sometimes controversially described as a language in its own right, sometimes as a dialect, and which Scots themselves tend to have strong opinions about, the Scots Language Centre produces accessible materials, and the online dictionary at scots-online.org is a rabbit hole worth losing an afternoon in.
The community side of it
Learning a language from an app is useful. Learning it with other people is transformative. Welsh-language social groups, known as cylchoedd sgwrsio (conversation circles), meet in pubs, community centres, and village halls across Wales every week. They’re welcoming to beginners in a way that I find genuinely heartening, no one expects fluency, and the whole point is to create a space where you can attempt sentences without embarrassment. I’d put that spirit of open encouragement alongside what I’ve seen at running clubs and other grassroots British community groups: the same warmth, the same patience, the same sense that showing up is the main thing.
Scottish Gaelic has còisirean (choirs) and Comunn na Gàidhlig, a development body that organises learners’ events and festivals. The Royal National Mòd, held annually, is essentially a celebration of Gaelic arts and language, and it welcomes learners as enthusiastically as native speakers. If you’ve ever thought about visiting the Scottish Highlands in a new way, turning up with even a handful of Gaelic phrases changes the experience considerably. People notice. People are pleased.
What does learning one of these languages actually do for you?
Research consistently shows that learning a second language improves cognitive flexibility, memory, and attention. But I’d argue the more interesting benefit of choosing Welsh or Gaelic specifically is what it connects you to. These languages carry histories, literatures, and ways of describing landscape that have no direct English equivalent. The Welsh word hiraeth, that particular ache for something lost or far away, is useful to know because there are feelings it names that English simply doesn’t have a word for. Gaelic poetry describes light on the sea and the turning of seasons with a precision that takes your breath away once you can read it even partially.
There’s also something to be said for the act of learning as a way of understanding Britain more honestly. These languages did not disappear because they failed; they were suppressed, systematically, over centuries. Choosing to learn one in 2026 is a small but genuinely meaningful gesture towards a more complete picture of who we are as a country. I think that matters. Not in a preachy way, just in the way that learning to identify a hedgerow plant or understanding how your council tax is spent makes you feel more rooted in where you actually live.
Where to start this week
If Welsh appeals, download Duolingo and do ten minutes today. Then find your nearest cylch sgwrsio, the Welsh Language Commissioner’s website lists them. If Gaelic is calling you, BBC Alba’s learner section and LearnGaelic.scot are both free and genuinely well-made. If Scots is your interest, read a Robert Burns poem in the original, slowly, aloud, and you’ll be surprised how much you understand already.
None of this requires you to move to Carmarthen or the Isle of Lewis. It doesn’t require money, a qualification, or a particular reason beyond curiosity. Just start. The language will meet you where you are.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Welsh or Scottish Gaelic easier to learn for English speakers?
Welsh is generally considered more accessible for beginners because it has very consistent spelling rules and strong learner support infrastructure. Scottish Gaelic has fewer learning resources but a passionate community and excellent free tools via LearnGaelic.scot and BBC Alba.
Are there free apps to learn Welsh or Gaelic in the UK?
Yes, Duolingo has both a Welsh course (over five million learners globally) and a Scottish Gaelic course, both free. The BBC also offers free structured learning through its Welsh language pages and BBC Alba’s learner section, which uses natural spoken Gaelic in short video lessons.
Can learning Welsh improve your job prospects in Wales?
It genuinely can. The Welsh Government actively promotes bilingualism in public services, the NHS in Wales, local councils, and education, all of which regularly list Welsh language skills as desirable or essential. Welsh-speaking candidates often have a real advantage in these sectors.
How many people in the UK still speak Welsh or Scottish Gaelic?
The 2021 ONS census recorded around 900,000 Welsh speakers in Wales, roughly 29% of the population. Scottish Gaelic has around 87,000 speakers according to the 2022 Scottish census, concentrated in the Western Isles, but numbers of learners are growing steadily.