The Open University in Scotland has recently launched its new online Scots language and culture course. Developed over the past few years in cooperation with a number of organisations and individuals, including the Scots Language Centre, the course is aimed at a broad spectrum of people. You don’t have to be a Scots speaker to do the course as it is not a strictly a course in grammar and language but rather a course in the history, its past and present status, and the contemporary culture associated with Scots. In other words, Scots set in its cultural and national context.

People who are already Scots speakers can find out more about the language while those who don’t speak Scots can become familiar with how the language reads and sounds. There are a whole series of step-by-step sections contained within two levels which explore the history of Scots, life in today’s Scotland, how the language interacts with identity, why it is prestigious within some communities, and why it is not in others, and the historic reasons for these distinctions.

The course outcomes include recognising Scots in the past and present, how language has developed, links between Scots and other European languages, and recognising the use of Scots in literary genres and art forms today. If you’re starting off with no Scots at all you will be able to practise writing and speaking it and learning to build up your vocabulary.

If you visit the website you are able to browse the course or you can enrol by creating a free online account at https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/index.php?categoryid=382&fbclid=IwAR19vfn4ZjAkIflnNd7zQqOYtuqokztv10-q3WsYR2fxk3t7QtAAedgwyQI