How parkour is being used to boost Gaelic

Getty Images ParkourGetty Images

A new project has been set up to boost interest in the Gaelic language and parkour.

Pàrcair na Gàidhlig has created a phrasebook, videos and sound files to help people learn Gaelic while enjoying the sport.

Parkour, which was invented by French teenagers and has grown in popularity since the 1990s, involves running and jumping to get over or around obstacles - including walls.

The Gaelic project has been set up by Edinburgh-based social enterprise Parkour Outreach.

Pupils in Gaelic medium education have been among those taking up Pàrcair na Gàidhlig's classes held indoors using sports apparatus.

The idea for the initiative originally came from Australian parkour practitioner and Gaelic learner Eden Alley-Porter.

With the help of funding from Gaelic public body Bòrd na Gàidhlig, Parkour Outreach worked with two Gaelic language experts to bring the idea to life.

Nina Ballantyne
Nina Ballantyne said she hoped young Gaelic learners could enjoy using the language at the same time as doing parkour

Gaelic parkour words and phrases

Parkour - Pàrcair

Jam (an informal parkour meet-up) - cèilidh

Move - Gluais

Balance - Co-chothrom

Running jump - Leum-ruithe

Turn vault (a move used to get over an obstacle) - Leum carach

Cat hang (a static crouched position) - Crochadh-cait

Getty Images ParkourGetty Images
Parkour has grown in popularity since the 1990s

Nina Ballantyne, director of Parkour Outreach, told BBC Naidheachdan: "Our big hope is that young people will see that they don't have to separate Gaelic from some of their hobbies.

"There is a place both can exist in their life and when they are older they don't have to chose one over the other.

"We are very excited about the next generation of Gaelic-speaking parkour practitioners to emerge."

Watch: Calum Macaulay's report on BBC Naidheachdan