I wouldn't particularly want any Gaelic scholars to read them.

Each morning I text my 88-year-old mother 'madainn mhath' and 'oidhche mhath' before my head hits the pillow. (Good morning and goodnight for anyone who has no Gaelic at all).

More often than not, in the evening, there will be a 'gaol agam ort' too (I love you). It's funny how it's easier to say those words in another language.

At other times of the day I might try something a bit more adventurous, tell her what I'm doing that day and so on.

The spellings and word formation will most definitely not always be right but she understands what I'm clumsily trying to say.

It's a lovely way to connect with her and I make the most of every minute we can still do it.

Like former STV anchor John Mackay I was brought up in a 'Ganglish' household in Spean Bridge, near Fort William.

English sentences were peppered with Gaelic words and phrases that have stayed with me my whole life.

My mother was brought up in a mixed island and Highland Gaelic-speaking household in Duror and later in a croft house near Spean Bridge.

Her own mother Kate Agnes Maclean came from Vatersay and her father, Donald, was born in Ardnish, the remote, uninhabited peninsula in the Scottish Highlands near Moidart.

It was the first language she heard but school played a part in the fact that she underplays her still excellent grasp of the language.

As a schoolgirl attending Kilmonivaig Primary, near Spean Bridge, pupils were reprimanded for speaking Gaelic and any texts in the language were thrown in the bin.

I recall her saying she was hit over the head with a book at one point.

The result is that she lacks confidence speaking Gaelic but will happily sit with the radio or TV on listening intently.

'Gach latha': New campaign aims to 'normalise' spoken Gaelic in Scotland

People get to secondary and think 'Why am I learning Gaelic'

Trad music students facing 'glass ceiling' to succeed in teaching

I took Gaelic up until the old standard grade level in school and then chose it as part of my MA degree course at Glasgow University.

If I'd kept at it, I'd probably be at a very good level now but the lack of opportunities then to speak the language meant my aptitude sadly fell away.

According to the 2022 Census, approximately 69,701 people in Scotland (about 2.5% of the population) have some skills in Scottish Gaelic.

While the language is classified as endangered, the number of speakers saw a slight increase from 2011, with 130,161 people reporting some form of language skill, particularly in Glasgow and the Highlands.

New Gaelic crime drama An t-Eilean attracted a record TV audience. (Image: BBC)

As of late 2023, approximately 1.8 million people have used Duolingo to learn Scottish Gaelic, with around 519,000 active learners.

The arrival of a new Gaelic crime drama last year - An T-Eilean - attracted the biggest ever audience for a made-in-Scotland Gaelic TV programme while the time-travelling drama Outlander has been praised for incorporating snatches of the language into the dialogue.

If I'm feeling particularly brave I try to converse with my niece Patti, 17, who attends Glasgow's Gaelic School and I marvel at her command of the language.

Bòrd na Gàidhlig is encouraging Scots to speak Gaelic every day. (Image: Colin Mearns)

My attempts at a conversation are usually greeted with hoots of good-humoured laughter.

She will soon leave school and I'm hopeful she will find opportunities to use Gaelic even if only to converse with the friends she learned alongside.

That's why Bòrd na Gàidhlig's latest campaign is so important.

Gach Latha is encouraging people to speak Gaelic every day in communities, online and in workplaces.

Speakers of all abilities are being asked to show their love for the language through posts on social media from today, using the #gachlatha hashtag.

My reading skills are far better than my conversational ones because there were little opportunities to speak Gaelic when I was at university. That may be partly my own fault because I didn't seek out clubs and societies that promoted the language.

Covering the latest Gaelic campaign I was braced for the usual onslaught of negative comments on the online article about the amount of money spent by the Scottish Government on promoting one of Scotland's ancient tongues. I was surprised to see only three but two out of that three were negative.

I hope that at some point in the future we will learn to cherish cultural diversity when it comes to Gaelic like other countries including Ireland and Wales.

Meanwhile, I'll keep plugging away with my own garbled texts.

© Herald Scotland