Languages of Scotland

Languages of Scotland
Geographic distribution of Scots and Scottish Gaelic speakers in Scotland
OfficialEnglish, Scots, Scottish Gaelic and British Sign Language
MainEnglish (98.6%)
MinorityScots (30.1%), Scottish Gaelic (1.1%)
ForeignPolish (1.1%), Urdu (0.5%), Chinese (0.5%), Punjabi (0.5%)
SignedBritish Sign Language (official)
Keyboard layout


The languages of Scotland belong predominantly to the Germanic and Celtic language families. The main language now spoken in Scotland is English, while Scots and Scottish Gaelic are minority languages. The dialect of English spoken in Scotland is referred to as Scottish English.