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Despite years of Gàidhlig and Gaeilge language shift to English, the languages continue to survive as living community languages in some traditional Gaidhealtachd/Gaeltacht heartlands and are also in use on a daily basis by many people outside the Gaeltacht in the cities of Glasgow, Inverness, Edinburgh, Derry and Dublin. A total of 92,396 people have some Gaelic language ability in Scotland. According to the last Census 58,652 people can speak Gaelic, with an additional 33,744 having the ability to either read, write or understand the language. According to the last Census figures 1.66 million people in the South of Ireland can speak Gaeilge, whilst 10.4% of residents in Northern Ireland claim to have some knowledge of the language.
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