Marjolein’s midder tongue helps land national Scots language award

A LOCAL comedian and storyteller who started a Shetland word of the day video series on social media in lockdown has won a national Scots language prize.

Marjolein Robertson picked up the Scots Speaker of the Year award at the Scots Language Awards in Dundee on Saturday night.

She said she “could not believe it” when her name was called out.

Robertson began posting Shetland Wird O Da Day videos on Twitter in 2020, explaining the meaning behind local dialect words.

Shetland Wird O’ Da Day: Kittle

A two meaning wird. (Boy boy!) Be interested to see if this is used in Scotland/Nordic countries. pic.twitter.com/cE9H9WqMJN

— Marjolein Robertson (@MarjoleinR) March 4, 2021

The comedian, who was born and raised in Shetland by a local dad and a Dutch mum, also has an affinity for storytelling – particularly folktales from the isles.

She has taken the traditional tale Hillsook Weddeen around the country, including at the recent Connect festival on the outskirts of Edinburgh.

Advertisement1 of 11

Robertson said in her award acceptance speech – while wearing a lace shawl knitted by her grandmother – that the win “means a lot, because up in Shetland we have been trying to hold on to our dialect for that long”.

She thanked local dialect group ShetlandForWirds, “my dad, for teaching me words every day” and also Jakob Jakobsen for “rescuing a lot of Shetland we have today”.