A recent Scottish Executive survey estimates that there are 1.6 million active Scots speakers in Scotland today, and Scots Language insiders estimate that there's a vast number who also use the language 'passively'. This latter group understand Scots and probably use a number of Scots words on a day to day basis. Outside of Scotland, where there is a diaspora of some forty million people claiming Scottish descent, it's harder to estimate linguistic survival. Strictly speaking, Scots – as opposed to Gaelic – is the language of the Lowlanders. Yet, even though the majority of the diaspora would claim Highland descent, more often than not the default language between fellow Scots abroad – as witnessed in a huge amount of chat rooms on the internet – is Glaswegian. Which, of course, is Scots. Suffice it to say: the language of Burns, the world's second most quoted poet, is alive and well. And, has a big and growing audience.

Some of the most receptive audiences are in the classroom. Itchy Coo is a new initiative from three writers of Scots – Matthew Fitt, Susan Rennie and James Robertson – to bring the language alive in a dynamic and accessible way from an Animal ABC through the retelling of the Greek Myths in 'The Hoose o Haivers' to the story of the Scots Parliament told, appropriately, in Scots. With the strapline 'Braw Books for Bairns o Aw Ages' Itchy Coo is primarily a publishing imprint from Black & White Publishing specialising in Scots language books for schools and general readers, supported by downloadable teachers' notes, school and library visits and other promotional activities. The project is part funded by the Scottish Arts Council and a handful of Local Education Authorities and has sufficient resources to run for two years. In addition to the imprint which will produce sixteen titles over the next two years the project funds the first ever National Schools and Communities Scots Language Development Officer who is already attracting a phenomenal response from children of different ages and from different regions who are not only eager to make the language their own but also to cherish the distinct regional and dialect varieties of Scots. (The answer to the question in the headline, by the way, is an itchy coo of course!)

A good grasp of the range of Scots accents and dialects is something that has been missing from the repertoire of most actors, until now. Forgivable, maybe, in the case of Mel Gibson in 'Braveheart' but not in the case of homegrown actors. Not a million miles away actors are at pains to know their Liverpudlian from their Mancunian and steps are being taken to ensure the same level of authenticity informs and enriches the Scottish film and television industry. Edinburgh University language expert Dr Chris Robinson and voice coach and actress Carol Ann Crawford have been commissioned by the Scots Language Resource Centre in Perth to produce an educational book and CD titled Scotspeak, introducing the four key urban Scots dialects – Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen.

Come February 2004 there will also be a new online Scots dictionary. Tens of thousands of Scots words – some dating back 800 years – are being gathered and compiled by researchers at Dundee University. The three-year project has been funded by a £320,000 grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Board and, along with the SCOTS project and the lexicographical work of Scottish Language Dictionaries, it indicates, in MSP Irene McGugan's words, "a changing mood towards our culture, which is vitally important."

McGugan is the leader of the Scottish Parliament's Cross Party Group on the Scots Language and as this feature goes online there are reports that the Group is planning major synergy talks between the above initiatives and the Association for Scottish Literary Studies and the thirty-year-old Scots Language Society on how best to take the revival of the Scots language forward.