The contexts for the acquisition of Scottish Gaelic have changed significantly in recent decades through the impact of ongoing language shift to English in traditionally Gaelic-speaking communities and different kinds of language revitalisation initiatives, especially in relation to education (for adults as well as schoolchildren). This chapter reviews the sociolinguistic and policy dynamics that have brought about these changes and presents key findings from a range of studies involving linguistic demography, community language use, intergenerational language change, dialect maintenance, family language policy, language acquisition and attainment, and issues of affinity and identity.