What do Scottish Americans think of independence?

Thousands of Americans will don a kilt on Wednesday and raise a toast to the bard as they celebrate Burns Night. But how much do they know about modern Scotland? And does it matter?

Few have any idea what modern Scotland is like, he adds, and if they do it will have been picked up from dark and twisted tales like Trainspotting or Shallow Grave.

Tartan Week, an annual celebration of all things Scottish held every April, was renamed "Scotland Week" and given a more commercial focus – and a succession of Scottish ministers, including Mr Salmond himself, have crossed the Atlantic to drum up business and forge links with American legislators.

Members of a Gaelic speaking society are, apparently, still smarting after their inquiries about promoting the language in Scotland were batted away by Scottish government officials, who told them that more people speak Farsi than Gaelic in modern Scotland.

The Scottish Government said it works with Gaelic groups "on a daily basis" and has a "very good" record of supporting and promoting the language.

"We are keen to support a wide range of languages that are spoken in Scotland and recognise that we have a special responsibility towards Gaelic," said a spokeswoman.

John King Bellassai, former president of the DC St Andrews Society, says Scottish Americans tend to let romance cloud their judgement when it comes to an independent Scotland.

He admits he is in the minority among his friends in opposing full independence, having balked at the SNP's "pacifist" stance on nuclear weapons and other "left wing" SNP policy positions, despite being a Democrat supporter.

"Americans, I think, are woefully ignorant of what the implications would be from an American point of view," he says.

Even American Scots who do support independence are not always on board with the SNP's ambitions for the country.

Chad McGregor, a 21-year-old New Yorker studying computer science at Aberdeen University, says: "I support Scotland becoming a fully independent nation, maybe without the EU. I am not the biggest fan of the EU."

Mr McGregor, who helps run a website for the Scottish American community, describes himself as a right-wing Republican, and says he and many of his Scottish American friends are planning to travel to Scotland to campaign for independence.

"I have met so many people who are members of the SNP, both in person and online, who consider themselves to be a conservative. They refer to themselves as 'Tartan Tories'.

"They probably disagree with the SNP on a number of issues but, at the end of the day, the independence of their country is more important than their personal party politics."

With the precise date of a referendum still to be set, but the SNP ruling out votes for Scots living abroad, the Scottish American community appears to be as divided about the merits of full independence as Scots themselves.

No polling has been done on the subject so far, but the New York-based American Scottish Foundation canvassed opinion from some of its members for the BBC.

A spokesman said: "It appears that Scottish-Americans here in the US have mixed feelings regarding the issue.

"While most people are intrigued by the 'notion' of independence, they express a great need to know or understand more exactly what independence will ultimately mean for Scotland in real terms – economically, politically, internationally, and so forth.

"People seem keen to watch the events closely as they unfold, without actually supporting either position at this point in time."

If Alex Salmond really is planning to mobilise the Scottish diaspora ahead of a referendum, he may have his work cut out inspiring the troops.

Time, perhaps, to dig out the Braveheart DVD.