Does anyone only speak welsh

It is not static either. It is very much dynamic in nature. It is possible to change how people view themselves, and how they view the Welsh language in the process. Pride in the language can be found in the most unexpected places if we are patient enough to scratch beyond the surface. We have a system that turns people against the Welsh language, who with the right encouragement, would embrace it.

To stop people from believing that Welsh speakers only switch to the language when a monolingual English speaker walks in the pub, we need to transform the institutions and the culture with the toxic idea that they do. Excellent article. I suspect that there are many people who imagine that Welsh, like French, is purely a school subject and, because they do not live in a Welsh-speaking area, cannot imagine that it is the first, home, language of many children.

We could do with a Welsh Language Development Agency similar to the WDA of yesteryear whose sole remit is to market the language to win over hearts and minds. Positive news today that … Read more ». I honestly never know what to think about this kind of story. I feel the same about the reporting of English speakers banning Welsh language in shops….

I have lived long enough to observe how people behave and there are two sides to every story. You have to ask. My father went to Birmingham for teaching work in the 60s.

I moved back to Wales in the 80s in the vague hope … Read more ». It is the unionist parties, not the pro-independence parties, that choose not to make the distinction between England and Wales. Is any Welsh government likely to cut general funding for education in the post-industrial areas in order to finance the Welsh language? Ive had monkey chants at me for speaking Welsh openly in public in places…but it just makes me more ardent to speak the Welsh Ive been self teaching since I left school.

This is their country too. You have misunderstood the spirit of the article … a blind spot for nationalists? I hand lived in West Wales for 30 years and have never met a single anti Muslim English person in a pub here. This is pure racism on your part are you a friend of Mike Parker. Funny how this old chestnut hangs around like a bad smell.

You can always tell. I speak English with a pronounced English accent, but understand Welsh perfectly. In five years living in Gwynedd I never once heard Welsh used as a means of exclusion.

Never once in five years. Good question Shaun. I see it as a duty to challenge this crap wherever I see or hear it. Why would you want anything to die, Diego? What is wrong with you? Well, among answers to the second question, I believe that you, sir, have a fundamentally flawed conception of what kind of thing a language is.

If you choose to visit a pub where welsh speakers congregate that is up to you. My point centred around the fact that the author is manifesting the very attitudes that make people dislike the welsh language brigade. How dare he preach to this taxi driver, as if … Read more ». But here it is, Aidan, with the words numbered, and a translation to follow:- 1 Llan 2 fair 3 pwll 4 gwyn 5 gyll 6 go 7 ger 8 y 9 chwyrn 10 drobwll 11 llan 12 tysilio 13 go 14 go 15 goch.

Aneirin o Gaerdydd Any language such as Welsh has more than a simply utilistic value; it also has a sentimental value, forming part of a persons or a nations cultural identity.

Of course Welsh should not be killed off as some here would seem to suggest. But at the other end of the spectrum, Welsh speakers have no right to force their language upon other Welsh people who may have no wish to speak the Welsh language and are content with keeping a Welsh identity without going through all the hassle of learning another language. Diolch yn fawr am ddarllen a chyfrannu i'r drafodaeth hon.

Thank you for reading and contributing to this discussion. Lora, Bangor This discussion list keeps banding about figures on language and so forth so I thought I'd straighten a few things out.

These are facts and figures I encounter everyday, facts that I am in fact taught as a student of linguistics. Most of whom are bilingual in Welsh and English. The statistics are measured by counting those who use a language as a first language, therefore if you are bilingual, you will be counted in the Welsh speakers statistics and in the English speakers statistics.

Here is something else to consider. Only a fifth as some on this list would look at it. Statistics don't give a very clear impression then do they? If you take, for example, Iceland. Half the number of people who speak Welsh. This gives a slightly different perspective on 'how well' Welsh is doing.

With regards to it being a dead language, that is a very inaccurate and hurtful language. The 'moribund' languages as listed on the ethnologue total languages worldwide, none of which are in the UK. As for endangered languages, Welsh isn't one of these either. These are languages which are being learnt by fewer children than there are adult speakers.

Welsh is not one of these either. It's an interesting statistic. Lora, Bangor Adam Johns from Cardiff. As has already been pointed out on this list, Welsh is not a useless compulsory subject compared with other subjects, depending of course on the individual. You can choose to sit the second language Welsh papers, just like you can choose to sit the lower tier maths paper. Education is about educating people with regards to things which will be relative to them in later life, therefore, people living in Wales should learn some Welsh.

Nobody's asking for them to write a novel or give their observations on some unique grammatical function within the language. The education committee wants to give pupils a level of Welsh which will enable them to understand basic Welsh should they encounter it in everyday life.

It serves also to eliminate ignorance of the language which causes people to dismiss it. The first language Welsh qualifications are for people like me, who speak Welsh fluently already, who use it as much as they use English, who wish to gain a standardised qualification in their native language. What's the point? What's the point of any qualification. I believe the same argument applies here. With regards to your other comments: "The welsh speaking elite" yes it's all a big conspiracy isn't it :s "are trying to create pride in the 'language of Wales' don't make me laugh " Sorry for making you laugh there, but Welsh is the language of Wales.

Just like English is the language of England. The Welsh language developped from Brythonic Celtic in the region now known as Wales. English and Welsh are now the official languages of the country, with English being spoken by the majority and the majority of Welsh speakers being bilingual with English as their second language. He speaks Welsh, always has. I have heard these stories too. Any remaining monoglots are likely to be very old, however. It would require a very specific set of circumstances to live the most part of one's lifespan to now in the U.

I can't imagine that very many at all have. Holding on to one's native tongue despite persecution might be a reason to not stop speaking Welsh, but I should think it would have made it very difficult to genuinely not speak any English? I would imagine one might need to be old enough to have missed out on compulsory schooling She got put on the board as an honorary member years later.

She was such a lovely lady! As someone who is half Welsh, has Welsh speaking grandparents, and regularly visits Wales, I have a pretty good idea what the answer to this question is. There are no Welsh speaking monoglots! There are many people who prefer to speak Welsh, however. Certain places, particularly places in South Wales, are extremely Welsh, and nearly everyone in these places speaks Welsh, but despite this, these Welsh speakers from my experience always have perfect English.

There may be a very small minority of people who are not fluent in English, but this is a VERY small minority. Roadsigns in Wales are in Welsh and English, and in some schools, the whole education is in Welsh, making Welsh very important in Wales, but still, since English is 'the language of the world,' everyone in Wales speaks it as well as Welsh.

It's interesting you say "particularly places in South Wales", as I'd always thought it was more likely to be North Wales where Welsh is more popular. Genrally speaking, Welsh is spoken by a higher proportion of the population in the western parts of Wales than in the eastern parts. It is also worth noting that the numbers of Welsh speakers in England has gone up, particularly due to increasing numbers of younger people moving around for education and work reasons.

But just as significantly, S4C and its radio counterpart BBC Radio Cymru now provide a Welsh-language window on Wales and the world for viewers and listeners at home, whether home is in Llandeilo or in London.

The Welsh language has always been ready to embrace new media. The first books in Welsh were printed back in the s and years ago there were 25 weekly newspapers published in the language. Can we reach a million speakers by ? Why stop there? Welsh and English have coexisted in Wales for centuries now — and perhaps our long experience of bilingualism is something we can profitably share with the world as we reclaim our heritage.

Go backstage at Steelhouse Festival as volunteer Sarah Price welcomes visitors from around the world to the event in her home town of Ebbw Vale. Cardiff University's partnership with Magstim is leading research into the workings of the mind. This site uses animations - these my cause issues for some people and can be turned off. Home About Language. Heart of the nation.