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Keeping The Welsh Language Alive
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Watching Googlebox and the posh man said it cost £3 billion to keep the Welsh language alive. I have just googled this and it is actually £14 million annually (2012) what a waste of money. How on earth can this be justified? (Am from the borough of Rhondda Cynon Taff, so ginormously Welsh myself but still can't see how it can be justified.)
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is it perhaps something to do with S4C? I seem to recall reading somewhere that the channel is hugely subsidised by the WAG. But don't quote me on that, I'm not really sure. Alternatively perhaps is the costs of welsh medium schools? but surely, that cost must be measured against the cost of those children going to English speaking schools. I'd be interested to know how the £14m is dispersed, and how accurate the information is.
If Welsh is your first language I suppose it must be natural to speak welsh amongst friends. How often do you walk into a Spanish bar and have all the locals change to speak English just because you've walked in? It's probably not a deliberate ignorance to continue speaking I their first language - perhaps a quick "hey, sorry, I don't understand Welsh" would make them rethink their speech for you. I lived in West Wales for a few years and often had to remind staff and customers at the social club there that I didn't understand what they were saying. They would immediately apologise and speak English for me. In my view, very accommodating.
Its seems a bit strange that now that we have Welsh-Medium schools all over Wales, not just in the north, but people are still not speaking it in any appreciable numbers.
My nieces went to Welsh-Medium schools and can speak Welsh but don't. I used to collect them from school sometimes and take them to the MacDonald's around the corner. At about 16:00 it was full of kids from the school and all, bar none, were speaking English. This was in Carmarthen, which is very Welsh speaking, so its surprising and rather puzzling.
Those kids that went to Welsh-Medium schools in the 80's, will now be sending their kids to the same schools. But the proportion of Welsh speakers went down below 20% in the last Census in 2011.
So if 10,000's of kids are either going to Welsh-Medium, or are being taught Welsh at school every year, and are still not actually using it, then I'm not sure that anything has actually been achieved.
Considering how divisive and political the language issue can be here in Wales, its even more puzzling why the majority of the generation growing up still see English as the dominant tongue. Perhaps Facebook, and the internet in general has a part to play ?
I don't want to get into a slanging match with language activists here, although they appear to view any debate on the issue as an attack, and get very defensive. But a debate needs to be had, especially considering the enormous cost involved and the economic problems facing Britain.
My nieces went to Welsh-Medium schools and can speak Welsh but don't. I used to collect them from school sometimes and take them to the MacDonald's around the corner. At about 16:00 it was full of kids from the school and all, bar none, were speaking English. This was in Carmarthen, which is very Welsh speaking, so its surprising and rather puzzling.
Those kids that went to Welsh-Medium schools in the 80's, will now be sending their kids to the same schools. But the proportion of Welsh speakers went down below 20% in the last Census in 2011.
So if 10,000's of kids are either going to Welsh-Medium, or are being taught Welsh at school every year, and are still not actually using it, then I'm not sure that anything has actually been achieved.
Considering how divisive and political the language issue can be here in Wales, its even more puzzling why the majority of the generation growing up still see English as the dominant tongue. Perhaps Facebook, and the internet in general has a part to play ?
I don't want to get into a slanging match with language activists here, although they appear to view any debate on the issue as an attack, and get very defensive. But a debate needs to be had, especially considering the enormous cost involved and the economic problems facing Britain.
Absolutely woofgang, I agree. But as you well know, that process of leading the horse to water is costing us in Wales a small fortune every year, and at a time when libraries, public toilets, etc are becoming difficult to fund, a debate needs to engaged into as to whether its financially possible to keep propping up a language that is ignored by over 80% of the Welsh population.
There are all sorts of ways that we can feel "Welsh" and the language is only one of them. I live in South Wales and am as proud of that as somebody who lives in North Wales and probably speaks Welsh. The difficulty as you know, is as soon as anybody tries to engage in this debate, the Welsh language activists will get all hot under the collar and start talking about Owain Glyndŵr and Prince Llewellyn. Its 2013 not 1213 and I think its high time we realised it.
There are all sorts of ways that we can feel "Welsh" and the language is only one of them. I live in South Wales and am as proud of that as somebody who lives in North Wales and probably speaks Welsh. The difficulty as you know, is as soon as anybody tries to engage in this debate, the Welsh language activists will get all hot under the collar and start talking about Owain Glyndŵr and Prince Llewellyn. Its 2013 not 1213 and I think its high time we realised it.
Spot on Sher - I might be a Yorkshireman now resident on the lovely Isle of Anglesey but I believe the Welsh language should be allowed to carry on regardless of cost. There are areas like the Lleyn Peninsula, rural Anglesey, Caernarfon where Welsh is very strong, and also around Aberystwyth. I wonder if the Gaelic speakers in Scotland and Ireland - and Cornwall too think that money spent on Gaelic is wasted?
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