mind your language

[ludwig]

sorry, no question - I just thought this was funny.

http://news.bbc.co.uk...ews/wales/7702913.stm

[naomi24]

Oh that's funny. Haaaa!!!

[ummmm]

lol.

[VHG]

Not sure if you noticed this was from October 2008.

I think I saw it on QI the other night, or was it Mock the Week, or Have I got News for You. One of them anway.

[R1Geezer]

it's hilerious but also very sad that they hang onto a language that virtually no one speaks. This must have passed through many hands until it was made into a sign and not one of them had a scooby do about what it actually says. Yet Welsh school children have to endure this drivel, a form of child abuse in my opinion.

[sandyRoe]

They should employ bi-lingual sign writers.

[sherminator]

R1Geezer thats such a typical statement from someone with very little culture of their own!

Language as a form should most definitely be encouraged! The more they die out the more we lose in culture and history.

[Greedyfly]

lmao - good good nice to know they are on the ball

[woofgang]

so do eastern europeans read welsh then??

[jake-the-peg]

Hmmm

That depends on what you think language should be for.

A common bridge to let disperate people communicate on a common basis

or a cultural heritage to preserve insular feelings of identity amoungst small groups of people

[R1Geezer]

Fair enough sherminator if people want to learn welsh or Klingon I couldn't give thrupney but wasting a childs time in school by teaching them a language that is of no use at all for reasons of dogma is a form of child abuse in my opinion.

[sherminator]

yeah but by your thinking me learning about art was exactly the same! complete abuse of me and i hated every minute of it!

[R1Geezer]

No, Art can be useful, not the same thing at all.

[askyourgran]

RIGeezer I attended school and we had to learn French. I enjoyed the lessons and took most of it in, but in all my years I have only been to France for 1 day (Calais) and I didn't speak a word of it to anyone. If I had been Welsh I would have learned to speak the language, however dead it may be. It is a cultural thing not dogma.

[jake-the-peg]

No art is inclusive - it celebrates a common heritage (or at least it should)

People aren't prevented from appreciating and talking aboutCanaletto because they're not Italian.

You may not like it but that's your choice

Language is a barrier between people keeping them apart - art is a uniter bringing them together.

Go to to any of the major galleries in the world and see how many different nationalities are visiting and you'll see that

[society]

"wasting a childs time in school by teaching them a language that is of no use at all for reasons of dogma is a form of child abuse in my opinion. "

Learning another language is education, not wasting time and abuse.

[craft1948]

I remember years ago when all the stuffers that went out with BT bills were sent, in Welsh, to people in Yorkshire......and yes, if you ask, BT will provide your phone bill in Welsh.

[jake-the-peg]

Learning someone else's language is an education and helps bring people together.

Learning a second language that nobody speaks without also being able to speak English only serves to perpetuate a cultural isolation.

Languages can be very potent political symbols - look at Irish!

People don't learn the Gaelic languages to reach out to the world but to reach in.

I'm not saying it should be banned - I just don't think it should be encouraged