I've had two conversations about this subject in the past week alone. Everyone seems to agree that increasing Welsh medium education is the answer, and it needs to start now. If welsh is the language of the playground, it becomes the language of any playtime, and then the language on the street. Slowly it becomes the majority language, and it's use becomes a necessity in everyday life. We need a progressive program of increasing Welsh medium education with the eventual object being Welsh as the exclusive medium of education in Wales, and sooner rather than later.
Is a problem not that even if it's the language of the class room, it doesn't necessarily mean it's the language of the playground? I remember watching a documentary where the kids in a Welsh language medium school spoke English to each other. And even in Welsh speaking areas a fair chunk of kids were choosing to use English on Facebook etc. Feels like there needs to be more incentives for people to create Welsh language new media content e.g. social media
i moistly agree but its not without flaw, here in Ireland the gealscoil (Irish medium school) often creates a language border, as in I speak this language here and English everywhere else. its a very superficial way of increasing numbers, yes its a useful tool but on its own it does very little, there needs to be efforts to produce, games sports teams and basically anything a child would want interact with as well as encouraging parents who push kids to use it further, this would lead to children gaining a sense of identity with the language. in addition, there needs to be a push for more people raising first language speakers, its only gona get harder to get people to learn a language if less and less people speak it at home already, an identity around a language is harder to form when its not your first language hard but not impossible
I think Spain is the best example of maintaining and reviving languages, Welsh and others can learn a lot from there. Previously heavily affected by Castillian dominance and Franco purposefully discouraging anything other than Castillian. Basque and Catalan, especially the latter are comparatively extremely strong and widely spoken in those areas nowadays. Basque is still very much endangered on the French side thanks to the French government's terrible attitude towards regional, languages, even today (see Breton's similar decline).
As a baby boomer (b.1947) I never heard Welsh spoken in Whitchurch, Cardiff. I moved away in 1971 and moved back in 2022. Now it is common to hear Cymraeg, so anecdotal proof of the statistics. 😀
I am of the last of the baby boomers born in 64. My Grandfather was born in Carnarfon and where his family were. They were all Gardeners ; he went into service with an english owned Estate. In fact the family owned several Estates. When he was fully trained he ended up assigned as a Head Gardener of an Estate In Llechryd, Cardiganshire (as it was then) Welsh was completely forbidden at work or at home - since it was a tied house. My dad who was born in 1925 did manage to learn Welsh in secret but it was mainly the language for the coracle and the pub. He hated being forbidden to use his tongue and he met my mother through his sister. Mum was Scottish, though she lived in Manchester, they Married and he left home in 1961. Because we were out of Wales the most we children learned was how to count and say goodnight. I now live in Wales and am trying hard to lean my Father tongue but encouragement is so difficult apart from class there are few learning books for adults. No meeting places for adult learners and many English speakers from welsh backgrounds are trying to learn. There is little patience for learners.
Shocking to read about Welsh being forbidden at Llechryd. All the more reason to learn Welsh! As for English speakers trying to learn and little patience - I think it is more of a case that Welsh speakers are such a tight-knit group it feels exclusionary but if they are not they will lose their language, so what is to be done?
I have learnt Scots Gaelic since the seventies but am not fluent although I try to do my best. My problem has always been finding people to speak to. I went to university in west Wales. There are communities there who speak Welsh as their everyday language. It motivated me to learn and speak Welsh at every opportunity. It also made me feel part of the community I was living in and everyone was so appreciative that I made the effort even if my knowledge was limited. Mae angen i ni siarad yr ieithoedd hyn ac nid siarad amdanynt yn Saesneg yn unig.
As a senior tourist in Wales visiting from Australia (of Welsh ancestors and 73% Welsh DNA), I was deeply moved by hearing young people speaking Welsh in their beautiful, poetic, sing-songy pronunciation/accent. The Welsh need to have more pride in their language and action that in the speaking of it. You have a golden language that no-one else in the world speaks so please take care of it and use it. People will come to your beautiful Cymru to see it, hear the Welsh language and be taken back into history.
I am willing to give you a chance@@robertedwards3551 , but both of your replies here Robert have been quite negative. toward Cymraeg. Yes, I do want it to be the majority language again. Of course. That is part of why I promote the language.
I know a surprising amount of people who are Welsh speakers even here in the Rhondda Valley. I'm not a Welsh speaker much to my regret and I'm too old to start. All of them went to Welsh medium schools. Their parents mostly couldn't speak Welsh so It wasn't spoken at home but the hope is that their children will go to Welsh medium schools and it will be spoken at home. It will grow. Unless I read it wrong, I read something recently that 23.99% of schools are Welsh medium schools. I thought that was a lot. I think the future is bright. I've watched loads of your videos Ben and enjoyed them all. Even I've learned a few things.😁👍
@@MP-hz6iz My experiences at learning Welsh at school were horrendous. When I was about 8 years old, if I wanted to go to the toilet and didn't ask in Welsh, I couldn't go. A sort of reverse Welsh Not. In secondary school because I couldn't learn an eight line Welsh poem which was never explained to us what it actually meant and I couldn't do it, I had to write it out 50 times and I still didn't know it. So I had to write it out another 50 times and I still didn't know it. The teacher said "I give up" and at that point so did I. If there had been more carrot and less stick, I could be a fluent speaker now. If I could speak as much Welsh as I can speak French (from 50 years ago) I would be delighted. For the record I'm heading rapidly for 73 years of age. The old grey matter is not what it used to be. I'm a massive supporter of the Welsh language and anything Welsh for that matter.
As a Welsh speaker living in Y Fro Gymraeg (a 50-70% area, by these maps), you're more pessimistic than I am comfortable with. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I certainly don't think we should give up on Y Fro. All the rural schools around here are Welsh speaking, though the largest secondary school in north Ceredigion still is not. Part of the problem we have is young people moving out of the area, due to the combined issues of lack of opportunities and cost of housing. The former of these is mostly a political issue (more jobs needed); the latter, one of incomers, often retirees. For example, during the peak of Covid, there was a lot of interest in houses locally from people from the English cities. Twice I told people who stopped and asked directions to a house viewing that they were not supposed to be here, because Cymru was still in lockdown (seriously, the arrogance of it - they knew)! That will have had something of an effect too. All that said, I think you're right about capturing the cities. But if we capture the cities, and lose the countryside - even if in the longer term the countryside is retaken, we also lose a huge amount of the culture. We must not give up on what remains of Y Fro Gymraeg.
2 steps that would go a long way in gogledd Ceredigion a Gwynedd is education in those areas being entirely in Cymraeg and lower business rates for small businesses.
As an English person I moved here to the Welsh mountains and whilst here for the past 5 years have been learning our shared heritage language in the Northen dialect. There seems to be much bickering between North and South of this Nation between what is correct Cymraeg and what isn't!! Is it not time to unit and settle on a standardised approach to learning? I know you have mentioned this before Ben as being one of your learning curves! I took a geneology test 3 years ago and discovered there was no English in me at all!! The biggest part of me at 45% is of Celtic origin with a bit of French and some Northern European. Can't say I was disappointed!! :) I feel more Welsh now than English! I think there is much ancient Briton sleeping in my English bredrin. I wake it up in them where I can!! Great video again Ben!!
Diolch yn fawr, Dave. You are a credit and a good light for other English who have - like my Texan self - made this Welsh nation our own home nation and embraced its culture as our own.
@@scarlett2299 It is where I grew up. It was a fine thing to have long, warm summers and to take it for granted as a boy and not to of thought much of cold as being much of a thing save rare events of spectacle and awe.
Well native English people share DNA with the rest of the British Isles including Ireland we're pretty much the same. The Anglo-Saxon and other invader elements have not changed the original DNA of these Isles as much as originally thought.
Love the deadpan , evidence based delivery. As a London Welshman on my mother's side , you've inspired me to take a language course at the London Welsh Center. My grandfather didn't speak English until he went to school, and was very pleased when I started to learn the language in the 1970s , but as book learning I gave up. Encouraging ideas of building more Welsh medium schools , though I've read reports of the view that social media may be undermining the language amongst the young - would like to know your view? The London Welsh community 🏴 has had a low profile, and widespread presence in North West and West London. The presence of the chapels has diminished , and the dairies , police and Welsh school teachers in our schools have long gone. We used to have a Welsh Chapel and language school in Willesden Lane , now gone this 20 years. I believe that the school after a temporary move to Harlesden, is now firmly embedded in Hanwell , Borough of Ealing in west London. It is regrettable that the school is bilingual, as you say. Nevertheless it's encouraging that some of Gen Y are looking to send their little ones to Celtic medium nurseries and pre schools. My own Irish daughter in law in NE London is looking out for Irish language nurseries for our grandson Dara, and my son holds an Irish passport 🇮🇪, through my wife. I would be interested to hear form other home nation grandparents , whose grandchildren are being considered for Celtic language nursery education in England, especially London. Irish, Welsh or Scottish Gaelic. Cornish has yet to make an appearance , although I believe that it is possible to take Cornish language courses at the City Lit in Holborn. Keep up the good work Ben Diolch Alan of Kilburn , 92 year old mother Patricia nee Griffiths, evacuated to family in Treorchy in WW2 and loathed every minute of it. Not accepted , although both parents were Welsh, coming to London after the General Strike of 1926
Social media is even undermining German, Arabic and French. So Welsh too? Yes. But Globalisation is ending, slowly, so... that rough turn in our history may help Welsh, ironically.
I'm a Welsh learner. After I started learning Welsh this year, I only heard Welsh on the street twice, in Cardiff. The percentage of Welsh-speaking people in Caerdydd is low. I really hope to hear more Welsh in the capital city of Wales. I'm not Welsh. I'm not British. But I want to learn Welsh. Dw i'n caru Cymraeg. Cymraeg am byth!
@@BenLlywelyn wow do'n i ddim gwybod hynny. Dwi i'n edrych ymlaen at ymweld â Canton. Diolch yn fawr! (Hopefully it makes sense. I try to use Welsh as much as possible. )
I am now an Australian, however I was raised in the Cardiff area that he zoomed into. The reason why the area to the North West (Llantrisant) and in particular, Church Village is welsh is because there is a Welsh school there that caters for the whole 12 years. basically, you go there as a 4-5 year old and you leave when you are in your late teens. This is the way. Edit: interestingly I lived in Denmark for 4 years. The government there sent me to Danish language classes for 2 years. I speak to my 4 year son in Danish. He doesn't speak english. How can we not replicate this. why should a danish child speak english in Denmark? Why should a Welsh child speak english in Wales?
I am an English person living in London and have been learning Welsh for seven years. I believe that the loss of language in some rural areas was inevitable. Over the last 50 years many places in England are virtually devoid of local people; for example, some seaside towns in Devon and Cornwall. Got to say that recently going to Caerfyrddin shopping (a county town in South West Wales) I never heard a single word of Welsh spoken, whereas in North Wales, Caernarfon, Porthaethwy (Menai Bridge) and Ffestiniog I did.
Carmarthen used to have a big Welsh speaking community too. As someone who grew up in Pembrokeshire (next country westward), the market in Carms was one of the few places I heard Welsh spoken o the streets.
Cytuno, the future is in Welsh model education. To some extent we’ve seen it here in the Basque Country where illegal (under Franco) ikastolas were established in the 60s, teaching all subjects in a unified Euskara instead of manifold dialects. My son is 9 and can speak Spanish perfectly well despite the fact that he starts learning it next year as a foreign language. They’ll always pick up the “common” tongue in the area, speak it in the playground etc. Thanks to the ikastola movement, Basque is spoken in every village, town and city. Sure, here in Donosti it’s spoken less, due to tourism, and the situation as a whole could be healthier, but without the ikastolas I’m not sure anyone would be speaking it today. In economically tough times, people have enough on their plate without worrying about language learning. Good quality Welsh language education must be the way forward.
WW2 killed the welsh language in my family…my grandfather was welsh speaking and hadn’t even heard much English as a child, he served in the RAF during the war and died at 27 because of it. He met his wife in the forces she was English so the welsh language was unable to be passed on ! Very sad on many levels! I continuously learn though…but I now live in Australia...look forward to spending some time in Wales again next yr! Cymru am Byth !
I think Henry ford’s quote “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t you’re right” applies aswell people say they can’t learn welsh and so get little if no motivation to learn it.
I totally agree on that, that the future of the Welsh language is via a reapropriation by urban people and the middle class, not by the farmer´s working class. And I also totally agree on the point that Welsh medium education is one of the keys to it. I hope that more people will understand this point.
To build more welsh medium schools, we need more welsh-speaking teachers which I believe we may not have enough of. I wonder whether we could potentially incorporate Generative AI and LLMs into education as tutors in Welsh to make more students and teachers fluent so that for the next generation there are more Welsh-speaking teachers widely available
Humans are always preferable to machines. But it could be a stop gap ? I don't like the idea of children being taught by machines - it leaves a spiritual absence.
I don't usually pay attention to census' I've been learning Welsh for the past two years and I've never taken a census in my life. I'm in Cardiff, the youngest of five kids. I've tried convincing the rest of my family to speak Welsh but they can't be bothered. I'm loving it and feeling more connected the more I learn. I write things to my sister and she will Google it and write something back. My other sisters daughter was excited to learn Welsh then started high school and felt discouraged by her teacher so no longer wants to learn it. However my brothers two daughters love it and are very eager so I buy them little books and speak little bits with them and was surprised to learn their mother actually knew some too. I never heard it growing up when I was out and about but now I'm hearing it more often and can't help smiling when I do. I'm in a high Muslim area too but when I'm out with the dog I hear these two Welsh women speaking completely in Welsh. I hear it from random strangers walking by now and again and I know the lady across the road speaks it. So I definitely feel it is growing. It's just the government seems to be being extra sneaky still covering up our history or activity destroying it ( im talking about the welsh government) caer y mynydd/caer y brennin which is where the Welsh royals were buried has already been destroyed and plowed through and a wind farm set up. That wouldn't happen in any other country. even cadw is doing it and they are supposed to be a heritage keeper. And we are being flooded with immigrants which is not good for any culture.
People like you in urban, city areas do a great service and good for Cymraeg. Diolch yn fawr. Keep going and trying - people take slow long years to change attitudes. But they do. Fe wnân nhw (they will do).
I think far from a bad thing the internet will help Welsh. As you say you can write in Welsh and the other can easily Google it if they don't understand. Algorithms will push Welsh content if you start using it thus becoming a virtuous circle. There is so much easily accessible Welsh content online that didn't exist before the Web meaning all can learn and get used to hearing and reading it. Forums and chat groups for Welsh speakers etc.
It takes a lot of courage to stand up and admit ones mistakes but to me that is one of the best measures of a person is if they can admit their own failures or in this instance the failures of ones own people.
Very interesting. So much to unpack here. Being of Welsh ancestry, I feel affinity for this problem. My personal experience lies in northern Italy on the border of former Yugoslavia. Areas where people speak Italian, Italian Dialect, Slovenian, and Friulano. Everything is slowly being subsumed into modern Italian. I agree, the only way to preserve it is through single language schools. It is hard to explain the importance of language as a key component to cultural identity to people who have not experienced it. Yet, when I return to my home town I understand these people and when they realize I understand their dialects and languages, they realize I am one of them despite no longer being there every day. The difference between saying, "Cosa Hai?" (what do you have in italian), and "Cos te ga?" (dialect), or "Io ho" vs. "Mi go" is profound.
Whereby it’s encouraging to hear how Welsh is establishing itself in metropolitan areas, it needs mentioning that Welsh in essence is a nature language. Those of us still talking the ancient tongue owe a debt to our farmers not only for feeding us but for the energy they have given over long tracts of time in keeping the language going. Also, I can’t stress enough the importance of history in encouraging a feeling of provenance for the Welsh Language. With some 5000 years of history here in the British isle, people need to realise that it is THE most important and tangible aspect of British history. If someone suggested Stonehenge should be torn down to make room for something else there would be a global outcry. But Welsh, the origin of which possibly predates Stonehenge, is a living breathing thing; a vastly rich tapestry in which historical secrets can be found, has not been given the dues it deserves. I was speaking with a non-Welsh- speaking Welsh friend recently and was frustrated by his take on the situation. He was fairly dismissive toward Welsh, calling it a ‘dying language’. My response to him, and others of the same opinion, is that Welsh is a language that has survived numerous attempts to murder it.
If Welsh was the majority language of Wales in our age of tech and large population its power would be such that it would change England and how England looks at itseld forever. I think for some few, nothing could scare them more.
@@BenLlywelyn considering the latest backlashes against Welsh people speaking their language on theTV, first at the World Cup then lately on BBC’s Countryfile, it does indeed make you wonder at the levels of phobia some English people have when it comes to the Welsh language, and why! Thing is, this identification with being Anglo Saxon blinkers a lot of English people. The term only came into usage during the 19th century, as part of a Victorian propaganda drive to convince the English of their German-ness, wholly because they themselves were mostly of German stock. But modern genetic testing has proven the Victorians wrong; the English are far more Old British that they have been lead to believe. Truth is the Welsh language is a part of their heritage and history as much as it is ours.
Fideo diddorol a meddylgar eto Ben. I agree with you that Welsh has got to embrace the growing urbanisation that we see in modern life. But at the same time, don't dismiss the importance of rootedness, belonging and attachment to the land in the remaining Welsh-speaking areas , which I would argue is essential to Cymraeg's future.Cities are cool yes-but our land, and those areas where Cymraeg has been spoken continously for 1,500 years is sacred ground. Perhaps an official Fro Gymraeg idea has passed perhaps, but unofficially, the idea of certain areas which have to be Welsh-speaking has to be part of the national idea going forward.
We have a lot of work to do, rural and urban. And my hope is that through an urban renewal we can use that base to create a rural Bro Gymraeg with capital and resources. Yes - the heartlands are very key!
We have a lot of work to do, rural and urban. And my hope is that through an urban renewal we can use that base to create a rural Bro Gymraeg with capital and resources. Yes - the heartlands are very key!
Fideo ardderchog, and some sharp analysis! I don't actually think saving the Y Fro Gymraeg was ever an achievable aim, whatever the tactical focus; the world has tended towards urbanisation for the last 500 almost everywhere in the world, and Wales was never going to be an exception. Welsh medium schools in urban centres, be it Pwllheli, Caernarfon, Bangor, Wrecsam, or Caerdydd or Abertawe is where it's at, not preserving villages of 600 people as Welsh speaking locales, however sad that is in many ways.
Hello, I started learning Welsh over a year ago (my native language is Czech - mentioned in this video), I had a dream about whales (which I don´t remember clearly now - would have to look it up in my diary) and decided to pick up Welsh, I enjoy reading books like E-ffrindiau, Ffenest (e-books on Amazon), the other ones are too difficult for me so far. The course on Duolingo is OK (is great, but if only there was more). I wish you the best luck in preserving your language - I am not a huge fan of your national football team though...
In Wales I've seen online German, Spanish or French schools. I'm amazed continental languages have more studies than a native language. It reminds me of Maghrebi countries putting more into European languages and Arabic than Tamazigh.
Undoubtedly education is the way forward, stressing the huge advantages of being bilingual and the confidence and inclusion it bestows on those who have ‘yr iaith’. Let’s hope Cymraeg can thrive and hold her own into the next Millenia? It requires natives and learner to band together to ensure the last line of the anthem holds true.👍Diolch Ben, for pointing out the silver lining .
in the 1950s the UK government banned welsh being spoken as they thought it was threat , which is Sad (this was later overturned but for years the English have treated the welsh people so badly , and had tried to destroy their language and culture One thing that annoys Me is if you look at the history for Wales , it has been under English control for centuries, and some people *mostly English people and even outsiders, like the USA think that Wales is just part of England, but Wales is a country with in The UK which is sad to see...
Welsh was banned in schools after 1847. Also, to re-emerge Wales in the mind of others as distinct from England, all we need is more content, more discussion and more art, revolving around Welshness. Trying my best to provide. 😉
@@BenLlywelyn oh I got the date wrong yeah I hate what the English did to Wales as a country , they should be given more power , instead of having to go though Westminster and parliament in London also I hate the fact that Wales never got their Dragon included on the Union Jack flag *or union flag sorry and the fact is that Wales has the coolest flag in the world
Very interesting what you said about the way cities are crucial, but your early history may not be right. The economy of rural Britain was strong in the C4th while the towns were declining in importance. The irony is that the urban renewal of England took place in towns like Lincoln and London that had been British-speaking only a hundred years or so previously. Towns like that weren't lost. There was just no economic life to sustain them or their culture.
Lost or abandoned or what have you, if a language holds the densest populations in an area chances are unless politically unfavorable, it will will win eventually.
I'm an American. I live in what is called the State of Maine, which is part of a wider region known as New England. We are the boast and the jewel of the United States, and if you came here, you'd think you were home back across the big sacred loch. Anyway, I am your long lost Celtic cousin from across aforementioned big sacred loch, aye, though of mainly Scots and Irish ancestry, I do have Welsh in me too. Proudly. Even got a piece of Breton,, based on a surname. I've been taking it upon myself to study the Welsh language, and I mean serious study with serious effort. I find Cymreag to be the most appealing and beautiful, and the most enchanting of the Celtic languages. Walss mat very well be on the verge of a whole new cultural revival, you know what may help? BAGPIPES. That's right. Bagpipes. Redevelop and modernize Welsh Bagpipes and the Welsh piping tradition. I've got some ideas, I happen to be a bagpiper, and Wales can make a Celtic dragon of itself if it's done right, and a brand spanking new and modernized bagpipe unique and native to Wales is a good place to start.
Bagpipes are awesome, I think like kilts, all Celtic nations should nick them from the Scots. The Bretons use bagpipes in their music too. I imagine Calon Lan would sound pretty nice on a bagpipe.
I have this: gov.wales/sites/default/files/pdf-versions/2022/12/3/1670412951/welsh-language-wales-census-2021.pdf As for the percentages map. I think that one came from Lloyd on Twitter. He is here @ LloydCymru
I can see it is over 80% in some areas there, but I don't have an exact for the area in regards to the change. Check out Dafydd's site. dafyddelfryn.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8c562c4d50a44850a515e6ae89d6dfd1
Noswaith dda Ben. Gwynedd has always been the most influential county flying the flag for the Welsh language, I used to live there. I think part of the problem is various people moving there and not bothering to even learn the language. I don’t know why some people are so weird when it comes to different languages!
Why does everyone always say the name of the language in that language, like cymraeg, but still say 'saesneg'. Also when speaking english why cant you just say the word in english ?@@WillHuw
I am really not a fan of bilingual education it is a real danger to a language. For a language to survive it need spaces in the language and I am not sure that a bilingual (as in mixed schooling not mixed overall) school can provide such a place. I am interested in lower Sorbian which is a heavily endangered language in Brandenburg. Due to being in a declining region and barely having resources they have mostly given up on teaching the language as first language and German as second language, instead they now try for bilingualism in which both languages are equal (aside from early childhood), but I am not sure if it is the right way considering that German is already so dominant especially since there isn't a single settlement which has over 30% of upper Sorbian speaker and only 7k speaker overall.
I think we need an large increase in Welsh medium across the country. Especially in urban places like Abertawe (Swansea) and Wrexham which are very Welsh in attitudes and urban. New schools should be Welsh mediun
@@BenLlywelyn We also need to think about the breadth as well as depth of Welsh education. It should be seen as courtesy that commonplace exchanges should be in Welsh and that can only be done if the teaching of Welsh in English mediums is also encouraged.
@penderyn8794 Currently 82.2% of us speak English. Children are best taught in their native or the language they speak at home. If we are to have Welsh medium throughout then there needs to more Welsh teachers and a plan to transition from a predominantly English speaking population to one speaking Welsh.
@@jimmyrustler9053 my granddaughter is in a Welsh medium school, she lives it a totally English speaking household in Cardiff. Her progression in all aspects is exemplary, she if fully bilingual and now learning German. She is not the only example so I can’t agree with your hypothesis that she would be best served learning through the medium of English.
@@siarlb8115 A recent UNESCO report detailed how beneficial it was that children be taught in their home language. Congratulations on your granddaughter doing so well. But it is not the same for everyone.
Education and the 'Welsh Not' was used in the attempt to kill our native Brythonic language and education shoujd be used to bring her back to life. Dim anghofio y bobl Cymraeg sy'n byw dros y ledled Ynysoedd Prydain a dros y Byd! Cymraeg cyntaf a bydded yr hen iaith barhau!
Do you know what the Albion project is? If not it's simple. It's to make England more Welsh/Cornish and Welsh/Cornish more English. Combine the language, traditions, architecture, customs, culture, and genepools into a common southern Britain Anglo-Brythonic culture. If such a unlikely project went underway how would you feel?
There is only a problem if the use of Welsh as a means of communication is considered necessary, I propose that it is an unnecessary medium and that it has been artificially sustained by its (possibly) unlawful requirement in (mostly) civic employment. This is, as your other videos, well put together and thoughtful but its main thrust is an assumption that the primacy of the Welsh language in Wales is necessary and you fail to ask, why? Predominating exclusively Welsh language schools and Welsh language daily life might increase the use of the language but at what cost? How might such a plan limit the potential for economic and lifestyle growth in an individual brought up & educated in such a system, whither their English language skills, vocabulary or ability to successfully integrate into a corporate job in The City of London or the wider South East? Will non-Welsh firms locate their centralised bureaucracy in Wales when advanced proficiency in English is essential? It would be really refreshing to meet a Welsh person who thought that the best way to preserve the language would be to appeal to its museum relevance, as a hobby to enjoy in daily life and as a medium for building a pleasant, common bond within the community of Wales. This is its relevance in the modern world, as an historical artefact kept useful by those who wish it so and not because it is a function of a social engineer's daydream about a lost Welsh relevance in the world. You should know also that the list of places in Cardiff where the language is spoken as shown in your report is misleading, these speakers did not spring from a new interest in the language by those who lived there, these speakers are the families of the Crachach who moved to Pontcanna, Llandaf, Creigiau etc. (predominantly) from the West of Wales to take up work in the 60's and 70's at the then new HTV and BBC studios in Llandaff and then S4C in the 80's. Their progeny became similarly employed by the time of the wider use of Welsh in civic enterprises like the Sports Council, Housing Associations, Councils, Millennium Centre, WRU, Welsh Schools etc. these dormitory areas and villages are well known for such and their grip on these organisations is similarly known. It would be interesting to see just how many senior personnel can trace their recent family histories to West Wales? I think Caroline Hitt (I was at school with her brother) wrote such an article for the Western Mail and was quickly shut down. The reason why Wales will always be a place pergatorially aspiring to acceptance by its big brothers, England, Scotland and Ireland is because of its inward looking obsession with its history, heritage, culture and language elevating it beyond its slightly interesting relevance in the wider British history. Wales must make peace with itself and pass collectively through the grief cycle, to acceptance of its loss in power & prestige 800 years ago and cease using the Welsh language as a prop to sustain the unsustainable. Let it go, embrace English for the fabulous opportunity for personal advancement that it is, build a global diaspora of bi-lingual professionals taking Welsh and Welshness wherever they go, build the environment for the development of Welsh internationalists. Of course this would mean that no Crachach in the Sennedd could lay claim to it as a success story and so it could never happen.
@@BenLlywelyn Ben, I admire the speakers and promoters of the language but detest the polticisation of the language and the endless complaining that characterises the Welsh, this has ruined my homeland for me. Learning and speaking the language should be a joyful choice and not coerced as if Wales were some sort of USSRW. This thinking is holding Wales back from developing its economy (of which it has little) and depends far too much on UK Gov for its survival. Stop pretending, celebrate the language for its own sake, enjoy using it and encourage others to enjoy it also, lose the bitterness, develop an open mindset and opportunities will come. This is NLP 101 or CBT, take your pick but collectively a reset is most necessary to get Wales & the Welsh of its backward facing merry-go-round.
@@robertedwards3551All languages have the right to be a cultural medium. We have the right to exist as culture distinct from the Anglo culture. English has whole continents, we don't need to explain ourselves further.
@@BenLlywelyn I'm not denying that and I'm as Welsh as they come but its not right that I don't feel welcome in my home country because I won't speak Welsh and much anger is aimed at me for holding this view. I harbour no grudge but live in a deeply commercial world where livelihoods matter most and not language, I can say for certain that this view of Wales and Welshness needs reframing. For example, just look at the shameful behaviour of the locals in Llanelli... this is a result of isolationist small-minded thinking, fuelled by nationalistic, jingoistic claptrap.
Ces i fy magu yn Canada, ac wedyn ro'n i'n ddysgu Cymraeg fel oedolyn am pedair mlynedd. Ddim yn rhugl eto, ond ro'n i'n ar Johnathan (S4C) y Mis Hydref diwethaf, siaradais i dim ond Gymraeg ( dim Saesneg). Ro'n i'n defnyddio apps ( Duolingo'n defnyddiol iawn), llyfrau a siaradwyr Cymraeg ( dw i'n byw yn Seland Newydd, felly does dim llawer o pobol pwy siarad Cymraeg yma). Dw i'n meddwl fod rhaid y gwersi Cymraeg bod yn hwyl i'r blant. Dw i'n caru ein iaith, gobeithiol bydd e'n tyfu.... O bydded i'r hen iaith barhau!
Diolch yn fawr iawn am wylio. Dw i'n cytuno â chi o ran wersi Cymraeg i blant a bod nhw'n gorfod bod yn hwyl. Yn sicr. Mae Seland Newydd yn bell iawn! Ond dw i'n dymuno pob lwc ichi ar y daith o ddysgu'r Gymraeg.
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I've had two conversations about this subject in the past week alone. Everyone seems to agree that increasing Welsh medium education is the answer, and it needs to start now. If welsh is the language of the playground, it becomes the language of any playtime, and then the language on the street. Slowly it becomes the majority language, and it's use becomes a necessity in everyday life. We need a progressive program of increasing Welsh medium education with the eventual object being Welsh as the exclusive medium of education in Wales, and sooner rather than later.
Increasing Welsh medium education has my full support.
Is a problem not that even if it's the language of the class room, it doesn't necessarily mean it's the language of the playground? I remember watching a documentary where the kids in a Welsh language medium school spoke English to each other. And even in Welsh speaking areas a fair chunk of kids were choosing to use English on Facebook etc.
Feels like there needs to be more incentives for people to create Welsh language new media content e.g. social media
i moistly agree but its not without flaw, here in Ireland the gealscoil (Irish medium school) often creates a language border, as in I speak this language here and English everywhere else. its a very superficial way of increasing numbers, yes its a useful tool but on its own it does very little, there needs to be efforts to produce, games sports teams and basically anything a child would want interact with as well as encouraging parents who push kids to use it further, this would lead to children gaining a sense of identity with the language. in addition, there needs to be a push for more people raising first language speakers, its only gona get harder to get people to learn a language if less and less people speak it at home already, an identity around a language is harder to form when its not your first language hard but not impossible
Just wondering who "everyone" agreeing might be? Native Welsh speakers? Did anyone ever come across "Naive Empiricism"?
I think Spain is the best example of maintaining and reviving languages, Welsh and others can learn a lot from there. Previously heavily affected by Castillian dominance and Franco purposefully discouraging anything other than Castillian. Basque and Catalan, especially the latter are comparatively extremely strong and widely spoken in those areas nowadays. Basque is still very much endangered on the French side thanks to the French government's terrible attitude towards regional, languages, even today (see Breton's similar decline).
As a baby boomer (b.1947) I never heard Welsh spoken in Whitchurch, Cardiff. I moved away in 1971 and moved back in 2022. Now it is common to hear Cymraeg, so anecdotal proof of the statistics. 😀
It is the accumulation of such stories which gives me hope. Diolch.
i hope this can happen in ireland with An Teanga Gaeilge In sha Allah 🙏
I am of the last of the baby boomers born in 64. My Grandfather was born in Carnarfon and where his family were. They were all Gardeners ; he went into service with an english owned Estate. In fact the family owned several Estates. When he was fully trained he ended up assigned as a Head Gardener of an Estate In Llechryd, Cardiganshire (as it was then) Welsh was completely forbidden at work or at home - since it was a tied house. My dad who was born in 1925 did manage to learn Welsh in secret but it was mainly the language for the coracle and the pub. He hated being forbidden to use his tongue and he met my mother through his sister. Mum was Scottish, though she lived in Manchester, they Married and he left home in 1961. Because we were out of Wales the most we children learned was how to count and say goodnight. I now live in Wales and am trying hard to lean my Father tongue but encouragement is so difficult apart from class there are few learning books for adults. No meeting places for adult learners and many English speakers from welsh backgrounds are trying to learn. There is little patience for learners.
Shocking to read about Welsh being forbidden at Llechryd. All the more reason to learn Welsh! As for English speakers trying to learn and little patience - I think it is more of a case that Welsh speakers are such a tight-knit group it feels exclusionary but if they are not they will lose their language, so what is to be done?
I have learnt Scots Gaelic since the seventies but am not fluent although I try to do my best. My problem has always been finding people to speak to. I went to university in west Wales. There are communities there who speak Welsh as their everyday language. It motivated me to learn and speak Welsh at every opportunity. It also made me feel part of the community I was living in and everyone was so appreciative that I made the effort even if my knowledge was limited. Mae angen i ni siarad yr ieithoedd hyn ac nid siarad amdanynt yn Saesneg yn unig.
Gwir. A diolch Eoin. Mae'n bwysig siarad yn y Gymraeg.
Cytuno'n llwyr.
As a senior tourist in Wales visiting from Australia (of Welsh ancestors and 73% Welsh DNA), I was deeply moved by hearing young people speaking Welsh in their beautiful, poetic, sing-songy pronunciation/accent. The Welsh need to have more pride in their language and action that in the speaking of it. You have a golden language that no-one else in the world speaks so please take care of it and use it. People will come to your beautiful Cymru to see it, hear the Welsh language and be taken back into history.
Absolutely so. Thank you for coming to our country and appreciating our language. Diolch.
@@BenLlywelyn Come on Ben, that's magical thinking, where's the pragmatism?
I am willing to give you a chance@@robertedwards3551 , but both of your replies here Robert have been quite negative. toward Cymraeg. Yes, I do want it to be the majority language again. Of course. That is part of why I promote the language.
@@BenLlywelyn ...and I agree with promotion but not enforcement.
I know a surprising amount of people who are Welsh speakers even here in the Rhondda Valley. I'm not a Welsh speaker much to my regret and I'm too old to start. All of them went to Welsh medium schools. Their parents mostly couldn't speak Welsh so It wasn't spoken at home but the hope is that their children will go to Welsh medium schools and it will be spoken at home. It will grow. Unless I read it wrong, I read something recently that 23.99% of schools are Welsh medium schools. I thought that was a lot. I think the future is bright.
I've watched loads of your videos Ben and enjoyed them all. Even I've learned a few things.😁👍
The Cymoedd offer Cymru's greatest hope for a Welsh-speaking future.
You're never too old to start, and contribute.
@@MP-hz6iz My experiences at learning Welsh at school were horrendous. When I was about 8 years old, if I wanted to go to the toilet and didn't ask in Welsh, I couldn't go. A sort of reverse Welsh Not. In secondary school because I couldn't learn an eight line Welsh poem which was never explained to us what it actually meant and I couldn't do it, I had to write it out 50 times and I still didn't know it. So I had to write it out another 50 times and I still didn't know it. The teacher said "I give up" and at that point so did I. If there had been more carrot and less stick, I could be a fluent speaker now. If I could speak as much Welsh as I can speak French (from 50 years ago) I would be delighted. For the record I'm heading rapidly for 73 years of age. The old grey matter is not what it used to be. I'm a massive supporter of the Welsh language and anything Welsh for that matter.
Reggy_H I'm an Aussie. learning Welsh starting at 60 years old.🤔
@@gandolfthorstefn1780 Go for it. You have my full support. 👍
As a Welsh speaker living in Y Fro Gymraeg (a 50-70% area, by these maps), you're more pessimistic than I am comfortable with. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I certainly don't think we should give up on Y Fro. All the rural schools around here are Welsh speaking, though the largest secondary school in north Ceredigion still is not. Part of the problem we have is young people moving out of the area, due to the combined issues of lack of opportunities and cost of housing. The former of these is mostly a political issue (more jobs needed); the latter, one of incomers, often retirees. For example, during the peak of Covid, there was a lot of interest in houses locally from people from the English cities. Twice I told people who stopped and asked directions to a house viewing that they were not supposed to be here, because Cymru was still in lockdown (seriously, the arrogance of it - they knew)! That will have had something of an effect too.
All that said, I think you're right about capturing the cities. But if we capture the cities, and lose the countryside - even if in the longer term the countryside is retaken, we also lose a huge amount of the culture. We must not give up on what remains of Y Fro Gymraeg.
2 steps that would go a long way in gogledd Ceredigion a Gwynedd is education in those areas being entirely in Cymraeg and lower business rates for small businesses.
As an English person I moved here to the Welsh mountains and whilst here for the past 5 years have been learning our shared heritage language in the Northen dialect. There seems to be much bickering between North and South of this Nation between what is correct Cymraeg and what isn't!! Is it not time to unit and settle on a standardised approach to learning? I know you have mentioned this before Ben as being one of your learning curves! I took a geneology test 3 years ago and discovered there was no English in me at all!! The biggest part of me at 45% is of Celtic origin with a bit of French and some Northern European. Can't say I was disappointed!! :) I feel more Welsh now than English! I think there is much ancient Briton sleeping in my English bredrin. I wake it up in them where I can!! Great video again Ben!!
Diolch yn fawr, Dave. You are a credit and a good light for other English who have - like my Texan self - made this Welsh nation our own home nation and embraced its culture as our own.
@@scarlett2299 It is where I grew up. It was a fine thing to have long, warm summers and to take it for granted as a boy and not to of thought much of cold as being much of a thing save rare events of spectacle and awe.
Well native English people share DNA with the rest of the British Isles including Ireland we're pretty much the same. The Anglo-Saxon and other invader elements have not changed the original DNA of these Isles as much as originally thought.
Great vid Ben, very interesting to hear your analysis!
Diolch Rhys!
Love the deadpan , evidence based delivery. As a London Welshman on my mother's side , you've inspired me to take a language course at the London Welsh Center. My grandfather didn't speak English until he went to school, and was very pleased when I started to learn the language in the 1970s , but as book learning I gave up.
Encouraging ideas of building more Welsh medium schools , though I've read reports of the view that social media may be undermining the language amongst the young - would like to know your view?
The London Welsh community 🏴 has had a low profile, and widespread presence in North West and West London. The presence of the chapels has diminished , and the dairies , police and Welsh school teachers in our schools have long gone. We used to have a Welsh Chapel and language school in Willesden Lane , now gone this 20 years. I believe that the school after a temporary move to Harlesden, is now firmly embedded in Hanwell , Borough of Ealing in west London.
It is regrettable that the school is bilingual, as you say. Nevertheless it's encouraging that some of Gen Y are looking to send their little ones to Celtic medium nurseries and pre schools. My own Irish daughter in law in NE London is looking out for Irish language nurseries for our grandson Dara, and my son holds an Irish passport 🇮🇪, through my wife. I would be interested to hear form other home nation grandparents , whose grandchildren are being considered for Celtic language nursery education in England, especially London. Irish, Welsh or Scottish Gaelic. Cornish has yet to make an appearance , although I believe that it is possible to take Cornish language courses at the City Lit in Holborn. Keep up the good work Ben Diolch Alan of Kilburn , 92 year old mother Patricia nee Griffiths, evacuated to family in Treorchy in WW2 and loathed every minute of it. Not accepted , although both parents were Welsh, coming to London after the General Strike of 1926
Social media is even undermining German, Arabic and French. So Welsh too? Yes. But Globalisation is ending, slowly, so... that rough turn in our history may help Welsh, ironically.
I'm a Welsh learner. After I started learning Welsh this year, I only heard Welsh on the street twice, in Cardiff. The percentage of Welsh-speaking people in Caerdydd is low. I really hope to hear more Welsh in the capital city of Wales.
I'm not Welsh. I'm not British. But I want to learn Welsh.
Dw i'n caru Cymraeg. Cymraeg am byth!
If you go to Treganna (Canton) to the Chapter Arts Centre, you can often hear Cymraeg there, and it may be a good place to go and see what it around.
@@BenLlywelyn wow do'n i ddim gwybod hynny. Dwi i'n edrych ymlaen at ymweld â Canton. Diolch yn fawr!
(Hopefully it makes sense. I try to use Welsh as much as possible. )
I am now an Australian, however I was raised in the Cardiff area that he zoomed into. The reason why the area to the North West (Llantrisant) and in particular, Church Village is welsh is
because there is a Welsh school there that caters for the whole 12 years. basically, you go there as a 4-5 year old and you leave when you are in your late teens. This is the way.
Edit: interestingly I lived in Denmark for 4 years. The government there sent me to Danish language classes for 2 years. I speak to my 4 year son in Danish. He doesn't speak english. How can we not replicate this. why should a danish child speak english in Denmark? Why should a Welsh child speak english in Wales?
Education is a huge part of the way forward.
I am an English person living in London and have been learning Welsh for seven years. I believe that the loss of language in some rural areas was inevitable. Over the last 50 years many places in England are virtually devoid of local people; for example, some seaside towns in Devon and Cornwall. Got to say that recently going to Caerfyrddin shopping (a county town in South West Wales) I never heard a single word of Welsh spoken, whereas in North Wales, Caernarfon, Porthaethwy (Menai Bridge) and Ffestiniog I did.
I would say that is not inevitable but a product of political choices removing power from local communities.
Carmarthen used to have a big Welsh speaking community too. As someone who grew up in Pembrokeshire (next country westward), the market in Carms was one of the few places I heard Welsh spoken o the streets.
Cytuno, the future is in Welsh model education. To some extent we’ve seen it here in the Basque Country where illegal (under Franco) ikastolas were established in the 60s, teaching all subjects in a unified Euskara instead of manifold dialects. My son is 9 and can speak Spanish perfectly well despite the fact that he starts learning it next year as a foreign language. They’ll always pick up the “common” tongue in the area, speak it in the playground etc.
Thanks to the ikastola movement, Basque is spoken in every village, town and city. Sure, here in Donosti it’s spoken less, due to tourism, and the situation as a whole could be healthier, but without the ikastolas I’m not sure anyone would be speaking it today.
In economically tough times, people have enough on their plate without worrying about language learning. Good quality Welsh language education must be the way forward.
A wonderful contribution.
Eskerrik asko / Diolch yn fawr
WW2 killed the welsh language in my family…my grandfather was welsh speaking and hadn’t even heard much English as a child, he served in the RAF during the war and died at 27 because of it. He met his wife in the forces she was English so the welsh language was unable to be passed on ! Very sad on many levels! I continuously learn though…but I now live in Australia...look forward to spending some time in Wales again next yr! Cymru am Byth !
Sorry to hear of such a young loss.
@@BenLlywelyn I just wonder how much of a negative impact the War had on the welsh language!?
Enlightening video, Diolch Ben.
I think Henry ford’s quote “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t you’re right” applies aswell people say they can’t learn welsh and so get little if no motivation to learn it.
A lot has to do with 1st saying you can.
A lot has to do with 1st saying you can.
I totally agree on that, that the future of the Welsh language is via a reapropriation by urban people and the middle class, not by the farmer´s working class. And I also totally agree on the point that Welsh medium education is one of the keys to it. I hope that more people will understand this point.
Cheers Bran. Cadw'r ffydd.
To build more welsh medium schools, we need more welsh-speaking teachers which I believe we may not have enough of. I wonder whether we could potentially incorporate Generative AI and LLMs into education as tutors in Welsh to make more students and teachers fluent so that for the next generation there are more Welsh-speaking teachers widely available
Humans are always preferable to machines. But it could be a stop gap ? I don't like the idea of children being taught by machines - it leaves a spiritual absence.
I don't usually pay attention to census' I've been learning Welsh for the past two years and I've never taken a census in my life. I'm in Cardiff, the youngest of five kids. I've tried convincing the rest of my family to speak Welsh but they can't be bothered. I'm loving it and feeling more connected the more I learn. I write things to my sister and she will Google it and write something back. My other sisters daughter was excited to learn Welsh then started high school and felt discouraged by her teacher so no longer wants to learn it. However my brothers two daughters love it and are very eager so I buy them little books and speak little bits with them and was surprised to learn their mother actually knew some too. I never heard it growing up when I was out and about but now I'm hearing it more often and can't help smiling when I do. I'm in a high Muslim area too but when I'm out with the dog I hear these two Welsh women speaking completely in Welsh. I hear it from random strangers walking by now and again and I know the lady across the road speaks it. So I definitely feel it is growing. It's just the government seems to be being extra sneaky still covering up our history or activity destroying it ( im talking about the welsh government) caer y mynydd/caer y brennin which is where the Welsh royals were buried has already been destroyed and plowed through and a wind farm set up. That wouldn't happen in any other country. even cadw is doing it and they are supposed to be a heritage keeper. And we are being flooded with immigrants which is not good for any culture.
People like you in urban, city areas do a great service and good for Cymraeg. Diolch yn fawr. Keep going and trying - people take slow long years to change attitudes. But they do. Fe wnân nhw (they will do).
I think far from a bad thing the internet will help Welsh. As you say you can write in Welsh and the other can easily Google it if they don't understand. Algorithms will push Welsh content if you start using it thus becoming a virtuous circle. There is so much easily accessible Welsh content online that didn't exist before the Web meaning all can learn and get used to hearing and reading it. Forums and chat groups for Welsh speakers etc.
It takes a lot of courage to stand up and admit ones mistakes but to me that is one of the best measures of a person is if they can admit their own failures or in this instance the failures of ones own people.
True indeed.
Very interesting. So much to unpack here. Being of Welsh ancestry, I feel affinity for this problem. My personal experience lies in northern Italy on the border of former Yugoslavia. Areas where people speak Italian, Italian Dialect, Slovenian, and Friulano. Everything is slowly being subsumed into modern Italian. I agree, the only way to preserve it is through single language schools. It is hard to explain the importance of language as a key component to cultural identity to people who have not experienced it. Yet, when I return to my home town I understand these people and when they realize I understand their dialects and languages, they realize I am one of them despite no longer being there every day.
The difference between saying, "Cosa Hai?" (what do you have in italian), and "Cos te ga?" (dialect), or "Io ho" vs. "Mi go" is profound.
Italians had to unify to survive longterm, but I do wonder what thr cultural cost will be in the end?
Excellent breakdown! You really helped explain the nuances surrounding the political and cultural climate that contributed to these results.
Diolch yn fawr, Carl.
Whereby it’s encouraging to hear how Welsh is establishing itself in metropolitan areas, it needs mentioning that Welsh in essence is a nature language. Those of us still talking the ancient tongue owe a debt to our farmers not only for feeding us but for the energy they have given over long tracts of time in keeping the language going. Also, I can’t stress enough the importance of history in encouraging a feeling of provenance for the Welsh Language. With some 5000 years of history here in the British isle, people need to realise that it is THE most important and tangible aspect of British history. If someone suggested Stonehenge should be torn down to make room for something else there would be a global outcry. But Welsh, the origin of which possibly predates Stonehenge, is a living breathing thing; a vastly rich tapestry in which historical secrets can be found, has not been given the dues it deserves.
I was speaking with a non-Welsh- speaking Welsh friend recently and was frustrated by his take on the situation. He was fairly dismissive toward Welsh, calling it a ‘dying language’. My response to him, and others of the same opinion, is that Welsh is a language that has survived numerous attempts to murder it.
If Welsh was the majority language of Wales in our age of tech and large population its power would be such that it would change England and how England looks at itseld forever. I think for some few, nothing could scare them more.
@@BenLlywelyn considering the latest backlashes against Welsh people speaking their language on theTV, first at the World Cup then lately on BBC’s Countryfile, it does indeed make you wonder at the levels of phobia some English people have when it comes to the Welsh language, and why!
Thing is, this identification with being Anglo Saxon blinkers a lot of English people. The term only came into usage during the 19th century, as part of a Victorian propaganda drive to convince the English of their German-ness, wholly because they themselves were mostly of German stock. But modern genetic testing has proven the Victorians wrong; the English are far more Old British that they have been lead to believe. Truth is the Welsh language is a part of their heritage and history as much as it is ours.
@@TreforTreforgan It is indeed their heritage.
@@BenLlywelyn but their sadly ignorant of the fact. Wilfully or otherwise.
Halo Ben! Your home is
Wales! Your life is in Wales! Your Pasión is Wales! So, Speaking Welsh! Defend Your roots!!! No question about it!!! 🤔😇🇲🇽😎
Passion is a source of possibilities.
@@BenLlywelyn
I agree! From México City!
Hello to "Saint Patrick Irish People" 😇🇲🇽😎
Fideo diddorol a meddylgar eto Ben. I agree with you that Welsh has got to embrace the growing urbanisation that we see in modern life. But at the same time, don't dismiss the importance of rootedness, belonging and attachment to the land in the remaining Welsh-speaking areas , which I would argue is essential to Cymraeg's future.Cities are cool yes-but our land, and those areas where Cymraeg has been spoken continously for 1,500 years is sacred ground. Perhaps an official Fro Gymraeg idea has passed perhaps, but unofficially, the idea of certain areas which have to be Welsh-speaking has to be part of the national idea going forward.
We have a lot of work to do, rural and urban. And my hope is that through an urban renewal we can use that base to create a rural Bro Gymraeg with capital and resources. Yes - the heartlands are very key!
We have a lot of work to do, rural and urban. And my hope is that through an urban renewal we can use that base to create a rural Bro Gymraeg with capital and resources. Yes - the heartlands are very key!
Fideo ardderchog, and some sharp analysis! I don't actually think saving the Y Fro Gymraeg was ever an achievable aim, whatever the tactical focus; the world has tended towards urbanisation for the last 500 almost everywhere in the world, and Wales was never going to be an exception. Welsh medium schools in urban centres, be it Pwllheli, Caernarfon, Bangor, Wrecsam, or Caerdydd or Abertawe is where it's at, not preserving villages of 600 people as Welsh speaking locales, however sad that is in many ways.
Diolch. Yes, urbanisation is the future trend we can see.
Hello, I started learning Welsh over a year ago (my native language is Czech - mentioned in this video), I had a dream about whales (which I don´t remember clearly now - would have to look it up in my diary) and decided to pick up Welsh, I enjoy reading books like E-ffrindiau, Ffenest (e-books on Amazon), the other ones are too difficult for me so far. The course on Duolingo is OK (is great, but if only there was more). I wish you the best luck in preserving your language - I am not a huge fan of your national football team though...
Well, we are improving in football all the time. A video on the Czech revival could be fascinating.
I'm learning Czech on Duolingo. Dobrý den!
I agree with you. I see languages in South Africa losing to English, because English is the prestige language spoken in the cities.
They must keep it up and speak the wonderful languages of South Afrika.
🇿🇦
In Wales I've seen online German, Spanish or French schools. I'm amazed continental languages have more studies than a native language.
It reminds me of Maghrebi countries putting more into European languages and Arabic than Tamazigh.
Apt and perceptive of you.
Undoubtedly education is the way forward, stressing the huge advantages of being bilingual and the confidence and inclusion it bestows on those who have ‘yr iaith’. Let’s hope Cymraeg can thrive and hold her own into the next Millenia? It requires natives and learner to band together to ensure the last line of the anthem holds true.👍Diolch Ben, for pointing out the silver lining .
Croeso Adrian. Education is helping big time.
in the 1950s the UK government banned welsh being spoken as they thought it was threat , which is Sad (this was later overturned but for years the English have treated the welsh people so badly , and had tried to destroy their language and culture
One thing that annoys Me is if you look at the history for Wales , it has been under English control for centuries, and some people *mostly English people and even outsiders, like the USA think that Wales is just part of England, but Wales is a country with in The UK which is sad to see...
Welsh was banned in schools after 1847. Also, to re-emerge Wales in the mind of others as distinct from England, all we need is more content, more discussion and more art, revolving around Welshness. Trying my best to provide. 😉
@@BenLlywelyn oh I got the date wrong yeah I hate what the English did to Wales as a country , they should be given more power , instead of having to go though Westminster and parliament in London also I hate the fact that Wales never got their Dragon included on the Union Jack flag *or union flag sorry and the fact is that Wales has the coolest flag in the world
Very interesting what you said about the way cities are crucial, but your early history may not be right. The economy of rural Britain was strong in the C4th while the towns were declining in importance. The irony is that the urban renewal of England took place in towns like Lincoln and London that had been British-speaking only a hundred years or so previously. Towns like that weren't lost. There was just no economic life to sustain them or their culture.
Lost or abandoned or what have you, if a language holds the densest populations in an area chances are unless politically unfavorable, it will will win eventually.
I'm an American. I live in what is called the State of Maine, which is part of a wider region known as New England. We are the boast and the jewel of the United States, and if you came here, you'd think you were home back across the big sacred loch. Anyway, I am your long lost Celtic cousin from across aforementioned big sacred loch, aye, though of mainly Scots and Irish ancestry, I do have Welsh in me too. Proudly. Even got a piece of Breton,, based on a surname. I've been taking it upon myself to study the Welsh language, and I mean serious study with serious effort. I find Cymreag to be the most appealing and beautiful, and the most enchanting of the Celtic languages. Walss mat very well be on the verge of a whole new cultural revival, you know what may help? BAGPIPES. That's right. Bagpipes. Redevelop and modernize Welsh Bagpipes and the Welsh piping tradition. I've got some ideas, I happen to be a bagpiper, and Wales can make a Celtic dragon of itself if it's done right, and a brand spanking new and modernized bagpipe unique and native to Wales is a good place to start.
Music has an important contribution in any hopeful future.
Bagpipes are awesome, I think like kilts, all Celtic nations should nick them from the Scots. The Bretons use bagpipes in their music too. I imagine Calon Lan would sound pretty nice on a bagpipe.
Loads of non Welsh speaking people moving into Sir Gar. You don't hear as much Welsh spoken now as you did a few years ago.
They will slowly become more Welsh.
Ben, do you have a link to the percentages map? x
I have this: gov.wales/sites/default/files/pdf-versions/2022/12/3/1670412951/welsh-language-wales-census-2021.pdf
As for the percentages map. I think that one came from Lloyd on Twitter. He is here @ LloydCymru
@@BenLlywelyn can you give me the exact update on the percentage of Welsh speakers in Bethesda, Gwynedd (my hometown) x
I can see it is over 80% in some areas there, but I don't have an exact for the area in regards to the change. Check out Dafydd's site. dafyddelfryn.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8c562c4d50a44850a515e6ae89d6dfd1
Noswaith dda Ben.
Gwynedd has always been the most influential county flying the flag for the Welsh language, I used to live there. I think part of the problem is various people moving there and not bothering to even learn the language. I don’t know why some people are so weird when it comes to different languages!
@@BenLlywelyn interesting, I was raised in an 80%+ area of Bethesda! x
I'm afraid that Aberteifi is not a substantialy welsh area, YUA is a desivingly English school.
I think I was thinking about the Urdd up the road.
I wonder how many speakers there are in England now, maybe a lot more relatively speaking, due to 10 years of austerity.
I think Devolution is keeping more of us Welsh at home.
I'm sure I read recently that there are around 100,000 siaradwyr Cymraeg in England
Why does everyone always say the name of the language in that language, like cymraeg, but still say 'saesneg'. Also when speaking english why cant you just say the word in english ?@@WillHuw
Thanks
Very nice of you. Appreciated.
obviously the world is urbanising everywhere, and the languages will survive only if they don't stay rural only
And fast.
I am really not a fan of bilingual education it is a real danger to a language. For a language to survive it need spaces in the language and I am not sure that a bilingual (as in mixed schooling not mixed overall) school can provide such a place. I am interested in lower Sorbian which is a heavily endangered language in Brandenburg. Due to being in a declining region and barely having resources they have mostly given up on teaching the language as first language and German as second language, instead they now try for bilingualism in which both languages are equal (aside from early childhood), but I am not sure if it is the right way considering that German is already so dominant especially since there isn't a single settlement which has over 30% of upper Sorbian speaker and only 7k speaker overall.
I tend to agree with you. To learn a language requires full immersion.
Should we have welsh medium schools throughout as some are proposing or is this a measure likely to ostracise the English speaking Welsh?
I think we need an large increase in Welsh medium across the country. Especially in urban places like Abertawe (Swansea) and Wrexham which are very Welsh in attitudes and urban. New schools should be Welsh mediun
@@BenLlywelyn We also need to think about the breadth as well as depth of Welsh education. It should be seen as courtesy that commonplace exchanges should be in Welsh and that can only be done if the teaching of Welsh in English mediums is also encouraged.
@penderyn8794 Currently 82.2% of us speak English. Children are best taught in their native or the language they speak at home. If we are to have Welsh medium throughout then there needs to more Welsh teachers and a plan to transition from a predominantly English speaking population to one speaking Welsh.
@@jimmyrustler9053 my granddaughter is in a Welsh medium school, she lives it a totally English speaking household in Cardiff. Her progression in all aspects is exemplary, she if fully bilingual and now learning German. She is not the only example so I can’t agree with your hypothesis that she would be best served learning through the medium of English.
@@siarlb8115 A recent UNESCO report detailed how beneficial it was that children be taught in their home language. Congratulations on your granddaughter doing so well. But it is not the same for everyone.
Education and the 'Welsh Not' was used in the attempt to kill our native Brythonic language and education shoujd be used to bring her back to life. Dim anghofio y bobl Cymraeg sy'n byw dros y ledled Ynysoedd Prydain a dros y Byd! Cymraeg cyntaf a bydded yr hen iaith barhau!
They reckon that in 300 years the entirety could speak Welsh. Wouldn't worry, it isn't going anywhere. Dydh da dhia Gernow
Do you know what the Albion project is?
If not it's simple.
It's to make England more Welsh/Cornish and Welsh/Cornish more English.
Combine the language, traditions, architecture, customs, culture, and genepools into a common southern Britain Anglo-Brythonic culture.
If such a unlikely project went underway how would you feel?
The last thing you do is make a minority culture under threat more like the culture it risks being lost to.
When Wales become indepedent state it can fix the problem
Belize and Ireland did not fix the language situation as States
There is only a problem if the use of Welsh as a means of communication is considered necessary, I propose that it is an unnecessary medium and that it has been artificially sustained by its (possibly) unlawful requirement in (mostly) civic employment.
This is, as your other videos, well put together and thoughtful but its main thrust is an assumption that the primacy of the Welsh language in Wales is necessary and you fail to ask, why?
Predominating exclusively Welsh language schools and Welsh language daily life might increase the use of the language but at what cost? How might such a plan limit the potential for economic and lifestyle growth in an individual brought up & educated in such a system, whither their English language skills, vocabulary or ability to successfully integrate into a corporate job in The City of London or the wider South East? Will non-Welsh firms locate their centralised bureaucracy in Wales when advanced proficiency in English is essential?
It would be really refreshing to meet a Welsh person who thought that the best way to preserve the language would be to appeal to its museum relevance, as a hobby to enjoy in daily life and as a medium for building a pleasant, common bond within the community of Wales.
This is its relevance in the modern world, as an historical artefact kept useful by those who wish it so and not because it is a function of a social engineer's daydream about a lost Welsh relevance in the world.
You should know also that the list of places in Cardiff where the language is spoken as shown in your report is misleading, these speakers did not spring from a new interest in the language by those who lived there, these speakers are the families of the Crachach who moved to Pontcanna, Llandaf, Creigiau etc. (predominantly) from the West of Wales to take up work in the 60's and 70's at the then new HTV and BBC studios in Llandaff and then S4C in the 80's. Their progeny became similarly employed by the time of the wider use of Welsh in civic enterprises like the Sports Council, Housing Associations, Councils, Millennium Centre, WRU, Welsh Schools etc. these dormitory areas and villages are well known for such and their grip on these organisations is similarly known.
It would be interesting to see just how many senior personnel can trace their recent family histories to West Wales? I think Caroline Hitt (I was at school with her brother) wrote such an article for the Western Mail and was quickly shut down.
The reason why Wales will always be a place pergatorially aspiring to acceptance by its big brothers, England, Scotland and Ireland is because of its inward looking obsession with its history, heritage, culture and language elevating it beyond its slightly interesting relevance in the wider British history.
Wales must make peace with itself and pass collectively through the grief cycle, to acceptance of its loss in power & prestige 800 years ago and cease using the Welsh language as a prop to sustain the unsustainable. Let it go, embrace English for the fabulous opportunity for personal advancement that it is, build a global diaspora of bi-lingual professionals taking Welsh and Welshness wherever they go, build the environment for the development of Welsh internationalists.
Of course this would mean that no Crachach in the Sennedd could lay claim to it as a success story and so it could never happen.
The primacy of the Welsh Language is necessary. Eventually. The best of both words would be a Welsh Québec-like situation.
@@BenLlywelyn Ben, I admire the speakers and promoters of the language but detest the polticisation of the language and the endless complaining that characterises the Welsh, this has ruined my homeland for me.
Learning and speaking the language should be a joyful choice and not coerced as if Wales were some sort of USSRW.
This thinking is holding Wales back from developing its economy (of which it has little) and depends far too much on UK Gov for its survival.
Stop pretending, celebrate the language for its own sake, enjoy using it and encourage others to enjoy it also, lose the bitterness, develop an open mindset and opportunities will come.
This is NLP 101 or CBT, take your pick but collectively a reset is most necessary to get Wales & the Welsh of its backward facing merry-go-round.
@@BenLlywelyn Another question: why is it necessary? Not desired but necessary?
@@robertedwards3551All languages have the right to be a cultural medium. We have the right to exist as culture distinct from the Anglo culture. English has whole continents, we don't need to explain ourselves further.
@@BenLlywelyn I'm not denying that and I'm as Welsh as they come but its not right that I don't feel welcome in my home country because I won't speak Welsh and much anger is aimed at me for holding this view. I harbour no grudge but live in a deeply commercial world where livelihoods matter most and not language, I can say for certain that this view of Wales and Welshness needs reframing.
For example, just look at the shameful behaviour of the locals in Llanelli... this is a result of isolationist small-minded thinking, fuelled by nationalistic, jingoistic claptrap.
You sometimes talk as if you're Welsh, but then talk about being American with a Spanish mother. I don't understand you.
Life is not black and white; this is not a world of you are this or that. I am both.
Without trying to be too personal - are you implying that your American side has Welsh ancestry, then?@@BenLlywelyn
Ces i fy magu yn Canada, ac wedyn ro'n i'n ddysgu Cymraeg fel oedolyn am pedair mlynedd. Ddim yn rhugl eto, ond ro'n i'n ar Johnathan (S4C) y Mis Hydref diwethaf, siaradais i dim ond Gymraeg ( dim Saesneg).
Ro'n i'n defnyddio apps ( Duolingo'n defnyddiol iawn), llyfrau a siaradwyr Cymraeg ( dw i'n byw yn Seland Newydd, felly does dim llawer o pobol pwy siarad Cymraeg yma).
Dw i'n meddwl fod rhaid y gwersi Cymraeg bod yn hwyl i'r blant.
Dw i'n caru ein iaith, gobeithiol bydd e'n tyfu.... O bydded i'r hen iaith barhau!
Diolch yn fawr iawn am wylio. Dw i'n cytuno â chi o ran wersi Cymraeg i blant a bod nhw'n gorfod bod yn hwyl. Yn sicr.
Mae Seland Newydd yn bell iawn! Ond dw i'n dymuno pob lwc ichi ar y daith o ddysgu'r Gymraeg.
@@BenLlywelyn Diolch yn fawr Ben, dymuniadau orau am dy sianel di.
Brilliant!