Act to protect the language
ALTHOUGH K Clements (Group has no ideas left, Saturday February 9) is right when he says the latest census figures show Welsh is in decline, he doesn't seem to have any positive ideas as to how to increase the use of the language. I'm sure Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg have plenty of ideas, but they are only a pressure group.
I would suggest the Welsh government look at the successful policy of the Basque country, where the language is now thriving after going into decline. 80 per cent of children aged between 8 and 9 receive their education through the medium of Basque. Of course this requires investment, but it is an investment in our children's future. Our government should be in the vanguard, spelling out the well-researched benefits of being bilingual.
K Clements talks about the money spent on the promotion of Welsh but doesn't mention the amount spent on the promotion of English. However, I would suggest getting rid of the Commissioner for the Welsh Language and use it to employ people to run Welsh playgroups. The Commissioner (as was the Welsh Language Board before it) is a smokescreen to lull people into thinking that something is being done about the language.
The Welsh government is also in a position to stop the ridiculous amount of new homes — 320,000 — planned across Wales. On what basis are we building these homes? According to the census 26 per cent of people living in Wales were born outside Wales, the highest figure for any European region apart from Luxembourg. Looking at the census figures, English immigration into Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion seems to have overwhelmed the Welsh language, which is in a minority for the first time ever in the history of those areas. If we want to arrest the decline of Welsh where it is still widely spoken, there needs to be a sensible housing policy. That's not down to Cymdeithas yr Iaith, it's down to the Welsh government.
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R S Campbell
Heol Ganol, Gendros
2 Comments
by Jiffy
Tuesday, March 05 2013, 11:47PM
“More nonsense from the nutty fringe of the Welsh language society.
I can only assume R S Campbell is yet another who makes a living out of the Welsh language and has seen the writing on the wall regarding the end of her job.
Poor soul is so myopic she's not aware that thousands of Welsh people have moved to England. Is she going to force them to return? Will they be swapped for expelled English on the border? Dragged back against their will?”
by maxmin
Tuesday, March 05 2013, 1:53PM
“There was an interesting interview on the radio last year with a leading figure in the Basque language movement. It was about recent laws being made to force the Basque language to be taught. He explained that the government had used academics implement the new laws and unfortunately they had chosen a classical variant of the Basque language that no one spoke anymore. This led to the ridiculous situation where the Basque language now being forced on people was not understood by the very people who had fought for it.
Some of the proposals made by Mr Campbell are horrifying. He goes on about homes being built for people who 'overwhelm' the Welsh language. Presumably he wants to stop people coming to Wales. The next step is of course ethnic cleansing with the forcible removal of those who do not support the Welsh language.
The reason why Welsh is dying out is because there simply is not a need for it any longer, in exactly the same way there was no longer a need for Manx or Cornish. The operative word here is 'need' not 'want'. Would it be a shame if Welsh died out all together? Of course it would but the way to keep it going is to invite people to share in the history and the culture of Wales - not threaten to burn them out of their houses if they can't speak Welsh!”