Cactus Language Blog

The Place of Welsh in the UK

Posted by Sarah under English, Learning a language

Simon Ager, linguist and Welsh speaker, looks at the importance of Welsh today

Welsh (Cymraeg) is a Celtic language spoken mainly in Wales. It is closely related to Cornish and Breton, and more distantly related to Irish, Manx and Scottish Gaelic.

According to the 2001 census around 580,000 people (21% of the population) in Wales speak Welsh, which was an increase on the previous census. A survey by the Welsh TV channel, S4C, indicated that the actual level of speakers may be much higher, and that there are 133,000 people in England who speak Welsh, half of whom live in London and along the English side of the Welsh border.

Welsh is spoken throughout Wales, but there are higher proportions of Welsh speakers in north and west Wales, where in some areas over 80% of the people speak Welsh as their first language, and many people feel much more comfortable speaking Welsh than English.

Education through the medium of Welsh is available at all levels of education from nursery school to university, and the demand for Welsh medium education, especially at primary and secondary level, outstrips supply by a significant margin. Welsh medium schools are usually smaller than the English medium ones, with smaller classes and enthusiastic and innovative teachers. As a result, their pupils tend to get good results, and many English-speaking parents send their children to such schools. In English medium schools, Welsh is a compulsory subject for 12 years.

Welsh is useful language to know for those working in or wishing to work in the public sector in Wales. In some local councils, such as Gwynedd, Welsh is the main working language and employees are expected to learn it if they don’t already speak it. In the private sector some companies provide services through both English and Welsh. Most road signs and official documents are bilingual, as are some of the signs in shops, pubs, restaurants and other places.

Some children in Wales speak nothing but Welsh until they go to primary school, and some of them don’t start English much until they go to secondary school. Therefore anybody working with children in areas of Wales where Welsh is widely spoken will be at a distinct advantage if they speak Welsh. This is what my sister found when giving talks on marine life in schools in north Wales – the teachers had to interpret because the children didn’t speak English.

Welsh speakers and learners can also be found, in small numbers, all over the world, especially in the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and in Patagonia in Argentina there are a number of towns founded by Welsh speakers in the 19th century. Their descendants continue their cultural traditions, some of which have disappeared from Wales, and about 500 of them speak Welsh and increasing numbers of them are learning it. They’re the only people you’re likely to meet who speak Welsh but not English – their second language is Spanish.

About the author

Simon Ager is half Welsh, lives in Wales and speaks Welsh quite well. He currently runs a company that provides information and advice about languages mainly via the website www.omniglot.com.

Tags:English, welsh