A reply

This is my reply to Christian Saunders below: The English language evolves because it doesn't have a base; there's no 'English' dictionary, it's just called that, it's a book of latin, greek and german. French doesn't have a base, but the opposite of English they've deliberately stopped their language evolving by acts of Parliament with the 'Acadamie Francaise' looking after this part of French culture. If language is not central to cultural or national identity then why do you think that the first thing that the oppressors do is to re-educate their subjects to the new foreign language and that one of the first acts, as in the Baltic States, is to throw out the language of the oppressors, Russian in their case, French and English in mine. Of course it's central to our culture and our nationhood otherwise Acts of Parliament wouldn't have been passed to ban them being taught, anyway it's all in the past now that we are capable of being bi-lingual and that our oppressors are hopefully becoming more enlightened. Christian Saunders: Welsh is indeed a very old and beautiful language, but linguistics is not central to cultural or national identity. language as an entity is constantly evolving. I'll give you an example. When I worked in China I met a rather pompous Englishman in a bar, who thought he was extremely clever by dropping a few Welsh words in the conversation, which he had learned online. Admittedly, I had no idea what some of them meant. But does that make this guy more 'Welsh' than me? Because he knew a few more words in Welsh? Categorically, no. I was born in Wales, and so were my parents and grand parents. I spent the first 27 years of my life there. That is worth much more than visiting a website.

Oppression

I'd just like to say that we are not the only country to undergo a forced transformation (sadly accepted by the majority for whatever disparate their reasons)), how many Hawaiians do you see on Magnum, and the French don't have a Commonwealth, they have an Empire wherein Langue d'oîl (French to us) is the only official language, and where black Africans are taught that their ancestors were Gauls.

Cymru

.....and the Scots don't lead the way, they came from Ireland, were taken over very early by the Normans: Wallace was of a Welsh family; Bruce was Norman; Stuart Breton. It was as though the Norman 'Lords' of Glamorgan had taken over Wales and rebelled against the king of England, which is what basically happened in Scotland, which if you remember was Caledonia, it's only Cymru which has stayed an historical entity since before the Roman invasion. We were annexed by a Welsh king of England because rightly or wrongly he thought it was in our interest. The Welsh bourgeoisie agreed with him leading to the Welsh running England, Anglicising their names and moving their seats to England so there is no more any trace of their heritage. You who have stayed have an ancient heritage to be proud of that doesn't only belong in museums, why be proud of an attachment to a foreign culture moreso than your own? I don't get it, and if things stay this way never will. Bi-lingualism exists today allowing Cymraeg to take its rightful place in Welsh society so that no-one needs to be threatened anymore on either side of the argument. And no, North Walian first language Welsh speakers never spent their time in the pubs, cafes and shops speaking a second language English whilst lying in wait for non- Welsh speakers to turn up a few times a year so that they could deliberately turn to their first language Welsh. There is so much mistrust yet we are all Welsh, I wish I could say together.

Welshness (3)

I and all my friends went through our lives in Merthyr Tydfil without a word of the language between us, it was later that I found out that there were first language Welsh speakers in the villages around the town who had to change to English to go shopping. I organized Welsh classes in a pub in one of the villages so that after the lessons in the lounge we could intermingle with the regulars, they were content that we could join in with their discussions, that was the Six Bells, Heolgerrig, I also organized classes in the Crown where the landlady was a Welsh speaker from Pontneddfechan happy to hear Cymraeg in the bar. I remember also speaking to the older fraternity in the 'Owain Glyndwr' on Pontmorlais where I was learning the local dialect with them before moving to Brittany. The welcome we had from the Welsh speakers who were daily denied their inheritance was humbling.

Fulfillment?

Just in case anyone's asking questions; I'm a Merthyr boy who didn't know that the Welsh language even existed anymore until I was 12 years of age when I was given Mrs Jones as a Welsh teacher and she asked my fellow pupils who amongst us spoke Welsh, I was surprised if not shocked when some of them raised their hands. I have always been a proud Welshman, as are many of you, even though there was never a word of Welsh spoken in my family, leading me to think that it was a redundant language. I understood that it is a living language basically when practising it out loud for homework in my garden, my neighbour began speaking to me, then I found out that all my neighbours spoke Welsh including my next door neighbour who wasn't chapel but a Rhondda miner. I don't care who you are, there's no fulfillment in being Welsh without having a certain curiosity towards our mother tongue. There again if you think that Wales is an integral part of English rule within a monoglot system then there's no hope. I won't self-righteously pity you because we each have opinions on these things, but you are definitely missing out on the wholeness of your identity, something that no-one else can share with us.

Welshness (2)

Dafydd ap Gwilym, you may now ask who, was a Welshman universally recognized as one of the greatest of the medieval romantic poets; I'm sorry that not understanding his poetry doesn't mean that you feel less Welsh, but it does mean that you can't contribute to the wholeness of our society! We are English speakers with Welsh 'Taffy' accents that have nothing to contribute beyond the 18th century of a country with a pre-Roman heritage. The relatively new chapels with their concomitant choirs are already dying out, no more do we hear the Welsh hymns in what was surround sound at the Arms Park in Cardiff before it existed in modern technology . It logically follows that if the language is in a sorry state then so must be the country. A country that favours a foreign language with no want nor worthy consideration of its own is it worth saving? Sorry I forgot there's a rugby match on saturday, may we keep this in abeyance at least for the next two months?

Welshness

Losing a language and gaining another, although it shouldn't apply as bi-lingualism is accepted everywhere today, means that although we may say that no-one is less Welsh in not having the benefits of an ancient culture, English is new to Wales, it means that although we may understand the poetry of Dylan Thomas, we are incapable of understanding the words of Dafydd ap Gwilym, arguably the greatest poet that Wales has ever given to the world! Welsh, whether one likes it or not is fundamental to the national psyche, for or against the nation turns around it, and without it we wouldn't be any different to Lancashire and Yorkshire which many of you would have us believe.

Invite

http://www.facebook.com/events/445371405567757/

Cymru/Wales

The Rhondda Valleys were opened up at the time of the Irish famine bringing many to Wales, many others went to Merthyr which was already the largest town in Wales built on the migration from all parts of Wales attracted by the high wages. The Rhondda miners were Welsh speakers, and Welsh was the predominant language well into the 1920s in Merthyr, although to go shopping in the town centre English had to be used. Cardiff and Newport would have been built on Irish & West Country labour, so much so that whe Lloyd George visited the South in order to put across his ideas of Cymru Fydd he was shouted down by the audience claiming that they the 'English' wouldn't stand for it. Now through assimilation we are all Welsh, 'English', 'Irish' and native Welsh, but although we all support the 'National' rugby team we don't, sadly in my opinion, all support the National Mother tongue. For some unspecific reason, partly through lack of self-esteem, partly through wanting to 'get on', partly through the 'wrong' education and continuing immigration that we are finding impossible to control, not having the tools to do so the 'natives' are losing out on self-preservation. One has to ask oneself is it important? Apparently, except for a small minority, so long as we can win the 6 Nations it isn't, notwithstanding that rugby is the only thing that can give us any pride in ourselves! 'A Nation without a language is a Nation without a heart; that begets the question, are we a Nation?

Fascism

Let's get this straight; a Breton or a Welshman fighting for his rights whether cultural or political, or both, in defence against forces beyond his measure, as in drowning with a foot on the head, does he politely drown, does he pull the foot away and ask please not to do it again, or does he take things into his own hands? This word 'fascist' has been bandied about irresponsibly and is an insult to the people who suffered and were killed under these regimes. Nazis/Phalangists/Fascists were extreme right wing parties, superior forces denying democracy in Germany, Spain and Italy; they didn't broke any opposition and they killed homosexuals, gypsies, and Jews. The British Labour Party tries to make connections between Nationalists in Wales and Hitler's Party when we all know that the British establishment including some members of the Royal Family were in cahoots in their admiration of Hitler; the French government sent trainloads of Jews to the concentration camps. This is what fascism was, not Welsh, Bretons, Basques, Catalans etc. standing up for their rights, denied in France, allowed in Spain, but not yet fully recognized in a Welsh puppet government.