DaGaffer
Down With That Sorta Thing
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2003
- Messages
- 18,410
Seems entirely sensible when a large proportion of your economy is built on tourists coming over from England who don't speak Welsh.
In fact even most of the Welsh don't speak Welsh, unless they're in the North and non-Welsh speakers turn up.
I don't think "sensible" even makes the top ten of their reasoning, which largely goes;
1. Hate the English
2-10. Hate the English.
One thing I will say though, getting the Welsh to speak Welsh is working, slowly. When I was growing up on Anglesey no-one really spoke Welsh as a first language, but lots of people in that part of the world do now, They've been massively more successful at the job than the Irish.
Agree.
But they do have a valid point on loss of language and culture. There's absolutely a valid point there.
The real question is what are reasonable measures to take to preserve that, or does "progress" (the way we understand it at the moment) mean the complete homogonisation of language and culture - because I think that's the track we're on tbh.
I find it incredibly hard to give a shit. My attitude towards language is first and foremost pragmatic; what languages are the best investments of one's limited time? And fiddly little languages that are useful for talking to 20 people with straw in their beards fail that test. I want my kids to learn Spanish and Mandarin, not Irish and Welsh, unless they develop some academic interest in obscure languages.