Does being able to speak Welsh make someone more Welsh?

[sillyisles]

What do you think?

Depends what you mean...

In a philosophical does language shape how you think? so people with welsh as a first language might experience things differently way... possibly

If you mean someone isn’t “properly” welsh If they don’t speak it, then no.

I think either you're Welsh or you're not Welsh. There aren't degrees of Welshness, are there? It would be like saying you're more Welsh if you can make Welsh cakes blindfolded. It has no bearing on your heritage.

No, there are so many Welsh people who don't speak the language or speak it badly (like me) it doesn't make me any less Welsh (born and bred), same with my Dh. Only one of our children is fluent in Welsh, and she was born abroad.

DH is Irish but doesn't speak Irish. He's no less Irish than someone who grew up in a Gaeltacht (Irish speaking area) and whose first language is Irish. I expect it's the same for Welsh people.

some areas of Wales speak Welsh all the time other areas of Wales have not been welsh speaking for a long time
it is the same in Scotland Gaelic hasn't been spoken in Edinburgh and the East coast for centuries, it is still spoken widely in the hebrides and other Western isles and North west coast, there are pockets in Glasgow due to those often called "glasgow highlanders" It doesn't make people more or less Scottish

My dad doesn't speak fluent Welsh. He'd take great exception to you questioning his Welshness.

I think it does. Welsh speakers are a different sort of Welsh or have a different sort of Welshness in my experience.

It’s sort of language, history, literature, family here forever Welsh vs those who don’t speak Welsh are more welsh by accent and birth, and putting a rugby shirt on

Surely most English people wouldn’t consider someone English if they didn’t speak English?

mac my dad's side have lived within 50 miles of his birth for 300 years. His father spoke Welsh but his Welsh mother didn't. It's nothing to do with incoming in his case.

No, I speak English and a bit of German. I'm Scottish. I do think that learning a language makes you more empathetic to the culture.

I think probably answers your question

I was born and raised in Wales as were generations of my family and I consider myself 100% Welsh, what else could I be? Well a large majority of first language Welsh speakers don't think I deserve to refer to myself as Welsh, despite me having tried hard to learn several times over the years. So to answer your question, depends on who you ask.

Bore da. Ni chredaf fod.

My dad was born in London but moved to Wales in 1974. He speaks a bit of welsh but understands well.
He's most definitely "welsh" these days despite still retaining a slight London accent.

I was born and brought up in Wales. I only spoke Welsh in lessons at school. My accent is English. I never considered myself less Welsh than friends who speak it as their first language.

I am a first language Welsh speaker and don't think that makes me any more Welsh than a non-Welsh speaker. I work in a field where this kind of thing comes up a lot and I have literally never met a single person that feels like being a Welsh speaker makes you Welsher.

Also, your Welshness is not in any way connected to your place of birth.

I was born and raised in the north by northerners. I can speak Welsh because one of my friends is Welsh. Does that make me somewhat Welsh?

urely most English people wouldn’t consider someone English if they didn’t speak English?

They might if England had any other official language other than English.

Of course not, you’d have to be some kind of twat to think so. I’m from the Valleys and speak Welsh, as does my brother, because we were sent to the Welsh school. Nobody else in my direct family speaks it. Oddly enough, the only one who tried to learn when I went to school was my cockney nan; she was an evacuee who stayed here after the war ended. She considers herself a bit of both now, plus some Irish from her mam

I'm English and my kids are fluent Welsh. I'm a leaner. I do think it makes us feel more connected to Wales. I'm not Welsh, but my kids born here are British, Welsh, European but not English despite parents being so.