to think that most welsh people should speak some welsh

[mumof2children]

i am no way fluent in welsh by know very basic welsh.

but sould more welsh people speak some welsh

Indeed. Just because LooktoWindward muses some stupidarse bollocks an idea, doesn't make it so.

Nations are legal entities defined by treaties, if other nations treat them as nations etc.

Culture (in this context) is a bunch of stuff some people like.

Kurds have a common culture across several nations, so do Basques. So do Roma.

Culture need not be defined by ethnicity either. SF Fandom has a distinct culture, so does the Finance industry, so do football fans.

People who believe that certain identities attach to certain geographies are (tries to think of a polite way to put this...) um...not helping.

What are you on about, colation? Are you some sort of lauded expert in the field?

Yes, culture is not necessarily connected to nationality but there has been a significant amount of research into national identitiy (I only know the Edinburgh Uni stuff) which doesn't make it True but makes it a concept that some people believe has some truth behind it.

Not sure why you are getting so uppity about some people 'not helping' when you seem to be implying that they must have poo for brains.

I'm talking about nationlism in general pointy. I've not expressed an opinion on what's between people's ears.

Riven -- I had no idea.

There's a big difference between nations and states, Coalition.

Kurds have a common culture across several states with borders, not across nations, which do not have borders.

No, nationality does not have anything to do with borders (see NI as an example), and there are different microcosmic cultures everywhere you care to look, anywhere there are two or more people gathered, to reduce it ad absurdum, but on the whole geography has a lot to do with culture as far as its initial development goes, and even in its continuity -- Irish Americans may feel they are Irish, but they have a lot more in common with each other than they have with Irish people living in Ireland, for instance.

Aye - Ireland is a case in point, saying that 'a certain geography belongs to a group of people because they think x' seems to be all downside.

"what is specific to welsh culture and not found anywhere else then"

I think the biggest one has got to be Eisteddfodau. I can't think of anywhere else which has does anything quite like it. Eisteddfodau are a huge part of our lives. All three of our children compete in them, both on stage and in the Arts and Crafts etc sections. DS1 sings in the choir, which in addition to Eisteddfodau (both locally, we have one in the village every April, and nationally at Eisteddfod yr Urdd) means he is involved in things like Cymanfa Ganu and Cawl a Chân, which are very Welsh. Then there is the Eisteddfod Genedlaethol which maybe one day he will be good enough to compete at, but for now is just a fantastic week every summer. We also get to watch FIL doing his duties as an Ovate, he is an honary one due to services to music in Wales.

If anyone can think of another culture where similar wierd shit things go on as part of people's everyday lives then I would be really interested.

Oh and while I'm at it here are some more:

explaination here and more formally (my DC love this, and started skipping around the room doing it as soon as they heard the music on the clip) explaination here

Jesus, if the eisteddfod is the highlight of your year, you clearly need to get a life. A more tedious and parocial load of crap i have rarely come across.
Oh, and by the way, the numbers for this years attentendance was exceptionally high, aparently.
That's because they only managed to sell a pitiful amount of tickets, and the rest were given away.

I haven't read the whole thread, but this I kind of agree.

I am English, moved to Wales when I was about 3. Parents and sister are English too.
Went to the local primary school (English), but as I was growing up, being English was used against me (didn't suffer for it) but it actually got worse as I got older, esp on rugby International / Five nations days. Lots of "english scum" being called.

Dh is Welsh, born and bred. Our ds (5 & 3) are Welsh, and we made the decision to send them to a Welsh language school. I'm learning Welsh. The decision has suprised quite a few friends, ("but you're English!) It may even help them learn other languages. They may never use it again when they leave school. all me and dh want to do is give our dc as many opportunities as possible.

Not really sure what my point is

Curryfreak, if your aim is to come across as a massive dickhead then you are doing a very good job. Well done. Someone asked further up what was unique to Welsh culture and domesticsluttery answered in a clear and informative way, and you feel that answer is worthy of derogatory insults. Nice.

Apparently "the constituent parts of the UK - eg England, Scotland, wales, NI are not countries. The UK as a whole is a country..."

If I moved to a Welsh speaking part of Wales, I would make the effort to learn some Welsh.

And runnyhabit I'm sorry you were called names on account of your Englishness. I'm afraid there are idiots in every country. It's almost always amongst those who have had the least education about their heritage who, and the least education generally.

Still nobody is addressing the millions of pounds squandered on this language spoken by a very small minority.
Most of the people of wales want their taxes spent on hospitals schools (not just welsh medium ones either) y'know the kind of life and death serious issues that our society needs to get to grips with.
I couldn't give a flying fuck what language you speak, but expecting the rest of the uk to subsidise this pasttime is sheer lunacy.
i think its time the majority of welsh people fought back against this cossested elite and their benefactors.

There are some rich people in Wales as well, you know. They're not just all poor, illiterate sheep farmers and unemployed former miners. Perhaps the wealthy "elite" in Wales are pretty miffed at their taxes paying for things they regard as idiotic east of the border also e.g. an art gallery near here which no one ever visits which has recently received £200,000 of Arts Council money.

Ariesgirl, we may not agree on much, but the arts council,- now dont get me started on them either. i could be here all day.

:). It makes be almost vomit with rage!!!

(Perhaps some Prozac may be a good idea)

Tickets were given away to this year's National Eisteddfod (only for the Sunday, not the whole week) in order to encourage more people from the Blaenau Gwent area, which doesn't have the same numbers of first language Welsh speakers as for example Bala where the Eisteddfod was held in 2009, to come and see what the Eisteddfod was about. As the take up was so high then it must prove that plenty of people in Wales are interested in learning more about the Welsh language and culture.

Curryfreak everyone has different interests, I'm sure that there are plenty of things which you do in your spare time which wouldn't appeal to me. But I wouldn't presume to suggest that you need to "get a life" just because your interests differ to mine!

I am welsh and only know a handful of words, my grandparents spoke fluent welsh but for some reason their children only spoke English. Would be nice to know welsh but not sure you can really force people!

We tried curryfreak but as demonstrated on this thread although more people said there were better things the money could be spent on those who speak fluent Welsh are willing to devote much more time to defending it. They have barely left the thread.

They dont answer any good questions like why should S4C waste loads of money when hospitals are closing (even one of the mners who agrees with reviving the language said her maternity department was closed) and many programs have zero viewers.

I think what saddens me most of all is the fact that for all the money, time and effort thrown at this there has only been a couple of percentage increase I might change my view if it was having a considerable impact. Of the 20% who speak only 66% of those speak it fluently so only 12-13% speak it fluently the rest are people like me who know a bit about 50 words in welsh and yes I always say I speak some welsh so go down on record as one of the Welsh speakers.

I am sad the language has decreased so much but I am sad about a lot of things and I think are more important battles, we have a very high juvenile crime rate because there are no funds available to give activities to teenagers many stand on street corners getting illegally drunk.

My attitude to this is save the future first, then make a effort to save our past.

This link demonstartes exactly why our voices are not heard we are thought of as less than someone who speaks Welsh flently and less entitiled to a opinion and scorned upon. Even though my roots may be traced further back than many fluent Welsh speakers I am considered to be unentitled to a opinion and accused of not giving a shit about my ancesters and people who died to defend Wales just because I am not very talanted at learning new languages. here

curryfreak it's you that needs to get a life, instead of hanging about making silly statements and offending people. You are not a nice person.

Ah. Apparently BigofNoorks and curryfreak are the lone voices of reason in a mad world.

Mae rhai pobl yn anghytuno ag amrywiaeth. Mae'n well ganddynt pawb i siarad Saesneg. Byddai'r byd yn ddiflas iawn.

(Gydag ymddiheuriadau i siaradwyr Cymraeg rhugl)

One last thing - you are blaming the fact that a maternity unit closed and there are drunken teenagers on the Welsh Language Act? I see.

how dare you call our language a 'passtime' you need to get a life and pay more attention to your own poor character than worrying about what other people wish to do.