Aibu to feel sad that welsh is not compulsory in schools in Wales .

[Dowser]

Says it all really.

It's part of the heritage and it's a worry it will die out.

Don't understand it myself.

ApoclaypseThen Not wanting to learn Irish may be evidence of a post-colonial mentality - or it may be simply a pragmatic and personal preference to learn something else you find more interesting and useful.

Sorry, only read about half of the thread, but surely the best way to keep Welsh alive but ensure fluency in English too is to adopt a Chalet School approach, in that all the state schools should be bilingual, eg Welsh speaking Mon, Wed, Fri and English speaking Tues & Thur.

To be bilingual is a huge advantage and it would be stupid to not give children that headstart.

my god all this rubbish about how we should only spend tax payers money on transferable lanaguges you do alot of european langauges are "minority" lanaguges that have little to no use outside there own nation but they are still manditory in these nations as its one of the offical langauge of the nation (eg maltise only 400,000 people in the whole of malta no other nation speaks there lanaguge its alot less then the amount of welish speaks lets make that langauge exticnt because the ofter offical langauge is english ) oh and how about norwegin ? or luxinborgian (sorry i cant spell it) and the slavic langauges of eastern europe lets all make those langauges die because they arnt portable like english,spainish, portiguse, french and mandriain etc oh hey lets scrap ever langauge bar english as thats the offical trade langauge why use anything else (the bloody shitty attuide found in both the uk and the Usa ) but hey its a minorty langauge lets use taxpayers money for other things ....

You are in Wales which has 2 offical langauges and rightly so both should be totally manditory to learn through out school life just like the english langauge or should we drop that requirement becuse english at GCSE isnt that useful truth be told we should just stick to proper useful subjects like maths science and ICT (world wide these 3 are interchangeable) everything else is just fluff shouldnt waste money teachering any other subject as those 3 are the most advantagous subjects and skills....

it may be simply a pragmatic and personal preference to learn something else you find more interesting and useful.

Yeah, everyone wants to go to xbox school, that's only natural.

The most Welsh area I know is around Blaenau way, although two of the most Welsh people I've ever met are from Porthmadog and Penygroes.

I would be excellent at Xbox school.

Blaenau is very Welsh. I'm thinking wizard is probably from south Gwynedd and I think you are too moomin.
I'm more northern.

ApocalypseThen A preference for using your limited time at school for a subject other than Welsh or Irish, as the case may be, is not a preference for Xbox.

Nobody has yet explained why Welsh needs to be mandatory if it is so advantageous to children in Wales to learn it. Won't it flourish on its merits?

Ah yes, Blaenau. Thanks for reminding me that it could be worse! (sorry Blaenau!)
But nope, not from there. I don't like to say now as chances are I know you mamagain!

Nobody has yet explained why Welsh needs to be mandatory if it is so advantageous to children in Wales to learn it. Won't it flourish on its merits?

Who can tell? Given the extent to which it was remorselessly and violently squashed (and not because it lacked merit - by whichever way you measure the merits of individual languages) it probably does need some extra nurturing to reestablish its rightful place.

Damn if you know me you'll know I was lying when I said I was lovely

andrewwofgg why should any langauge be taught other then the big 6 ? (english,french,spainish,portgiues, manderian and the offical indian languge for the life of me i cant rember the name) all the other langauges are useless (mostly) outside there nation of orign

The world would be a poorer place cultural if every other langauge was killed off for simplistic sake why not go one step futher and basically set one offical world langauge and fuck every other national languge because hey why have them?

And to a lesser extent why do we need to teach any of the other subject other then the core 3 subjects of Maths sicence and ICT (and insert the newly made offical world langauge)

Becuase andrew langauges are a key part of a national idenity , culture and history are all based upon it and the world would be a much poorer place (culturally)

Haha that is certainly a saying - 'It could be worse, you could be from Blaenau'

I grew up near Harlech. Now living near civilisation (if you can call it that) in Wrexham

Haha! I do know someone who works for the council but that can't be you as I don't think she'd be a mumsnetter. Dwin ar y llyn, gan y mor. Dyna ni, I'm using my welsh!

Coming very late to the party, but I couldn't read your comments ifyour without commenting.

You talk about the suppression of Welsh language as though it is in the very distant past. It really wasn't that long ago. My father, who is now in his early sixties, had Welsh as his first language and learned English at school. He was beaten for speaking Welsh at school and he chose not to teach me and my siblings Welsh because he, in common with many of his generation, worried that it would hold us back. This is something that very much impacts the present day, not ancient history.

Your comments about the NHS in Wales are spot on though. I can't understand why it is so much worse than elsewhere.

I live in inland southern Gwynedd, in what I refer to as the 'Welsh triangle'. I'm a Kiwi, and both my girls speak fluent Welsh now. I am close (and WILL get there with another year or two!)

It's definitely a cliquey area to live in, but I don't think people are unwelcoming. It's the normal way in any small village that 'breaking in' takes time, and the language adds a complicating factor in, but it's much more than just a barrier. I think the language and the culture are intertwined so much that you can't understand one without the other.

I'm really happy the girls are Welsh speaking. If we all move to New Zealand one day and never have Welsh medium education again, it's bought so much to their lives in other ways. And we would also have a secret language which would be pretty cool

I don't think it should be compulsory, even though it is. Many people in Wales speak English as their only language and are quite happy with this. They do not need to speak Welsh as it has little benefit to them to do so.
I appreciate the heritage and 'the knot', so understand why some may feel passionate about reviving the language.
However, I don't think that the language will benefit the Welsh economically (outside of Wales) and some local authorities waste money on promoting bilingual services that are not used (fact based on my own local authority's recent survey).
Let's not water down our children's education in such crucial years (10 & 11) by forcing them to take short courses in Welsh when they could be concentrating on their area of chosen topic. Allow them to choose Welsh if they are interested in languages just as they can choose art, music, history etc.

Da iawn Dewin/ wizard

Can I ask, your main objection seems to be against Welsh medium provision, while also stating that you live in the welshest area. Do you think there are enough people where you live who would want English medium provision to justify the allocation of resources in having a separate English medium school?

My neighbour - how is it a minority language? In Wales lots of people speak Welsh.

It is compulsory in all schools up to GCSE and my daughter goes to a Welsh medium school.

The 'tax payer' pays for children to learn French and German but that's not a major language in UK so why not Welsh!

your main objection seems to be against Welsh medium provision, while also stating that you live in the welshest area. Do you think there are enough people where you live who would want English medium provision to justify the allocation of resources in having a separate English medium school?

In a word - no. So I know that IABU.

Erm it def is compulsory in state schools in Wales! Now Sixth Formers have to study the Welsh Bacc too which does prevent them taking a course but is easy to obtain a good grade in for points...

Our compulsory Welsh lessons involved watching Pam Fi Duw and learning a rap so we could pronounce Llanfairpwll properly. Still a bit miffed about it in all honesty.

My DD told me earlier that microwave in Welsh is poppity ping Is she winding me up

"Popty ping" is used colloquially, Celtic (means literally "ping oven", but the technically accurate word is "microdon" (which always conjures up an image of a dinosaur for me!)

Popty ping is one of the words for microwave oven, yes.