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.

That was a long time ago, things have obviously changed. The point is, Welsh is a compulsory GCSE and that is not likely to change. Therefore, Welsh isn't going anywhere. Sorry grumpy English taxpayers .

Wish they had kept Gaelic in Scotland. It's not compulsory and only the very North have it as a first language, we all have a right to speak our own language. Myneighbours ODFOD just because your first language is English doesn't mean the rest of the UK wants the same. Welsh and Faelic are not dying languages they are relevant.

I wonder what Myneighbour's view is on British Sign Language. That is also a minority language (and should be an option in schools imo). Should that be taught in private as well?

ODFOD yourself for presuming English is my first language. I am Welsh myself, but don't see the need for taxpayer funded lessons

Well to be honest I wish it were compulsory to GCSE i cant remember anything apart from numbers, colours, ffa pob and sglogdion.. I know more French than welsh.

I have no views on BSL.

The Welsh language is more than a cost. It's part of an ancient culture, one of the oldest in the world. It means more than English, a language made up entirely of other languages (German, Latin, French, Hindi, Greek even Welsh if you look hard enough). English is great as a universal language, I'm not putting it down. Welsh is deep set in history, something bigger than money. No harm in teaching it is there.

People have a right to use their native language but they don't have the right to foist it on the majority of the people of Wales to whom it is not their native language. For many parents it is just a waste of their children's school time and the loss of a GCSE choice. Why should it be a compulsory subject? If it was voluntary those who were interested could still take it. Those who were not could learn something they and their parents found more useful and interesting.

If the Welsh language cannot live on its own strength it will die. You cannot keep a language alive by compulsion.

The fact is that it is a racket. Some years ago somebody decided that every Welsh applicant to the Employment Tribunals had a right to be heard in Welsh - including people who had applied for jobs in far-off parts of England and been turned down and believed they had been the victims of discrimination - and systems were set up at huge expense. In the first eighteen months two, count them, two cases were brought. One of them was against an employer in the North-East of England who was told that he would have to come to Cardiff. Fortunately a Chairman (as they were then called, not my choice of word) transferred it to Newcastle.

I'm sorry, but what if people from other countries took that view when moving to England? 'English isn't our first language, therefore my child will chose not to do it at GCSE level'. You wouldn't move your kids to France and not expect them to learn French to an acceptable degree, would you? You move your family to Wales, accept that Welsh is more than a 'minority language'. It's actually quite offensive to assume as much, just because it's a minority language taking the whole of Britain into account.

English is the majority language in Wales too, let alone in the UK!

If I moved to France I would obviously expect my children to learn French: but not Breton, Occitan, or Flemish unless I moved to one of those parts of France where it is the main language. If I moved to Ynys Mon I would learn Welsh myself but not if I moved to Cardiff.

No one speaks it here (cardiff) and ive never come across someone who speaks welsh in all my time in wales (I've lived all over south wales)

Cardiff is the capital, of course it would be more diverse in language use anyway. Anglesey is still a part of Wales last time I checked, but it's Gwynedd that has the largest population of Welsh speakers, so it's more than just South Wales that exists believe it or not. The fact is, Welsh is compulsory, that's not going to change (thank goodness). Nobody is going to love every subject they do in GCSE, I hated Maths and think half of the things taught was useless. What does it actually matter anymore, since education until 18 is now compulsory, GCSEs will not be the be all they used to be. So learning Welsh will just be another lesson until kids can chose their A levels.

Very soon it will almost impossible to get a public sector job in any part of Wales without having at the very least basic proficiency in Welsh.

The cost of welsh language translation at a time of deep cuts is a real issue. I think it will backfire to be honest. I'd rather have a library full of books than a policy provided in Welsh that I can't read.

I'm from Cardiff. Despite being born to english parents I did GCSE and A level Welsh (second language). My mum then did GCSE. My husband is english and is learning now. DD has attended a Welsh medium meithrin and now school since age 2.5. To some of us in caerdydd it's pwysig iawn.

education until 18 is now compulsory really?

www.skill.org.uk/youth/page.aspx?c=309&p=430 according to the internet, yes.

Sorry, Disappointed! I know some people do make the effort My English partner is learning as well. He's practicing on the dog though (who only knows Welsh commands). Don't know who gets more confused! At least he's trying.

I sat my GCSEs in 2010 and it is definitely still compulsory, and rightly so. I used to live in Gwynedd and was totally immersed in Welsh, but even here in Wrexham its possible to find people who speak Welsh as their first language, and DD will be attending an Ysgol Feithrin and Welsh schools, as OH and I did.

To call it a dying language is hugely offensive. It's alive and kicking in many parts of wales. Several of my friends (early 20s, so not elderly before anyone rolls that old chestnut out) aren't comfortable speaking English, as Welsh is what they've spoken their entire lives, the language of their own country.

That's England not Wales

Sorry, so it is. Well , whatever happens in England will be put upon Wales eventually, so same difference.

If it's alive and kicking why does it need to be compulsory? If it's so popular won't people want to study it anyway?

And why make people learn Welsh to get a job with a council in an area where Welsh is barely spoken?

To compare it with English, the principal language of the UK and of Wales, o Maths is preposterous.

In Ireland, where the language is similarly kept alive, children whose early education has been outside Ireland (usually any part of the UK including Northern Ireland) are exempt from the provision making it necessary to pass an exam in Irish to get your leaving certificate or go on to Higher Education. I had a colleague brought up in England from 3 until 11 or 12 and then in Ireland, who benefitted from that. She told me that she was the envy of the class at school and of everyone she knew at University. Does Wales have a similar provision or are children who arrive in Wales midway througn their education expected to get up to GCSE speed? What if they arrive with only a year to go to GCSE?

It should not be compulsory; it should be an option. It won't die out even if an option. My DC hated it, as did all their friends, and it was part of the reason we went private.

ughreally just wondering how you have never heard it spoken in Cardiff
My two are both in Welsh Medium primary schools. I am an English speaker but I am often in the minority at the school gates where Welsh is spoken as a first language
It's spoken in the wider community too. I hear it all the time!
If you live in Wales your children have the right to Welsh medium education. The uptake is on the increase with extra Welsh places being made available due to demand.
I don't agree with all my documents being bilingual though (council tax bills etc) its wasteful.

It is in my school. I thought it was in all Welsh schools. It has been in all the ones I've taught in.

Ouchbloodyouch - I agree with bilingual documents being wasteful - never mind the council tax ones, the CSA sends two thick booklets, one in Welsh, one in English.

Worryingly, I phoned the 101 police helpline the other week and had to go through Welsh being spoken, then English, then press this button etc. I know it wasn't the emergency 999 number but precious time was lost regardless. Hopefully when you phone 999 it's not the same.

I think in the 20 years it's been compulsory the percentage of people speaking it hasn't gone up, it's still 20%. The Welsh medium kids I know speak English at playtime and as soon as they leave the school. I hear some odd diehard in cafes in Pontcanna but that's about it.

I don't think it should die out but it should not be compulsory. Welsh schools are underperforming English schools. Don't tell me there's not a direct link when after English and maths, Welsh gets the next highest number of lessons (or did so at DC's old school), even more than Science.