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.

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

Absolutely this. Time to stop pissing vast quantities of taxpayers' money up the wall keeping it alive artificially. The money could be much better spent.

Ughreally - I don't believe you unless you wear earplugs all day
Myneighbour - that's deeply offensive, Welsh is anything but dying

I had a welsh medium education myself, I'm actually on the fence as to whether or not kids should be forced to do welsh gcse if they don't want to I was forced to do welsh and welsh lit GCSEs- we all had to do 12 which is far too many IMO. Forcing kids to do it for gcse means they do too many or they don't get to do something more useful.

I'm all for people learning it but not sure shoving it in your face for those not interested, eg sending bilingual paperwork to all etc is helpful, rather wasteful. What really annoys me is that some department in Cardiff is apparently responsible for "making up" welsh sayings for road instructions (eg. "Give way" ) so that all road signs tick the bilingual box.

Does any one remember cyclists you have bladder disease?

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/4794753.stm

Caroldecker: Wales is part of England?

No, it isn't.

Given that educational policy actively pursued the end of the Welsh language in the 19th and early 20th century (eg Welsh Not) it seems entirely right for it to be used to help restore the language this century.

Ps I hear lots of Welsh in Cardiff, it may depend on which areas you go to.

Well said Handsoff

Seems that several people on here would like to see the return of the Welsh Not.

For as long as Gwynedd exists, there'll be people who speak entirely Welsh from as soon as they learn to speak, who will pass it down to their children, and then to theirs. For as long as that continues, they have the right to an education in their own language, documents, road signs and everything else - it's not a 'waste of money' to them.

andrewofgg Pupils who arrive between the ages of 7 and 11 go to a language unit where they are brought up to speed with Welsh until they're equal to others.

Pupils who arrive after 11, and anyone whose grasp of the language isn't the equivalent of someone who's spoken it from a young age, will generally do Welsh Second Language; a much more basic Welsh GCSE, and will start from the very basics.

Im in gwynedd and speak welsh everyday at work, some welsh first language genuinely cannot articulate themselves in english so it is essential.
It is compulsory up to year 11

annielouise. In my area Welsh schools do not underperform English schools - the Welsh comp that our ds's will attend outperforms the 3 English ones.

There is a lot of Welsh spoken in Cardiff, as well as many other languages. It's a fantastic, multicultural capital City.

4th generation welsh 'English' speaker here. Never needed nor wanted to speak Welsh. Was made to learn it in school but don't remember any of it. (Says it all really doesn't it? What a waste of time).
Forcing people to learn a language they will never use is not going to keep the language alive.

Don't get me started on the massive amount of wasted money that gets thrown at keeping the Welsh language 'alive'. Sorry, if it's going, it's going, why prolong it?

No Handsoff7 the fact that the schools were used a century ago in the way you say does not justify further misuse of them now. What happened before the First World War is no reason to restrict what today's youngsters can learn by reserving a vast block of time for something many of them have no use for and no interest in.

It was learning about the Welsh Not that has made me so passionate about the Welsh language. They tried their best to eliminate it, but it's still here. Certain programs on tv have not help break the illusion that Welsh is hardly spoken. Gavin and Stacey is a prime example of this, perpetuating the idea that no one in the south bothers, and anyone who does are 'nationalists' .

Thanks Moomin. I wonder how many of the Welsh Second Languagers show any interest after GCSE. If I were the father of one I would tell that child to neglect it, do the bare minmum, and concentrate on the useful subjects. Especially if I was only there if - like many public servants a generation ago - my job had been moved for political reasons to English-speaking Wales over my head.

The Irish are wiser here.

chemistc- my DH went to the same school as you. .
I agree with Handsoff. And also was at Wales being "part of England".
We have a Czech women locally whose tiny dd is growing up speaking Welsh, Czech, English and French, her mother has learned Welsh since moving here, something that the English incomers very rarely bother to do.
I went to an English language school, as the one Welsh language school was full (we had just moved areas) and the result is that I am not fluent and am about to start lessons again. I would have been a fluent Welsh speaker now if I'd had a Welsh medium education, my dds happily swing from one language to another, and although for a few years they mainly spoke English at home (my DH doesn't speak any Welsh) now they do sometimes just fall into chatting to each other or to me in Welsh, and they sometimes talk in Welsh in their sleep. I am really pleased that they are able to have a Welsh medium education, it is our language, many of us lost it due to systematic efforts to stamp it out (and even in the 70s the cultural emphasis on Welsh being an inferior language to English). And many of our children are re-claiming their heritage through education.
Cymru am Byth !

I did my GCSEs in 2000-2002 and I didn't do Welsh. So it was not compulsory at that time in my area (wrexham) and it wasn't compulsory at GCSE level for my DB 5 years later. I found the teaching level of Welsh to be pretty poor in my school, I only moved there in year 9 and had no chance of learning anything useful in that one year. My DB didn't fair much better even when having DM help him. Why? Because the teacher and all the teaching materials were from South Wales.

DMs first language is Welsh (North) and I have distant relatives who don't really speak English that well. So I don't think it is dying out, not in the North anyway.

Oh and as to "never using" it. Round here people use Welsh every day. My DB has a job involving many parts of Wales and him being Welsh speaking is pretty much essential. It does depend on what job one wants to have, I agree, but anything in the public sector would involve some Welsh language, as would teaching, or even medicine (My father, from the valleys, Welsh first language, spoke English much more for most of his life but in old age and illness found Welsh more natural). Many of the residents at my mother's care home speak far better Welsh than English as do many of the very small children at the local nursery. I deeply resent the English attitude (we don't get it from the Scots or the Irish) that Wales is part of England, that our silly little language with its lack of English vowels doesn't matter, and that we are wasting public money with our bilingual signs etc. Watch the English middle classes on holiday in rural Spain or France, taking pride in pronouncing "chorizo" or "Croissant" absolutely correctly. Then see them on holiday here in Wales, not even bothering to try to make the "ch" letter sound. Arrogant and lazy.

"I wonder how many of the Welsh Second Languagers show any interest after GCSE. If I were the father of one I would tell that child to neglect it, do the bare minmum, and concentrate on the useful subjects."

My parents didn't send us to Welsh medium schools because they didn't think they'd be in Wales for long. 35 years later they still are. Learning Welsh as a second language was extremely hard. It's directly affected my (and my Yorkshire born husband's) decision to send our daughter to Welsh meithrin and school. We moved back to Wales from London to have her. It's incredibly important to us both. He is now learning too.

ouch- I've obviously heard it spoken to a degree, i.e in the classroom and welsh-english videos because they translate everything, However in my circle of friends and family and out and about I've never heard anyone have a conversation in welsh.

There are a large amount of indigenous languages that have died in Australia. Money is being spent on preserving the ones that survive, and the ones that can be revived. Hopefully some indigenous teachers can return to their roots and teach children in their mother tongue.

Money well spent, I think. I'm surprised people are so dismissive.

I live on the outskirts of Cardiff and I hear Welsh every day.

I'm from (the area formerly known as) Gwent - and I speak Welsh.

the argument that there are areas where "no-one" speaks Welsh is simply untrue.

oh, and I didn't attend a Welsh medium school either, just to piss on your chips a bit more.

And at the time it wasn't taught in English-medium schools I attended.

I live in one of those "they don't speak Welsh there" I'm a fluent Welsh speaker and speak in Welsh to people I know also speak it. We don't wear a sign that's says I'm a Welsh spleaker, speaking of wearing a sign, "the death" of the language is due to the fucking Welsh knot.

I think that because of the history of the English government forcing the death of minority languages in the UK, rather than them dying out naturally, then its right that amends should be made, and I think Welsh should be taught in welsh schools, likewish Gaelic in scottish schools. If not compulsory it should always be an option