To wonder whether some Welsh should be taught in English schools?

[CruCru]

I’ve just finished watching HIdden and it has struck me how alien Welsh sounds (I grew up in the south east). For most western European languages, I will recognise a few words if I hear it spoken but pretty much none of the speech in Hidden sounded familiar.

A Spanish friend speaks Castilian Spanish but also speaks and understands a couple of other Spanish languages / dialects. It seems weird to me that there is a living language within the UK that I know virtually nothing about.

I know it isn’t as widely spoken as a few European languages learnt in school. However, I did French and German and can say that I can remember virtually no German whatsoever (I wasn’t very good at it). I have tried to speak it in Austria but the bar staff laughed and spoke back to me in English.

YABU. I'm never gonna need to speak Welsh.

Just why?

Blimey, we don't have enough Welsh teachers in Wales.

But thanks for the thought. Ten years ago there was far less Welsh spoken in Wales, so having something like Hidden on proper telly, not just S4c sounds like a real culture shift.

None of the Welsh people I’ve met speak Welsh so YABU. I don’t think I’d ever need to know how to speak Welsh in all honesty.

Sorry, but I disagree. My grandmother was a Welsh speaker and I'm fascinated by the language and its history, but I wouldn't consider it a useful language for my dd to learn in school, unless she was actually living in Wales.

You might not remember much from your French and German lessons at school - it's easy to forget languages if you don't use them - but for some of us, they have been immensely useful in different ways.

I'd be happy to support subsidised teaching of Welsh/Gaelic in FE colleges etc for those who might be interested, but not as a compulsory option in schools.

No I don't think there is any need. Wales isn't readily used anywhere (not even wales really) so would be a complete waste of time.

YABU.

It shouldn't be taught in English medium schools in Wales either - we choose to send our children to, and teach in English medium schools because we want them to be just that.

I live on the border. Don't hear much welsh though I can recognise it easily when I do.
It isn't a useful language to be honest.

Wales isn't readily used anywhere (not even wales really

Erm, wtf? Do you mean Welsh? It is used readily in both the counties I have lived and taught in as the first language. It is necessary for more jobs than it isn't in my current county. Are you Welsh?

Absolutely not. Teach kids something useful.

It shouldn’t be taught as a primary language (outside of Wales), but I went to school in Scotland where we had Gaelic lessons, German and Latin.

I’m guessing their budgets are higher than English schools!

I clearly mean welsh. I speak fluent welsh and I havnt had to use it ... well... ever. My opinion. Again. Your getting exasperating now.

What about Gaelic, should that be taught in England too? It’s another of the UKs languages.

My DH is Welsh as are all his family, all still live there except him.Only his DGD spoke it (passed away years ago), his DM could understand it when her DF spoke to her but couldn’t speak it herself. It is coming back a bit; his nieces and nephews learn it at school (in Wales)now. AFAIK, nowhere else in the world speaks it so not sure what the advantage would be.

I went to Bangor University(20 years ago) and Welsh was very widely spoken. Some of the Halls were welsh speaking only. In fact my graduation ceremony was conducted in both English and Welsh. I took a Welsh for beginners course and it was a very hard language to learn but so fascinating.

Playing devils advocate for those who say it’s not useful....
A basic fluency in Welsh is essential in any civil service job in Wales (my Dutch friend had to get her Welsh GCSE to primary teach). Plus some areas in the North central/east are almost exclusively Welsh speaking. Seems a shame that that may be a barrier to other member of the UK to working in Wales/ living in certain areas of Wales.
It’s also a beautiful, if somewhat literal, language :)

They speak it in Patagonia too.

If you don't have Welsh in certain counties, you can kiss government /healthcare/education jobs goodbye. Some counties speak it less (Cardiff and the Vale, for example), but in places like Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and counties up North, it's the first language.

Scolotti - how bizarre that you're fluent Welsh in Wales but have never used it. Utterly odd. Also, again, it's you're.

Ah fair enough. I don’t think it should necessarily be taught in the way that, say, French was at my school. However, an hour or so covering that there are other languages in the UK (Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish) along with even learning Hello / Goodbye / Please / Thank you in those languages might be worthwhile. I’ve met people who didn’t even know that Scottish Gaelic existed.

I can tell you now that moving to the areas of wales as an English welsh speaking person would not get you a job.

My DSS went to a Welsh speaking primary and secondary school. His friends all speak Welsh, I know loads of people who use Welsh as their first language. He'll never use it outside of Wales though, unless he meets another Welsh person who also speaks Welsh.

I wouldn't send DS to a Welsh speaking school as I think it has had a negative effect on DSS written English.

Why would it ever need to be taught in schools in England?

I remember when it became compulsory in Wales - there was a fair bit of resistance to it in S Wales, where I live. Most families in the south aren't Welsh speakers and couldn't see the point. So I think it would go down like a lead ballon in England.
It's different in North Wales - it is the first language up there. But iirc the ancestors of lots of people in the South came to Wales in the industrial revolution so wouldn't have come from Welsh speaking families.

I think British sign language should be taught in all schools.

That would be really useful

Does everything have to be about jobs? I think the OP's point is about learning the culture of the place you live, so if the UK has more than one language it would be nice for DC to learn about them and learn a bit of them. It doesn't have to be to a fluent level.

Iwanna - have you not ever been to South Wales Wales? It's used more than English.

Bf1000 - completely agree.