“Do you speak Welsh as a hobby?”

[syme]

I think this is a ridiculous question, bordering offensive. I was at a smart dinner with a friend who was brought up speaking Welsh as his first language in a very Welsh speaking area.

We got put to sit near a friend of his and her acquaintance. For background, this girl openly admitted that the only time she had left London for Wales was to visit her friend’s holiday cottage in West Wales. She is very bright too, and studied... languages.

Anyhow conversation is moving on, and she turns to him and asks him about his upbringing etc, and after him explaining the above, she asked

“So, you speak Welsh as a hobby?”

Do French people speak French as a hobby? Is your hobby to speak the language you think in?

It's not necessarily rude, as it's true.

Meh, my DH would describe his Welsh speaking as a hobby. He never grew up speaking it, English is his first language and he would cheerfully say that Welsh is an unnecessary language in a lot of ways. But he enjoys speaking/ improving his understanding of it and so does it for 'fun'. For him it just means that he could continue in his day to day life without and grasp of Welsh, so in the way that swimming is a hobby so is Welsh. That doesn't mean it's not important to him and he strongly believes the language should be kept alive.

He also says there's far too many people who jump straight to being offended rather than appreciating the intent behind a comment and that it is just a case of clumsy words. I tend to agree.

We are in Gwynedd a very Welsh speaking part of Wales. It is the medium children are taught in in schools. I'm learning Welsh as it is the language that is spoken by my neighbours though not Welsh myself. It's an amazing language. I love to learn and listen when people visit some people ask why as soon as you walk into a shop or pub people start speaking Welsh. One you cant tell by looking at somebody that they are Welsh speakers and two I assure them that people speak Welsh all the time to alienate visitors. Find this attitude really offensive towards Welsh speakers.

Sorry meant to say NOT to alienate visitors....

It's not necessarily rude, as it's true.

Prove it.

This girl asked from a place of daftness, at worst ignorance.

As @WellErr says above

I’ve never met a Scottish person who speaks Scottish - I’ve no idea if it’s still used on an everyday basis? No idea at all. Because no Scottish person I’ve ever met or seen on tv has done, and I don’t live in or near Scotland

Regardless of if you mean Scots or Gaelic it works the same; in Scotland Gaelic is having something of a revival but that is TRULY the “hobbyists” giving a language which was near-dead in the 80s 90s a dose of CPR.

So perhaps this girl had Scotland and Gaelic in mind when she was asking her badly phrased question. Because everyone I know that has learnt or speaks Irish Gaelic, Scots Gaelic, Cornish or Scots ARE hobbyists, proud of their culture and background and keen to keep tradition alive, but with as much pre-study exposure to the language as I would have had to say Danish.

soManyChances - the valleys has a very low proportion of Welsh speakers. Speaking Welsh is a useful trait if you are looking for work.
You have a factually inaccurate view of the demographics and usefulness of the Welsh language.

Were they talking about holidaymakers specifically, or people who have bought holiday homes?

Holidaymakers specifically in this instance. Although holiday home people are even worse...

It’s a view I’ve heard in private a few times, but I couldn’t believe they said it on tv in a programme about the area. Along the lines of ‘why do they need to keep coming here? If they’re that desperate, come once then go somewhere else. This isn’t a playground for the english’

An excellent illustration of the difference between people who are ignorant and people who are deliberately being cunts.

soMany that’s really not called for.

Yes PC, quite.

Areas with high levels of Welsh speakers tend to be rural. Rural areas tend to have high unemployment regardless of language spoken. Drawing a direct correlation between the two makes as much sense as suggesting that speaking Welsh is caused by proximity to sheep.

Across Wales there are numerous jobs that list speaking Welsh as either an essential or desirable trait. This number has risen with the new Welsh Language Standards introduced by the government. Speaking Welsh immediately increases the number of employment opportunities available to you.

Your language gives the impression that your views on this topic are very prejudiced.

(Also, the valleys, per your original post, has both high levels of unemployment and low levels of Welsh speakers, so I'm not sure how that would fit into your model. Perhaps that's why you assumed it was largely Welsh-speaking. Again, your views seem stereotypical and inexplicably aggressive.)

Consolidated are you serious? What an ignorant comment.

Scots Gaelic or more accurately Gaidhlig speaker here....it was my first language and I still speak it daily. I am pleased to see the option for kids to be educated via Gaidhlig medium. My experience in the early 80's was that there was no provision to teach reading and writing in the language in Primary school resulting in at least one generation being functionally illiterate in their native language. My mums' experience in the 40's and 50's was corporal punishment for speaking Gaidhlig in the playground.

Calling someones language and by extension, culture a 'hobby' is ignorant at best and arrogant to boot. There seems to be a view that Celtic languages are fair game for denigration but if the same view is extended to other languages in terms of usefulness then it is offensive or other curriculum subjects - is Art or Drama useful in getting a job, do people study these subjects for there usefulness?

I live in Canada. I speak English as a hobby, I guess. Perhaps speaking French, therefore, is my pastime?

And... my hobby and pastime are apparently communicating.

And for the record, I think Welsh is an enchanting language and I would love to have the opportunity to learn it.

However, practicing it in everyday life may prove to be challenging in Canada.

Japanese students learning Welsh

www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/japanese-university-students-learning-welsh-12621217

www.saysomethingin.com/welsh

If it's true I'd be moving my child out of any school that punished a wee one (albeit only loss of a merit mark) for uttering a word of their mother tongue to ask politely for a translation.

The mention of Japanese students brings back memories! Years ago I was a student in Aberystwyth and learned Welsh - or at least tried to. There were several Japanese students whose command of Welsh was better than their English so our common language was Welsh.
It's a beautiful language and I am so pleased that at least some of it has stayed with me. I suppose for me, learning it in England would be a hobby but if I moved back to Wales I'd see it as a necessity.

@AntheaGreenfern - as someone who went through welsh-medium education and who now works in the sector (though not as a teacher), I can assure you that punishing a child for "speaking English" if they were simply asking for a translation, is not indicative of general practice. I don't doubt the previous poster's account, but that school's awful policy is not indicative of welsh-medium education generally.

There are some schools which don't allow English on the playground, and insist you address teachers in Welsh. These are often the schools in areas that are majority English-speaking because those children need an immersive environment to pick up what is probably a second language (and the children for whom it is a first language will be hearing it extensively outside of school and the home).

On the other hand, a colleague who was educated in a majority English area recalls teachers insisting that discussion of English Literature texts be conducted in English not Welsh during discussion groups, to much moaning from students, because in that area, it was English that was the weaker language that needed improvement.

Some schools won't feel their student population need either approach.

I think what's important to remember is that children in bilingual education may be using the school environment to become fluent in a language. If they are, then part of the School's educational remit will be enforcing practice and use of the second language under various circumstances, in order to ensure that fluency. That language will sometimes be English and will sometimes be Welsh.

Obviously bad schools exist in both languages, and some Welsh-medium schools probably fail their students, either by failing to educate to fluency or by punishing attempts to learn.