To think that if it was France & French no one would care about a name change but because it’s Welsh…

[Letshaveablackcelebration2022]

Welsh is trending on Twitter because a lot of people don’t like the fact that the Brecon Beacons will revert to its Welsh name https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/17/brecon-beacons-relaunches-with-welsh-name-bannau-brycheiniog-as-picture-of-hope-for-future

People also kicked off when Snowdon also reverted to its Welsh name Yr Wyddfa

Aibu to really not understand the issue. I am Welsh and a Welsh speaker. It makes sense to me to call place names by their Welsh names and not by their anglicised versions if you want to protect a language and culture. Which we do.

Noone would bat an eyelid if in France their decided to only use French names. We drive in France and get by without English alternatives. So what exactly is the problem with Wales doing the same?

Can you take this into one of the many other threads or boards for discussing trans issues, rather than derailing this one?

People who say they exclusively use English names for places, do you really visit the mouth of the river Yystwyth, rather than Aberysytwyth?

Not derailing it. Someone had asked about RSE developments in Wales and I responded.

If you don't think Gender Ideology — the abolition of sex — will involve a massive societal change and very probably changes to the Welsh language, as it has the English language then you have your head buried in the sand.

Yeah those transgenders are the REAL threat to the Welsh language. 🙄

Now really, please, you have your pick of threads on here to discuss trans issues if you’re inclined to, but it’s of no relevance to the topic in hand.

Just out of interest, has the NHS in your part of Wales removed the words 'mother' and 'breast-feeding' and 'woman' from the Welsh information sites and posters etc, or is it just the English who are chest-feeders and birthing parents and people with cervixes?

Language, as you are well aware, matters.

It's a serious question. I really would like to know.

Annoys me that people have such harsh opinions on Welsh places being called their Welsh names! And try to justify it by saying only a small percentage of Wales speaks Welsh, you can thank the English for that. Welsh language is starting to make a comeback and any kind of publicity that encourages this is welcome. I’ll happily call these places by their Welsh name and welcome it.

bore off.

Yup, and one of the biggest challenges is a lack of immersion. Children do learn Welsh in school now but, in many areas of Wales, you barely hear it spoken. The name changes are small, incremental gains towards re-establishing the language on a day to day basis.

I've clearly touched a nerve. Why won't you tell me whether Welsh is being unsexed in the same way that English is?

Because I don’t care, it’s completely irrelevant to the thread, and my level of Welsh reading proficiency wouldn’t be adequate for me to research it anyway.

I still remember it as the Colston Hall. For that matter, the large rugby stadium next to Cardiff Central railway station will always be the Millennium Stadium. Old habits die hard.

And to be clear, @Pluvia , yes you have you have touched a nerve. It would be nice to have a thread about contemporary efforts to promote the Welsh language (and the mixed reactions to them) without someone obsessively posting their views on gender politics, particularly when there are probably 1000s of threads on here where that is the actual topic.

Then ignore me. Scroll on by.

I think that it was the fact that since 1996 the county's name now matches the town was the PP's issue. I do recall a holidaymaker seeing "Conwy" in the address of his caravan site and assuming that his family needed Conwy railway station. No mate, get off at Rhyl and get the No. 12 bus.

Don't forget that "Ystwyth" is a Welsh word too, so presumably the monoglots went to the university "at the mouth of the winding river"

Its the same with ‘The City and County of Swansea’, the county incorporating the Gower Peninsula.

No one wants solely English names in Wales but over the last few years there has been a move to change places that have been called a certain name for decades and change it to a a Welsh version that no one locally wants or has ever heard being used. I appreciate the history but the history of Wales is being distorted for political gain.

the history of Wales is being distorted for political gain

Which part of Welsh history is being distorted and what is being politically gained by doing so?

The move for independence.

But which part of Welsh history is being distorted?

Michael Sheen banging on about oppression and doing “moving speeches”.
Wales as a distinct whole nation for many years suddenly captured by the English when it was really a group of regions that changed hands amongst rulers and alliances and boundaries for many years.

I think it's brilliant that it has changed it means so much to the welsh who are passionate about language.

I'm from Pembrokeshire (below the landsker line) and we don't class our family as welsh at all we are british, we don't even have a welsh accent. But most people I know are very patriotic and proud of being welsh despite not speaking the language. I actually know nobody at all who can speak welsh. Which is why it is important for the welsh language to be more incorporated into every day life and for people to have adequate teaching of it from a young age.

Is suppression of a country's native language not a form of oppression?

I always mix it up with the older Cardiff Arms Park. And the Aviva will always be Lansdowne Rd. But I digress.

The Welsh language is stronger than Irish or Scots Gaelic . One day I managed to get lost near Llanberis and went into a pub out in the boondocks to ask directions. I still recall the name : The Vaynol. Everyone was speaking Welsh when I entered.
I addressed the barman in English and he gave me directions and served me a drink. Then returned to his conversation in Cymraeg.

The other customers , for from gossiping about me , couldn't have been less interested in my arrival. They went on with their own discussion which, from the odd English usage , I gathered was about the forthcoming elections. This admirable attitude explains why Welsh will always be spoken in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Wales. Bravo.

@Abhannmor Vaynol Arms in Nant Peris? I've never been inside as the Padarn Lake and The Heights were more convenient for where I lived. Base of Llanberis Mountain Rescue so you couldn't be in a better place for asking directions.

I'm glad to see someone disparage the trope of "I walked into a pub and they all switched to speaking Welsh"