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?

Same here.

Avenue de clichey - So nice they named it twice! will be driving around it later.

Particularly difficult for who? Not for welsh speakers.

Evev if you mean for english speakers, it's actually a comparatively easy language to pronounce and read once you know the alphabet, because it's phonetic, uses Latin script and a similar (if not identical) alphabet to English.

To suggest that welsh is "particularly difficult" (compared to what, Russian? Chinese?) suggests you don't have a great grasp of linguistics.

English isn't the "actual main language" in wales, they are both equally official languages.

Not quite. You still have to listen to a fair bit of Welsh first. It's pretty annoying on the NHS line as that normally for a more urgent matter and stress levels are already heightened. Drives me nuts.
No doubt th OP will be along shortly to berate me once more for not learning Welsh in order to ease my use of phone lines

The reason the post exists is that it has been in the news with people complaining

This. Putin's Puppet manufacturers this hatred to keep his media career alive.

@ChocChipHandbag - thanks! Genuinely interested to see that, but I guess it doesn’t surprise me that it’s come from the current government. Turkish friends and acquaintances very much talk about coming from Turkey. Unlike an Indian friend from Chennai who would never in a million years say he comes from Madras!

I think that Welsh people should absolutely use the welsh names for landmarks and I apologise in advance if my pronunciation is bad. Most welsh speaking people are very accommodating.

However my ds graduated at University of Bangor.
The first speaker had a printed translation of his speech in English for us non welsh speaking parents.
The second speaker was a poet and spoke for about 20 minutes in Welsh with no translation provided. It was deliberate and imo incredibly rude. Over 2000 of Bangor students are not from the UK let alone Wales.
My dgs is Welsh and a fluent welsh speaker he would definitely have more manners.

The problem is English nationalism. It's an ugly phenomenon.

So it’s something like Rydych chi wedi cyrraedd llinell gymorth abc. You have reached the xyz helpline. Os ydych yn dymuno clywed y wybofaeth ganlynol yn Gymraeg pwyswch 1. If you wish to hear the following information in English press 2. It’s really not much is it, just a couple of sentences?

@AlmostAJillSandwich , welsh is entirely phonetic, so once you know the sounds of each letter, or a letter combination is easy.
Dropping the Welsh names would be culturally problematic because of the history of oppression of the Welsh language in the past.

@EsmeSusanOgg , it is entirely phonetic. Some vowel combinations are diphthongs, so you they are treated differently. The majority of Welsh speakers are in the North, so that dialect will probably be more prominent.
Phrases are hard to learn IMO because they teach the colloquial forms e.g. 'Dwi'n' or 'Rwy'n' for 'Yr ydwyf fi yn'

It’s the same as Uluru being renamed from Ayers Rock. Nobody has a problem with that. And Breck-ay Breck-any-og doesn’t seem that hard to say.

All school children in Wales learn Welsh - they may not speak it at home but they have some level of Welsh and would know how to pronounce things - this has been the case for over 40 years - I know as I was brought up in Wales and learnt Welsh along with all other kids in school to an age of 13 despite majority of lessons in my border school being in English. There are even more Welsh speaking schools where all learning is in Welsh. It would be nice if when in Wales it is also referred to as Cymru and I am not even Welsh.

Did u just dial 111 to note that down? What a loon

*wybodaeth not wybofaeth!

Or even Ban-ay Breck-any-og, blame my poor typing not the Welsh language though 😳

@Cinnamona , it might not be hard to say but why would you say it when the name is Bannau Brycheiniog not Brecau Breceniog?

I didn’t need to - Welsh is my first language. Some of us do speak it you see.

Well it's not entirely phonetic. Especially in different dialects. For example south Walian pronunciation of sut wyt i? Is different to north Wales (Should for south Sit for north). As just one, super common example.

There are more north Walian speakers of Welsh, but that doesn't mean you teach pupils in English medium schools north Walian Welsh in Cardiff... Especially when the Welsh medium schools teach south Walian Welsh.

As I said, pet bug bear that has made it harder to improve my conversational Welsh.

I attended a speech by Mark Drakeford (First Minister) a few weeks ago about his vision of Wales's future, and it seemed to me that he had none, except for his oft-repeated phrase about Wales needing to develop a New Identity. There was no talk of industry, a glancing mention of technology, but over and again he went on about natural resources such as water and wind power and Wales' historical and cultural heritage, which he seemed to think would be all the people of Wales needed.

The Brecon Beacons change is part of the New Identity. It costs nothing except for a few new road signs. No one ever thought of the Beacons as being associated with fire and climate change, but it's a cheap nod to climate change. This is what Wales is all about now. Its recent LGBTQ+ Plan is all about making Wales the most progressive, TQ+ nation in the world, even if there are only around 5,000 TQ+ people in Wales. It's cheap, only costs a few hundred thousand to hold a couple of events and create a couple of part-time roles, but it's an easy tick in the New Identity box. Wales is also pushing for there to be an X in passports and official paperwork for NB people. Tick. Bugger women's rights. (They seem to have gone a bit quiet about making Wales the most feminist nation in the world)

Drakeford ended his speech hoping that nice countries like Norway would invest in our water industry and team with the Welsh government on vague and unspecified projects. This is the new Wales: a failing government dependant on Westminster cash, looking for a quick, cheap plaster to stick over the cuts.

Education the worst in the UK? But we recognise NB people! Hospitalals failing? Look, we've renamed the Brecon Beacons because of climate change!

I live in the US where a lot of people use Spa ish in their day to day lives. Should all public addresses be in both Spanish and English?

I've been to several university graduations and have sat in audiences of family and friends, overhearing conversations in multiple languages. The idea that all of those people were owed an address in their own language is ridiculous.

And also, most such addresses are boring AF and all anyone wants to do is get the heck out of there and on to the restaurant they've booked.

I think promoting and preserving native British languages is hugely important but there will always be those who seek to be divisive. This island (or these islands) has a wealth of languages, history and culture which should be taught far more extensively than it is. Britain is not just England.

Having said that, I have a particular love for history and affinity for this beautiful island so I’m definitely biased! Not everyone has the same views or interests and if Welsh people don’t want to learn Welsh, or non Welsh people still say Brecon Beacons that’s perfectly valid.

As to phone lines having Welsh first - ermmmm you are in Wales. You wouldn't expect France to have English first, you don't like it move to England or Scotland or NI.

I did smile in Maccy's the other day - language options in the centre of England was English Welsh or Polish. I nearly pressed Welsh for the hell of it

Why would France have English on a phone line? English isn’t an official language in France. This thread is weird; the France comparison is completely false.

Well I can tell you it's longer than you state.
It's good you speak English also.