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Original poster

To be confused about my partner's nationality

1000 replies

ForestryForever · 11/09/2023 22:04

Good evening,
My partner's parents were both born in Wales. They both lived and grew up in Wales. As adults they both left Wales and lived in England, where they remained.
Whilst married and living in England, they had a baby - my partner. My partner was born, raised in and grew up in England, and still lives in England.
What nationality is my partner?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
16
SingingNettles · 12/09/2023 04:27

FatherJackHackettsUnderpantsHamper · 12/09/2023 04:13

Duolingo is the only one that has a Welsh course. Babbel and Rosetta Stone do not.

And even the Duolingo Welsh course lacks a lot of the functionality that the Spanish/French/German courses have (for example, there are no speaking exercises on the Welsh course).

So how many non-Welsh-speaking Welsh people, who say that they wish they could learn Welsh, have never actually done (or looked at) the Duolingo Welsh course, before bemoaning the fact that it doesn't have anything like as much functionality as other courses teaching major world languages?

And as Welsh is obviously very much a minority language in comparison, how will things ever improve if many/most people who claim to want to learn it don't even bother taking advantage of the (basic) resources that are available?

Search for 'learn Welsh online' and there are quite a number of resources. Obviously nowhere near as many or as comprehensive as if you searched for 'learn Spanish'; but to listen to a lot of people - including some on this thread - you'd think there were no possibilities whatsoever.

Might it be that the resources would be greater in number and more comprehensive if far more of those who say they would like to learn Welsh had actually made the effort to put their money/time where their mouth is and provide a genuine market for them? Is it like when nobody ever uses the village shop, because Tesco five miles away has way more choice; and then those same people all complain bitterly when the village shop ends up closing down completely - when it could instead have expanded and become much better if only people had actively shown that they wanted it?

According to Duolingo, more than 1.5m people have signed up to learn Welsh and a little shy of half a million are actually actively participating on the course.

I could be wrong, but think it’s fair to assume that the bulk of the active learners are Welsh.

HuckleberryBlackcurrant · 12/09/2023 04:30

He's English with Welsh parents

smilesup · 12/09/2023 04:30

Sallyh87 · 11/09/2023 23:11

To be fair, he sounds very het up and angry about a silly topic. Does either country want him?

Bet you a million quid you're English.

ChocolateCinderToffee · 12/09/2023 04:31

He’s British. He certainly isn’t Welsh.

RedHelenB · 12/09/2023 04:32

Hont1986 · 11/09/2023 22:16

We had this with a boy at our school in south England. His dad was Scottish and he was convinced that this made him Scottish too. He was born and raised in England, had an English accent, don't think he even travelled to Scotland much. He wasn't Scottish, however much he might have wanted to be.

Why wasn't he?

mathanxiety · 12/09/2023 04:42

British

Heyhoherewegoagain · 12/09/2023 04:42

titchy · 11/09/2023 22:23

England and Wales are NOT the same country!!!!

Yes they are. The country is UK. England and Wales are nations.

Why are you asking in MN though? Doesn't he know whether he feels Welsh or English or British?

They really are not! That’s why Wales has its own parliament, as does Scotland .

His ethnic nationality is Welsh.

As a Scot it’s downright offensive to be told you’re English…I once had a real fallout with a friend when we were abroad and were asked our nationality, she said “we’re English”, and I said “no we’re not, you’re English and I’m Scottish” and she really took the hump, couldn’t see why I wouldn’t ID as English.

I’ve since had my DNA tested and not one bit of English in me

Heyhoherewegoagain · 12/09/2023 04:54

I should have said I’d have not had an issue if she’d said “We’re British”, in fact I’m more likely to say that myself now, but that’s due to politics, not heritage

Leftlegwest · 12/09/2023 05:08

I'm someone else who hates policing or other peoples identity. I was born in England to a Scottish mother and an English Father who grew up in Scotland.

I'm not English according to some but also not Scottish. I am British but I find from certain camps it is said in a sort of 'othering' way. It was confusing as a child and I find it tiresome as an adult.

Greeneyegirl · 12/09/2023 05:17

He's Welsh. Both his parents are Welsh, he doesn't have any English blood etc. If I went in holiday to Hawaii and happened to have a baby whilst there that doesn't make the baby Hawaiian!

Sorrynotsorry2 · 12/09/2023 05:19

My parents are English
I was born and live in Wales
I class myself as welsh

user1492757084 · 12/09/2023 05:27

FatherJackHackettsUnderpantsHamper · 12/09/2023 04:25

user1492757084

What you say is completely true; but when it comes to the UK home nations and how naturally the British tend to travel within the country and mingle, I think most of us must naturally have quite a variable mixture going back only a few generations - which probably makes us all much of a muchness in reality.

Nothing like a Hereford cow, who would be very selectively and exclusively bred through the generations.

What you say can be very true.
Also there can be people who for four or more generations have only Welsh or Irish DNA for example.
DNA testing will tell you exactly what percentage of English, Irish etc you are. For this question I assumed that the young man has only Welsh blood as far back as he can see.

Cattle are often interbred - just like people.
I used the Hereford and Siamese breeds as examples so to be similar to the young man who knows his bloodline. Hereford etc can have DNA testing, just like us, to tell their biological ancestry.

umeboshionigiri · 12/09/2023 05:28

English.

The reason I say this is because of a couple of people I know in that situation who experienced racism while visiting North Wales.

My mother is similar to your partner and believes she is 'Welsh' - I told her to spend a few weeks living in North Wales and see how 'Welsh' she's treated.

BasicPumpkinSpice · 12/09/2023 05:39

Whatever annoys you most/you disagree with obviously 😉

Aquestioningmind · 12/09/2023 05:40

I have to be honest I don’t understand the ‘I’m Welsh/English/Scottish’ thing.

Hypothetically, if he was kidnapped by the Taliban/ISIS (a bit of a rogue statement, but stay with me) would he say ‘I’m Welsh’ or ‘I’m British’? Betting he’d say British.

Ultimately, I think which part of the UK you were born in/live in, is fairly irrelevant as we’re all British. I often find that people who identify as Welsh/English/Scottish tend to be determined to have something to ‘make them different.’

But, answer to your question - he’s English and a plum for even caring tbh.

BasicPumpkinSpice · 12/09/2023 05:40

Greeneyegirl · 12/09/2023 05:17

He's Welsh. Both his parents are Welsh, he doesn't have any English blood etc. If I went in holiday to Hawaii and happened to have a baby whilst there that doesn't make the baby Hawaiian!

The baby would be American though.

exLtEveDallas · 12/09/2023 05:42

He is Welsh.

DH is Welsh (parent Welsh and speaks Welsh). I am English (parents English).

DD was born in Germany. She has never lived in Wales, nor does she speak Welsh. (She doesn't speak German either!) She has a Welsh half sibling who speaks Welsh and has a Welsh mother. DD has lived in England since she was 6.

DD is Welsh, registered Welsh and passport says British Welsh. She is certainly not German simply because she was born there, nor is she English because she lives in England. She has the nationality of her father, DH has the nationality of his mother, and she has the nationality of his grandparents (and so on).

RyanGoslingsTan · 12/09/2023 05:43

Heyhoherewegoagain · 12/09/2023 04:42

They really are not! That’s why Wales has its own parliament, as does Scotland .

His ethnic nationality is Welsh.

As a Scot it’s downright offensive to be told you’re English…I once had a real fallout with a friend when we were abroad and were asked our nationality, she said “we’re English”, and I said “no we’re not, you’re English and I’m Scottish” and she really took the hump, couldn’t see why I wouldn’t ID as English.

I’ve since had my DNA tested and not one bit of English in me

Show quote history

Technically the UK is an island Country made up of four countries England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. So they are not the same countries @titchy

PriOn1 · 12/09/2023 05:47

His actual nationality is irrelevant, but the way he talked to you about it sounds off to me.

Fair enough, he feels Welsh and asks you to not say he’s half English (there is no technical definition that is objectively “correct” here as his passport doesn’t differentiate) but he shouldn’t be ranting about it.

Was he genuinely unpleasant, or was it jokey ranting?

JaukiVexnoydi · 12/09/2023 05:49

British.

English and Welsh are not distinct nationalities as England and Wales are two regions of the same country. There is no legal minimum qualification for claiming to be English or Welsh and your partner is welcome to use either term, but the actual legal nationality is British.

HoppingPavlova · 12/09/2023 05:50

Surely to goodness, life is too short to carry on with this shit. If he said he identifies as Welsh, why not just say ‘okay’. Why carry on, argue and take time to go on an internet forum about it? Seems like an exhausting kind of life.

BananaSplitX · 12/09/2023 05:53

He is Welsh. Think of it this way, if his parents moved to Japan and he was born there, he would not be Japanese. He would be Welsh, living in Japan.

Mistressanne · 12/09/2023 05:55

Of course he’s Welsh.
Mt dgs aged 10 stood with me at French passport control and the border guard asked me if dgs was English, ( they don’t differentiate between countries within GB), I answered yes.
Dgs piped up, I’m not English I’m Welsh.
I was very proud of him.

Gwendimarco · 12/09/2023 05:57

Legally, he’s a British Citizen,
Beyond that, I’m not sure there is an objectively factual answer to this.

Is your intention to prove to your partner that he is not, in fact, 100% Welsh, as he believes himself to be? What would be the benefit of that? Doesn’t seem like a very loving thing to do to your husband.

Bramblecrumble22 · 12/09/2023 05:57

There isn't an objective truth for the nationality of people in the countries in the United Kingdom. Because, as offensive as it is, to be connected to the English, it's all legally British. It is about what he identifies as being English/Welsh/Scottish/Irish.

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