To not feel Welsh enough?

[woollencloth]

I was brought up in Newport S Wales, born in the early 80s. My family are a mix of English/Irish/Welsh settlers who came to Newport 1830-1890. Only one of my grans could speak the language. So I guess I’m probably about a quarter Welsh as it were.

Since the early 2000s there’s been a massive increase in Welshness in Wales or more of an awareness of the identity. But even though I ams Welsh and I know it, I just don’t feel Welsh enough?

I rarely say this, but you are completely unreasonable here. You are born in Wales, to Welsh parents, you live in Wales - you are Welsh! Even if your parents were immigrants from Somalia or something, if you were born or brought up in Wales, you would be Welsh.

If you want to learn Welsh, why don't you start? There are beginners classes everywhere, even Newport.

I’m half Welsh and never grew up there and I feel really Welsh. It’s all about how you feel! No right or wrong.

My best friend’s son was born and brought up in Wales. Of English parents. He identifies strongly as Welsh.

I think that increase in Welsh identity has been accompanied by an acceptance that Welshness has changed. I would say in the 90s it was dominated by speaking Welsh and elements of nationalism.

Lots of people in south Wales will have the same mix of English/Irish heritage due to our industrial heritage. I think that was previously looked down on but not really these days.

I was born in Wales, parents and grandparents are all Welsh but none of them spoke the language. Doesn't make any difference to the fact that I'm Welsh and proud to be so.

Newport has always been very ‘English’ in culture.

Why do you feel the need to be ‘more Welsh’?

I was born in South Wales, all my remaining family live there, my Ancestry tree and DNA shows my Welsh lineage, and I am definitely all Cymraeg! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
However, we moved to England when I was three, and I’ve lived here since. None of my family were natural Welsh speakers (remember it was outlawed for a long time!) but some have since learned it and my younger family members speak Welsh.
I make excellent Welsh cakes, can more or less sing the national anthem, and enthusiastically support Wales in the rugby!
Try telling me I’m not Welsh! It’s yours by dint of birth etc. but only yours to deny, no-one else can do that to you.

I am Valleys born and bred and both parents and their families were Welsh (though going back a few generations there is also an English connection). I grew up wanting to escape what I felt was a parochial society and see the world, which I did. It took returning to live in Wales in my 40s and after settling in for a number of years after that to really feel more strongly Welsh than I ever did before. And quite what that means I am still not really sure! I toy with learning Welsh now that I am retired, I feel very proud that I have walked the full Wales Coastal Path, which taught me a huge amount about my country and changed my sense of belonging. But there's no 'right or wrong' way to feel.

My family is Welsh as far back as I've gone on ancestry, my family in Wales still speak the language, as does my dm.

We left when I was 5 as dm married into the military and eventually settled in England in I don't speak Welsh as a result, but I am Welsh to the core, my dc on the other hand are English despite my best efforts as this is where their roots are.

I'm from the Caribbean. Haven't lived there since I was a baby. I feel very deeply connected to my roots despite not even living in my birth country.

I was born and raised in England, but both my parents were born and raised in wales, as were my siblings (I was an 'accident' after parents had moved to England for work). I feel Welsh. My ancestry DNA says I'm Welsh. I was raised in a household where everyone had a Welsh accent (except for me!) and where our social calendar revolved around the rugby. All my extended family still live in Wales and we have always visited regularly. If I can call myself Welsh, you certainly can! 🤷🏻‍♀️

I do speak Welsh though - I went to the welsh school. Thing is though, most kids had parents who’d moved down south for better prospects

I've only lived in Wales for 5 years, born in England, as were my parents. But 3 of my grandparents were Welsh, my Ancestry DNA came back as 100% celtic essentially, Welsh, Scottish and tiny bit of Irish. I'm happy to be called English or British, whatever. But if any Welsh round about here start getting superior with me then I tell them that when they can walk me down the road to the local churchyard and point out more ancestors gravestones than I can (my towns churchyard is crammed with my ancestors), and when they can point out more old farms, buildings etc that they have hereditary connections to, and when they can produce older births, deaths and marriages records than I can from this parish.. THEN they can get superior with me. Most people hear an accent and make judgements, but I'm living in the very town that my family lived in and around for many hundreds of years. Difference is I dont think that makes me superior to anyone, who even cares. They only bring it up once, silly buggars.

I wasn’t born there but lived there my whole early life from toddler to 20). My mother and whole side of her family were Welsh, I speak it (poorly now I’ve lived away for so long!) and always tell people I’m Welsh when asked. But some took great pleasure telling me I wasn’t actually Welsh growing up despite all that, apparently where I was born makes me English (it doesn’t). Welsh is more than just the language, it’s a whole culture. When talking to people back home, have to switch to a Welsh personality 🤣.

Also did a DNA test and wholly Welsh on my mother’s side, that’s good enough for me.

(I’ve name-changed for this because it’ll have some identifying information that I don’t want linked to my main username.)

OP, I’ve written a PhD which deals with this question. You’re not being at all unreasonable. Welshness is a complicated idea, and there are a lot of competing definitions. It’s about ancestry, or it’s about the language, or it’s about cultural traditions, or it’s about a connection to the land, or it’s about nationalism, or it’s about rugby, or it’s about rejecting British imperialism, or it’s about engaging with your local community…

Welsh people have had to fight for centuries to maintain a distinctive cultural identity, and for that identity to be treated as valuable - so there can be this weird feeling that if you’re just quietly going about your life you’re not “doing enough” to deserve to claim Welshness.

If you feel unsettled or distressed by this feeling of not being “Welsh enough”, I’d suggest trying to work out where the feeling comes from. If it comes from other people making you feel inferior, then they’re dicks and they can do one. I’m angry on your behalf if that’s the case. But if it’s coming from your own mind, maybe it’s the expression of something that you feel is missing from your life? If so, you could think about ways to engage with your Welsh identity. If you’re artistic, explore Welsh artistic and craft traditions. If you’re into music, check out the Welsh music scene (or go the traditional route and join a choir!). If you’re political, check out local or national groups working on issues that matter to you.

If you have the time to read, there are some great books that explore this question of what Welshness means. I’d really recommend an essay collection called “Welsh (plural): essays on the future of Wales”, and also “Sugar and Slate” by Charlotte Williams.

I feel similar. My dad's side of the family are all Welsh. My mum was born in England but grew up in Wales. I was born and grew up in Wales but in a predominantly English speaking area. I sometimes feel like a bit of a fraud saying I'm Welsh because I barely know the language at all.

Here to second @CymraesCymraeg ‘s recommendation of Welsh (plural), it’s a great book! I have this issue too. Born and raised in Wales, but I now live abroad.

I’ve been trying to learn Welsh for ages. When I was living there I tried to engage with some first language Welsh speaking colleagues about learning but they were heavily in the Cymdeithas crew and were actually very elitist and exclusionary, ironically.

Your family are Welsh, you were raised in wales and you can speak Welsh. You sound proper Welsh to me OP.

I don’t have a Welsh accent because I live near the border. Also I was born on the English side of it (annoying). Half my family are English the other half are Welsh and Irish. I am learning Welsh. I still consider myself to be Welsh though. And you definitely sound more Welsh than me!

Uggghhhhh. It’s getting better - there’s a lot more pushback these days amongst
Welsh speakers against this kind of exclusionary crap, but the arseholes spoil it for everyone. I’m so sorry. My parents both learned Welsh, and I know they felt this kind of exclusion from the parents of some of my friends when I started school. I’m glad I had a Welsh-medium education, but the politics of Welshness were fraught and I didn’t feel like I belonged a lot of the time.

@CymraesCymraeg Thank you. 🙏 I wish I’d been able to go to Welsh medium. Despite growing up in one of the southern cities, there was only one at the time and it wasn’t close enough.

Welsh wasn’t even a compulsory subject back in (as the delightful human I brought into this world loves to tell me) in the late 1900s when I was in high school so I didn’t learn it at all after 14. Lack of interest in the GCSE so they didn’t even run the class.

These days, fluency in Welsh seems to be a huge benefit career-wise if you plan to stay in Wales. I was actually emailed a survey recently, sponsored by Llywodraeth, I believe, that was reaching out to Welsh people living and working overseas asking what it would take to bring them back to Wales. I’ll be fascinated to see the results of that survey!

So if you don’t feel welsh OP, what chance for those immigrants who settled in Wales? Do
you see them as Welsh?

I grew up in a country that I wasn’t born in and wasn’t my nationality. My parents come from a mixture of nationalities. I’m living in London at the moment and as it is a very international city I feel quite at home here.