I think William should have learned Welsh?

[antelopevalley]

William is the new Prince of Wales. He has known for years he will be, but still only knows a few Welsh words.
Charles learned to speak Welsh and can have conversations with people and has given many speeches in Welsh.
I don't understand why William has not done the preparation his father did for this role?

Apologies it's coucous

These titles are historic. He didn’t move to Cambridge when he was Duke of Cambridge.

Why would I complain about people I don’t know? There’s no love / hate here . I don’t like some of their choices - I just don’t know them well enough to say I’d hate them. That’s a strong word.

Of course they are like the entire establishment- not fit for purpose.

So in what way? We can also say that about our political parties

And yet you suggest that they move to Wales to bring in the tourism @Coucous ?

You have to make do with it, they are here to stay but if I were to vote - I would the other way. I agree yes re our politicians - from both Labour and Cons.

So if I was advising William (lol) I would suggest a continuing regular Welsh lesson/practice with the aim of being able to at the very least speak the courtesy and pleasantries of greetings and thank yous etc confidently. And to get really good on his pronunciation so that for big events he can read the speech in both English and Welsh with a good accent.

Then I'd spend the rest of the time I have budgeted for Wales on using the convening power of the heir to the throne to the projects and causes which will make the most positive difference in the live of the people of Wales.

Whether that's highlighting Welsh culture and language, or starting a grass root training and economic project like Charles did in Scotland, or something else. The main thing would be to take guidance and be led by the Welsh people on what they feel they most need.

I think based on what he's said so far that letting the Welsh people lead on what they need most from William is how they are approaching it.

I think if it's a choice between spending 1000 hours becoming fluent in Welsh, or spending 100 hours learning some basic Welsh and spending 900 hours networking and promoting the country and bringing investors and international attention to Wales, I'd predict the latter would be a more popular choice.

He does not need to be fluent in Welsh. My point was that he had years to learn very basic conversational French. I did two hours a week of FRench at school for four years and can do the very basics.

@antelopevalley I assume you mean conversational Welsh, not French in William’s case? Holding a “conversation” is not easy with only a basic grasp of a language. Conversations are by nature unpredictable and require a large range of vocabulary, unless you already know the topic of conversation. I doubt very much you could hold a conversation with basic GCSE French as it is currently taught, unfortunately, and I say that as a fluent French speaker. Anyway, haven’t we already established that William has some Welsh and is trying to improve?

I did two hours a week of FRench at school for four years and can do the very basics.

This sounds more like tourist French to me, antelopevalley - i.e. you have enough knowledge of the language to undertake basic transactions - shopping, ordering food and drinks, giving directions etc. Conversational French is a far higher bar than that - as smileys says, a conversation with someone will involve speaking faster, use of current idioms and slang, and a wider vocabulary, and dive off into different topics you aren’t prepared for. Maintaining a genuine conversation with someone in a language you have learned needs quite a high level of knowledge and skill, and you don’t get that easily as an adult.

(I speak conversational French but only tourist Spanish and Italian - I absolutely understand the difference!)

Tourist French plus a little bit of basic chat. Chatting about the weather for example. No one is expecting him to understand slang and idioms. Just at level of nice to meet you, a bit cold today, and who is this? I absolutely can do this in French.

Prince William speaks 5 languages to varying levels. Prince William speaks English, Welsh, French, Swahili and Spanish. English is his first language as he was born and raised in the United Kingdom.

He may absolutely to be able to do ‘basic chat’ this in any of the above languages and perhaps more besides.

The continued pick at what someone does with their life makes me wonder how others would like it if it was turned on them.

From what I’ve seen thus far, people having the temerity to comment would be silenced.

There is a difference here in that all French people tend to speak French. You speak Welsh in Wales and around 75% will have no idea what you are saying.

But if you visit France, there is very likely a practical need to be able to make conversation in the local language.

The same does not apply in Wales. 70% of the population don't speak Welsh at all, and those that do, with few if any exceptions, also speak perfect English.

So what would be the actual purpose of William being able to make 'chit chat' in Welsh? What if he, as per your suggestion, asks about the weather only to get a complex response about how yesterday there was thunder and lightening, but today there was a calm breeze with scattered showers? Only to have an embarrassed Wills ask his interlocutor to switch to English?

I do wonder what will be next.

perhaps ‘how dare he have a family dog when he might not be able to speak enough spaniel’?

😆

@IcedPurple makes a bloody good point about the difference between France & Wakes when it comes to speaking French/Welsh.

Now I’m going to make a bloody going point myself:

THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE(S) OF WALES IS WELSH AND ENGLISH.

Both. Not just Welsh. Do he speaks ones of the official languages of the country fluently and is now learning the other.

To use your comparator @antelopevalley the official language(s) of France is not French and English, it’s just French.

Assuming the response from coucous was for me - I never said you hate them, I said you don't like them, you used hate Freudian slip?)

It's super lazy to make sweeping statements like the RF don't work - of course they do. Some posters resent the work they do, the amount or the perks - so just say that.

I don't like some of their choices. I used to like them a lot actually. My family used to buy a lot of Royal Magazines to read about their lives and endeavours. I don't have time to dislike people I don't know.
They might actually be very nice people.

I don't believe the Price speaks all those languages. Are we saying I should be able to say I speak Icelandic and Danish even if I can say a handful of sentences? Would the be classified as varying degrees of fluency?

woof.

as @wordler said above he would be far better learning about welsh culture, projects etc than learning how to order 3 beers and what is the way to the Pompidou centre

And in Wales only 15% of people actually speak one of the official languages fluently and are desperate to press it on everyone else.

All of them, Kellie45? You sure about that?

Yes on a regular basis