General Chat

Ooh slap my hands !!! Dwp ! :-D

Dan is Rose's son :-D

Thanks Hayley , all is clear now , that person who flits from the West coast to the Valleys was misleading me, slaps her hands ...better still hides her crutch ! ;-)
That will teach her. !

In 1969, when Robyn Lewis wrote his book "Second Class Citizen" he lived in a world where part of Wales spoke Welsh and very little English. And the majority spoke English and very little Welsh. Yet they still sang the national anthem which has the words (O bydded yr henaith barhau - o may the old Welsh language continue).

The rise of nationalism after events in 60's (flooding Tryweryn, "Fate of Language" radio address by Saunders Lewis, first Plaid MP, many more Plaid local Councillors, Welsh pop and new satirical Welsh language papers) led to a political re-think in Westminster. And the legal status of the Welsh language was recognised and respected by every major political party canvassing for Wales. Wales was to become bilingual to encourage the survival of the heniath (old 1500 year old language). But the risk was linguistic apartheid - with Welsh speakers getting all the government jobs and those in the Valleys, for example, becoming second class citizens within the country of which they were so proud.

Dr Lewis's proposed solution was that every young person under the age of 15 should be fully bilingual. From Monmouth to Anglesey, from Flintshire to Pembrokeshire. Only the educated few were fully bilingual in those days. A few who came through to University in Bangor had very little grasp of English in those days, and I can vouch that some had problems in their first year with hearing a lot of English for the first time in their lives.

Plaid Cymru's target date was 2000 for everyone under 15 to be fully bilingual and it hasn't happened yet, of course. That Party has only held power in Wales (alongside Labour) for a few years since 1969. But bilingualism has largely happened and very many youngsters can compete for jobs that require written and spoken fluency in Welsh. And all political parties are pushing in their various ways towards that aim.

Educating children in both languages is difficult, particularly in areas of Wales where it is seldom the language in the home and the street. And many of the strains are evidenced in this thread. But slowly and surely, Wales is getting to first base. And who would have believed that in 1969?

I have 3 languages apart from English. Latin, Welsh and French. I have never ever regretted learning all 3 of them, and the opposition by me and schoolmates to learning dead old Latin was far more than any opposition in Caldicott or Connah's Quay to learning Welsh in school.

If you must C&P please quote the source.

C&P'd :-0 Surely not!!!!!

never :-D :-D :-D :-D

Gwynne, Accept the compliment that it looks c & p'd. But my own work totally. What prompted book was a quick glance at my copy of "Second Class Citizen" (1969) by Robyn Lewis :-D

My son was born in Bicester Cottage Hospital,
wonder if its still there, and my daughter was
born in BMH, Munster, Germany, not one a Scot.
Just think my son could play for either England or
Scotland.

Emma

Never really seen the point when people C & P bits of useless information on forums surely they must realise that if we are that interested we could do if for ourselves :-S

Hayley, don't be cheeky :-D I hope you've read it and learned off by heart, because I'm going to be testing you later :-|

Hmm. Very different from your usual prose style, John.

Wend I have seen it that often on this site for the past few weeks I am now fluent in Welsh latin Spanish Glaswengian and bullsh** :-D :-D :-D

and talk about going over old ground - regurgitating a pile of stuff from Wikpedia and John's so fertile mind :-S :-S

saying the same old thing over and over again does not make it more credible - Robyn Lewis is a pompous old grumpy git - that has been established - end of

LOL at Sandie's

" Who's Dan ? Is he the equivalent of the American John Doe"

Pretty much lol in that he appears in my conversations without anyone here having met him :-D

Just as an aside re learning Welsh though, he did attend school where everything was taught through the medium of Welsh from 4-7 BUT he doesn't remember it from 10 years ago...whereas I learnt it longer than 45 years ago from age 6 to 9 and can still recognise some of it, counting and odd words.

Change the record John you just keep saying the same thing over n over n over again. You think you represent Wales but many people that live in Wales don't agree with many things you say & have told you so. Can it be the rest of the world is wrong & John is the only person that is correct?, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I don't think so.
We all know you love Wales that is clear to all. Now just leave it there because repeating you're self all the time is not doing you any good at all. When you have nothing new to say, say nothing.

So John does your son speak Welsh to the customers in Tesco if they want him to ?

*sits and waits for a simple yes or no answer*

Just cos I'm interested :-D

Surely John. the address would have been" Llandrillo yn Rhos.Colwyn Bay.Counties of Caernarvon&Denbigh." :-)

John: A few who came through to University in Bangor had very little grasp of English in those days, and I can vouch that some had problems in their first year with hearing a lot of English for the first time in their lives.


No TV then? Pretty sure they had electricity :-D