Welsh: The Windy Road to 1,000,000 Bilinguals

SOURCES BELOW:
Hello, I hope you liked the video.
If you'd like to donate here is the link: buymeacoffee.c...
Sources/Further Reading:
Beard, A. (2020). The suitability of Welsh language provision in English-medium schools to produce speakers of the language. Cylchgrawn Addysg Cymru / Wales Journal of Education, 22(2).
‌Bonner, E., Prys, C., Mitchelmore, S., & Hodges, R. S. (2024). Defining economic impact on minority languages: the case of Wales. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 1-17.
Cunliffe, D. (2024). Exploring the presence of Cymraeg on TikTok. New Media & Society.
Davies, J. (2014). Welsh language - a history. University Of Wales Press.
‌Harris, T. (2018). The Welsh language in Patagonia. European Journal of Language Policy, 10(2), 277-295.
‌Haselden, L. (2003). Differences in estimates of Welsh Language Skills. Ethnicity and Identity Branch. ONS.
Honeycutt, C., & Cunliffe, D. (2010). THE USE OF THE WELSH LANGUAGE ON FACEBOOK. Information, Communication & Society, 13(2), 226-248.
‌Jones, R. (2019). Place and identity: Wales, “Welshness” and the Welsh language. Geography, 104(1), 19-27.
‌Jones, R. J., Cunliffe, D., & Honeycutt, Z. R. (2013). Twitter and the Welsh language. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 34(7), 653-671.
‌Lovell, Alexander. (2023). Towards the language continuum: Definitions and implications for Welsh learners in English-medium education. Cylchgrawn Addysg Cymru / Wales Journal of Education. 25.
Mac Giolla Chríost, D., Carlin, P., & Williams, C. H. (2016). Translatingy Cofnod: Translation policy and the official status of the Welsh language in Wales. Translation Studies, 9(2), 212-227.
‌Medhurst, J. and Nicholas, S. (2024), A Battle for the Nation's Rights’? Past, Present and Future Public Service Media in Wales. The Political Quarterly, 95: 86-91.
‌Morris, J et al. (2024). Motivations for Learning Welsh among Adult Learners. In: Bowell, T et al (eds.), Revitalising Higher Education. Cardiff: Cardiff University Press.
‌Russell, P. (2011). Latin and British in Roman and Post-Roman Britain: methodology and morphology. Transactions of the Philological Society, 109(2), 138-157.
Sims-Williams, P. (2020). An Alternative to “Celtic from the East” and “Celtic from the West.” Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 1-19.
‌Smith, K., & Rhys, M. (2022). “Everything we do revolves around the exam”: What are students’ perceptions and experiences of learning Welsh as second language in Wales?. Cylchgrawn Addysg Cymru / Wales Journal of Education, 24(1).
Statistics for Wales. (2012). 2011 Census: First Results on the Welsh Language. www.gov.wales/...
Statistics for Wales. (2019). Welsh language data from the Annual Population Survey: 2001 to 2018. www.gov.wales/...
Welsh Government. (2024). WELSH LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION (WALES) BILL, Integrated Impact Assessment. www.gov.wales/...
Welsh Government. (2022). Welsh language in Wales (Census 2021). www.gov.wales/...
Welsh Government. (2024). Welsh language data from the Annual Population Survey: April 2023 to March 2024. www.gov.wales/...
Welsh Government. (2017). Cymraeg 2050: A million Welsh speakers. www.gov.wales/...
Welsh Language Commissioner. (2024). The Welsh Language Commissioner Annual Report 2023-24. www.welshlangu...
Welsh Language Commissioner. (2023). Consultation on the Future of Population and Migration Statistics. consultations....
Images Used:
The Authors: Alban Thomas, Christies.com, Dominic Nelson, Geoff Charles, Gottscho-Schleisner, --Immanuel Giel, Jaggery, John Lucas, John Price, Lars Aronsson, Len Rizzi (photographer), Llywelyn2000, M4, Museo del Desembarco, The National Library of Wales, Philip Halling, Robin Drayton, Satdeep Gill, Theophilus Evans, William Morgan,
The links to the images: docs.google.co...
Music:
Chris Zabriskie - "I Am Running Down the Long Hallway of Viewmont Elementary"
Chris Zabriskie - "What Does Anybody Know About Anything"
Futuremono - "Sun Awakening"
Kevin McLeod - "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" (Tchaikovsky)
Kevin McLeod - "Gymnopedie No.1" (Satie)
Letter Box - "Far the Days to Come"
Nat Keefe with The Big Bowties - "Big Sciota"

[@Oscopo]

What Celtic Language should I do next? If you noticed a couple of inconsistencies between what I was saying and what popped up on video. The video is more accurate as I was able to get better numbers after I had already recorded the voiceover. Also if you appreciated this video you can do a one time donation either through super chat or through this link: buymeacoffee.com/oscopo

[@raikensplanet]

Manx

[@natef6165]

I would love a video on Breton and the fight to preserve it, there aren't that many videos on it for Anglophone audiences

[@longleglaurin6937]

@@natef6165 jes (esperanto for yes), i have found it hard to find any information on this even though i understand french well enough (not speak, i would still cross it in a census because i have (some) troubles communicating verbally in my native language and english anyway (french i have a wayyy harder time with, but again, i am able to go about my life in the french speaking world as well as where i am right now)... sorry, excursion into the linguistic census thingy(i study linguistics so this is highly fasscinating))

[@mishapurser4439]

All of them pls

[@MawganRogerson]

Kernewek (Cornish) would be great!

[@yizhou5903]

Diolch yn fawr i chi am cyflwyno Cymraeg! Dw i'n gobeithio bod Cymraeg yn gallu cyrraed y nod 1 miliwn siaradwyr erbyn 2050. Thank you very much for introducing Welsh. I hope that Welsh can reach the goal of 1 million speakers by 2050. Great video! You did detailed and deep research into it. I'm not Welsh, but just live in Wales. I'm passionately learning Welsh. I really hope people living in Wales can learn some Welsh. You won't regret it, and you will receive a lot of love from Welsh-speaking people.

[@Poweroftouch]

I'm 37 welsh and 7 months into my journey of dysgu cymraeg 😊

[@astraltints626]

I'm not Welsh either, but I love the language and the story of their people, even if I doubt I'll ever learn a single word, I hope I can soon get myself to learn another unique language from my region, basque :> Hope you get to speak the language properly, like I'll try with my own

[@yizhou5903]

@astraltints626 There is a Basque guy in my Welsh class! He says his first language is Basque, although he only gets a few chances to speak it. Good luck with your Basque learning.

[@jacobparry177]

Diolch iti am ymchwilio'n mor fanwl i'r iaith Gymraeg, dysgu sut i ynganu geiriau ac am barchu'r iaith a'i siaradwyr drwy peidio gwneud jociau dwl, di-angen- dydy pawb ddim mor barchus. Thanks to you for doing such detailed research, for learning to pronounce some words and for respecting the language and its speakers without making pointless jokes- not everyone is so respectful

[@Oscopo]

I’m glad you enjoyed the video and the effort. Thank you again for the poem recommendation.

[@gutollewelyn7562]

I don't know who you are but for somebody clearly not from Wales, with no obvious connection to the language, that was a seriously impressive understanding of its history, challenges and strengths. Welsh isn't in a position to take anything for granted but it's not in a bad place on the whole.

[@Oscopo]

@@gutollewelyn7562 I’m glad you found the video a suitable reflection of the situation.

[@tonymaries1652]

The Welsh migration to Patagonia is well known but there is at least one more example of Welsh migration to a non-English speaking country. The Welsh industrialist John Hughes started the first coal mines and steel works in Donetsk, Ukraine in 1870, initially with a team of 100 skilled workers from Wales. Many more followed. The new town was named Yuzivka (Юзівка), after Hughes, and the works became the largest ironworks in pre-Revolution Russia. Sadly, after the Bolshevik Revolution many of the ethnic Welsh migrants were forced to leave and the city was renamed Stalino. It is probably not known how many descendants of the Welsh migrants still live in Donetsk, which now has a population of over a million.

[@kingstannisbaratheon7974]

I've googled Welsh colonies a number of times and always find myself returning to Patagonia, Knoxville etc. This is the first time I've heard anything about this though. Thank you for pointing it out.

[@JenXOfficialEDM]

Diolch yn fawr am gwneud y fideo 'ma! I am an American who started learning to speak Welsh because I love it so much. I now make little explainer videos to try and help other learners like myself. I am trying to help Wales get to its goal of 1 million speakers. :)

[@SybilKibble]

The Underdog Champion of the Welshiverse! If you haven't come on over to the Jen side, please do! Croeso i bawb!

[@19erik74]

Im learning Irish and am a Navajo speaker too. There are so many similarities in the struggles and I suspect we make many of the same mistakes in bringing the languages back into mainstream usage. A comparative video beyond the celtic languages would be a nice project someday

[@Oscopo]

Yes, I’m not planning on doing the Celtic languages in a row. I’m a little burnt out on the region atm. I think the next language I do might be Maori

[@j.obrien4990]

I've been watching Dark Winds -- It's great to see a show using Native Actors and a native language, I hope the actors are doing a good job speaking Diné since most of them aren't Diné.

[@just_dec]

Don't worry too much about Irish because our young people are reviving it by themselves without the help of the government. Currently bands like Kneecap are making Irish cool again and doing all of the heavy lifting that the government should have done

[@19erik74]

@j.obrien4990 its actually not bad but sometimes my wife and look at each other and have to guess what they're trying to say

[@Jannfndnanakid]

Imagine being this so perpetually assmad over the english

[@Cheesenommer]

Also, a thought on the census methods: during the US 2020 census I was living with two Bangladeshi immigrants, neither of whom spoke much english. I filled out the census form for the whole household (in English), however it was possible to request the census form in Bengali (or Hindi which would also have worked for them). Despite that being possible, i dont think they would have filled it out if I wasn't there because even though it was possible to get the paperwork in their native language, it wasn't the default and they would have had to interact with an english-language bureaucracy to access it.

[@Oscopo]

That’s an enlightening anecdote. I used to follow census data quite blindly. It’s easy to overlook that a census is not an ideal measurement. I’m sure factors we haven’t even considered are at play with how the data is collected.

[@stevenwilliamson6236]

@Oscopo famously they stopped asking what floor people lived on because 90% of people above the third floor were people of colour.

[@Ben-Iuj]

Great video, I really appreciate how much work you put into making this video, thanks mate! Dw i newydd ddechrau dysgu Cymraeg o'r Eidal, ar-lein, efo'r Ganolfan Dysgu Cymraeg Genedlaethol! Mae'n iaith hyfryd, a dw i'n hapus iawn bod dw i'n medru siarad tipyn Cymraeg :D (I hope that is not too bad, don't hesitate to correct me guys if you can) --> I started to learn Welsh around 3 months ago, through online lessons provided by the National Centre for Learning Welsh, it cost me around 55 euros for 4h/weak, from September and until next June, being French and living in Italy. It's amazing how much effort and content the Welsh government helped to provide online, for free, in order to preserve the language and the welsh culture. I really hope that Wales will get close to its 2050 goal, and I'll definitely help! I would love to see you cover Breton next, but any language would also be lovely anyways. Diolch yn fawr eto, a s'mae i bob siaradwr cymraeg!

[@Oscopo]

I’m glad you enjoyed the video. That’s cool that you are serious about learning Welsh. The resources are certainly impressive-it’s a shame that government resources are usually underused or unheard of.

[@roberthudson3386]

Grazie - my Italian could use some work unfortunately.

[@drychaf]

Shwmae i chi draw yn yr Eidal! Croeso i'r 'teulu' (o siaradwyr Cymraeg). Des i i nabod Ffrances a oedd draw i aros yma am gwpl o flynyddoedd a dechreuodd hi ddysgu'r iaith hefyd. Mae hi yn ôl yn Arras ers 20 mlynedd, ond mae hi'n dal i fod â'r gallu i gynnal sgwrs seml yn Gymraeg. Pob lwc i chi.

[@gwynedd4023]

❤

[@annas3059]

I a Welsh learner with no Welsh ancestry living in England. I would have loved to make this known on the 2021 census, but sadly it wasn't an option. I hope it will be in future, together with some guidance if where the cutoff between yes and no answers should be drawn. Great video. Just one typo, Wldafa should be Wladfa in the section about Patagonia.

[@Oscopo]

Thanks for catching the typo. Yeah, it’s a shame that question isnt on the census. I wonder if there’s any push for it to be included in 2031?

[@drychaf]

Da iawn chi!

[@Walesball1214]

Da Iawn am rhoi go arno siarad cymraeg! (Idk the fluency you're at but well done for learning Welsh. One step to preserving the old Language.)

[@Simonsvids]

No Welsh ancestry? I doubt it. If you are not of immigrant stock, I would say you have 'no known Welsh ancestry'. Even Oliver Cromwell had Welsh ancestry, as well as Henry VIII and also King Alfred the Great! The Earliest kings of Wessex had Celtic names. I am Welsh and most of my schoolfriends from the sixth form now live in England as there are better job prospects there. People have been outwardly migrating from Wales for hundreds of years and you are probably descended from some of them.

[@timarmstrong3251]

I have no Basque ancestors. Should I decide to learn the Basque language, should I also berate the lack of an option for this in the census?

[@onemanteaparty409]

Incredible video, really feels like a forgotten Cambrian Chronicles video almost hahaha. Thanks for making such a great video.

[@alexBumann]

Stay strong, Welsh! As someone living in Luxembourg, I see that the government here makes a great effort to promote their language, and most immigrants learn this small and unique language. In a world where small languages often struggle to survive, Luxembourgish has managed to thrive, even while competing with two major languages: French, German and English(non Official). Last week, I bought The Little Prince in Luxembourgish, and the bookstore lady said that when she was a kid, there weren’t books translated into Luxembourgish. They only had the option to read in French or German, and now everything is available in Luxembourgish.

[@drychaf]

I'm impressed by your respect for your topic here. Diolch yn fawr. As an insider (English only Welshman until I learnt as an adult and became a teacher in a Welsh medium secondary school), I can say that there is a lot going for the language compared with others, but that the challenges are still pretty overwhelming. Two big problems are that children don't care for 'culture', so there is a big drop-off rate beyond their school-years. The second problem (and answer to the first) is that there is little opportunity for teenagers to use Welsh socially. Ie: to express themselves to their peers, as opposed to just answering teachers. If Wales really wants to regain ground linguistically, there needs to be a big push to involve teenagers in activities using Welsh as the medium. There are nationwide institutions that can expand their reach and roster (Yr Urdd, Ffermwyr Ifanc, and the wide variety of school extra-curricular activities, etc), but the scaling up would need to be very significant. However, as implied by your video, Welsh has strengths. It isn't seen as a tradition or old-fashioned or boring. It has had a thriving contemporary music scene for decades, evolving with the rest of the world, novels for all ages, and other books, pour out monthly, there's Welsh language tv, radio, magazines and theatre and it is present in sports and on the internet. There is an almost overwhelming pressure on it from the pervasiveness of English in nearly all aspects of public life, so it's still on a knife-edge, but it's still looking for ways forward and acting upon them. Yma o hyd, yn sicr.

[@grahamfleming8139]

@drychaf England and we in the south of Scotland are proud of our Cymbrian roots. We may not speak a Brythonic tongue today but our spirit of yesteryear is all around.

[@damionkeeling3103]

You run into the problem of those opposed to nationalism and promoting any culture requires a degree of nationalism and connection to the past. Why care if a language survives or not if not because of a desire to maintain a link to the past, to have roots. As a wit once noted, heritage is peer pressure from dead people.

[@belstar1128]

@@damionkeeling3103 I think that you really need a good combination of the modern without losing pride in your culture in many regions of the world its not a problem .but in the uk recently it seems like even saying you like your people is too conservative so it creates a strange contradiction. were you are supposed to not care about things like culture yet you are also supposed to learn this language

[@josealexandre3668]

The british government is falling apart, I doubt they would preoccupy themselves with the welsh language; seeing that there's an ongoing separatist panic in Scotland

[@Oscopo]

One of the biggest problems with revitalization movements, one I’ll talk about when I get to Manx or Cornish, is, indeed, getting people to use the language. This is an unsolved problem as far as I’m concerned but I’m hoping to talk to people who are on the cutting edge of it in the future. I’m glad you enjoyed the video.

[@madcyclist58]

An excellent video. Very informative and all the points were clearly put across.

[@phhrogg8065]

such an interesting video, and the graphics really helped me understand/conceptualise the numbers you were talking about. i would LOVE similar videos on other celtic languages, especially manx which i feel like is barely talked about.

[@Oscopo]

Manx has always been one of my favorites, I think that has the potential to be a very captivating example.

[@windexpant1475]

Insane that this only has 400ish views, amazing vid bro

[@Oscopo]

I’m glad you enjoyed it

[@angharadhafod]

The last monoglot Welsh speaker I met was around 1990, an old lady living in a farm with her farmer son, north of Llanidloes (Powys). So certainly after the date you suggest. Coincidentally, you mention Tryweryn. This lady too had been moved by the building of a dam; her original farm was flooded by the Clywedog reservoir.

[@farsightfilms]

Thank you for creating such an excellent video about Cymraeg. It is heartening to see the language getting some serious attention and respect. As a native born in Wales I was never taught Welsh growing up (because it wasn’t compulsory back then) and now as a middle aged adult I am trying to learn. I see it as an important and vital component of Welsh culture and identity - something that must be preserved to guard against bland homogenisation. People (esp English immigrants) often moan about the language and see it as a burden rather than something important and cultural. One good thing is that lessons are heavily subsidised and there is a wealth of material available online so anyone can learn. Sadly it’s still hard in southern urban areas to find someone willing to converse in Cymraeg. My hope is that Wales’ status as a true bilingual nation can continue on into the 21st century and beyond. Cymru am byth!

[@bencedanko7334]

We need more analysis and critique of historical language revitalization programs like 25:23, it was excellent

[@Oscopo]

I'll definitely be doing that in the future. You'd be surprised how little this kind of thing has been successfully attempted in history. I won't pretend to know all examples but, to my knowledge, less than a handful of languages have ever been brought back from the brink. While most people will talk about Hebrew as being the only successful example, it's not a very realistic scenario/roadmap for any other language to follow. Maybe Czech is one of the few examples of a declining language being turned on its head. Things like Manx and Cornish, while impressive, are too young to make claims about longterm survival. There have been a lot of failures before arriving where we are now.

[@mishapurser4439]

I'm a Mancunian living in Yorkshire learning to speak Welsh. The Welsh language is the heritage of all the nations of Britain.

[@SuperDuperMan-v8y]

Not even close to true. It has no heritage outside of Wales. England's identity comes from the arriving Anglo-Saxon tribes. English identity is not celtic, but Germanic. Stop Coping.

[@Philoglossos]

@@SuperDuperMan-v8y Genetically English people are mostly descended from Brythonic people, not from the Germanic tribes who migrated in the 5th century. So yes, the majority of any English person's ancestors were speaking a very close relative of the Brythonic dialects that would become Welsh ~1600 years ago.

[@ynysmones3816]

@@PhiloglossosThe genetics don't mean that much. Welsh is the language of the Welsh people, not all of whom have specific genetics. It's a cultural thing.

[@ynysmones3816]

@@SuperDuperMan-v8y Agreed

[@Philoglossos]

@@ynysmones3816 The point is just that Welsh very much has heritage outside of Wales - it's a modern descendant of the dominant language spoken in all of Britain not too long ago. The foundational texts of Welsh literature were composed by Brythonic speakers outside of what is currently considered Wales.

[@groovygregsmith]

Excellent you covered the Patagonian diaspora, they do pop up all over the place. I lived in Las Palmas de GC and there was an excellent restaurant called El Pais de Gales and the lad spoke English with an heavy Welesh accent you hearing me is you. Never been there just learned English from his Welsh mum (Molly)

[@lordswany3612]

Great video! May the algorithm bless you with the views you deserved

[@willoliver7172]

Dw i’n dod Cumbria (Yr Hen Ogledd) a dw i’n dysgu Cymraeg. Dwi’n siarad cymraeg tipyn bach hefyd. Although I’m English, I think Wales and its language are beautiful. Their history is fundamental to our isles and I really hope it continues to grow and thrive. I felt quite proud yet sad recently when two Welsh colleagues of mine told me I could speak more Welsh than they could! Diolch for your video!

[@JenXOfficialEDM]

Dw i'n cytuno! Mae'r iaith yn hyfryd iawn. Helo o Unol Daleithiau!

[@roberthudson3386]

The absolute key to increasing numbers of speakers is to teach children from primary school to high school through the medium of that language. The governments of Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Brittany, Mann and council in Cornwall are therefore critical in setting policies that help to achieve more speakers. Although admittedly, the French government's insistence that everything must be done in French everywhere even when Breton is the native language of Brittany does not help this.

[@nigelsheppard625]

Actually, they're also trying to encourage parents to learn the language in concert with infants. Therefore, as infants join Meithrin (Nursery School) parents are encouraged to use the same level of Welsh and to progress with their skill in learning and using the language with their children. It's far better if parents are able to help their children with homework and give them a Social environment in which to use Welsh. This then embeds the language in both the social and educational life of learners, families and the whole of Welsh society.

[@drychaf]

And target teenagers, especially, to socialise in that language outside the classroom in activities geared towards them, ready to leave the school environment with the ability to express themselves fully, rather than just respond to teachers in class. This is where the big drop-off occurs from schooling to society. It's such a sad waste. There is a lot being done in the area I refer to, but much much more needs to be done.

[@neilrichards683]

Well the English are just Normans and Germans mixed so the French saying only French can be used is same as English saying only English can be used in high office. But keep your language alive we have you can do it 💪

[@ThatsMrFrank]

The Welsh already do this, and its still declining

[@roberthudson3386]

@@ThatsMrFrank We do it but not in large enough numbers. If we can get to the point of most people in Wales learning the language as the primary medium of education, use of Welsh will undoubtedly increase. In the short term, the goal should be to ensure that in the traditional areas in the west of the country, most people are receiving an education through the Welsh medium.

[@richardhoward7503]

The ease of Welsh spelling should not be underestimated. Gaelic spelling is ossified and is just another barrier to learning.

[@damionkeeling3103]

Welsh spelling is not easier to understand than Gaelic spelling, it's about familiarity. Gaelic spelling is clunky at times but is consistent. The main barrier is lack of media, there are simply more Welsh communities and resources than there are for Gaelic. In comparison, English spelling has remained relatively unchanged for over 300 years, it's more ossified than Gaelic and Irish and has many inconsistences. It has such cultural weight behind it though that it spreads through momentum rather than being an easy language to learn.

[@Knappa22]

@damionkeeling3103 Welsh spelling is easier. It has no silent letters for a start. An bhfuil is pronounced ‘an whil’ !! 😵‍💫

[@napoleonfeanor]

​@damionkeeling3103 I can not judge Welsh, but English certainly has extremely weird spelling

[@JenXOfficialEDM]

@@Knappa22 Welsh is phonetic - so for a lot of people it's easier than English!

[@Acephale1312]

Wow what an incredible video. I was listening to it whilst doing my laundry and was shocked to see how fee subscribers/viewers there are!

[@Oscopo]

I’m glad you enjoyed it!

[@gwynedd4023]

You show so much respect very well researched aswell

[@ReverendHowl]

S/E) - Nice one, tidy, ta. C/W) - Diolch, teidi, neis wan. I left school in the late seventies and I could "good morning", "plîs", "thank you" and "do you like coffee". On the 1981 census my father marked me as speaking Welsh which was not strictly true. Better to say that I couldn't speak a word of Welsh until I was forty years old. Mams, my paternal grandmother, used to retune the radio from Welsh voices to English voices when I was taken to visit her as a child. Teachers spoke Welsh to each other in front of classes of clueless children. The first time I heard Welsh spoken on the streets was late nineties, market day, local town, Shropshire, England, FfFfS! When in the late nineties my family moved to Wales the children had Welsh in school, proper Welsh, immersion Welsh, Cymraeg go iawn, llythyrau dwyieithiol wrth yr ysgol/bilingual letters from the school. Their other parent, a Londoner, signed up for adult learner classes, as did I a couple of days later. That's about the time I discovered y Sîn Roc Gymraeg. Things do "Develop", there is a "Reaction". My grandchildren talk to me yn y Gymraeg, dwi'n siwr iawn mae gan yr iaith dyfodol cryf. Thank you for posting, diolch am bostio.

[@maxusman8_351]

they've spent so much money on doing the roadsigns in welsh (first english above the welsh, then replacing ALL the roadsigns just to have the welsh above the english. Its a also a bit of a safety thing that the gantries on the motorways will first display a message in welsh then in english. Imagine there is a pileup on the motorway and the controllers need to tell cars to slow down. The infrequency of the gantries (especially on the welsh section of the M4) means that you may either see the warning so far away as to disregard them or too late as to not be effective. Personally, I'm not against allowing people to be able to speak welsh, but a LOT of money is being pumped into it while you will not actually use it in any other part of the country or internationally. There is also a problem of different dialects, which cardiff seems to ignore. The welsh language in North and Mid wales, even in ewst wales which took a more half and half approach (commonly called wenglish) is ignored, favouring what the sennedd would like everyone to speak.

[@cringeyetfree]

Nice video! Having read the book this is partly based on, you did a good job summarising it and I appreciate you being open about where your information's coming from. I'd highly recommend doing Scottish Gaelic next, as the Gaelic revitalisation movement has been highly influenced by its more successful Welsh counterpart (in somewhat of a role reversal of the two nations' independence movements), so there's a good bit from this video that you can reference in that video. An excellent comprehensive book on the Gaelic revitalisation movement, "Gaelic in Scotland: Policies, Movements, Ideologies" by Wilson McLeod, was published a few years ago and would make a great source for your video. Given that you're doing Irish last, if you want to maximise your potential to compare and contrast with previous videos I'd recommend then moving onto Manx (another language with official status/census data), Cornish (a language "revived" in a similar manner to Manx) and then Breton (where you'd be able to contrast France and the UK's treatment of minority languages before doing so for the Republic of Ireland). Looking forward to whenever the other 5 videos are coming out!

[@Oscopo]

Thank you for the recommendations. I’ll have to check that book out.

[@DuncanWanyoike]

Greatr video on The language!! Very interesting on minority languages as a whole

[@scygnius]

This was a very well-made video, phenomenal work

[@Oscopo]

Thank you! I appreciate it

[@Anastasia-ct4es]

So insightful🤩 Keep up the good work mate!!

[@NotanEmpire]

Very welll researched and informative video! You basically answered any question I would have had about the status and use of the language with me coning from a base of knowing only the brythonuc / goedeluc disttinction and that there were still the most speakers among the celric languages. Well done. As for the next cousin language to make a video about: It has to be Breton, imho. So many conpare and contrast things you could say about it in relation to Welsh, if you took that approach. Subscribed.

[@Oscopo]

I’m glad you found it informative. I make these videos for people that have no knowledge of the situation so it’s always funny, but completely understandable, when most of the people watching are from the community in question themselves

[@rachelchoy6222]

Top tier editing

[@aledmorgan4889]

Firstly, fantastic video-really enjoyable! You raise a point about the Welsh language that concerns me. While I support the goal of reaching 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050, I’m unsure it’s achievable through education alone. I'm concerned that Welsh could end up being used only in classrooms and not in daily life?. Personally I'd prefer a goal of 500k Welsh speakers that use it on a daily basis in everyday life than a 1M speaker who can speak it but only choose to speak it in a classroom environment. Also from my experience school lessons focus on a grammatically correct Welsh, but spoken Welsh typically includes regional slang and sayings which risk being lost since they aren’t taught.

[@Oscopo]

I don’t have an ear in the offices but I think the government would also prefer 500k daily users. I’m actually quite impressed with some of the programs offered. Getting people to use the language is always the hardest barrier and I think it’s the one the government is focused on.

[@jackcooper4998]

Problem with your suggestion is that if the government just halted language decline, population growth means that by 2050 there'd already be 1m speakers (predicted 5m ppl in Wales, 20% is 1m). They should be aiming for 50%, saving the heartlands in the west, and creating more appeal for its use in cities.

[@samsu1437]

Enjoyed this, as a Welsh speaker from the border it's quite hard, honestly make a good point of the Welsh language having been able to fluid itself into other mediums but I would disagree when it comes to stuff such as the teaching of Welsh, since in my experience part of my spark for Welsh was kind of damaged by having to learn of certain specific Welsh things that I never really cared much about and I can say the same for many of my peers who have also learnt, spoke and went about their days with the language. Welsh government has a lot to do and a lot on their plate to make the Welsh language a truly equal language but it's lovely to see videos like this one that highlight the complexity and uniqueness of the Welsh language, I hope to see more stuff on the Welsh language and Welsh culture online, hope that same can be done with the other Celtic languages mentioned since feel like language is such an important part of our culture as Celtic peoples :)

[@Oscopo]

Thanks for the comment! I’m curious what you mean by “having to learn certain specific welsh things”? Also, if we compare the educational system to Ireland, wales is leagues ahead. A Welsh person going through welsh-medium education will know how to speak welsh-whether or not they use it afterwards is a separate question. It seems as though an Irish person going through English-medium Irish classes for 12 years will leave not knowing much Irish and having a small grudge against the language and Peig Sayers.

[@samsu1437]

@@Oscopo In reference to the "specific welsh things" a problem with the education that makes the language less popular in more teenage people, which I would regard are the most important group to get to enjoying the Welsh language as they would maintain it are constantly given sources or media that are just outdated. Most of the educating of Welsh uses outdated sources or texts or movies which despite being culturally relevant don't particularly make things interesting. Considering the amount of good Welsh media out there and content the schooling system completely ignores it in favour of media made in the 1960-70s half the time unlike with the English language where a lot of present media is used often. Another thing that may be causing an issue in regards to the educating of Welsh is that the language especially in border regions is seen as being favourited, despite this not being the case, there's still small levels of animosity in bilingual schools between the Welsh speaking and English speaking as Welsh speakers get aid from the Welsh government and funding, this ties into your point of there being a small bit of animosity between speakers of the Welsh language and the English speakers. Will also note a slight issue that all of the Welsh-medium schools face in the South and East of Wales is the complete lack of Welsh educators, most of them are either in private sector teaching adults how to teach Welsh or are simply in lower education thus creating issues into later education for students, I will note much of the problems I've listed are very specific and require quite a bit of work to be done, since Welsh as it's used and taught currently feels like its stuck in the 2000s I'm sad though to hear about the state of Irish within Ireland, it's such a beautiful language and very much culturally relevant, it's a shame not more is being done to preserve the language. I will just say that this is purely my experience in terms of going through education as a first language Welsh speaker and not indicative of all of Wales as well as coming from a part of Wales which is predominantly English as well as from an English household. (the Welsh cards were stacked against me)

[@cianjones7692]

Diolch! Gwerthfawrogi’r fideo 👏🏻🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@dafyddroff8084]

I’m from South Wales and feel pretty certain we won’t get to 1 million by 2050, its just really tough to create good economic conditions for the language to spread organically.

[@Oscopo]

@@dafyddroff8084 I don’t think Cymraeg 2050 is tenable, I do believe it has the potential to get government bodies in a position to eventually reach that goal though.

[@dafyddroff8084]

@@Oscopo I hope you're right! This video is absolutely excellent! The style reminds me a little of Cambrian Chronicles.

[@belstar1128]

Its hard to predict what things will be like by then but its not looking optimistic

[@Gryphind0r]

You'll get to 1 million blacks before you get to 1 million Welsh speaks.

[@dafyddroff8084]

@@Gryphind0r and what would be wrong with that mochyn? I welcome an ethnically diverse Wales where English and Welsh can be freely spoken alongside many other languages.

[@stefan114]

Great video! Congrats! Regarding the last question, the next one I'd personally like to see is Breton.

[@Oscopo]

This seems like the most popular answer

[@stefan114]

@@Oscopo As far as I know, it's kind of the opposite of Welsh. As in the number of speakers is rapidly dropping

[@AquarianAgeApostle]

Im from Scotland and here we have only around 80,000 Scottish Gaelic speakers most of whom are situated in the Western Isles. The language has national status and speakers are recognised throughout the country. Meanwhile, the more widely spoken language spoken all over the country in a variety of different dialects is Scots, totalling around 2 million speakers yet gets no recognition at all.

[@JoeJrYT]

It gets very little recognition as it is a sister language of english and with a bit of intuition can be generally understood by english speakers, dialects in general get very little recognition and it makes sense

[@AquarianAgeApostle]

@JoeJrYT it's arguably way more divergent from English than say Catalan and Spanish (Castilian). I'd agree that native English speakers are able to apply intuition with Modern Scots as most speakers blend their use of Scots with SSE (Standard Scottish English) when there is mixed company or non Scots speakers around, but generally that's confined to the British isles. I find that many of my US friends struggle when placed among a group of people speaking a "braid Scots leid" such as Weegie or Doric

[@zi8gzag]

Very enjoyable video!

[@Oscopo]

Thank you!

[@tyarymynydd]

Ardderchog. Gobaith am y dyfodol. Excellent. Hope for the future. Diolch. Thanks.

[@Parmenza]

Good video! My vote for the next video would probably be Manx, since i know nothing about it, but thats a soft preference

[@jameswatkins2596]

Awesome video.

[@DaiNewAfan]

I think you've done an incredible job here - da iawn chi, mae'n ardderchog. One slight correction, the census is filled out by the head of household. So there is an issue of perception potentially if the person who fills it out doesnt understand a member of the household's language ability. This is particularly important for children. That said, doesn't change the analysis at all. Diolch unwaith eto am y waith caled. Gobeithio fyddech chi'n wneud Llydaweg nesaf...

[@jwolternova1051]

Great video and great channel! If there's a possibility for a second video on Celtic languages I believe dwelving on Cornish would be nice.

[@howardwiseman253]

Thanks

[@Oscopo]

Thank you!

[@natef6165]

Fantastic video, your hundreds of hours were well worth it! As someone currently learning te reo Māori I definitely sense some similarities to Welsh in terms of efforts to make a "bilingual nation" and the ups and downs of speaker numbers. Excited to see the rest of this series :)

[@Oscopo]

While I haven’t looked into it all the way yet, the similarities with the situation in New Zealand are interesting. I think Maori might be the next language I cover if I decide I’m a little celtic-ed out for a while. I’m glad you enjoyed the video!

[@mukathompson7490]

Hello fellow Kiwi, we were doing a lot better with the bilingualism this new government especially David Seymour has screwed us over big time by changing back departments names from Te Reo to English in a lot of instances, those sorta things are big steps in developing a bilingual nation and we're taking steps back rather than forward. Also Te Reo in schools needs to be taken much more seriously - I'm born in the 2000s and I only got 1 lesson of Te Reo a week till high school and then nothing from then on out not even an elective to take which is a big failing of our countries effort to make it more used outside of Northland and Gisborne

[@natef6165]

@@mukathompson7490 yeah it's a real shame the current coalition government doesn't see the value in building a bilingual country. Quite the opposite, they seem to see te reo as somehow being a threat to English. I can only hope that this all spurs more community efforts until a new gov comes in.

[@natef6165]

@@Oscopo I'd love to see you cover it, there's plenty to talk about!

[@foreignparticle1320]

@@mukathompson7490 Government department names should always be in the majority language first - because they're important and need to be clear and definitive for as many people as possible. Bear in mind, we have an enormous immigrant population as well, for whom English is second language - Te Reo doesn't even factor in as a tenable means of communication for them. What the previous government didn't realise (or acknowledge) is that most people would be have fine with bi-lingualism in general, had they not prioritised Te Reo over English in these cases. For example, Auckland Transport places Te Reo ahead of English on signage and announcements on public transport. It's quite frustrating, because 99% of people using the services don't even speak Te Reo (and only a handful would speak Te Reo exclusively). You can't make people "absorb" a language by bolding and highlighting it in preference to English - this just ticks people off and makes them vote for David Seymour. It doesn't mean NOT having bilingualism; it means doing it without effacing the majority and sacrificing practicality. I do agree that it needs to be more vigorously taught in school - particularly primary school. That's the *only* way it will reach critical mass.

[@parksideevangelicalchurch2886]

24:50 If you want a great example of language revitalisation from the bottom up you must watch the 2024 movie "Kneecap". It's set in Belfast, Northern Ireland (still part of the UK) and probably the best movie I've ever seen about language politics. It's a really funny, really entertaining and fictionalised account of the origins of the Irish language rap group Kneecap. The Irish language in Northern Ireland became an important part of Irish identity and politics in the 1970s, with members of the IRA teaching themselves it in prison and then helping to establish Gaeltachts (Irish speaking communities) in Derry and Belfast. Anyway, it is set in the working class Irish speaking community in Belfast and two drug taking, rap writing brothers, keep getting arrested, refuse to speak English to the police as an act of political defiance (as their dad would have done) and how they establish a successful rap group that then inspires other young people in Belfast to realise that speaking Irish is cool (rather than a sentimental part of their history). The real members of Kneecap play themselves, which I didn't realise because their acting was so good I thought they were professional, trained actors playing the part. It is a great movie and this is written by someone who hates drugs and rap!

[@Oscopo]

Thanks, I’ll have to give it a look

[@dustinDraig]

Since you're saving Irish for last, I suppose it makes the most sense to do Scottish Gaelic or Breton next. My preference would be for you to do Breton so you can contrast the Government support (or disdain) for the languages between France and UK.

[@roberthudson3386]

The French government are absolutely murdering their regional languages

[@fishbutnoegg]

Criminally underrated video

[@ninamartin1084]

A similar thing is happening in Cornwall now - there is funding available for schools to teach the Cornish language. How long will it take (assuming 100% primary school exposure of Cornish) for there to be a bilingual cohort here? Until a critical mass is achieved, being a speaker of a dead language is a bit like having the first telephone installed. Who you gonna call?

[@Oscopo]

I quite like that analogy

[@fueyo2229]

23:57 This is exactly what happens with my language, Asturian, it's dying very quickly, and all the "revival" movements do is poems and theater basing it on the 19th century-1920s Asturian literature (which was the last time Asturian literature was alive), no one dares using it on formal settings. Those neo-speakers will then say they speak it while they don't even use it at home most of the time, just because they write poems. At least the Welsh government is trying to save Welsh, and they seem to really want Welsh to survive, while most goverments don't care or even want their languages dead. Here it is literally illegal to teach school in Asturian, at least some schools offer Asturian classes, but only 2 hours a week... it's basically useless.

[@chrisamies2141]

is there a 'two-tier' situation in Spain? Where Catalan, Euskera, and Galician are co-official and get plenty of help and official recognition, but languages like Asturian and Aragonese have no official backing so dwindle.

[@fueyo2229]

@chrisamies2141 yeah Exactly, though Asturian and Aragonese get some official backing, they are recognized as traditional languages of Spain, but not official, which means they can't be used in an office or alone in a city sign (bilingually yes), and are sometimes used, and the regional governments have (in theory) to support them. Then, there are other 3 languages that have absolutely no official backing, Leonese, Extremaduran and A Fala.

[@Oscopo]

It’s a very common issue in Western Europe. The languages of Iberia are so beautiful and merit their own series. I’ve done some very preliminary research on Asturian and im excited to turn it into a video one day

[@himjl2]

Criminally low views for such a high quality, informative video. I've always been amazed how the Welsh Language has been able to hold out for so long against the juggernaut that is English. If I have one criticism it's that you never mentioned or attempted to pronounce Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch. It's not important or relevant information but it would have been funny. 😁

[@Oscopo]

Yes, it’s hard to believe that a language spoken so close to London still has its own comfortable niche today while languages thousands of miles away from the British capital have gone extinct or are in far more dire straits. Hahaha you make a good point, but I don’t know if I’d ever be able to do it better than that weatherman…

[@stevev238]

I was studying Cornish 2003-2004, during which time the Cornish translation of the Bible was unveiled. A real landmark.

[@zibaa]

so ready for this

[@High_Lord_Of_Terra]

Imagine my surprise at seeing my local library in this video.

[@Oscopo]

Haha sweet! Its a nice looking building

[@neilgodwin6531]

Diolch yn fawr. I'm trying to learn Welsh, I love it, and enjoyed the video. Unfortunately Duolingo doesn't explain grammar, so I'm struggling with mutative words (Cymraeg/ Gymraeg etc). My hairdresser is Welsh, we had a good chat, he's 34 and really struggled with Welsh at school. I believe that language is best taught at home. The younger the child, the more effectively and easily will they learn a language, hence many children of immigrants are bilingual

[@orglancs]

Thanks for this, absolutely fascinating. I've just finished reading all the comments. There's yet another 'minority' language affected by all these questions and that's a little known Slavonic language pocket in the far east of Germany, Wendish. Apparently it is still spoken, though. There is a video of people learning/speaking it on YT. When I was a Russian undergraduate in the sixties there was a huge thick tome on 'The Slavonic Languages', author Bray, if I remember correctly. Wendish had a chapter of its own, just like all the 'big' ones, such as Polish, Russian or Serbian. I daresay the pocket where it is spoken is now in Poland.

[@Oscopo]

Sorbian is a great example and also suffers from a problem I wasn’t able to talk about in this video which is the idea of linguistic purity. Sorbian grammars and dictionaries talk about a much more “pure” Slavic language that is unknown to the modern Sorbian speaker who happily and freely uses German loanwords. The result? Most modern sorbs don’t speak “real” Sorbian. A very interesting issue.

[@astronomusedallas2152]

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@hexiangwu4571]

just notice that you pronounce biling/ju/al intead of a schwa, which is quite interesting. No judgement, just wondering. Looking forward to the Irish video

[@groovygregsmith]

Would be interested in this in relation to the Basque language - euskedi, no?- Like Wales not many speak the lingo but man are they vaskos. I was on a bus somewhere in Donostia, Spain and the dude next to me was a Welsh speaking Welshman, with a great beard. Chatty dude and he was reading a book in the Basque language and explained that Basque and one type of Welsh come from the same source and he could understand some of it. Buses eh. Boyo, bach yaki da. There's lovely

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

in fact the two languages are not related, but it's not a stretch to say there was cultural contact.

[@ivandinsmore6217]

Very interesting and informative. Please do Gaidhlig next.

[@notdpanda9525]

Paraguay has something similar to what Wales is trying to achieve as an example.

[@Matthy63]

when you talked about fossilizing the language into something only used in literature I KNEW this was going to be about provençal/occitan

[@Oscopo]

Yeah, it’s far from the only example, but I see it as one of the most egregious

[@charley7953]

great stuff

[@Arviragus13]

I was hoping you'd do the other Celtic languages and going to comment it before I got to the part where you said you wanted to :')

[@okon7464]

Mythical yt algorithm pull

[@stevewiles7132]

Tried learning Welsh, but with a stutter, it's hard enough speaking English.

[@rolandbevan7088]

The Brythoneg language was spoken in the mainland from the geophysical divide of The Highland and Islands to the Southern shores Great Britain before the Romans came. There are two Britain-s Prydain Fawr and Prydain Fach. Little Britain - the diminutive - is Brittany across the English Channel. 'Great' has nothing to do with the glory of empire but as in the difference between Great Missenden and Little Missenden and all the other greats and littles.

[@TheLRider]

Cymru is the name of the country and the language was Brythonic. Now the language is Cymraeg. We were here certainly in the Bronze age as the original developers of the first industrial revolution on the British Isles.. Large copper mines in NW Wales.. Y Gogarth, in Llandudno, and Paris Mountain on Anglesey or Sir Fôn..

[@uingaeoc3905]

One point to make is that the 1536 English Law in Wales and therefore the Act of Union is that the King was in fact of Welsh origin - Henry VIII Tudor, son of Henry VII Tudor.

[@cymro6537]

But only I think 1/8 Welsh.....

[@nicklomas181]

Prynhawn da. I'm english And have just started learning welsh. Its a lovely country with a lovely people

[@fbkintanar]

I hope you can find the time and resources to do a similar video about Basque, another language and country with a fighting chance to achieve balanced bilingualism. Their policy may be even more aggressive and ambitious than Wales, I would love to see a comparison video as well.

[@tj-co9go]

19:40 Finland has this same policy with Finnish and Swedish. Has had it for over 100 years. Both are equal official languages

[@Oscopo]

I’m not too familiar with Finland. But, if I’m not mistaken, you can’t just go live in any municipality and choose to speak Finnish or Swedish or both for the rest of your life. For example, if I wanted to speak Swedish and only Swedish, would I realistically be able to live in Tampere?

[@tj-co9go]

@@Oscopo this is probably obvious to finns but not everyone, Swedish speaking is concentrated in certain areas in the coast, so Pohjanmaa (Österbotten), Uusimaa (Nyland) are the most Swedish speaking. And Åland of course, but it is an autonomous region. Cannot even move there without being Swedish speaker or something, and they are not required to speak any Finnish in any services there, so I have heard. Åland is very heavily Swedish speaking still

[@nuodso]

@@Oscopo Tampere is not part of the historical Swedish speaking areas so not really.

[@colinlambert882]

Finnish leavers have to achieve full proficiency in 3 languages: Finnish, Swedish and English.

[@nuodso]

@@colinlambert882 Leavers?

[@jillball1082]

Would you consider looking at Kernewek next? My father’s family is Cornish and it is so endangered

[@SniclarelSort3763]

You forgot about the latin-decendet languages (dialects of northern Italy: ladin, friulian, venetian, lombard ecc.)spekers of the Alps of which I am. In meny local german dialects they are called by the term: "Walsch-" (pronounced Walsh, Welsh or Wolsch) Also this comes from the protogermanic word *walhaz

[@minipily1841]

I would love to see a video on the norman languages. im learning jerriais and its so sad seeing that what shouldve been my culture has been anglicised.

[@Jannfndnanakid]

stay seething, stay learning dead languages

[@minipily1841]

@@Jannfndnanakid what makes u think i am seething? langauges are part of people and people should be celebrated. Jerriais is not dead. Would you want it to be?

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

@@Jannfndnanakid languages are alive or dead because people make them thus. it's the same with jerriais, it's the same with welsh, it's the same with any language, even constructed ones. if it's alive, it's because its speakers made it thus. if it's dead, it's because there are no more speakers. maybe you should learn a "dead" language.

[@nofearofwater]

8:00 You know what this high class English fellow is spot on even for today 😂

[@jackcooper4998]

One major issue with the goal of 1M Welsh speakers is that if they did nothing* (*ie halted decline without growth, kept it around 20%) and the predictions of population growth are accurate (5M ppl in Wales by 2050) they hit their mark without reversing the damage. A goal of 2m or better 50%/2.5m should be the aim IMHO.

[@i_like_the_7]

IVOR THE ENGINE?! "LET'S GO!!!!!!!"

[@napoleonfeanor]

For people interested on in depth Welsh history, there is a great channel named Cambrian Chronicles

[@ddragonwhistler]

Premium content 👏

[@john_atco]

Welsh morality was not as bad as English morality. As it still is 2024.

[@toyevoye]

Would love to see a deep dive on Yiddish (a language that is both not at risk of extinction and simultaneously in the process of linguistic revival, due to the deep divide between secular and ultra-Orthodox communities)

[@Oscopo]

That would be cool, I’ve never really looked into the situation of Yiddish before.

[@goodbababadbaba6370]

Interesting video from a non welsh speaking welsh person living and speaking vietnamese my new home

[@Cheesenommer]

How are children sorted into Welsh language vs english language schooling? Is it based on location? Choice of the parents?

[@MawganRogerson]

The Welsh government is obliged to provide educated in whichever language the parent wants. Years ago this normally meant Welsh language students (especially in the south) had to travel quite far for school due to low numbers, but nowadays it’s sort of trendy to send your kids to Welsh schools, so people do, and thus there are now many more Welsh schools than previously. Most are still English, but unless you’re in an extremely rural area you’d have reasonable access to either.

[@drcool000009]

Welshman here. I'm writing this after finishing the rest of the comment, I swear I didn't mean for it to turn into an essay! Read if you're interested. It’s a bit of both - in theory the Welsh government supports a parent’s right to choose the language they prefer for their child, but in practice there is a huge geographical divide in what’s available. To give you an idea, in Gwynedd in the north-west, where Welsh as a community language has persisted the most, all primary schools are Welsh medium, and every secondary school but one is Welsh-medium. Welsh is also the medium in the majority of schools in Ceredigion, Anglesey, and Carmarthenshire. If you live in those places, especially Gwynedd, it is very likely that you will be sending your child through Welsh-medium education. In the rest of Wales, it’s a lot patchier to say the least. In the south-east, where most of the people live, there are a lot less Welsh-medium schools - most of the large local authorities have just one Welsh-medium high school and a handful of primary schools that feed into them. In the north-east, where I am originally from, it’s much the same, and the small number of Welsh-medium schools means that, despite the in-principle support of the right to choose from the Welsh government and local authorities, practically there are many parents who cannot get their child into the local Welsh-medium school, and so send them to English-medium out of necessity or ease. This is a direct result of government policy. The Welsh government (which has been led, by the Labour Party, either alone or in coalition since the creation of the Senedd) has a policy of “measuring demand”, i.e. areas with more Welsh-speakers have more Welsh-medium schools, and areas with less speakers have less. This leads the geographical divide in the language to self-perpetuate, and groups like the Welsh Language Society and the political party Plaid Cymru are increasingly pushing for Welsh-medium schools to become more widespread in English-speaking areas, even calling for a long-term move to universal Welsh-medium education. There are many who would oppose this, to say the least. Some people, although it has become more fringe over time, complain about “forcing Welsh down children’s throats”, and even oppose the amount of Welsh provision there already is. Then you’ve got the current government who sort of push a middle ground where they say they want lots more speakers and to increase Welsh in education, but also don’t go that far in fear of alienating people. This is an active debate, even if it’s not the most prominent one in Welsh politics right now. As someone who did not receive Welsh at home or through the education system, I sort of feel I was robbed of the language, and so my personal bias is that I’m quite sympathetic to the idea of making Welsh-medium schools the norm. No matter how you look at it though, this situation is an improvement on what came before. To give a personal perspective: in the 1950s my grandparents wanted to send their children to the local Welsh-medium school (they were a lot rarer in those days!) but their first 2 children were refused because the school operated a policy that only children with two Welsh-speaking parents would be admitted, and my taid (granddad) couldn’t speak Welsh as his own Welsh-speaking father had not passed it down to him. By the time my mother was born the policy had changed and she went to a Welsh-medium school, becoming fluent. However, due to the dominance of English in our part of Wales, she didn’t use Welsh as much as English outside of school and after leaving education she became less confident in it over time. As a result, she raised me to speak only English, and I myself went to an English medium school. There was, and still is, only 1 Welsh-medium primary school where I was raised, and about 5 English-medium, so even if she had wanted to send me to it there’s a good chance that I may not have gotten into the Ysgol Gymraeg. We'll see if that changes for the coming generations...

[@Oscopo]

I’m glad people who have direct experience were able to answer your question. Indeed, both factors play a role.

[@Cheesenommer]

​@@drcool000009 Thank you for the detailed answer. I enjoyed reading the entire thing. After writing the following comment I realized that it ended up also being quite long and included a lot of questions so don't feel like you need to respond to any of them specifically if it's too much. So it sounds like on the whole there is more demand for Welsh-medium schooling than is available? Do the major Welsh-language areas not have enough English-medium schools to meet demand (I assume that this is less of a problem in general)? On another note, do you feel like the Welsh-language classes in the English-medium curriculum are sufficient? To clarify, I'm thinking about this relative to the situation with Irish, which I am more familiar with, where every student takes Irish classes throughout their education, but most people don't end up feeling like it prepared them enough to actually use the language day-to-day. Irish usage stats also seem to bear this out.

[@drcool000009]

@@Cheesenommer The actual measure of demand is difficult to answer (look how long this reply is), and what follows is a mixture of the facts on the ground and my own opinions and analysis. There have been many instances where demand has clearly outstripped supply in some areas, and parents have had to campaign for more Welsh-medium school spaces. For example, parents living in the south of Cardiff currently have to travel quite far to the nearest Welsh-medium secondary school and some have complained that the uneven distribution of Welsh education in the city disadvantages poor and ethnic minority communities, many of whom live in southern areas like Grangetown. As such, they are actively campaigning for a Welsh-medium school in their area, with Cardiff City Council so far rejecting their calls on the basis that the overall number of children in Cardiff is projected to fall over a number of years. The fundamental question though, is whether "demand" is being accurately and objectively measured in the first place. I would argue that peoples' preferences and choices are partly shaped by the education and language landscape they exist within. If you are an English speaking parent, living in a largely English-speaking area, where 80-90% of the schools are English-medium, are you likely to even think twice about Welsh-medium education? Probably not. Parents are likely to be concerned about other things like how easily they can get their child to school and which schools perform the best. If there is 1 Welsh-medium school in their area and 5 English-medium, their nearest school and the best-performing school are statistically going to be English-medium in most cases. So the apparent level of "demand", I would argue, is largely an artefact of the existing linguistic and educational landscape, a landscape that the Welsh government could change and shape more towards Welsh-medium, fostering a change in public perception. As the other comment in this thread mentioned, there are English-dominated areas where sending a child to a Welsh-medium school is now seen as "trendy", demonstrating that supply can stimulate demand and create a zeitgeist change. In terms of education in the Welsh-language heartlands, there are indeed many situations where parents who might prefer an English-medium education don't have much choice in the matter. All of them have at least some English provision, but in these areas the local councils see their primary aim and responsibility as ensuring a Welsh education for as many as possible. This is because Welsh-medium schools also teach children English, and everyone already speaks English - Welsh as a community language is under threat in these areas, so naturally that is their primary concern. Your description of how poorly the Irish language is taught to and received sounds very familiar to me, having been through English-medium education in Wales. In short - no, it's not sufficient, and the current government acknowledges this. Just a few hours a week learning Welsh in the same way as we learned Spanish or French was nowhere near enough to get most people to a decent level. The Welsh government has said they want to improve how it is taught in English-medium schools, but I'm sceptical about how much of a difference such changes will make. Many kids are frankly not interested, which is not surprising since many kids are not very interested in school altogether! I myself, despite being academically inclined (read: I was a nerd) must confess that I was one of the many who was uninterested in Welsh and never got much of it to stick despite getting decent marks. It wasn't until later (ironically after I had left Wales for university and work in England) that I more closely looked at the history of the language. Understanding the oppression that minoritised Welsh was really eye-opening and caused me to re-evaluate my ideas about it. I then learned from my mother about our family history with the language, that it had been lost with my taid, brought back with my mum, and then lost again with me, and that made it really personal. I'm currently learning Welsh as an adult, (dwi ddim yn rhugl eto, ond dwi'n dal ati! google translate if you like) and hoping to move back to Wales before too long. Unfortunately, most people in my situation don't end up being able to speak Welsh, but if everyone could get a fair shot to speak it, our country would be a lot richer for it.

[@jackcooper4998]

As a Saes living in Cardiff, learning Welsh, most South walians who don't speak Welsh, often have no idea of community Welsh. My Cardiffian boyfriend thought it was only the posh who spoke it, and didn't believe my tale of "Welsh chavs". Even people from welsh speaking schools or backgrounds only use it at home or at school and then never again. There's still a lot of shame and a lot of people from the Valleys will use the excuse "my great grandparents spoke it but it was beaten out of them so sad 😢" and then do nothing. Obviously there's a lot of push in those communities for the iaith but given the massive poverty there, they frankly have bigger issues often. I think S4C have a lot to answer for, I'm all for monolingual Cymraeg spaces and a Welsh TV channel, but now Every Welsh show or radio station is on a Sianel Cymraeg, before this, non-welsh speakers would have it "forced" upon them by flicking through the standard channels and having Welsh shows in line with English ones. In poorer areas in Cardiff, welsh not even a consideration outside of the odd lesson at school, and is only used by the hoity toity government and arts sectors

[@desperatefortuneproduction3296]

I'm puzzled by that arrow coming out of the Atlantic (prior to 1:13).

[@Oscopo]

Just a joke haha. Although, you’d be surprised at some of the conspiracy theories I came across while doing research for this project. There are people out there, in 2024, who genuinely believe that the Welsh settled in Alabama during the 12th century-and that many Native American languages today are in fact descendants of Welsh. There are others still that believe that the Egyptian hieroglyphs were not meant to write the Egyptian language… but Welsh! Still more are people who believe the Celts settled Britain before the speakers of Proto Indo European even left the steppe. All that to say, I’m sure someone out there was very pleased with the arrow coming out from the Atlantic.

[@bradwilliams7198]

@@Oscopo I'm guessing Eric the Red invented a time machine and sailed from 10th Century Iceland to 1st Century Wales?

[@eamonreidy9534]

I'm Irish and that... That was valid

[@WelshWoman23]

all our education is in Welsh here, primary school especially! Cymru Am Byth

[@ninny65]

Good video

[@wiggally]

I go to a welsh school and although I do lime the language I find it very difficult to actually learn things in welsh like math because it just dosent come as naturally to me as english even though I was born in wales my, Ive never really spoke welsh at home, I think Id respect the language more if I didnt feel that it is holding me back academically

[@iryrr]

14:35 i met a monoglot welsh speaker in 2004 so i dont think it was dead yet!

[@Oscopo]

Yeah, it looks like this claim was probably wrong and I had someone send me info on speakers that were alive into the 80s at least.

[@GazilionPT]

I find it very strange that "Gaul" comes from a Germanic root, when "Gaul" comes from Latin "Gallia", and *the Romans contacted with the Gauls before they contacted with the Germanic* peoples... The Gauls occupied not only what is roughly modern-day France and Belgium, but also Northern Italy, which was for that reason referred to as "Gallia Cisalpina" = "Gaul on this (from the POV of the Romans] side of the Alps"). I find it much more convincing that "Gallia" and "Gallus" com a Celtic root (and endonym), and that root was later adopted by the Germanic peoples to refer, first to Celtic peoples, then to any foreigner (i.e., any non-Germanic speaker). That happens a lot: in Medieval Persian (at least), "Farangi" meant "European" or "non-Middle Eastern Christian", but originally it meant "Frank/French".

[@rogergriffith286]

I would suggest Kernewek followed by Breton.

[@matthewbarry376]

The major decline in the Irish language post independence was only partially due to Emigration. The primary cause was that a substantial number of those who spoke Gaelic/Gaeilge as a first language wnen they had children refused to speak to them in Irish and only spoke to them in English. Those native speakers were extremely against the revival of the irish language because they believed it was already dead and if it wasn't they were going to make sure it was.

[@damionkeeling3103]

There were a few factors. Under British rule an Irish speaker could get official documents processed in Irish. These bilingual offices were apparently removed under the new Irish government. Most of those forming the new government were from and supported by the English speaking middle classes which were very comfortable speaking English and didn't see the need to change. Irish was a protest language during British rule, it was a way to say we're Irish. That aspect disappeared with independence, everyone was Irish regardless what language they spoke so Irish itself was no longer needed to make that distinction. It essentially was treated as a comfy blanket, something nice in the background but not really wanted for daily life. Despite being an official language it never made it into government usage, largely because of that English speaking political order who while happy to be independent didn't really want to fundamentally change the way they did things which learning a new language tends to do. If Irish had been chosen as a national language then those Irish families speaking it would never have abandonned it and it's likely Ireland would be entirely bilingual today.

[@matthewbarry376]

@damionkeeling3103 @damionkeeling3103 so your wrong. An Irish man can still and always has been able to get Irish copies of all state documents, letters etc, you can sue in Irish, You have court cases held completely in Irish. Irish translation/ version of the law takes precedence over the English version. Gaeltachts were mistreated, not allowed develop economically, kept basically in stasis. This combined with more communication with areas outside the Gaeltacht, Emigration, schools, self hatred etc all led to the current sorry state of the Irish language

[@Lee-wu8lv]

FYI: the surname Davies is pronounced as Davis in Wales.

[@Oscopo]

Thanks for this. You’re actually the only one to correct me. I had no clue! It’s surprising to me that in all the news stories I watched never once did I hear an ies name pronounced! That’s what I get for having my head stuck in the books. For my next project I think I’ll spend more time reaching out to people.

[@nigelsheppard625]

The Welsh Government must encourage new Parents who want their children to learn the language to learn Welsh also. If they learn and use Welsh at home, in a social environment and in education then it's far more likely that in the next 25 years there will be a million speakers.