I sympathise with the plight of young people who are priced out of rural communities. But this is not the whole story: all over the world, cities have *always* been magnets for young people – they offer more educational and job opportunities, better social amenities, and the chance to be around lots of other young, single people.

You cannot change the facts of economic geography, or the rational preferences of young people, simply by reforming the planning system and building a few new north-south roads.

It’s a commonly made assertion but is there any actual proof that speaking Welsh gives someone a disproportionate advantage in the Welsh jobs market?

If memory serves me right there was a survey a few years back to find the %age of Welsh speakers working in the Assembly, and it found that it was less than 20% of the workforce spoke Welsh. Which is less than the national %age of Welsh speakers which is over 20%.

Following years of experience of various internet forums & message boards forgive my scepticism of these types of postings – thy are rarely as ‘sincere’ as they initially appear.

Should be a requirement? It IS a requirement; its called “Technical advice note 20″. As for stopping English people from buying houses in Welsh speaking Wales…don’t you think that that might infringe the “Right to free movement of peoples” enshrined in the European charter of human rights? And then there is the pesky fact that we already know that it is people WITHOUT Welsh language skills that are “Forced out” of the Fro Cymraeg to find work in England whilst a good few Welsh speakers migrate to Cardiff where Welsh language skills are a saleable commodity. What are we saying, Welsh speakers can come and go as they please in Wales but non-Welsh speakers are barred from settling in coastal and rural locations? And when we already know that new business start ups are often the result of inward migration how exactly do we stimulate new employment without allowing people to live in the Fro Cymraeg? We want your money and your business but not you?

And, Black Bart, remember that programme “The Welsh Not”? Did it tell you anything? You can teach children to speak Welsh but why would they actually speak it if it’s not their first language? Welsh Medium education is a finite phenomenon….Wales cannot provide the Teachers to sustain its long term growth and the law of diminishing returns means that as we struggle to provide first class teachers, results in those schools will stall….already English Medium benchmarked GCSE results are overhauling Welsh Medium results and WM secondary schools are finding it hard to teach some subjects that Universities value.

I think the language is doomed – the problem is, it is simply not seen as ‘cool’ by most young people. You used to get detention at my school if you talked in English – yet in the playground that was the only language people spoke….as it’s the language of popular music, films, fashion, etc.

There current language policies actually make things worse, as if you aren’t a Welsh speaker it’s harder to get a job in media or government – therefore driving talented anglophone Welsh away to England. We need these people to stay!

The future of Welsh is to become a part time language spoken in a few pockets up north but not a living language. If we think we can turn the major population centres that draw the young people of this country to be Welsh first language, then we are dreaming.

As a proud Welshman I’m sad to say it, but the Welsh language’s days as a working language are numbered.

I am from Australia and i love the welsh language… I have started learning welsh a couple of months ago and progressing quickly. Even though i am Australian i have been teaching my family and friends welsh.

When i have kids, I shall do the same.
I wish some people can take welsh more seriously in the times we live in now.

I am actually thinking about being a welsh teacher in australia. Not many people here even knows that wales has there own language.

I was almost assaulted in London recently by a man from North Wales who screamed at me in the street in front of hundreds of people that I am not fit to be called welsh and i should be ashamed that I cannot speak the language. I have many more stories about people from south Wales being looked down on by welsh speakers from the North and West.

They should consider themselves lucky that they have known the language from birth. I won’t let these petty minded people put me off though, I will carry on ‘trio dysgu siarad Cymraeg’ (I hope I spelled that correctly as writing Welsh is far less important to me than speaking correctly at the moment) and ignore the people that think they own our language.

Welsh is for everyone North, south, East or West!!

Diolch

Granny

The joke is even Cardiff was majority welsh speaking to as late as 1850 with 100,000 welsh speakers in Liverpool in the census of 1901……………..some people I meet don;t realise the language decline has been so quick and severe and thats why they think its a joke. The true brythonic languages of this island are dying out and the state has the arrogance to make out the word Britain and Briton relates in any way to english culture all the time.