montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4826 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh
| Message 1 of 4 30 October 2012 at 12:17am | IP Logged |
There was a drama on BBC Radio 4 today telling the true story of how the Welsh TV Channel S4C (Sianel Pedwar Cymru though I'm not sure about the spelling of the 1st word) came into being.
It didn't just happen. People fought for it.
This is that story.
Gwynfor v Margaret
Apologies to those unable to receive BBC iPlayer for radio in their country.
I'm never sure which countries are affected and which aren't.
(If I had my way, everybody would be able to get everything, but sadly, it doesn't work like that).
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Gosiak Triglot Senior Member Poland Joined 5124 days ago 241 posts - 361 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, German Studies: Norwegian, Welsh
| Message 2 of 4 30 October 2012 at 1:54am | IP Logged |
Thank you so much montmorency!
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beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4620 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian
| Message 3 of 4 30 October 2012 at 1:51pm | IP Logged |
It is remarkable how the Welsh language has held up over the years. Around 20% of the population speak it fluently. For a minority language within an English-speaking country, this is an exceptionally high figure. Compared to Scots Gaelic and Irish, both of which are in continual decline, Welsh is positively thriving. The celtic languages indigenous to Cornwall and the Isle of Man have gone completely and are now the preserve of revival groups and enthusiasts.
Yet Welsh had no official status or major media support until relatively recently und Wales is hemmed in by English-speaking territory. Rather than let their language wither and die, the people have chosen to keep it and use it alongside English. There are no more Welsh monoglots, the language has survived due to the will of the people. There are some sizeable towns where you will hear the language spoken on the streets every day.
In stark contrast, Irish has retreated to remote costal regions and there is a lot of resentment towards the language among the general population. 12 years of compulsory schooling in has not advanced its cause one bit.
Edited by beano on 30 October 2012 at 1:52pm
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Gosiak Triglot Senior Member Poland Joined 5124 days ago 241 posts - 361 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, German Studies: Norwegian, Welsh
| Message 4 of 4 30 October 2012 at 3:40pm | IP Logged |
You are absolutely right beano. My Welsh-speaking friends are proud of the language of their ancestors and use it wherever they can, even on facebook where most of their friends don't understand the message. Some of their acquaitances surely feel left out but others are more and more interested in picking up Welsh and bringing it to a satisfactory level (if they had it at school). Welsh sould be visible in social media to make people realise it's alive and kicking not to mention that a quite substantial group of people thinks that Welsh is just a strange variety of English and those people could be educated by seeing some posts in Welsh.
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