Welsh Language

Totally agree with Jock, the money could be spent on far more important things. My nephews and niece went to all Welsh speaking schools. They're all in their 20s now, do they still speak Welsh? Do they feck! Total and utter waste of time in them going there and you can probably say that for the vast majority of ex pupils who went to these schools. Yes, you hear people speak Welsh, but they are from families where the Welsh language goes back through their families generations.

I'd rather the money was spent on health and education.
Saving lives rather than trying to influence how we live.

Like all 'culture' spending money on it will only drag it out, if people want it they will keep it alive.

Same goes for art, opera , theatre, etc...

I might feel different if any of my family spoke it I guess, but I am still a proud Welshman without a love of the language.

You do know that the money that is spent on Welsh by the Welsh Government is nowhere near the amount that is spent on those two areas?! Health spending accounts for nearly half the budget of the Welsh Government, whilst spending on Welsh is a small amount in comparison.

I must disagree with your point about the language being artificially kept alive. It needs money spent on it because the government in Westminster tried for centuries to stamp it out. The amount of money that is currently being spent on trying to save the Welsh language pales in comparison with the amount wasted on trying to get rid of it. The English language has been promoted relentlessly in Wales for many centuries, even when people who spoke the language were in a tiny minority in the country. Welsh has been actively suppressed over the years (see the ‘Welsh not’), but no longer.

Your living in the 19 th century if you think your suppressed by the English.

Better things to spend our money on, and more unwelcome interference on how we live our lives .

If it's worth keeping it will survive without being forced on us.

Totally agree with Jock, the money could be spent on far more important things. My nephews and niece went to all Welsh speaking schools. They're all in their 20s now, do they still speak Welsh? Do they feck! Total and utter waste of time in them going there and you can probably say that for the vast majority of ex pupils who went to these schools. Yes, you hear people speak Welsh, but they are from families where the Welsh language goes back through their families generations.

Just because the welsh culture thing is not your bag doesn't mean money shouldn't be spent in that direction.Theres no bigger lame duck than financially supporting a football club and yet to those that are interested its a lifes obsession yet, to someone who don't like football may view it as a total waste of time.I'd like to see you telling a steelworker in Port Talbot theres no point investing in the future of the plant-a waste of taxpayers money.

I'd rather the money was spent on health and education.
Saving lives rather than trying to influence how we live.

Like all 'culture' spending money on it will only drag it out, if people want it they will keep it alive.

Same goes for art, opera , theatre, etc...

I might feel different if any of my family spoke it I guess, but I am still a proud Welshman without a love of the language.

You do know that the money that is spent on Welsh by the Welsh Government is nowhere near the amount that is spent on those two areas?! Health spending accounts for nearly half the budget of the Welsh Government, whilst spending on Welsh is a small amount in comparison.

I must disagree with your point about the language being artificially kept alive. It needs money spent on it because the government in Westminster tried for centuries to stamp it out. The amount of money that is currently being spent on trying to save the Welsh language pales in comparison with the amount wasted on trying to get rid of it. The English language has been promoted relentlessly in Wales for many centuries, even when people who spoke the language were in a tiny minority in the country. Welsh has been actively suppressed over the years (see the ‘Welsh not’), but no longer.

Your living in the 19 th century if you think your suppressed by the English.

Better things to spend our money on, and more unwelcome interference on how we live our lives .

If it's worth keeping it will survive without being forced on us.

During the 19th century speaking Welsh was outlawed in schools across Wales, children who spoke Welsh would have to wear a wooden block around their neck and the child wearing the Welsh Not at the end of the day would be punished with lashes. Before this, Welsh was spoken by 95% of the population and that included Cardiff! In 50 years the numbers had decreased dramatically due to this policy and industrialization.
For your information last year the Welsh Assembly spent more on badgers and TB in cows than they did on the language- about £1.5m

I'm happy with what has been spent on promoting the Welsh language at the moment, and if anything I'd like to see more! I'm a bit embarrassed that I can't speak it to a decent level, but I am learning and I would encourage any other Welsh person to do the same!

Thankfully it does seem to be slowly on the rise, as someone said it seems to be creeping in a bit more in South Wales

Less than 2% of a £16bn Welsh Government budget- is that really too much?

Is the culture budget split 50/50 down the middle between Welsh and English? I will give you a clue to the answer- it begins with 'n'.

Compulsory education? RE would be scrapped first for me, then food tech, DT and all that bollocks. Tens of thousands more Welsh children go on to use their Welsh skills than they do French, German or Spanish. So you can make a pretty solid argument that they would go before Welsh too. I mean, how many people do you know that do their business in a modern language? On the other hand, if you want a job in Wales and you can speak Welsh, your prospects are boosted.That is reason enough to learn.

In some of the most Anglicised areas, from Newport to Tenby, the demand for Welsh language education is through the roof. For example, both those places have just rubber-stamped new Welsh schools.

Whether you understand it or not, it goes to the very core of who we are. The very fact that a sizeable majority still speak it is a modern miracle.

It is fragile but the tide of history is beginning to turn. Get on the right side or get washed away

I and many others get by without speaking Welsh just fine, I really don't think I will get washed away. I'm happy Welsh is on the up in schools, every child should be taught Welsh but please stop with the condescending crap.

Imagine speaking to someone from the West Bank or an ordinary person from Raqqa and telling them the Welsh are suppressed by the English, they'd laugh you out the door.

I have always taken issue with it being compulsory to GCSE level. By all means make it an option and indeed make it compulsory until the GCSE curriculum starts. But forcing kids to take one of the educational options up as it is unfair IMHO. The same argument can be applied to some of the other compulsory subjects but they affect all the UK students. Welsh only affects Welsh based kids and not all of them are Welsh.

I also think there should be a register where you can opt in to one language or both. We are meant to be eco conscious and yet I chuck out half of the official documents I get posted to me. It is not going to get me learning welsh so just stop sending me the paper.

As an aside - surely Welsh culture is more than language alone?

Do we not put so much emphasis on a spoken word that we forget about what makes us who we are? Our history? The arts? The science? Sport?

The USA do not have their own language. They have a version of English that has evolved to fit them, just as all the other English speaking countries have done so. That does not mean they have not got their own culture.