An English-Speaking Supporter Of The Welsh Language

As I’ve stressed on An Sionnach Fionn before, the vast majority of the English-speaking inhabitants of Ireland, Scotland and Wales regard the indigenous languages and cultures of those three nations as their own. Most people support whatever measures are deemed necessary to establish and protect the legal rights of native speakers in relation to their English-speaking peers. Many are quite happy to see actions put in place to transform their societies into genuinely bilingual ones, with positive moves to encourage greater numbers of native speakers, be it of Irish, Scottish or Welsh.

Very few people are truly hostile to equal rights between the indigenous-speaking citizen and the English-speaking citizen. Yes, there is an extreme minority of Anglophone regressives. Holding positions of power and influence in the media, politics and business they are driven by thinly disguised post-colonial or racist attitudes that have been rendered completely anachronistic in the 21^st century – but are still pursued with ideological zeal.

A regard or affinity for the native languages of the three largest Celtic nations is not just confined to those born into them. Many immigrants or visitors feel equally strongly. In some cases, coming from already bilingual or multilingual nations, even more so since they regard such societies as simply the norm. A short article by Peter Law carried by Wales Online illustrates this progressive point of view:

“I can barely speak a word of Welsh – and after two years of living in Cardiff still struggle to pronounce many Welsh school names…

Yes, I am one of those who hit the red button for English commentary when watching Celtic rugby on S4C and the scrolling bilingual departure boards at Cardiff Central have left me scratching my head.

But despite not understanding it, the language is one of the first things I – the son of an Australian father and Welsh mother – identify with living in Wales.

Unfortunately living in Cardiff means the opportunity to hear Welsh being spoken is limited most days to colleagues greeting each other with “shwmae” or the odd “bore da” from a council switchboard operator.

But I did get a kick when I recently took my baby boy to a friend’s birthday party at which all the children could sing happy birthday in Welsh while most of the 30-something parents mumbled along.

It will be fascinating in a decade or two to see how many of these bilingual kids grow up to speak Welsh in everyday life once they’ve finished school. It’s one thing making Welsh compulsory in school, but the challenge remains to get the language spoken over family dinner tables or between mates at pubs across South East Wales.

Which is why it’s so vital that the use of the Welsh language is vigorously defended, no matter how trivial the threat may seem – after all, just this week we’ve had two more slights on the language.

On Monday we reported that energy giant E.ON had threatened to increase prices for all its customers in Wales if it was forced to provide a full service through the medium of Welsh.

The firm strongly criticised proposals from the Welsh Language Commissioner that could force private utility companies providing energy, telecommunications and transport to improve the quality and extent of their Welsh language provision.

To put this threat in context, E.ON is Germany’s biggest utility company, has 26 million customers in more than 30 countries and, according to recent reports, more than tripled its half-year profits between June and January to £2.45bn.

Surely a company of this size can handle the logistical challenge of providing bills to its customers in their nation’s native language? And as for the translation costs, we must be talking about a drop in the ocean.

Just a day later the Echo told how a car park sign translated into Scottish Gaelic, rather than Welsh, had been erected at an Asda store in Coryton, Cardiff.

While the odd mistake can be laughed off, what this week’s stories represent is a disregard for Welsh as the official language of Wales. Across the border in England, I believe Welsh is still seen as a bit of a joke by some ignorant people.

The National Assembly is right to protect the language by law and to stand up to big business on this issue. As long as firms fail to show due respect to the language then the public should vote with their wallets.”