The flourishing of the Welsh language in the 19th century and its survival through the last century was, contrary to the claim of your editorial (11 February), almost entirely to do with that industrialisation of south Wales which ensured that the Welsh largely migrated internally. There were more Welsh speakers in Glamorgan in 1951 than in the rest of Wales altogether. The notion of “English suppression” is a convenient and distorted excuse for a complicated process of social and cultural change.
Further, if Thatcherism helped to destroy the economic infrastructure of industrial Wales, it did not scatter the population that, by generational rootedness, has best claim to being a “Welsh heartland”, with an experienced history which was neither a “mythology” nor one dependent on hoary old cliches derived from How Green Was My Valley.
One of that real history’s legacies was Labour’s delivery of a devolution settlement in 1997. As for the cultural revivalism, as opposed to any linguistic imposition that has followed on from deindustrialisation, it was not S4C but BBC Wales that led the way in securing an audience for both popular programming, serious documentaries and vital new drama, while other connected outcomes have been the foundation of National Theatre Wales, the Library of Wales series of classic English language fiction and a tsunami of creative writing in the Dragon’s other and eloquently expressive tongue.
When close relatives speak to each other effectively, it has to be a dialogue based on knowledge, not wish fulfilment. Certainly, volume is not all, whether from propinquity or distance, and it is not only Jeremy Bowen who speaks for his Wales from England, as others do for theirs. Long may the conversation continue.
Prof Dai Smith
Barry Island, Vale of Glamorgan
• Your editorial on Welsh ends by inviting everyone to rejoice in the survival of this unquenchable language. But the article makes no reference to the exciting number of young people, whether from monoglot English families or Welsh-language homes, who are becoming bilingual speakers through the Welsh education system.
As a professional storyteller, I work in and through oracy. Listening to young bilingual speakers moving effortlessly between the two equal languages of Wales is inspiring, and their competence and fluency bodes well for the future of the spoken and literary arts. To be able to express oneself in not one but two mother tongues merits celebration.
Whether or not the Welsh government reaches its target of a million speakers by 2050, it is my firm belief that everyone in Wales (even those just “passing through”) is already somewhere on the continuum of bilingualism. Many are nowhere near fluent, but, thanks to the government’s commitment to bilingual signage, everyone knows what to expect if they stand long enough at a safle bws, or that they can leave their car in a maes parcio while they shop.
Children and young people in Wales are gaining not one but two languages as their birthright, and a very wonderful thing this is too. For the generations of my age and older, who went to school at a time when it was considered that speaking Welsh would hold you back, I hope this is of some comfort. And for those of us who are pushing on a bit, it is never too late to start to learn. It has taken me 20 years, but I am now a pretty fluent speaker of Welsh, and it has enriched my life enormously.
Fiona Collins
Carrog, Denbighshire
• Brought up in England, but with a Welsh-speaking mother and Welsh husband, I was thrilled to read your summing up of recent debates on the Welsh language. Your editorial said: “It does not solely define Welshness, but it contributes to its many-sidedness and unquenchable hwyl.” That fabulous, significant word, expressing joy and excitement but much more, has no exact English translation. So precious! Thank you.
Ann Rowland
Holne, Devon
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