Labour just can’t be trusted to deliver a million Welsh speakers by 2050

The Polish uprisings between 1794 and 1917 were their attempts to regain independence after the country had been partitioned and were ruled by three authoritarian regimes: Russia, Prussia and Austria. Nearly all the uprisings were against Russia alone as she had the most authoritarian of the regimes. The reasons behind the later uprisings are well-known. No one had any restrictions on speaking Polish in 1956, 1980 and 1989, it was freedom of speech that was the issue i.e. what you were allowed to say, not which language you spoke, as well as freedom of assembly and a decent quality of life. For most of that period Poland had a large minority of peoples who spoke other languages (Lithuanian, Belorussian, Kashubian, Ukrainian, Ruthenian, Yiddish etc.), many of whom also participated in these rebellions, although owing to the discrimination they faced from the Polish majority and from specific poiltical movements, they sometimes chose not to join in the uprisings.

As you'll know, this is an issue that faces some 80% of Welsh medium school leavers in South East Wales. I've lost count of how many people I've met who are able to understand Welsh but who have lost the confidence to speak the language. The emphasis on Welsh medium education and on encouraging adults to learn the language are crucial if Welsh is to continue as a living language, but there is insufficient emphasis on Welsh usage. I used to teach Welsh to adults and as anyone working in the field will know, there is a tremendous dropout rate, a significant proportion of which is due to the very pragmatic argument that there are few, or no places where language skills can be practiced. It's all very well promoting a language, but there needs to be places where it can be spoken on an everyday basis, otherwise, for most people, what is the point?. I agree with the writer of this article, and it has always seemed to me that the Labour government's plan for the Welsh language is yet more kicking the issue into the long grass as a an act of appeasement to the Welsh language lobby on the one hand, and to the significant ant-Welsh language lobby within Welsh Labour on the other. It's also fiddling about around the edges, as on further scrutiny the plans are far from ambitious and would merely seek to replicate the current situation, but on steroids: far too much emphasis on opportunities to learn, which while important, ignores too much the learning context, (i.e. Wales) which is rapidly Anglicising ever more each day. If this plan is to succeed then some bold polices are called for, some of which will no doubt be contraversial. How about, whilst emphasising a residents right to use their language of choice, that in predominantly Welsh speaking areas (> 40%) road signage and government/local government signage is in Welsh only? The aim of this is not to alienate monglot English speakers, but to give an important psychological boost to Welsh speakers, establishing that the area is one of the few places on the planet where Welsh is emphasised. I'm sure the usual suspects would complain bitterly, but as is the case now, why are they living in Wales? The administrative language of central and local government could also be looked at, with a view to changing the language of internal administration from English to Welsh. This would result in a significant boost to the fortunes of the language and though it would be a huge project there is no real reason why this couldn't be fully achieved by 2050 if the government were serious about it and committed to gradual change over the circa two generations between now and 2050. Local government is a bit of a tougher nut to crack, and this is perhaps something that needs to be decided on a case by case basis at the local level. In no way should this allow back peddling on existing bilingual provision, but there are areas where it would be difficult to find all the Welsh speaking staff necessary. Then there is our culture, where, perhaps paradoxically it is the English language manifestation that is more overlooked than its Welsh language equivalent. This, for me is one of the most pressing reasons why broadcasting needs to be fully devolved. Where are the youth orientated programmes that showcase Welsh youth orientated culture in both languages? If John Peel could manage to promote Welsh culture in both languages, then I'd damned sure that a properly devolved broadcasting network could match and surpass that. Quite simply, people need things to do in a language, and music is not only a way of building a bridge between our two language cultures, but in building confidence in ourselves - but I should imagine that Welsh Labour would hate it, as it would really build bridges and understanding between those who speak Welsh, and those who don't. It's also somewhat baffling to me that there is still no streaming website where Welsh produced film and TV can be viewed online wherever one is in the world. If Iceland can do it with a population a little bigger than that of Cardiff, I'm sure a relative giant like Wales can also. I know we can traipse our way to the National Library in Aberystwyth and view all this stuff, but the point is we shouldn't have to. About the only Welsh film that can be easily accessed is 'Hedd Wyn' which can be streamed, for free, on the BFI Player website. That leaves a lot of content that remains, to all intents and purposes, inaccessible. Any such website could consist of both free and paid for content, as is the case with the BFI Player site. Such a site, if accessible internationally, (no doubt a proprietary rights nightmare) it could boost interest in Wales, and more importantly, boost our own self-image and confidence. There is also the very big question as to how the heck can we know who we are without full access to our own culture to the full extent of available technology? .I learnt Welsh to fluency in my late 20s and early 30s. Part of that was in the classroom, but most of it was through going out into the world and just speaking it, (often very badly) and insisting that people spoke back to me in Welsh, explaining things in Welsh. The many hours I spent hitch-hiking in my student days very often turned into impromptu Welsh lessons where I learnt many of the subtleties of words used to describe landscape, or even types of rain! I also spent many hours devouring Welsh language radio, (fond memories of listening to Sain Abertawe whilst working a summer job at Pontins in Pendine in 1985) and translating the lyrics of Welsh language recordings I bought so that I understood them fully. Without a relatively large number of native Welsh speakers around learning the language is much harder than it needs to be. It's always going to be an effort, but if there is a community where Welsh is spoken, whether in the locality or the workplace, it becomes much easier and far less of a conscious effort, and to my mind at least, learning by doing is by far the best way to learning anything.

Yes, right choice; the successful candidate had a core skill that the non-Welsh-speaking candidate lacked. On a separate but related case, does anyone know of any further developments in a residential home for the elderly in Cwmtawe where staff were told to stop speaking Welsh because English residents were unable to understand them?

Given your knowledge of care and commissioning, do you think Sian is highlighting the systemic, pervasive issue of Welsh speakers being denied care placements which meet their communication and cultural needs OR she's using an individual case, without detail, which could be an outlier for many good reasons, to score political points?

And what about those who reside in Wales who speak Welsh and have no desire to have the English language thrust at them? They have no rights do they?

And they carry on as normal, as they always have. Wheres the problem?

The Government never actually misses a target, just quietly drops them when it becomes obvious it won't be met.