tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411161795798360588.post1149515199155156968..comments2024-03-26T09:38:39.888+00:00Comments on Borthlas: Legislating for WelshJohn Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07447224248021209852noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411161795798360588.post-91925458645006289202022-12-14T00:01:09.545+00:002022-12-14T00:01:09.545+00:00What I have found surprising about the Welsh censu...What I have found surprising about the Welsh census results is the difference between the data produced every 10 years by the census and the regular results of the ONS Welsh language survey. The ONS results have shown a decline in the number and percentage of Welsh speakers until about 2007 and then a slow but steady rise until their most recent results in 2022 that indicate 29.7% or 899,500 of those over 3 years of age speaking Welsh. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411161795798360588.post-31714930609500014552022-12-12T11:02:02.299+00:002022-12-12T11:02:02.299+00:00Lots of good points there, John. As a product of t...Lots of good points there, John. As a product of the old fashioned Anglo dominated grammar school system here in Wales I am living proof that Welsh speakers could survive that process and prosper in later life. However I am hard pressed to recall any monoglot Anglos entering the system at 11 and leaving at 16/17/18 with a passable fluency in the language. The system back in the 60's was designed to iron out wrinkles like an affection for Welsh. The slow development of Ysgolion Cymraeg has been a force for good. We have witnessed it for over 50 years yet most authorities persist with the old "prove the need" attitude. There remains a barely concealed hostility towards the language within elements of Welsh Labour and the wider Unionist spectrum. These are people who revert to the old"waste of money" arguments or discover other more immediate deserving issues when anything relating to the language or its teaching is raised. Drakeford draws a significant slice of his support from this segment of negative attitudes and he knows it all too well. So I don't expect him to drive Welsh teaching forward at anything other than the push that we manage to shove him along.dafishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04216920242825385976noreply@blogger.com