We all love the language

Wales has a lot to be grateful for when it comes to the Welsh language, as for centuries it was the only truly national entity in Wales that preserved our identity and thereby our nation. When all that was so very British was busily grinding down or shipping out anything that was of worth, the language, and whatever consequent identity it could produce, proved to be a valuable bank of Welsh heritage and culture.

This is perhaps why many within and without our nation really don’t like it. While the stench of decaying imperialism can still pervade the corridors of various government departments in London (and probably the conversation around the odd dinner table too), we in Wales also have to contend with those within our nation who attempt to ingratiate themselves with the British by being a hindrance to the Welsh. For that reason we were treated last Wednesday morning to the sight of Cymdeithas yr Iaith demonstrating in favour of a new language act, while the (supposedly Welsh) Labour government in turn repeated their opposition to granting the Welsh language anything more than token rights. That the two other British parties in the assembly joined Cymdeithas outside the assembly just goes to show that giving the Welsh people the right to use their own language in their own country may not be such a silly idea after all…

Of course, if the Welsh language survives as a cohesive and established community language, the sense of Welsh identity will also survive, and may intensify into nationalism. This probably goes some way to explaining why the Labour Assembly Government has done practically nothing to sustain the language in it’s heartlands. The last census showed another disastrous drop in the percentage of Welsh speakers in the ‘Fro Gymraeg’, and yet this has gone largely unremarked upon, and very little has been done officially to prevent further crippling losses. Indeed, from the point of view of the self-interested politician and the British nationalist, the destructive processes currently working on the Welsh language should be left to get on with it.