Cultural misappropriation?

I’ve never heard anything so daft as saying it’s inappropriate to learn another language, especially one from the British Isles.

The more people able to speak Welsh the better it will be for insuring it’s survival.

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I’m English and have been learning Cymraeg for four years, first with Duolingo and SSiW, and for the last three with dysgu.cymraeg online. Prior to Covid, all dysgu.cymraeg classes were in-person, so if you lived a long way from Cymru it wasn’t practical, but now anyone can join online classes, it’s been a game-changer. We have people in our class from Poland, Switzerland, Texas, Ireland, the Netherlands - and, like me, some have no roots in Cymru. Our tutor said that dysgu.cymraeg hadn’t realised how strong the level of interest was outside Cymru until they started offering online classes.

I’m a firm believer that knowing more than one language is a huge benefit. Switzerland is multilingual - people in German-speaking areas learn French and vice-versa, and it would be wonderful if Cymraeg was taught in England too. Whatever one’s view of the pros and cons of independence, all of us on these islands should celebrate each other’s languages.

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Hello Chris, thank you for your post. I’m originally from Germany and have lived in London half of my life (plus hopefully soon moving to Cymru!).
I’ve first started learning Cymraeg with Duolingo, then moved on to SSiW. However, my main source of learning has been the brilliant courses they provide at the London Welsh Centre. They do in-person and online.
Just a bit of advertising for them… :grin:

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Totaly agree Chris. Thanks for your post!

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To be blunt, your friend is talking a load of old codswallop. If it’s “cultural misappropriation” then we’d better ban any language learning as any language is a major part of a nation’s cultural identity.

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