Precisely and because it is the language, the Act should extend to private businesses dealing with the public and having more than, say, six employees!
It depends on the consultant. I work mostly in Glangwili and I have seen a major change over the past 17 years in the doctors, but I work nights only and thus very, very rarely do I see the consultants. However, lots of junior doctors, in my early days there, came from the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East. Some still do, but nowadays a lot more are European, or English, or Welsh speakers. Swansea University Medical School was only founded in 2004.
There are certainly some Welsh speaking consultants. But a lot donāt speak it.
It may be hard to imagine, but it has been very hard to attract medical (and nursing?) staff to West Wales. People from outside Wales donāt know where it is. Living in Carmarthenshire myself, telling people I live five miles from the end of the M4 does not tell them very much. They know little of Wales beyond the Severn Bridge/Tunnel.
Iāve heard it said that, for, a medical career, itās death to go beyond (this side of) Cardiff. Doesnāt look at all good on the CV.
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Oh, absolutely - I wasnāt saying that all the consultants spoke Welsh, simply who he dealt with. The point is that when he was young, there would have been a tendency for English to be used in such a situation, even if they were Welsh speakers, rather than an increase in the number of Welsh speakers now. [However you cut it, there will have been a decrease in that from his youth!] (I probably didnāt make that clear.) Thatās changed, and thatās a good thing.
Iāve spent a lot of time this past year trying to facilitate a few of my apprentices to do some of their course in Welsh. Itās been a slog! Little things like the fact the English language papers are online to download but the Welsh ones have to be emailed off for or only the English ones have practise papers available, the fact that everything gets moderated instead of the 10% sample in English, the fact weāve had to send out to three different organisations for help in checking work or clearing up queries.
I lost the budget discussion about making our website bilingual so have written just one page explaining that we do encourage the use of Welsh saying whoās available to use it and which units (from those Iāve spent a year clawing together) we can offer either in Welsh or bilingually. Another delay as I scramble to get it proofread without paying anyoneā¦
You have to be a real evangelist to persevere! Itās turning me more and more into a campaigner by the day!
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Welsh is a language just like any other and not to be confined to certain circumstances or situations.
Unfortunately, in the past, there was a tendency to think that certain circumstances were not āappropriateā for the use of Welsh (that Welsh was best kept for the home and chapel, for example), and that affected how and where people used it, as Owainlurch has described. Itās great to see that this is beginning to wane - although thereās still some work to be done in this respect.
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I couldnāt agree more even if had just finished a āsay something in agreeingā course!
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Years ago when they broadcast five minutes of news in Welsh all over UK and incidentally provoked my interest in Welsh there would be a mass of Welsh and suddenly interrupted, for example, by the name of a government ministry or some other entity in English. Fortunately, those days of gone and everything is in Welsh, as it should have been in the first place.
In Yorkshire but further south BBC London drowned everything else!
Hi, a new Irish member, was introduced to the language through Duolingo, and decided to catch out this site also. It would seem that Welsh is far stronger than Irish in terms of being a real community-based language, and also in relation to support from governments and local businesses. Yes, TG4 provides an excellent broadcasting service, there are number of Irish-language radio channels, both on FM and online, and the Irish-language community is vigorously active on all social media. That said, the number of public services available through Irish is negligible, after the requirement for Irish in order to enter the civil service was abolished, and there is little practical incentive for people to speak Irish, as few shops/businesses highlight that any member of staff actually speaks the language. Attitudes are more positive than they were a mere twenty years ago, but it will take many decades before weāre truly a bilingual country - hopefully Wales is further down that path already!
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Welcome to the forum, Paul! Iāll look forward to hearing how it goes for youā¦ 
I was over in the Connemara gaeltacht a few years ago, to talk in a planning meeting - it really surprised us how hard it was to find places to socialise that were mostly Gaeilge - youāve obviously got a real fight on your hands, but weāre wishing you all the very bestā¦
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Diolch yn fawr for signing the petition! And Croeso!!
It is odd, I believe the Irish Government, when you first became Independent, encouraged the Language, use and teaching - and yet somehow it isnāt flourishing? Maybe people need a bit of opposition to get them to want to fight for their language? The problem with Cymraeg, I think, is that it is declining. Too many incomers, too few Cymru Cymraeg who expect to be able to use it naturally everywhere in their own country! It was because I had an idea that this is true that I started this thread - hoping people would come on and say, āIn our area, everyone speaks it and all is well!ā
I donāt think anyone has exactly said that, sadly!
Ironically, the revival was doing better under British rule, as Conradh na Gaeilge (Gaelic League) set up branches everywhere, similarly to the GAA, teaching basic Irish lessons. After independence, they basically left matters to the State, who unfortunately brought in a curriculum heavily based on written essays, grammar and history, with spoken Irish forming only a fraction of the course.
Even now, the revamp of courses towards oral Irish only began this decade, but Irish-medium gaelscoileanna (primary) and gaelcholĆ”istĆ (secondary) are now thriving.
They decided to teach French and other European languages in the same manner, which is why weāre ranked alongside the UK in international tables!
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The Public Schools, Latin &. Greek have a lot to answer for! Since the use of Latin was hardly current and the Greek taught was that of the ancients, nobody thought being able to speak was useful! If Eton & Harrow did it that way, it must be right! Oh, dear!
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It was because I had an idea that this is true that I started this thread - hoping people would come on and say, āIn our area, everyone speaks it and all is well!ā
I do have one bit of good news for you, henddraig. In my part of Cardiff itās quite usual to hear Welsh spoken in the street, and there are a number of Welsh-speaking small businesses. On our street, I think there are about 30-40% Welsh-speakers (rough estimateā¦) Itās no substitute for a Bro Cymraeg (itās one small area in the middle of a big city), but weāve got to take our consolation where we can.
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Do you live in Treganna by any chance?
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That is brilliant and definitely, I think, a bi-product of Devolution and the coming of the Senedd! Maybe it will spread!! But, of course, if the AMs are surrounded by a lot of Cymraeg, they may not realise how bad things are elsewhere!
Thatās interesting and encouraging newsā¦
Yep - well, Pontcanna.
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I think the Senedd had a lot to do with it - the Welsh media too. There was a spike between 1991 and 2001 (where Cardiff jumped from 6% to 11% Welsh-speakers), but it hasnāt grown much more since then (still 11. something% in 2011). The Welsh-language schools here are all bursting at the seams, but I donāt know how many of those young people continue to use the language outside school. Itās complicatedā¦
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