The Welsh Government want your opinion

After reading through the document, some quick and rather telegraphic ideas to throw into the melting pot:

Involve young people in schools and members of the Urdd in consultation and planning

Additional targets: 1) also a percentage of Welsh speakers by 2050; 2) no decrease in proportion speaking Welsh in any area

Allocation of fixed percentage of government resources for policy

Regular consultation through to 2050 and flexibility to adjust programme (but with no option of retreating from targets!)

Annual well publicised presentation of report on progress

If Welsh is still alive but struggling in traditionally Welsh-speaking areas on English side of the Border consider if there may be ways for it to be supported

Need to ensure those who don’t speak Welsh and may not choose, or feel able to learn, are at least supportive and do not feel excluded

When people first move into a new area, the ‘welcome pack’ of material sent by local authorities provides an opportunity to include material publicising opportunities to speak, learn and support Welsh in the area.

Consider how to mitigate any effects of overt or covert hostility to the language by some, including ‘instant rebuttal’ if media involved

Parents to be provided with agreed individual language plans for their child at an early stage

Work to obtain commitment from all political parties

Non-devolved functions – work towards obtaining formal UK government agreement to support the target

Also work towards obtaining a formal commitment from public bodies at the UK level (i.e. not just Welsh divisions) to the targets for Welsh in Wales

Work to gain support of tourist industry in Wales

… and (bee in bonnet alert!) it seems to me that the way the alphabet is taught may be good for learning to read and spell (e.g.’buh’ ‘oh’ ‘buh’ for ‘bod’) but, in a world full of acronyms (well mine is at least!), in everyday life it simply encourages people to use the English alphabet (there are a few examples where the traditional Welsh alphabet is often used, e.g. for S4C and the BBC, but, if they don’t already know the Welsh version, people won’t want to say ‘buh’ ‘buh’ ‘cuh’ for BBC or ‘suh’ 4 ‘cuh’ for S4C, they’ll turn to the English version instead)

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