“Time it takes to become fluent in another language revealed - and it’s easier to learn Swahili than Welsh”
According to “The Mirror” ! …
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When an article is about learning a language and the fourth word is spelt wrong I stop reading. Sorry. 
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I could not find any reference to the science (if any) on which the article is based. Is it an advertisement for a translation/language teaching company?
Exactly this. No explanation of where those numbers came from. So how are we supposed to believe anything in the article?
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It’s based, supposedly, on the FSI, Foreign Service Institute findings. How long they, the Americans, need to train up foreign diplomats. Unforrunately Cymraeg is not seen as an essential language for American diplomats and doesn’t appear on their lists.
Ah yes, for most of the languages, missed that.
Still leaves the puzzle of where the Welsh estimate came from.
Either Julie Brake or the idea of 60 hours a year for 10 years, plus summer schools etc. 2 years each for mynediad, sylfaen, canolradd and 4 for Uwch. No wonder wonder people are put off even trying, with numbers like this.
There is no mention of any discussion about what it might mean to be fluent in the article, although such discussions do exist elsewhere.
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Does anyone know what the Mirror has against Cymraeg? This is certainly not the first time the paper has run an anti-Welsh language headline! Oh, one point, @gruntius the spelling?/grammatical error was the paper’s, not the researcher’s, but I see from the other comments that the whole thing was basically a diatribe in the “Welsh is bad, Welsh is a waste of time” tradition, not based on any relevant research, since data quoted did not include Welsh at all! . So, why does the Mirror hate an old and lovely language?
Personally, I do not read the Mirror! I does not reflect me, whoever it purports to show!
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Hi all, the Forum reactions to this nonsensical “Mirror” article are much like mine when I first read it.
I was looking around for some onions to go with the tripe!
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Many articles from all sorts of newspapers seem to be mostly there to fill space. So much so that Private Eye invented two journalists - Phil Space and Polly Filler - to exemplify this.
(No reflection on our own dear @pollypolly, I hasten to add! 
)
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I like that, especially as my husband was called Phil!
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Thr vast majority of the ‘British’ print based news media are anti-Welsh to a greater or lesser extent. Even those not actively hostile are usually dismissive and patronising.
I no longer read bother to articles about Welsh if the URL is to a British paper (unless actively researching to find out what counter arguments I need to line up!)
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