Welsh (Part 2, The Celtic Languages)

Current Status of Welsh

The status of Welsh in the United Kingdom is interesting, because it was so marginalized but now there is a solid movement for its improvement that has already had some major successes. Welsh has been given far more political status than the UK’s other surviving Celtic language, Scottish Gaelic.

There were almost 510,000 Welsh speakers in Wales, according to the 1991 Census (3: 2.2). A survey carried out by the Welsh government the next year, The Welsh Language Survey, yielded almost double that figure. It is all a matter of degree of fluency: perhaps they understand well but speak very little, so they may not have been included in the Census figure but were in the survey. The highest concentrations of Welsh speakers are in the north and north-west of the country.

Welsh has decent representation in the public sector. For example, the Welsh Language Act of 1967 gave Welsh speakers the right to use Welsh in courts, although there are many obstacles with this option (3: 3.2). Also, some local government bodies have policies of bilingualism, particularly in the northwest, but this type of policy is entirely voluntary (3: 3.3 & 3.6).

The situation of Welsh education is generally considered to be improving. More parents are trying for Welsh-medium education for their children (4). About 15% of primary students receive Welsh-medium education, and more than half receive some education in the language (3: 3.1). At the secondary level, the percentage of students receiving Welsh-medium education drops to about 10%, and it is even lower at the university level.

On the cultural level, Welsh is moderately secure. The language is generally considered in a positive light by the Welsh, rather than as a second-rate language to be forgotten (4). This may seem a silly point, but one of the reasons for the decline of Celtic languages is the view that if English is the road to progress, the native language is substandard and not necessary. This doesn’t seem to be a major problem in Wales. There are hundreds of books published every year in the language, and there is a huge fan base for Celtic music, particularly in Welsh (and the other Celtic languages, too) (3: 3.5).

Overall, the status of Welsh is not entirely secure, but the prospects look good. Because the young seem fairly keen to learn and use the language (3: 4), survival is fairly guaranteed

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