By Eirian Jones | Comment Editor
Throughout my school years, I always felt a little ÔÇ£less WelshÔÇØ than everyone else in my class. Although I am fluent, was in the top set and achieved an A* at GCSE, I still felt that I wasnÔÇÖt quite as good as everyone else there. I feel the reason for this was because my mother is English and father is Welsh but doesnÔÇÖt speak the language, so even though my sister and I were both fluent, we spoke English all the time at home. However, as IÔÇÖve grown up this feeling of being a little ÔÇÿless WelshÔÇÖ developed into a resentment towards a small, tiny minority of Welsh speakers and the Welsh community. Although my dadÔÇÖs the ÔÇÿWelsh OneÔÇÖ, it was predominantly my motherÔÇÖs decision to send my sister and I to an all-speaking Welsh school. Since then, she has spent years taking Welsh classes, attending Welsh speaking events and learning the language ÔÇô and I admire her! ItÔÇÖs an incredibly difficult language to learn.
The issue is that there are a few within the community who tend to belittle learners which in turn severely knocks their confidence. Although, most of the time, my mother has been encouraged and supported by native speakers to practice the language, I have been present on several occasions (more than IÔÇÖd like to admit) where people have refused to speak Welsh with her and have sometimes ridiculed and mocked her accent. Considering we live in Gwynedd, a county where 76% of people speak Welsh, this would happen anywhere, from shops to the local council. In fact, my first memory of this happening was a teacher that I always admired and, ironically, had a family member in the same class as my mother! What IÔÇÖve found to be a common between these people is that theyÔÇÖre all usually nationalists and all usually complain that the language is dying.
Similarly, my dad, whose family originates in Wales, was never lucky enough to learn the language at school and hasnÔÇÖt had much time to learn it since. He has said himself that he feels a bit of shame surrounding the fact that he doesnÔÇÖt speak it fluently and is extremely proud that my sister, my mother and I can. However, when weÔÇÖre out on our family walks, for years, weÔÇÖve had multiple people mutter nasty things under their breath about our dad and the fact that we speak English. On two occasions in the last 6 months the things said have been so hurtful that my sister and I have had to intervene and remind them that he is just as Welsh as they are and that we can understand everything they are saying. On one occasion my dad was forced to list the reasons why he was ÔÇÿWelsh enoughÔÇÖ to walk on a beach with his family near Caernarfon by two strangers. On another occasion, he had just offered to help a grandfather and granddaughter to move their car in fear that it would be damaged on a mountainside and was greeted by ÔÇÿLook at this English man thinking he knows better than usÔÇÖ and refused his help (their car was damaged in the endÔǪ)
Before anyone argues about the immense English migration into Wales, the significant rise in YesCymru members or the fact that Cardiff University has only recently been allowed a Welsh language officer in the SU, I understand and sympathise with the dislike the Welsh community has for the English. I have studied the history; I know the stories. I am a Law student here at Cardiff and speak Welsh all day, everyday and I canÔÇÖt stand it either – I was told to ÔÇÿgo back to where I came fromÔÇÖ in Cardiff on Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant! There are a myriad of examples of anti-Welsh ignorance in the world let alone in Wales.
What I fear a lot of Welsh people simply do not understand is that every time they tell someone ÔÇ£Oh just say it in EnglishÔÇØ or mock Welsh learnersÔÇÖ accents or attempt to belittle someone for not speaking Welsh, they are contributing to the Anglicisation of Wales, whether theyÔÇÖd like to admit it or not.
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