The Welsh language revolution
cliciwch yma ar gyfer y fersiwn Cymraeg
There once was a time when the Welsh language enjoyed no status at all in its own country. Luckily for us, some determined individuals challenged this. Through acts of civil disobedience, often at great personal cost, language rights were won, and Welsh eventually achieved full legal equality with English. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the social status of the Welsh language. In the minds of both speakers and non-speakers, the Welsh language remains second to English. There exists an unspoken social norm that prohibits speaking Welsh to those that speak English to us. Some go further still and shun the default use of Welsh or even refrain from using it in the mere presence on non-Welsh speakers.
Many justify their unwillingness to learn the local language and sometimes even argue for removal of government support for it by arguing that they only care about the communicational value of a language, not its other virtues. I call bullshit on this. People care very much about other things than communication, such as culture and humour. In the Anglophone world we enjoy the likes of Monty Python and Blackadder, which use an intentionally artificial and complicated version of the English language. This is what makes these shows good, but it comes at the cost of being inaccessible to many. I reckon that very few Englishmen and -women would be stoked about the idea to redub everything into B1 learners English, even though it would open the door to a much wider audience. We don't care about communication only; we care about culture and humour; our culture and humour. How can we deny our neighbours theirs?
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It strikes me as odd that someone who learns a second languages apparently loses his right to use the first language of his country without permission, while those who choose ignorance and make no effort to learn another language seem to retain the right to demand that others speak theirs.
I consider this social norm unjust. Wales is a bilingual country, and as such, individuals should be free to choose which language they want to use. Many will choose English, and this their right I will defend. But it is equally my right to choose the language of the heavens. If an individual wishes to reside in Wales but makes no effort to learn the country’s first language, they will have to live with the fact that their understanding will sometimes be limited. It is a direct consequence of their non-action.
An unjust social norm can be challenged in the same way an unjust law can: by breaking it. This is known as social disobedience. When convention expects us to switch to English, we may simply proceed in Welsh, regardless of whether we are being understood or not. Do not be discouraged from speaking Welsh simply because you think your Welsh isn’t good enough. Use whatever you have and fill the rest with English. To reword an old Gaelic saying: Well Cymraeg cach, na Cymraeg mewn arch. (Better shitty Welsh than Welsh in a coffin)
There is no shortage of opportunities for speaking Welsh. Why don’t you give the street evangelists a chance to convert you to their religion, and then explain your position to them in Welsh? Instead of ignoring the charity representatives at the exit of the local supermarket, why don’t you ask them questions about their cause in Welsh? That Sais of a neighbour of yours (or Dic Siôn Dafydd) who has been living there for 30 odd years but still refuses to learn Welsh because “It’s a useless language and everyone speaks English anyway”, why do you choose to make his statement true by speaking English to him? What right does he have to prevent you from speaking Welsh? When engaging with those that wish to do business with you, that is, sell you something and take your money, why don’t you follow a strict no Welsh, no deal policy? How far we go for this is something that everyone will have to decide for themselves, but we must realise that if we tolerate someone’s unwillingness to learn Welsh by speaking English to them, we are contributing to the demise of the Welsh language. If we don’t break this social norm at least sometimes, it will continue to exist, and Welsh will always remain a second-class language, and possibly die as a community language altogether. Ac os mae hyd yn oed y Cymry Cymraeg yn meddwl bod y Gymraeg yn iaith ail ddosbarth yn ei gwlad ei hun, dan ni’n hollol ffocd.
