Wales: Language treason

[Harold Schiffman]

Tuesday, 19 February 2008
Feb 19 2008 by Our Correspondent, Western Mail


Language treason

SIR – John Risley (Letters February 13) finds it "hard to believe"
that any "language police" patrolled the houses and streets in
mid-19th century Wales prohibiting the use of Welsh. Of course there
was not, but three English, non- Welsh-speaking Anglican clergy
commissioners acted like "language police". Their "Commission of
Enquiry into State Education in Wales" was published in 1847. The
report was at once named "Brad y Llyfrau Gleision – the Treason of the
Blue Books" because of its distortion of facts and its obvious bias
against the Welsh language and towards anglicisation.

The Welsh language and culture were utterly damned and blamed for low
moral standards, a high criminal rate and a manifold barrier to moral
progress and commercial prosperity. It was the most notorious and
libellous government report ever published in Wales. During this
period the "Welsh Not" was prevalent in schools as a deterrent to the
use of Welsh. In other countries indigenous people have also suffered
degradation of their languages and culture by past governments. The
Australian government last week apologised to the "stolen generations"
of Aboriginals for the profound grief, indignity and hurt inflicted on
them. Thousands of Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from
their families under "assimilation policies". Their culture and
language were deemed to be inferior and replaced by a European one.

Thankfully we have not suffered as badly as this and we now have the
Welsh Assembly Government's support for a bilingual education policy.
We do not look back at the scurrilous criticisms of "Brad y Llyfrau
Gleision", seek no apology and have no "language police". Parents have
a free choice of schools for their children and at the moment the
demand for Welsh medium education far outstrips supply.

WYNFORD NICHOLAS
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/letters-to-the-editor/western-mail-letters/2008/02/19/tuesday-19-october-2008-91466-20491882/


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