[lg policy] The arrested development of Welsh

[Dave Sayers]

http://www.clickonwales.org/2012/09/the-arrested-development-of-welsh/

Very few people beyond the age of 10 have the natural ability with languages that they had up to the
age of about 5. I am certainly not a natural linguist and just passed French and Latin at O-level. I
also did a year of German before dropping it in favour of Music. I also tried to teach myself
Russian in the 6th form, but never got much beyond the alphabet!

In the past 30 years I have had, through computer programming, what is best described as a nodding
acquaintance with other European languages like Spanish, Danish, Norwegian, Italian, Swedish, Dutch
and Norwegian. Nowadays the main tasks as far as Welsh is concerned are overseeing the translation
of a constantly changing web site into Welsh and trying to extend my vocabulary and understanding by
reading.

Welsh is a difficult language and it needs all the help it can get to survive in a world where
English, for better or worse, is dominant. Yes, if you are good at languages, which some clearly
are, then you will learn it and become fluent. However, most people over the age of 10 aren’t. This
is a major stumbling block. Most people who are native speakers or good at languages don’t
understand the problems that the rest of us have.

(More behind the link.)

http://www.clickonwales.org/2012/09/the-arrested-development-of-welsh/


Dave

--
Dr. Dave Sayers
Honorary Research Fellow, Arts & Humanities, Swansea University
and Visiting Lecturer (2012-2013), Dept English, Åbo Akademi University
dave.sayers at cantab.net
http://swansea.academia.edu/DaveSayers
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