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Global city
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Can Cardiff’s Children save a dying language?

Cardiff’s libraries are encouraging Children to speak Welsh with bilingual story times, but can they get them off the ground?

Children enjoying story-time in their library. Photo credit to: U.S. Army Garrison Red Cloud © Image has been cropped.

Children and parents are invited to sing and learn in Welsh at libraries across Cardiff in an attempt to promote the language before it disappears.
Less than 30% of people in Wales can actually speak Welsh. To save the dying language and get more children speaking it, charity Menter Caerdydd have teamed up with Cardiff’s libraries to run Amser Stori, a bilingual sing-along story-time but many are struggling to get parents involved.
Alice Prince, who attended Amser Stori with her daughter Eliza, says, “I’m an English speaker… but I think it’s important in Wales to keep the language alive and it also gives us options for schooling later. It’s important because it’s part of the curriculum later as I understand. It’s good to get [children] involved and give them something to do…they’re growing up in Wales and so it’s for their future.”


The free sessions are targeted at children up to four years of age and include a story, songs and crafts. Both Welsh speakers and non-speakers alike are welcome, but many parents have reportedly been intimidated by the Welsh element.
Library manager at Penylan Library and Community Centre, Cerys, considered re-branding the sessions as bilingual to encourage more people to attend the sessions. She says, “If it’s not used [the Welsh language] is going to die, isn’t it? It would just disappear. We want to make sure we’re relevant to everyone too, we want to have the widest range of activities for the widest range of people.”

The Welsh flag. Photo credit to: Matthew Wilkinson © Image has been cropped.

Things are looking up for Amser Stori, with recent sessions seeing a slowly growing intake. A community is forming at the libraries involved, providing children with the chance to meet new playmates and parents encouraging each other to join in.
Beryl Burgess, a Welsh speaker, says, “For little ones that don’t speak the language it’s good for them to get used to it and they learn so much through song. And you meet some new friends.”