In response to the worrying decline in Welsh language usage, experts from Cardiff University want to make it easier to for people to speak Welsh in public places.
The Welsh government needs to create more spaces where Welsh can be spoken to stop recent declines in the number of people who speak the language, according to a Cardiff academic.
Dr Dylan Foster Evans believes that the only way to increase Welsh language speakers is to make it easier to use.
“The use of the Welsh language is more improtant than ability,” says Dr Foster Evans. “It is no good having the ability to speak Welsh if there is no place to actually use it. So it would be wise for the government to concentrate on creating infrastructure and spaces where Welsh can be used, especially by young adults.”
The Office for National Statistics found that in 2021, an estimated 538,000 people in Wales will be able to speak Welsh – 17.8% of the population, a drop of 1.2 percentage points since the 2011 census, with a noticeable decline among children.
“The decline in the use of Welsh is linked to English,” says Dr. Foster Evans, head of the Welsh school at Cardiff University, “As a minority language, Welsh shares a space (geographically, culturally, numerically) with English, the most powerful language in the world and a language that has displaced countless languages around the world. Therefore, there are always likely to be significant pressures on Welsh. “
In addition, migration is also an important cause. “There is also significant in-migration (mainly from England) and out-migration, and in some areas in particular a decrease in intergenerational transmission within families which resulting in a decline in the number of Welsh-speaking people, ” said Dr. Foster Evans.
The decline in the number of Welsh-speaking children in this census is troubling. Dr. Foster Evans suggests that this may be related to Covid: “Many children do not speak Welsh outside of school, so the disruption to schooling caused by covid will naturally impact on language use.”
But he also believes there may be other reasons. “The Census figures are complex, and the apparent reduction in school-age children is probably in part a result of over-reporting in the past two censuses,” said Dr. Foster Evans, ” There is actually a small increase in the number of young adults able to speak Welsh.”
The Welsh Government has published the Cymraeg 2050 Strategy in an effort to start changing this. The strategy has three themes. This strategy includes three themes, which are increasing the number of Welsh speakers, increasing the use of Welsh, and creating favorable conditions – infrastructure and context.
Emma Bryn is Welsh, and her mother tongue is Welsh. She is supportive of the government’s plans: “Negative attitudes towards those of us that try to use the language definitely doesn’t help,’ said Emma, “we can get involved in these more positive activities.”
Dr. Foster Evans believes that the government could also support the development of the Welsh language through legislation. He gave the example of The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, which was passed by the National Assembly for Wales on 7 December 2010 and received Royal Assent from Her Majesty the Queen on 9 February 2011. It declared that the Welsh language has official status in Wales and created the Welsh Language Commissioner post.