The language battle has been lost in Grungetown, at least in the Tesco Extra in Grungetown. The Electronic machines that you swipe your consumer goodies across now inform you that there is an alien item in the bagging area in Welsh. Crossing the road to 'Ocset' (Sounds more like a Toxic Gasoline now) I was nearly run over by a Refuse wagon which was warning me "Rhybydd, mae'r cerbyd yma yn symud nol" (This vehicle is reversing) in an electronic voice of which S4C would be proud. By the time you'd been hit you wouldn't know what language you were speaking. Nawr dwi'n siarad Cymraeg like the next man (woman) but chwarae teg if this is a pitch for hearts and minds, well, it's not working. If I wanted to converse with electronic machines in Welsh, then I'd go to Clwb Ifor Bach or Y Mochyn Du (The Blackest of Pigs) but then again I'm on the wagon so I don't want to be in an atmosphere where I feel that I have to drink in order to speak Welsh. Well you could go along to 'Menter Caerdydd' and learn how to bake cakes in Welsh or play guitar in Welsh or bring up your child in Welsh but I haven't got any kids. I'm a sad old bachelor. So what I'm trying to say is that the context in which any language is spoken is all important. The context in which it is spoken in Kairdiff doesn't feel authentic. It feels plastic and it feels as if it has been foisted upon the indiginous Kairdiffians. If you were from the Welsh Speaking heartland then you would know what this felt like but there is no parity when it comes to language in Wales only Bi-polarity. It is a land of extreme attitudes. You are either for the language or against it. You cannot be indifferent towards it you cannot 'potch' like a lukewarm. Now I am sick to death of extremes! I have done the rights of passage, I have protested and been arrested. I have tried to teach Welsh in Kairdiff Schools. I consider myself a language lobbyist. I am passionate about the language but I won't roll my sleeves up and get down and dirty because 'My Welsh isn't good enough', that oft heard refrain that is symptomatic of a nation of low self esteemers. 'My Welsh isn't good enough' to rub shoulders with the hoi-poloi in the Eisteddfod or at Talwrn y Beirdd. Language, be it English or Welsh is stratified. If you've got the confidence you can use them, if you don't have the confidence then you just shop in the language or watch Pobol Y Cwm! What good is that?
Rhybydd mae'r blogiwr yma yn symud nol.
Warning this blogger is moving backwards.
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