Vichy France

The “I walked into a shop and they started talking Welsh tour”

Living in Wales today must be the closest thing to living in Vichy France during the War. Nazi occupied France. You don’t know who to speak to, what about, and in what language. You’ve got to look out for people with little pin badges, orange apostrophe marks with ‘Cymraeg’ on them.

Most people don’t speak Welsh but because they are the majority, it appears that that gives them the right to hold a bigoted opinion about the minority language.

“Wish I could speak it"
 ( Well get your fat obese lard ass out of McDonalds and sign up for classes then!)

The attitude of the minority has become so defensive that in whole streets of Rhydaman they don’t speak it at all, even though they can. There’s no half measures. We are a Nation of dualities!

In my manifesto (The Shark Fishing in Wales Party) I suggest that we proceed down the path of “Wenglish” where Welsh and English words intermingle. The theory is that the more Welsh words that can be used in everyday conversation by the monoglots, then the faster the spread of the indiginous language.

There is a danger and one which the Welsh Language ‘Heddlu Iaith’ might put an argument against, in that this will undermine the purity and correctness of the ancient tongue.

Well Fuck the purity and correctness, this is the “unfed awr ar ddeg”, chwedl Saunders Lewis and we must do all in our ‘gafael’ to spread the love.

A language can only survive on goodwill, and it appears that there is very little goodwill towards the language. It polarises opinion. The fact that it is considered a rather difficult language to learn doesn’t help, but anything worth having or attaining is worth the struggle.

 “Mae Cymraeg fi ddim digon da” Well fuck that, just speak what you can, when you can.

Aberystwyth, the Athens of Mid Wales. You are on the Fault Line here! It’s bleeding miracle that it is spoken when you consider that it is only 40 miles to the border. The closer to the Ffin (The Border) the less Welsh will be spoken, the further away, the more Welsh is spoken but our entrenched attitudes as a people towards it will not help. This duality, this Bipolarity of language has blown a fuse in my brain!

I am forcing myself to see both sides of the equation because It is such an important equation.

 I speak with people who are openly opposed to the language, their argument being, well it isn’t an argument’ just resentment towards the assembly, jobs for the boys and girls who speak Welsh in Media Land and the cliques of Welsh Speakers who freeze you out of the conversation in Chapter and the Pontcanna Triangle. It appears that not speaking ‘Cymraeg’ makes people feel inferior, not quite the Full Welsh Equation and rather than respect it and further it, they resent it and hope it goes away.

This ‘they all speak English anyway attitude’ won’t get us anywhere. That shows an arrogance and lack of respect. If we cannot become a nation of ‘Bridge Builders’ of ‘Pontwyr’ we are all just going to grumble along in mistrust with the Fault Line running through BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio Wales like a sticky schtick of linguistic rock.