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I was just curious to know whether there are areas on the English side of the England/Wales border where there are significant numbers of native Welsh speakers.
I was reading an article about the Welsh language and it suggested that there are some, but I couldn’t find any reference to them.
I know that Welsh is a remnant of the Britonic language that was spoken throughout England, Wales and southern Scotland until Danes, Vikings and Saxons invaded, and that the Cornish language is very similar, as were the extinct Cumbric and Devonian languages.
The Romans left us a lot of words they didn’t impose their language on Britain.
Why would anyone want to speak Welsh in fact given English is the business language and let’s face it the language of popular music why doesnt every nation just make English their first language and be done with it what difference does it make
Ohhhh you just knew someone would bite didn’t you Pete…… :shock: :shock:
I was brought up in a Welsh speaking household and went to a Welsh school where Welsh was the primary language……Welsh is still a subject taught in Welsh schools even today as we are proud of our heritage… :lol: :lol:
By the way over the centuries when invaders from Europe came over spreading throughout the southeast, the Britons fled to the hills – namely Wales and Scottyland….so are you English hmmmmm no maybe a mixture of French, Dutch with a bit of Scandanavian thrown in….but not English in the true sense of the word…… :? :?
Lecture over :lol: :lol: :lol:
Doesnt alter the fact that the most “important” language is English. Thats not because the English “invented it, it just is. Language is about communication and if there was one universal language then communication would be easier.
That doesnt remove any nation’s heritage but the Welsh arent the Welsh because they speak welsh, nor the French or the Italians or any other nation and business is conducted in English worldwide. Thas the reason so many foreigners speak English while we dont really speak a foreign language in anywhere near as near numbers (and I include Welsh Scots and Irish in that we) :P
People sometimes think I am Welsh because I have a mellowed down Geordie accent… I find it strange that Welsh and Geordies should be confused.
Divvent dunchus pet
@pete wrote:
Thas the reason so many foreigners speak English while we dont really speak a foreign language in anywhere near as near numbers (and I include Welsh Scots and Irish in that we) :P
The reason so many “foreigners” speak English (or, increasingly, American) is cos the English and the Americans can’t be bothered to learn to communicate in their hosts’ language and expect the host to accomodate them instead. Too many English people arrive in foreign countries without a word of the local lingo and expect to be instantly understood, whilst grumbling if visitors to England can’t speak English.
(lights blue touchpaper and retires….)
@jen_jen wrote:
……. Too many English people arrive in foreign countries without a word of the local lingo and expect to be instantly understood, ………..
Quite right too. The plain fact is that if you speak very loudly and slowly and wave your arms around a bit … “foreigners” invariably understand you. There is absolutely no need to mess about learning a foreign language and thereby exposing yourself to ridicule for making elementary grammatical errors.
If they become slightly over-excited or argumentative – as “foreigners” are wont to do – this can be easily resolved by administering a firm tap behind the ear with a rolled up copy of The Daily Telegraph !!!
I see no ones actually tried to answer Bass’s question.
ok then . . . . .
It’s unlikely.
We can blame the Romans firstly for pushing the Celts back to their forests and mountains, and then a succession of Saxon, Norman and then English kings.
So if we look at the larger towns near the border, like Chester and Hereford, then language was Latin for the occupiers, followed by what eventually became English
Unless a native Welsh speaker came back over Offa’s Dyke and set up some kind of settlement that persists to this day then I’d have to say definitely no.
Maybe once, and then temporarily, by Owen Glendower.
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