It is said that there are 6912 languages include in minor languages in the world. I learned about languages which are spoken in the UK. Mostly, British speak English. But there are other languages. For example, Welsh, Scots, Gaelic, Manx, and Cornish. These languages came from Celtic Languages, while English came from Anglo-Saxon. English, Welsh, Scots and Gaelic are living language, but Manx and Cornish became dead language. People are trying to revive minority language like Welsh, Scots and Gaelic and Dead language.
Focus on Welsh
Welsh is spoken mainly in Wales. Wales has a very strong Celtic culture. Many Celtic languages have almost disappeared, but Welsh is still used. Until 1825 about 80 per cent of the population spoke Welsh. During the nineteenth century there were fewer Welsh speakers, because many English and Irish workers moved to South Wales people moved to the cities where less Welsh was spoken. One of Welsh men said, “Both my great-grandmothers spoke Welsh. My father and his brothers could speak both Welsh and English, but all left Wales and married English women, so my generation speaks no Welsh. I ‘m learning it at evening class.”
Recently, there has been more interest in Welsh. It is now spoken as a first language by more than 20 per cent of the population of Wales. It is used as a second language schools in Wales. So the number of speakers aged between 3 and 15 rose from 17.7 per cent to 24.4 per cent. It means Welsh is reviving gradually now.
Welsh is recognized as a minority language. According to the list of languages ordered by the number of native-language speakers, Welsh is 266 th place. By the way, 1st place is Chinese, 2nd place is Spanish, and 3rd place is English and Japanese is 9th place.
Wales receives money to help its language stay alive. There are television and radio stations with Welsh-language programs.
To understand how different Welsh is from English, compare these lines from the Welsh national anthem with their English translation.
I thought all people who live in the UK speak English. I didn't know about welsh. When I watched the sentence of the Welsh, I didn't understand meaning of it at all. People should protect own national culture and language. Maybe government's role to protect these things is big and important.
References:
Storry, M. and Childs, P. (2007) British Cultural Identities. (3rd Ed.) Routledge.
Focus on Welsh
Welsh is spoken mainly in Wales. Wales has a very strong Celtic culture. Many Celtic languages have almost disappeared, but Welsh is still used. Until 1825 about 80 per cent of the population spoke Welsh. During the nineteenth century there were fewer Welsh speakers, because many English and Irish workers moved to South Wales people moved to the cities where less Welsh was spoken. One of Welsh men said, “Both my great-grandmothers spoke Welsh. My father and his brothers could speak both Welsh and English, but all left Wales and married English women, so my generation speaks no Welsh. I ‘m learning it at evening class.”
Recently, there has been more interest in Welsh. It is now spoken as a first language by more than 20 per cent of the population of Wales. It is used as a second language schools in Wales. So the number of speakers aged between 3 and 15 rose from 17.7 per cent to 24.4 per cent. It means Welsh is reviving gradually now.
Welsh is recognized as a minority language. According to the list of languages ordered by the number of native-language speakers, Welsh is 266 th place. By the way, 1st place is Chinese, 2nd place is Spanish, and 3rd place is English and Japanese is 9th place.
Wales receives money to help its language stay alive. There are television and radio stations with Welsh-language programs.
To understand how different Welsh is from English, compare these lines from the Welsh national anthem with their English translation.
I thought all people who live in the UK speak English. I didn't know about welsh. When I watched the sentence of the Welsh, I didn't understand meaning of it at all. People should protect own national culture and language. Maybe government's role to protect these things is big and important.
References:
Storry, M. and Childs, P. (2007) British Cultural Identities. (3rd Ed.) Routledge.
It was fun to take a look at list of the number of native speakers for each language.
返信削除I was surprised at the number of native speakers for English and Spanish are very close.