How do non-welsh speakers respond to welsh language culture in Wales?

Question

This is more of a census and I'm not meaning to sound arrogant, What I'm wondering is what culture and the identity behind this culture means to a non-welsh speaker in Wales. Is it praised as an individual aspect of Wales or simply seen as something not to bother with since there is a language barrier?

By Culture I'm refering to Art forms (such as poems, music and performing arts), Sports, scholarly persuits etc. As a welshman I can appreciate these because it's part of who I am, but is it also an appreciation that requires a language?

Answer 1

we don't respond. Oh you are asking people only in Wales? Then y don't u put this in the UK (or w.e) section? This is American Yahoo! Go to yahoo! homepage then go to international then click on Wales!

Answer 2

I started to answer this question last night and was interrupted, which gives me further opportunity to think through the implications of this matter. I don't represent the non-Welsh speaker in Wales, being a Welsh speaker who has never been domiciled in the Principality, so I have had to look through the opposite end of the telescope, so to speak.

I have met many people who, while unable to speak Welsh, were nevertheless patriotic, particularly when it came to rugby matches! I also have some non Welsh-speaking relatives. I think that a key to the answer lies in what happens when Welsh speakers distance themselves from the language in the way that Dylan Thomas's father did. I take him as an example because his attitude is well documented and his son's writings give some insight into how a non-Welsh speaker views his country's heritage. Here was a Welsh speaker who simply refused to speak the language at home and who made a point of not passing it on to his children. This is not a place to go into details on this topic, but the result as far as his son was concerned was a view of the people and the culture which in many ways echoed aspects of the Welsh language culture of which he had been deprived and a poetry which bears some of the hallmarks of Welsh poetry.
When people emigrate from Scotland or Ireland they never seem to pass on the Gaelic language to their children, who consequently assimilate in the country of exile. With the Welsh it is sometimes -- in the minority of cases, admittedly -- different, in that the children will continue to bear the Welsh tag because of their knowledge of the language and their consequent association with the Welsh culture. I think that anyone wishing to be involved with the Welsh culture must inevitably at least make some effort with the language and it is interesting that in Patagonia young people who are only perhaps one quarter Welsh are identifying with that part of their culture by learning Welsh. With the language, of course, go the aspects of Welsh culture which you mention, which thrive in that part of Argentina.

So, as far as I can perceive the situation, the culture and the language go hand in hand. I don't know what it is like to be a non Welsh speaker living in Wales and am unable to understand why such people don't learn Welsh out of sheer curiosity to find out what is going on about them, but no doubt they have their reasons and perhaps are disadvantaged by a system which leads them to make choices between French and Welsh at school (I would inevitably have chosen French because of its sheer usefulness). Not speaking Welsh is no real barrier to loving the music of the country and some of the gems of Welsh literature are available in translation. I have even met English people studying Welsh History at University, which is a remarkable thing in itself. But I think there comes a point where one must mark one's commitment to Welsh culture by working hard at learning the language and I am struck by the number of friends I have who have done just that in later life.

Answer 3

I think Welsh is a beautiful language. I wish i knew it.