Fancy speaking your own language!

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A few days ago I was at a social function where we were all seated at tables of six or seven, most of whom didn’t know each other. So people were trying to make polite conversation, asking how we knew the host, where we lived etc. One lady explained that she had lived in the village for a few years, but had originally grown up in the area and then moved away. I asked what brought her back after 20 years living in Cardiff (capital of Wales) and she asked ‘Have you tried being an English person living in Wales?’ I replied that on the contrary, I was a Welsh person living in England. She then went on to complain what a nuisance it had been at work when she had to answer the ‘phone and the caller expected her to speak Welsh. She also told us that an English friend’s children went to a Welsh school and do you know, the homework they brought home was in Welsh and they had to translate it into English before their father could help them with it! At this point another man at the table joined in and said he was planning a trip to Wales in a few weeks, and he had heard that some people in Wales actually spoke to each other in Welsh! And that this was not because they were forced to speak it at school, but they spoke it of their own free choice! I didn’t really know what to say to all this. Of course I didn’t want to start a big argument, and thankfully the host then called everyone to attention for a presentation. But can you imagine having this same conversation concerning any other language? Remarking on the outlandish idea that people in Spain speak Spanish of their own free will, for example, or that children in Greek schools get their homework in Greek? Such comments would be called racism, pure and simple. I’m including a picture of daffodils because the daffodil is the emblem of Wales. All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2022.