Welsh is the oldest language in Britain starting back nearly 4,000 years. Most European languages including Welsh evolved from a language now referred to as Indo-European. The Indo-European language developed into nine different language groups, one of which was Celtic. From that, Celtic developed into its own family of languages, which included Welsh. With the emergence of the English empire, most people in Britain looked down on the Welsh residences, referred to them as ruckus rowdies, and definitely put them in a lower class than the citizens of Britain. The British started to influence the country, and made English the official language of the country. It got to the point that school children who only spoke Welsh were made to wear signs around their neck with the letters W N on them. This was to instruct teachers that these children were only to be spoken to in English and not Welsh. Welsh Not is what the letters stood for. (BBC, 2011) In the mid 1800’s, around 80 percent of people living in Wales were Welsh speakers. Very few of the residents spoke almost no English at all. As of 2001, according to the Census, 20.8% of people in Wales can speak Welsh. This is saying that only 580,000 in a country of only 3 million people aged three and above speak the language. Welsh was mainly only spoken in the smaller towns in the West and North West of Wales. When the language started disappearing amongst their citizens the government recognized that they needed to take steps to ensure the language, and the community’s culture did not disappear. The enacting of legislation in the 1990’s was that Welsh became a compulsory subject for all pupils in Wales up to the age of 14 in 1990. In 1999, the legislation was changed until the age of 16. Today all pupils in mainstream schools in Wales study Welsh for all 12 years of their schooling. (Veritas, 2011) Part of the reason that the Welsh language has been supported, to make a comeback, is that the area has lost its sense of community, traditions, and cultural activities. As the English language was adopted as the official language of Wales, it pushed out all the Wales customs, and introduced the customs of the British into their society. As people began to see their Welsh Identity disappear, they fought back and started to introduce the legislations to change the office language of Welsh from English, to dual official languages of English and Welsh. One question we can ask ourselves, and use Welsh as an example is, can a group maintain a strong identity without having a common language to bind them? I would answer this question with a strong no. As the younger children in Wales learn English through media, television, and just the news, it pulls them quickly away from their culture, and also away from the elders in the community. Many of the older generation in Wales still only communicates in Welsh. If the children of their community did not have to participate in 12 years of Welsh in the schooling, they would lose ways to communicate with their grandparents, and miss learning about the cultural heritage. (Reiner, 2010) With the loss of a language in a country, the identity of the country is also lost. Wales has recognized this and started to bring back the language that has almost become extinct at the beginning of the 1900’s. Although only 25% of the country now is fluent in the Welsh language that is up almost 5% in the 2011 census compared to the 2001 census. They are definitely headed in the right direction when it comes to saving their language, their cultural identity, and of course their pride. With the starting of several BBC Welsh channels, the media is starting to recognize the importance of giving this ancient language a chance again. With the continues interest in the language, Wales will see an increase in their citizens pride, and also the immergence of some of the extinct customs such as Merry Night, and All Hollow’s Eve. (Britannia, 2013)

References BBC. (2011, January 15). Welsh 'becoming symbolic rather than living language'. Retrieved from BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-12199261

Britannia. (2013, September 1). Wales Culture. Retrieved from Britannia: http://www.britannia.com/wales/culture1.html

Reyhner, J. (2010, April 2). Cultural Survival vs forced assmiliation. Retrieved from Cultural Survival: http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/united-states/cultural-survival-vs-forced-assimilation-rene

Veritas. (2011, January 19). New Wales Legislation. Retrieved from Veritas: http://www.veritaslanguagesolutions.com/