Representatives from Celebrating our Language met the Welsh First Minister, Carwyn Jones, to call for a strong response to the worrying results of the Census and to act with measures to promote the Welsh language. Concern was expressed that there are no clear steps in mind to meet the challenge of securing the future of the Welsh language. A number of reviews on the state of the language which were commissioned by the Government have now been published and the clear recommendation is that additional resources are required to promote the Welsh language.

Tegwen Morris, Director of  Merched y Wawr said, “There was a flurry of ideas and enthusiasm in the Great Conference held last year to consider the disappointing Census results but we are still waiting for the Government to act. Welsh-speaking communities suffer from a lack of resources and social activities”.

Rebecca Williams, Policy Officer UCAC, expressed concern about the impact of local government cuts on Welsh education. “The cuts in transportation services will affect the ability of parents to send their children to Welsh-medium education. The Government needs to ensure that their policies will give everyone a fair chance to be educated in their language of choice. There is also a need to ensure that training is available to provide a workforce for the increasing demand for Welsh education in our schools.”

According to Penri Williams, Chairman of Celebrating our Language, “We need to be confident about the future of the language, we can not afford further delays before tackling the issues. There is support from all sides of the Welsh Assembly and it is important that the County Councils also ensure equitable provision .

“The Prime Minister clearly recognizes the seriousness of the situation and is considering the most effective ways of implementing the recommendation of the reports.

“There is no lack of ideas or vision ” said Penri Williams , “We have compiled a list of over 50 actions that can be implemented, many by working with existing funds and other actions requiring additional investment to provide further opportunities to use the language.”

Celebrating Our Language – Mudiadau Dathlu’r Gymraeg believes that more resources are needed to ensure that the Welsh language thrives in the future.  We believe that current expenditure should be diversified to ensure that a fair share of the budget can be used to develop and strengthen opportunities to use the language.

Celebrating Our Language is organizing a conference in May with the expectation that the Government plans will have been announced by then. The aim of the conference will be to explore how we can ensure that the Welsh language is central to the provision of government, county councils and other public bodies.

The Welsh Government published its document ‘Proposed standards relating to the Welsh language’ on 6 January 2014. The Welsh Government stated that it expects that the Welsh Language Standards will be made law by November 2014. The Welsh Language Commissioner’s standards investigation is based on the Welsh Government’s proposed standards.

You should visit the Welsh Government’s website to see the ‘Proposed standards relating to the Welsh language’ document. You can do this by clicking on the link below:

http://wales.gov.uk/docs/dcells/publications/140106-consultation-on-standards-relating-to-the-welsh-language-cy.pdf

The 26 organizations which are part of the initial standards investigation are the:

– 22 County borough councils and county councils in Wales – 3 Welsh National Park Authorities – Welsh Ministers.

In carrying out the standards investigation the Welsh Language Commissioner will consult with each relevant organization, the Advisory Panel, and the public. The Welsh Language Commissioner wishes to hear the views of as many members of the public in Wales as possible.

The questionnaire on this page gives you an opportunity to note what you believe is reasonable for organizations to undertake and provide in the Welsh language.

Standards investigation period The start date for this standards investigation is 27 January 2014. It will come to an end on 18 April 2014.

Happy New Year. First of all THANK YOU to everyone who worked so hard to celebrate the Welsh language in 2013, the success of the first Shwmae Su’mae Day has inspired individuals young and old in communities across Wales.

FSo how about doing the same thing again this year and rembering to encourage people and societies yn your village/ town/area to join the celebration. We can succeed to spread the message that the Welsh language is for everyone and enourage its ownership by all.

This is a bottom – up campaign, a positive campaign to promote the language.

• Remember to contact us with news and your plans so that we can give add it to our record of events.
• Keep an eye on our Facebook/twitter/website

https://www.facebook.com/groups/502197179857025/?fref=ts

@ShwmaeSumae

www.shwmae.org

Organisations supporting the Welsh language have called on the First Minister to use a part of the finance that is coming to Wales as a result of the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget Announcement to invest in Welsh language projects that will improve the skills of children and workers.

The budget which was recently approved by the Welsh Government includes cuts to Welsh language projects of more than £1.5 million over the next two years.

The umbrella group ‘Celebrating our Language’ represents 25 organisations which promote and work in the Welsh language. In a letter to the First Minister and the Finance Minister today, the Chairman of Celebrating our language, Penri Williams, said:

“The recent Census results showed that the Welsh language is facing a crisis and there is a need for the Government to act urgently to prevent a further fall. Recently we had a constructive meeting with your officers where it became apparent that there was a desire to act on practical proposals if additional funds were available.

“We appreciate that the current financial situation is challenging, but we also note that this additional funding provides an opportunity to assist the Welsh language and improve skills and the standard of care in our health service.

“We suggest therefore that the following can be implemented with the additional funding:

• establish centres for pupils wishing to transfer to Welsh language education (based on the Gwynedd model) in Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Ynys Môn;
• provide funds for the Welsh for Adults Centres to provide additional Welsh courses for teachers and health workers;
• additional support for organisations that provide community training opportunities for adults and young people.”

The Celebrating our Language – Mudiadau Dathlu’r Gymraeg umbrella group is glad to announce that the First Minister, Carwyn Jones, has responded positively to their request for a meeting to discuss the draft budget. The group is confident that this can be carried out before the vote on the draft budget on 10 December.

This comes as the First Minister prepares to deliver a statement in the Assembly regarding his initial response to the Big Conversation.

Penri Williams, Chairman of the Celebrating Our Language group said,

“As a group we were concerned that the draft budget showed a reduction in the finance for the Welsh language, specifically in terms of teaching Welsh. We are of the opinion that spending on promoting the Welsh language should be prioritised, as we as a country respond to the disturbing census statistics and as we look forward to seeing the Government’s response to the Big Conversation on the Welsh language held in the summer.

“We are keen to see a ‘big’ response to the ‘big’ conversation.

“When the Big Conversation was held, Celebrating Our Language called on the Government to increase, over a period of time, it’s spending on projects specifically for the Welsh language to 1% of the total budget, arguing that investment in the language should match those seen for the Basque language in the Basque Country. So any cuts in the opposite direction would, at this time, be severely damaging to the Welsh language, particularly as reviews, commissioned by the Government, call for further spending on specific items.”

Celebrating Our Language – Mudiadau Dathlu’r Gymraeg wish to thank communities across the length and breadth of Wales for their enthusiasm which ensured the success of the first ever Diwrnod Shwmae Su’mae Day on October 15^th. In a truly grassroots campaign, the creativity shown by communities all over Wales was an inspiration.

It is estimated around 150 activities as part of the day.

Mentrau Iaith (Welsh Language Initiatives), schools and community groups across the country took part in promoting the day. One of those areas was Bridgend, where Menter Bro Ogwr organised a stall in the middle of town providing entertainment and various activities, while Siop yr Hen Bont Bookshop offered a prize to the 50^th customer to greet the shopkeeper with ‘Shwmae!’.

Marged Elin Thomas from Menter Bro Ogwr posted on the campaign’s Facebook page, “Since Menter Bro Ogwr participated in the campaign, more non-Welsh speaking customers at Siop yr Hen Bont now greet us with Shwmae! ”

The response from schools across the country was tremendous, with pupils and staff alike getting in to the spirit of the day. Glenn Wall from Blaenau Gwent remarked on Facebook, “Everyone at school enjoyed Diwrnod Shwmae Su’mae Day today. There will be a page devoted to it in the Winter edition of the school’s magazine. Looking forward to next year already!”

One remarkable feature of the campaign was the amazing presence it generated on social media, with statistics showing 1,046 individuals having tweeted 1,598 times during the day reaching approximately 674,699 accounts.

Huw Marshall,S4C Digital Manager said, “The level of traffic, especially in the morning, was significant. It has definitely been one of the most successful Welsh medium social media campaigns and highlights the importance of similar media in terms of the language. I’m pretty sure that with further awareness of the campaign in 2014, these figures will see a further growth.”

Said Catrin Dafydd on behalf of Celebrating Our Language – Mudiadau Dathlu’r Gymraeg, “We are very proud at having been able to help support the communities of Wales celebrate the Welsh language through this campaign. As a truly grassroots project, it gave people full ownership of communicating their identity in fun and imaginative ways, proving that the Welsh language belongs to us all. The way in which it ignited people’s imagination reflects the genuine goodwill which exists within our communities towards the Welsh language. What is truly remarkable is that there was no funding or sponsorship driving the campaign, only the enthusiasm and creativity of the people of Wales. Channeling its legacy and maintaining the momentum is now crucial. This only marks the beginning of the journey. We hope that it leads to us all using more Welsh in our daily lives, until Diwrnod Shwmae Su’mae Day turns in to a Shwmae Su’mae Year, creating a situation where more people live their lives through the medium of Welsh or utilise whatever Welsh language skills they possess.”

Communities across Wales took part in the Shwmae Su’mae day on October 15 organised by Celebrating Our Language – Mudiadau Dathlu’r Gymraeg. The purpose of the  day was to encourage people to start each conversation in Welsh.

In shops, busneses, schools and offices people were greeting one another in Welsh and discovered many other people who could also speak Welsh.

Shw mae! 

On this year’s Shwmae day the Grŵp Deddf (South East Wales’ Welsh Language Officers) and I would be very grateful if you could help us by completing a (very!) short questionnaire below and give us your idea(s) about how we could increase the use of the language and create a stronger sense of Welsh identity.

http://english.gwnewchypethaubychain.or g/

We are looking for ideas that could be easily adopted by everyone, rather than strategic ideas, with the intention of publishing them in a book called ‘Gwnewch y Pethau Bychain’ (Do the little things) on St David’s Day 2014.

In the book there will be ideas from the people of Wales of the small but (hopefully!) far reaching things each one of us can do to support and raise awareness of the Welsh language, and these will be arranged under the 4 main language transmission fields which are the community, the workplace, education and family.

To help you, here are some examples of the ideas that we have received through the pilot.

The Family
• Learn and sing the National Anthem.
• Speak Welsh with your children.
• Put a Wales badge on your car, tractor etc and raise a flag in your garden or village.
• Use all the Welsh language services that are available to you. You can select your language preference with your local Council, and many other public and private services

The Community
• If moving to the area, keep or reinstate your house or farm’s Welsh name. Do not change it to English.
• Ask the local papur or the local menter iaith to advertise something on your behalf e.g. an event, selling something etc.
• If you are leaving a message e.g. to the postman, the milkman or parking instructions – you can do this bilingually.
• Consider the candidates attitudes towards the Welsh language when deciding who to vote for.

Education
• Send your children to a Welsh medium school.
• Write to S4C asking for more contemporary content of interest to young people.
• Use the language outside the school gates.
• If someone from your circle of friends is learning Welsh, try not to change to English when you are out socialising.

The Workplace
• If you speak Welsh, use a ‘Iaith Gwaith’ (Working Welsh) badge.
• Ask your manager for Welsh courses in work.
• Do not judge people on the quality of their spoken Welsh. The fact that they use their Welsh is more important than the opinions of language police.
• Communicate bilingually with everyone e.g. email, letters etc if you do not know their language preference.
At the end of the book there will be a list of bodies that provide Welsh language services and Welsh phone lines so everyone can use the services that are available to them.

If you want to see your ideas in print then please complete this short questionnaire so we can do the little things together.