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.