Caernarfon Herald

Shocked mum told to ‘speak English’ to own daughter

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A SHOCKED mum, who was talking in Welsh in Wales to her one-year-old daughter, was told to stop speaking “foreign muck”.

Elin Jones, from Aberystwyt­h, was explaining to daughter Elena about the food on the shelves while out shopping on Saturday.

To her shock, a customer at a store in Ceredigion confronted her, and mother-of-three Elin tweeted: “Just got asked by a lady in a shop why I don’t speak English and not foreign muck to my baby. I was speaking Welsh. In Wales. #givemestre­ngth.”

Speaking to WalesOnlin­e, Elin, who now lives in Lampeter, said: “I think I was pretty calm about the situation to be honest.

“I said to her ‘I think you are misunderst­ood – I am speaking Welsh to my children’.

“But she turned on her heels and walked away. She didn’t even try and justify what she had said.

“Wales and the UK is a multicultu­ral country and I love that about it in general and we should be far more accepting.”

Elin, 32, who works in a pub, added: “Most people usually recognise that it’s Welsh, particular­ly when I’m in Wales.

“But, maybe because I don’t sound Welsh when I am speaking it, I have had comments from people saying ‘go back to your own country’, which is very funny because I am from Aberystwyt­h.”

Elin, a Plaid Cymru town councillor, whose husband does not speak Welsh, is bringing up her children in a bilingual household.

She added: “Our home is bilingual and the children learn it in school too. I’m a first-generation Welsh speaker as my grandparen­ts are from the London area.

“I have always been in Welsh education and they are always really proud that I speak Welsh. I wanted to follow that through in my children too.”

Since her post on Saturday, Elin’s comment has had almost 2,000 retweets and over 3,500 likes.

“It’s gone a bit ridiculous to be honest. I put it on Twitter last night and I checked my account this morning and was a bit shocked!

“It’s in a good way though, we should be promoting tolerance towards all.”

It comes after flagship BBC current affairs programme Newsnight was criticised for its treatment of a debate on the Welsh language last month.

The debate took place after the Welsh Government announced plans to change the way it promotes the Welsh language.

Critics accused producers of “a lack of research, lack of suitable guests and incorrect framing”.

Following the programme, a petition calling for an independen­t review of how the BBC portrays the Welsh language was launched.

 ??  ?? ● Elin Jones with daughter Elena
● Elin Jones with daughter Elena

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