Will Welsh become a dead language?

IT WAS a pleasant surprise to discover that the “Honourable Member for the 18th Century”, aka Jacob Rees-Mogg, used a recent Commons questions to offer warm, even enthusiastic, support for the Welsh language and for S4C.

Noting that his maternal grandfather spoke Welsh, and describing the beauty of our native tongue, Mr Rees-Mogg supported “its continued use as a daily language”.

But is this any more a realistic ambition?

Mr Rees-Mogg himself is one of a small number of people in these islands who could hold a sustained conversation in Latin – possibly with Boris Johnson.

Sadly, Cymraeg is also destined to become a quaint antiquarian hobby for an educated elite, unless governments at both ends of the M4 take action – and soon.

The UK Census of 1961 recorded hundreds of genuinely Welshspeaking communities across Wales. The results of this year’s Census will probably show that figure in the low teens, with all these in a small part of the north-west. In just 60 years Y Fro Gymraeg, where Welsh really was in “continued use as a daily language”, has just about vanished.

The Welsh Government has some real success stories in the area of prevention of illness: one of the world’s best Covid vaccination programmes, minimum unit pricing reducing harmful alcohol use, a ban on smoking in enclosed places long before our friends to the east... It shows what can be done with political will.

Providing affordable housing, and ensuring decent jobs for young Cymry Cymraeg who want to remain in areas like Pen Llyn and Penllyn is still just about possible, but only with real determination and courage from our political leaders.

As Mr Rees-Mogg might say: Nil Desperandum and Dyfal Donc.

Ian Hughes Morganstown, Cardiff