Bilingual clap trap.

[chrislusty]

Do you not have the mental capacity to read one line down for the English version? Iesu on the moors how lazy can you be?

Thanks, but when im looking at signs i like to be able to read them quickly and not have to look at them twice when driving, i prefer to watch the road.

you may prefer to read twice and not pay attention to the road

So get off your high horse,


I have lived in wales all my life, and where i live, around Cardiff, have never ever needed to speak welsh. I am all for being welsh, i put that down as my nationality, however when it comes down to safety, i would prefer english first.

 

[platypus]

What is it with the English and wanting to stamp out culture not of their own

That's rather a large generalisation.

I don't particularly wish to stamp out any culture. However, lets just devolve and have done with you and the Scots.

 

[Psyk]

If the South-West of England (or parts of it) wants to claim independence then the case should surely be heard but it is perhaps less clear-cut than Scottish or Welsh independence because as I understand it they have been amalgamated into England for longer than they ever were independant.

That's debatable. Wales had been amalgamated into England for a long, long time. It was only fairly recently it was officially recognised as being separate from England (the 60s). It's possible that the only reason that Wales exists now is because of the language. If it wasn't for that maybe people wouldn't have thought of it as being separate from England.

 

[Lopéz]

Thanks, but when im looking at signs i like to be able to read them quickly and not have to look at them twice when driving, i prefer to watch the road.

you may prefer to read twice and not pay attention to the road

So get off your high horse,


I have lived in wales all my life, and where i live, around Cardiff, have never ever needed to speak welsh. I am all for being welsh, i put that down as my nationality, however when it comes down to safety, i would prefer english first.

If bilingual road signs cause you to become that much of a danger then I think you should question your skills as a driver.
When I'm abroad every sign is in a foreign language - sometimes (Greece for example) a different alphabet. It doesn't instantly put me on the edge of death when driving a car.

 

[Tefal]

I'm Welsh myself (as I'm sure anyone except a retard could discover) and I'm pretty appauled my the majority of the replys from both Welsh and non-Welsh posters.

In reply to all the English posters, you all seem to be completely ignorant of another countries culture and heritage, and Kahn being a bit of a ***** to be honest.

As for the Welsh posters who are saying forcing Welsh is a complete waste of money. It's a part of your country, have you never heard of national pride? Would you rather the language of your country died and was never spoken again? Talk about patriotism...

I'm 20, moved to England when I was 3, and I literally knew no English whatsoever, so it's a load of you people saying that English is the first language in Wales, you just have no idea.

I really can't speak welsh, all through the classes from the start of school it just confused me. And has now pretty much just ******* up my English grammar, and still can't speak welsh.

Sad thing is i would have been able to if id been born a few years earlier befor my welsh speaking granddad died

 

[Angilion]

"Don't allow Welsh nationals to simply cross the border to get services paid for by English public money."

Well we had to stop the english trying to get free prescriptions by crossing the boarder and pretending they where Welsh.

The law states all road signs and documants must have Welsh, it's the oldest langague in europe, and before the english inavade it was spoken all over britain.

If you don't like it then don't come here, simple really.

Welshy got it right, just because the english moan and try to force their culture on us don't mean we are going to roll over and let you.

We have been here a far longer then you have, if you don't like it then move out back to your original country.

Have you read my posts? It seems not. A free clue for you:

I am advocating that Great Britain be re-divided into three separate countries. To make it crystal clear - I would prefer to have England, Scotland and Wales as separate countries. The main reason I think that way is because they are three separate countries anyway. They've been stitched together, but they have not been unified.

I have probably been here longer than you. I'm 38. How old are you?

Or are you, for some reason, saying you were here before you were born? I don't see the relevance of beliefs about reincarnation to this argument.

If you're going to use some nationalistic definition of "we" going back a few millenia, then I'm afraid you'll have to count me as part of "you". I'm the first generation of my family born outside Wales.

I was going to say that people like you would be the most badly affected by Welsh independence, because you'd lose your main complaint, but then I thought better of it. You'd still be able to complain about "the English", even if you fortified the border and let no-one in. It's too convenient to have an easily definable scapegoat group to blame for everything.

 

[Angilion]

chill out mate, it's only a bit of fun.

I don't regard falsifying quotes as a bit of fun, although I appreciate that was the intention. It's just plain wrong to claim someone has said or written something when they have not done so.

 

[Angilion]

That's debatable. Wales had been amalgamated into England for a long, long time. It was only fairly recently it was officially recognised as being separate from England (the 60s). It's possible that the only reason that Wales exists now is because of the language. If it wasn't for that maybe people wouldn't have thought of it as being separate from England.

Most people still don't. That might well be true even in Britain.

It wouldn't be much further to go to start a campaign to have York (the city and the surrounding area) restored to independence as a Scandanavian country.

I'm serious. It's only a matter of a couple of hundred years difference. Start the campaign now and maybe York (or, by then, Jorvik again) could regain its independence from "the English".

Who, as a aside, haven't really been English for over 900 years.

 

[gambitt]

I don't regard falsifying quotes as a bit of fun, although I appreciate that was the intention. It's just plain wrong to claim someone has said or written something when they have not done so.

falsifying quotes?! lmao

I put it in big red writing. Forget chilling out, you need to have that.. whatever it is.. removed from your.. you know where

 

[Shoseki]

My opinion is, that people speak the language they want. It may not appeal to those who speak English what is so special about Welsh, but believe me, people identify themselves through their culture and language is an important part of culture.

If businesses want to widen their approachable business possibilities, multilingual a way forward in a bilingual society. You don't have to work their, just like the company doesn't have to support Welsh. However, the company HAS decided to support Welsh, so by staying there, you endorse it to.

If you don't like it, move jobs. There are plenty of countries where they have the same issues. Most people in The Netherlands speak Dutch and English as standard.

Learning another language also teaches your more about your own language...

 

[Psyk]

Most people still don't. That might well be true even in Britain.

It wouldn't be much further to go to start a campaign to have York (the city and the surrounding area) restored to independence as a Scandanavian country.

I'm serious. It's only a matter of a couple of hundred years difference. Start the campaign now and maybe York (or, by then, Jorvik again) could regain its independence from "the English".

Who, as a aside, haven't really been English for over 900 years.

Funnily enough there is actually a movement for devolution for Wessex.

 

[Angilion]

falsifying quotes?! lmao

I put it in big red writing. Forget chilling out, you need to have that.. whatever it is.. removed from your.. you know where

I am unsurprised at your response. Maybe one day you'll find out the hard way why falsifying quotes, even if you do use a different colour, can cause problems for the people it's done to. Perhaps after you come up with a better counter-argument than that one.

In the meantime, here's a polite request that really shouldn't be necessary:

Please do not write stuff and claim that I wrote it.

 

[Welshy]

And just to add, I had the pleasure of going to Patagonia (Argentina) on my world travels a month ago and went to a number of Government funded/sponsored events like their version of the National Eisteddfod, Welsh Schools and visiting museums that had sings in Welsh and Spanish. People don't complain about having signs in both languages (obviously not on as big a scale as here) as they see it as part of their heritage that Patagonia was settled by Welsh settlers, they don't try and stamp it out, they encourage it as a means of making people aware of their heritage and past.

Quite fancy going for a holiday down there myself before I die (which should be a while off ) See how they work as a Welsh speaking society.

I'm glad to see there are a few proud Welsh people on the boards

Edit: Oh and in response to the guy who said he lived in Cardiff, and never needed to speak Welsh:
That's an example of what the result will be if people were to stop talking Welsh completely. It's most likely as a result of the south being more industrial/commercial and so everyone needing to speak English, then not bothering with Welsh. Go to north Wales for the real Wales

 

[inferno]

I don't agree with all this welsh nonsense, learn a few phrases to keep the language alive, but you do live next to England and the language spoken around the world is English. You won't get anywhere in life, apart from wales if you speak welsh!

You are part of Britain, we have close ties, we should speak the same language!

I formed my opinion mainly on this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOZlJiOvXsU

 

[gambitt]

By all means, move to North "real" Wales if you must. But in the time being the Welsh Assembly are still spending tax money on it all over Wales.

Welsh should be treated as a cultural language for things like Eisteddfod and spoken in pubs between mates, not a commercial language where it's forced upon non-Welsh speakers by the Welsh Assembly.

 

[Tom0]

The Welsh, Scottish, and Irish never forget the past, The English never learn from it.

 

[semi-pro waster]

That's debatable. Wales had been amalgamated into England for a long, long time. It was only fairly recently it was officially recognised as being separate from England (the 60s). It's possible that the only reason that Wales exists now is because of the language. If it wasn't for that maybe people wouldn't have thought of it as being separate from England.

Without attempting to be glib but yes, no wonder, it is debatable, if it wasn't so then Wales would be separate already I reckon.

Whether it, Scotland, Wessex or any other place should be separate from England is a matter worthy of some consideration. This is by no means a guarantee that anywhere should be but I'd certainly be interested to hear any case and the reasoning behind it.

 

[Angilion]

The Welsh, Scottish, and Irish never forget the past, The English never learn from it.

If that's the case, then the best thing for England to do is learn to treat every single Welsh, Scottish and Irish person as an enemy of England and act accordingly towards them. If they're all acting from a particular idea of the past (probably based on Braveheart), they all see "the English" as the enemy.

I don't think it's that bad. There are plenty of people in those countries who aren't particularly prejudiced against English people.

Time to split and plant spies to see how hostile the other countries become towards England. It would be easy to (continue to) blame England for any problems following independence and work up some hatred. Many a politician has gained power using that technique.

Then we can all lose our independence and become regions in the EU separately rather than together.

The monarchy might be a problem. Would England have to try to find a descendent from before 1607, when the King of Scotland inherited England?

 

[bledd]

So are there people living in Wales that DON'T speak any English then?

in north wales there are, but they're really weird up there -that glyn guy from big brother was from north wales, he was a lot more normal than most

i can speak welsh, but rarely use it, mainly when speaking to my mum, grandparents and one of my mates (we always have done since childhood)

i really don't see the point of forcing employees to answer in welsh on the phone if they can't speak it themselves, it would just sound stupid... (no offence OP!) if you worked for a welsh school or something, then fair enough

 

[Morlan]

If that's the case, then the best thing for England to do is learn to treat every single Welsh, Scottish and Irish person as an enemy of England and act accordingly towards them.

Oh dear, that's exactly what England has been doing for the past 800 years. Seems like old habits live on.