Re: Language Revival and Revitalization (was: Ms. Gunn)

On Tuesday, July 9, 2002, at 03:45 , Keith Gaughan wrote:

> From: Steg Belsky [mailto:draqonfayir@JUNO.COM]
{snip}

> Somehow i doubt that's how they did it in Wales, either. :-)
>> So we know how Israel did it, how did Wales?  Did they just send
>> everybody off to an "wlpan" (i love that word) or something?
>
> Suprisingly close. The Welsh, inspired somewhat by the success
> of the Israelis decided to start doing a similar sort of
> total-immersion thingy. It was pretty successful.
Oh yes - the total immersion thingy still continues, i believe.  There
is a strong desire among many Welsh of the anglicized areas,
particularly in the south east, to regain the "heritage".   Welsh was
still spoken in that area till well into the 19th century and lingered
on in the chapels until the 20th.

> Welsh is
> quite a healthy language these days, and getting stronger.
Yep - that is so.  Welsh always retained a healthy L1 population in
the north and parts of south Wales, especially in the old county of
Carmarthenshire; and Elizabeth I in ordering the Bible and the Anglican
'Book of Common Prayer' to be translated into Welsh, gave it a literary
standard which helped to hold the dialects together.  So the modern
revival in the anglicized parts of Wales started from far more favorable
bases than attempts at Irish revival in Ireland.

Queen Bess BTW had the translations made not out of any fondness
for the Welsh language but for purely pragmatic reasons; she was an
astute politician and realized that she had a much greater chance of
getting the Welsh to accept her "media via" Anglican settlement if they
had these things in their own language.  She didn't want the Welsh to
react against English by clinging to the 'old religion' as the Irish had
done.

But, whatever her motives, she did the Welsh a favor   :)

Ray.