Language Research

3. Language issues: Where does one observe language to be a problem in the country?

The Welsh, Gaelic, Scots minorities are asking for legislative protection of their languages.

The Welsh Language Society is campaigning for a wider recognition and legal status for the WELSH language. Their claims are now focused on the presence of Welsh within commercial activities, especially on the part of international companies, which the administration had only “encouraged” to do so up until the present time. A new Welsh Language Act is needed that will force the private, as well as the public sector, to treat the language equally to English. Orange, the mobile phone company, has already approached some of their handset manufacturers to discuss the possibility of adding Welsh to the language options available on-screen. As they open new shops in Wales, the company also says that they will be taking advice about employing Welsh-speaking staff and having bilingual sales material available in their stores. Recently the international soft drink company, Coca-Cola, began an advertising campaign in Welsh in parts of the country.

Since 1999, political parties in the Scottish Parliament have been promising to implement a law to secure official status to GAELIC. However, after a year there is still no concrete sign of will towards this legislation. The Bill should establish the principle of equal validity for Gaelic and English in Scotland. It should also create certain rights and duties in law with regard to the use of Gaelic including a right to Gaelic-medium education, require certain specified public bodies to prepare and implement Gaelic policies. Additionally, it will guarantee the right to use Gaelic in courts and tribunals and before other judicial and quasi-judicial bodies and the right to use Gaelic names and descriptions. Ensuring the monitoring and enforcement of these rights and duties would fall under the responsibilities of this legislation.

Scots enjoys virtually no status in the realms of education, the media and the law. Two major attempts to boost the public image and to encourage promotion of Scots have failed. Firstly, a motion to have signs in Scots mounted in the Scottish Parliament, along with the bilingual signs in English and Gaelic, was turned down. Secondly, an attempt to have a question on the use of Scots included in the 2001 Census also failed. The language is extended no official recognition by the Scottish Parliament, but the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages (EBLUL) recognizes it as a minority language. Just like its sister language Ulster Scots, which is spoken in Northern Ireland, Scots is often considered a dialect of English. However grammatical structure, vocabulary, phonology and history are quite different, and to many non-Scots speakers the language is virtually unintelligible.

Scots language activists have called the lack of public signage in SCOTS “an act of deliberate political discrimination”. Bilingual signage in English and Gaelic are in place in the buildings of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh and in Gaelic-speaking areas. It has also been proposed that bilingual English/Gaelic signage be put up in all of Scotland's National Parks, which are to be created shortly. However, no mention has been made of including the Scots language, spoken in the Lowlands and on the east coast, on signage in these parks or in the Scottish Parliament's buildings. The Scots Language Association would like to see bilingual signage in place all over Scotland: Gaelic/English in the Gàidhealtachd (Gaelic-speaking areas), and Scots/English everywhere else. In areas where the two languages overlap, like Loch Lomond, and in the Scottish Parliament buildings, the signage should be trilingual. Scots language groups argue that bilingual Scots/English signage would help promote tourism.

The IRISH language community has lobbied for Irish or bilingual versions of such permanent items as driving licenses and certificates of births, deaths and marriage for many years. Northern Ireland's diverse cultural and linguistic heritage was set to experience a major boost when the all-Ireland institution responsible for the promotion of Irish and Ulster Scots, was restored on May 29, 2000, thereby ending a crisis in the funding and promotion of both languages. The reinstatement of the all-Ireland institution is a major step forward for Ulster-Scots especially, as the language had no Government body to promote it during the suspension of the Northern Ireland Executive. Ulster-Scots has never had a Government institution dedicated to it. In the first years the Ulster Scots side of the cross-border institution will be mainly concerned with very basic projects, like working on a dictionary. 

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Updated (January 2001)

CRITICISM OF THE FORTHCOMING UK CENSUS

The Census, due to be held on April 29, 2001 has been a cause of controversy among nearly all-autochthonous minority languages in Britain.

In Wales, the UK Census on the ethnicity question is missing the option “Welsh”.

On the census forms will not be a question on Scots. Therefore Scots language activists are asking Scots speakers to fill in “I speak, write and understand Scots” or similar in the space for “other ethnic background”. There are estimated 2,5 million Scots speakers in central and eastern Scotland. The Scots language and Ulster Scots have frequently been the targets of mockery in the media, who claim their languages are nothing more than dialects of English.

The campaign to record Gaelic speakers on this census forms throughout the entire UK failed as well. Only the census forms in Scotland will include the question on the use of Gaelic. The UK Government body responsible for compiling the Census refused to include the question on forms outside of Scotland for fear that a question on the use of all other languages spoken in the UK would have to be included.

WELSH

In Wales, according to the Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru, the only way to safeguard Welsh speaking communities is to strengthen the economy of these areas. As the wages in rural areas in Wales are much lower, the young people are not able to compete in the housing market and are unable to buy new houses. Vice versa, many newcomers from affluent parts of England pay much higher prices than locals.

According to an expert on planning issues, Dr Mark T. Jones, there exists legislation to enable councils of these areas to limit sales of houses in certain areas, give preference to local people thus keeping prices down. This restriction is seen as “racial” to outsiders who are mostly English speakers. In the Welsh planning policies there is a clause that the Welsh language can be considered in planning issues. Councils can refuse a development to a Welsh-speaking area if they feel that it will attract non-Welsh speaking outsiders. Currently, the Welsh Assembly is preparing a draft document on housing but it is afraid of being labeled as racist after it allows imposing such restrictions on the housing market. 

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Updated (April 2001)

WELSH

The Welsh language Board accused the newly established Welsh Assembly of sidelining the Welsh language. Although nearly half of the Assembly members are either fluent speakers or learners, only one percent of Assembly staff, apart from translators, are Welsh speaking.

Delyth Evans, a Welsh-speaking member of the Assembly for the Labour Party, welcomes the criticism but on the other side he does not accept that there is a lack of commitment in the Assembly. It is because there is more emphasis on translating rather than using the language within the Assembly's activities and departments. A number of staff does not have the opportunity to use it. 

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Updated (July 2001)

GAELIC

Controversy arose over the decision by Glasgow Council to display warning bilingual signs in some areas of the city in Punjabi and Urdu but not in Gaelic. A council representative rejected suggestion for Gaelic signs since the city's Gaelic speakers are already bilingual. 

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Updated (February 2002)

GAELIC

In the Highland region in Scotland a row broke out between councilors and the Scottish Executive over the continuing delay in putting up bilingual road signs. Councilors have also threatened to take the Executive to court for contravening the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The disagreement started after the letter from the Deputy Transport Minister Lewis MacDonald, which implied that there would be further delays and that bilingual signs could even be dangerous. However, law lecturer Rob Dunbar from the University of Glasgow said “There is no way they can take it to court, because this requires Scottish or UK domestic legislation.” This raises further questions about the effectiveness of the Charter. For example, to what extent councilors and civil servants have been informed about effecting its implementation and the monitoring of any progress. So far, six months after the charter ratification, the Scottish Executive has not taken any resolute action to promote Gaelic.

CORNISH

A debate about Cornish autonomy is on the UK's political agenda, following the handing in of a petition on December 12th with 50,000 signatures, representing 10 percent of the country's population. The petition was collected by a broad cross-party pressure group campaigning for a Cornish Assembly, (“Senedh Kernow” in Cornish), similar to that found in Wales. The petition coincides with current demands by the Cornish to have their language included on the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, and also to be included as a “national minority” in the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. To be included on both would give a boost to the language and would guarantee a minimum of linguistic rights.

However, even though 10 percent surpasses the required figure set by the Government to stage a referendum, it remains to be seen whether the Labor Party will fulfill its manifesto commitment to deliver devolution to those regions, which desire it.

The issue was further complicated by a row about the true aim of the petition. The Labor MP for Falmouth Camborne in Cornwall, Candy Atherton, has upset Cornish activists by saying that the 50,000 people who signed the Cornish petition were demonstrating support for devolution to the “lowest possible level” and were not necessarily all in favor of a Cornish Assembly. The petition however stated clearly “I support the campaign for a Cornish Assembly.”

Councilor Bert Biscoe, Chairman of the Cornish Constitutional Convention, and leader of the campaign for the Assembly says: “'The clear object now is to convince the Government that the Cornish case is as good as that of the North East of England and good enough to put Cornwall into the first phase of devolution, and to agree in the first instance to hold a Cornish referendum.”

WELSH

The Welsh language - as well as Scots Gaelic - were recognized as two of the indigenous languages of Britain when David Blunkett, the Home Secretary of the British parliament, agreed that fluency in either of these languages or English would be part of the requirements for immigrants to gain British citizenship.

According to this recognition, the Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru wants the government to make greater use of the Welsh language in parliament. At present the only time the language is heard is when a new member of parliament (MP) wishes to take the oath in Welsh when entering parliament. Welsh is classified as a foreign language and cannot be used in parliamentary proceedings - although Latin and French can.

Plaid Cymru MP Simon Thomas has called for changes that would allow the use of the language in committees, which deal with Welsh matters. At present, the language can only be used when these committees meet in Wales, which is very rarely. As soon as these committees cross the border then the language is unacceptable.

But although great strides have been made in securing the language a place in official circles, the position of the language is quite precarious within society. A poll by BBC Wales shows that nearly a third of Welsh speaking parents do not speak the language with their children. Only 40 percent of Welsh speaking parents speak the language all the time with their children. And a surprising 30 percent of the Welsh speakers questioned were not in favor of the compulsory teaching of Welsh in schools. Results of the poll showed that only 65 percent of the 1,004 survey interviewees believe that Welsh would be a living language in just 40 years time.

The poll also asked questions on immigration from England to the Welsh language's heartlands. Over 60 percent of the Welsh speakers were of the opinion that immigrants made a useful economic contribution to these areas, but 52 percent said that they should learn the language.

But the issue of immigration will not go away. Simon Brooks, one of the leaders of a recently formed language pressure group “Cymuned” (community established in 2000 which campaigns for measures to protect the language) said that dissatisfaction within Welsh-speaking areas will lead to civil disobedience if the Assembly does not address these concerns. 

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Updated (March 2002)

GAELIC

Mike Watson, the new Minister for Gaelic and Culture, has appalled Gaelic supporters by declaring that neither one of the two chief recommendations of the MacPherson Report on Gaelic funding is likely to be put into effect. The recommendations were that an additional 10 million pounds (16,394,961 Euro) should be spent annually on the language, and that a small Gaelic department to be set up within the Civil Service to advise on distribution of funds.

Most Gaelic supporters see the legislation as essential for normalization of the language and the Scottish Labour Party even made a Gaelic Language Act or “Secure Status” legislation part of its manifesto commitment, following a petition with 10,000 signatures in support and cross-party endorsements.

Rob Dunbar, a minority language rights expert and law lecturer said: “This is a government, which has no policy for Gaelic and indeed no regard for Gaelic. Its performance is a complete disgrace and embarrassment. Who would have thought that a Labour-led coalition in a Scottish Parliament would make a Conservative Westminster government look good on Gaelic.” 

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Updated (July 2002)

WELSH

The National Assembly of Wales's Culture Committee, after a year's consultation, have signed off their report on the future of the Welsh language.

Although, in general, the number of Welsh speakers is on the increase, the language faces its worst ever threat in its heartlands - in the north and the west. Over the last twenty years, thousands of incomers have moved into these areas, and although steps have been taken to ensure that they, and especially their children, learn the language, these measures have only had limited success. In a survey made in 1961, there were 279 communities with over 80 percent of their population speaking the language. By 1991, this number had fallen to 32, and since 80 percent is the threshold where a language has a chance to survive, this is a bad news for the Welsh language.

The only way to save the language is to save it and strengthen it in its heartlands. In the anglicized areas, the language is facing a revival, but here, at the most, Welsh-speakers will only make about 10 percent of the population.

This is the task that the Assembly's Culture Committee tries to address. The approach is three-pronged - planning and housing, the economy and education.

The Assembly proposes that the Welsh language should be an issue when considering planning applications for housing developments, and that only when a local need is established that these developments receive permission. It also proposes the extension of a scheme where local people receive financial grants to enable them to compete with incomers in the housing market.

Many of the young Welsh-speakers leave their communities due to lack of work and opportunities. The Assembly proposes that the Welsh Development Agency and the Welsh Tourist Board concentrate on these areas to help local people set up businesses and to help inward investment into the area. They also propose improving the transport infrastructure in and to these areas in order to stimulate businesses.

Learning of Welsh in schools was compulsory for a number of years, but it was not successful, as the language tended to be associated with formal education rather than being a social skill. Many children, although they had received years of Welsh lessons, left school without being fluent in it. Others decide not to use the language. The Assembly proposes that the greatest effort should be aimed at children between three and five years old, when learning is easy. This, in theory, would make primary and secondary teaching of the language more successful.

When the Assembly was established three years ago, many saw this as an opportunity to save the language. However, groups campaigning for the language have already expressed disappointment. The Welsh Language Society is disappointed that there will not be a new Welsh Language Act, which would force private companies to use the language. The next step for the Assembly is to debate the recommendations and to implement them before it will be too late to save the language.

Source: http://www.eurolang.net/, Eurolang, Bangor, July 1, 2002 by Dafydd Meirion 

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Updated (August 2002)

WELSH

The Chairman of the Welsh Language Board, Rhodri Williams, presenting the annual report of the board at Pwllheli (north-west Wales), spoke about the need to safeguard the consensus amongst politicians and supporters of the Welsh language. According to him one of the undisputed successes of the past was to safeguard the language from being treated as a political football. The campaign of the Welsh language group “Cymuned” (Community), which has drawn attention to the threat of the language in its heartland due to immigration, mainly from England although having quite sincere reasons, has put the prevailing consensus in peril.

At present, the Language Board can only compel public bodies to use the language under the terms of the Welsh Language Act of 1993. The Welsh Language Society has been pressing for a new language act that would have ensured that private companies would use the language. So far, both the Assembly and the Welsh Language Board have refused this by saying that the best way is to come to voluntary agreements with private companies. This has had only limited success so far.

THE WELSH ASSEMBLY'S ANNOUNCEMENT

The Welsh Assembly has made its first policy announcement after the recent publication of its report on the future of the language. The main theme is setting up local action plans to encourage and promote the use of the language in all aspects of everyday life.

The Assembly proposes to employ 10 extra people to work on local language initiatives, to establish 3 extra language initiative areas and extra funds for the Welsh nursery and youth movements.

The proposals were generally welcomed, however, the way how to limit immigration of English-speakers into Welsh-speaking areas was not mentioned. This has been one of the controversial issues brought forward by pressure group “Cymuned,” which claimed that immigration is a threat to the Welsh language. According to Jenny Randerson, the Minister responsible for the language in the Assembly, the policy won't satisfy some language activists who want to cut Wales off from the rest of Britain and the world.

Cymuned recommended that there should be a limit on the number of people moving into Welsh-speaking areas. A spokesman for Cymuned said they were colonized to such a degree that they could not manage what is happening around. There is nothing that will help to integrate immigrants, to force them to learn Welsh and something about their new country.

The Assembly's proposals try to strengthen the language in these areas, and at the same time they offer opportunities to immigrants to learn the language. The policy will strongly support bilingualism, but also welcome people to Wales.

The Welsh Language Board is satisfied with the Assembly's proposal. According to the Chairman, Rhodri Williams: “for the first time, there is a commitment to promote the language across all areas of government activity, not keeping the language in a cultural cul-de-sac.”

Source: Eurolang, www.eurolang.net, Bangor, July 31, 2002, by Dafydd Meirion 

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Updated (September 2002)

GAELIC

Currently, according to the estimates, there are more than 65,000 Gaelic speakers in Scotland. This figure has suggested that only one new person takes up the language for every five Gaelic speakers who die.

Since 1993 the number of primary schools offering Gaelic medium education has grown from 45 to 59 and the corresponding number of pupils from 1,080 to 1,859. In pre-school education 403 pupils are taught in 36 registered nurseries. Many of these developments have been assisted by “Comann nam Parant,” a network of thirty local groups representing the interests of parents whose children are educated in Gaelic.

In one of the surveys the Gaelic students expressed their fear for the future of the language. The government should be supporting Gaelic, as it is a minority language of the country. The need is not only in the Highlands and Islands but it is Scotland-wide. The number of people speaking the language is decreasing and thus the calls for legislation to ensure its future are heard. Secure status would guarantee the language further funding, development and opportunities. However, the Tourism and Culture Minister Mike Watson said that a Language Act would not be considered, because legal status would mean a requirement for Gaelic to be taught across the whole Scotland and that would not be an appropriate use of executive resources. The Minister said he could not justify legal status for the language if it meant teaching Gaelic in the Borders and Fife where demand was low.

Donna Barden from a language organization “Strì nan Oileanach,” however, pointed out how important this bill is for the whole Scotland and not only for the Highlands and Islands. Gaelic language act will be of no use to the survival and development of the language unless it is for the whole country.

The Minister Watson stressed that many resources are put into the language development. ₤200,000 had been made available for further training of Gaelic-speaking secondary school teachers to enable them to teach their subject in the language. It is also hoped that an extra funding from the Scottish Executive will encourage a new generation to learn and teach Gaelic. In this financial year the Executive has provided ₤2.8 million in specific grants for Gaelic education.

Source: BCC, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1876526.stm, March 16, 2002; “Gaelic targets a new generation;” BCC, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2235631.stm, September 4, 2002, “Gael warning over language;” Eurolang news, www.eurolang.net; http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/news.asp?id=3821, Dùn Éideann, Edinburgh, September 5, 2002, by Davyth Hicks 

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Updated (April 2004)

THE HEARTLANDS OF THE WELSH LANGUAGE MUST BE SECURED AND THE LANGUAGE MUST ALSO EXPAND THROUGH THE REST OF THE COUNTRY

According to two Welsh leading language academics, who have analyzed the results of the 2001 Census¹, the Welsh language has to secure its position in its heartland if it wants to survive.

Professors John Aitchison and Harold Carter were optimistic as for the figures because they, for the first time in the last hundred years, showed an increase in the number of Welsh-speakers especially amongst young people. However, they also, together with the Welsh Language Board, drew attention to the fact that the level of language fluency could not be differentiated due to deficiencies in the questions asked in the Census².

According to the professors, the number of wards where over 80 percent of the population speak Welsh has fallen to 17, thus representing only 4.2 percent of all Welsh speakers. The rest is dispersed in the areas where they constitute a minority. The reasons of this situation in the former Welsh-speaking areas are the following: 

• The critical condition for the survival of a language in the past was its isolation. It presupposed the existence of a base into which penetration of a more powerful language would be restricted. But such restriction has been undermined by the technology and mobility of the post-modern world.  

• In-migration into the heartlands played an important role in this process. The failure of English immigrants to learn Welsh was seen as a threat to the language. To secure the survival of the Welsh language it is necessary to encourage in-migrants to learn it.

• The economic situation of the heartlands has also influenced the decline. Traditional communities were essentially agricultural and thus the problems of agriculture have undermined their raison d'être. Tourism as well, although by many seen as the economic salvation of these areas, can be a threat to the language. 

• Two other mainstays of the language in the past - religion and family - are no longer presented. The Sunday schools do not function any more as the providers of education through the medium of Welsh. In addition, instability of marriages, as well as the greater frequency of linguistically mixed couples has also undermined effectiveness of this principle.  

• Although in-migration is seen as a substantial threat to the language in the rural areas, in the industrial southwestern part of the country (the Amman and Gwendraeth Valleys) the failure of families to transfer the language to successive generations causes further problems. Between 1991 and 2001, in the area where previously about 80 percent of the population had spoken the language this number decreased by about 8 percent.

Both professors believe that it is vital to create an association between being Welsh and speaking Welsh.

The conclusion of the analysis is that it is important to safeguard the heartlands and to increase the number of Welsh-speakers outside these areas. The results of the initiatives implemented by the Assembly and the Welsh Language Board can be checked in the 2011 Census.

Source: Eurolang News, Abergele, March 30, 2004, by Huw Morgan, http://www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=4493

¹ Their book “Spreading the Word” was recently published by the Welsh press, Y Lolfa.

² The recently announced survey launched by the Welsh Language Board will address this issue.

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Updated (June 2004)

VISITING THE EISTEDDFOD IS NOT ENOUGH TO SAFEGUARD THE LANGUAGE

According to one of the foremost Welsh bards, Gerallt Lloyd Owen, it is to no purpose to organize the National Eisteddfod of Wales¹ in the Caernarfon area (north-west Wales) next year if the in-migration from England continues.

Mr. Owen has won the Eisteddfod chair (one of the festival's main prizes) twice and had the honor of composing the Cywydd Croeso² for the proclamation ceremony in June 2004. In the poem he says that the threat to the Welsh language heartlands undermines the purpose of the Eisteddfod. This poem is more political than other composed in the past, but the threat to the language in its heartland is worse than ever.

The 2001 Census figures show a dramatic decline in the number of areas where the language has a strong base. Between 1991 and 2001 the number of wards where 80 percent of the population speak Welsh was reduced from 32 to 17. It is true; however, that many young Welsh speakers leave the heartland, mainly to Cardiff, where the figures show an increase.

Figures released by the Gwynedd Council, where the 2005 Eisteddfod is to be held, based on the 2001 Census, show that a substantial number of people from outside the Welsh-speaking areas have moved in³. This caused that the prices of houses have risen.

According to the Cywydd Croeso, those visiting the 2005 Eisteddfod must fight for the language throughout the year and not just during the Eisteddfod week.

In response to the poem, Elfed Roberts, a director of the National Eisteddfod, stated that the purpose of the Eisteddfod is to promote the Welsh language and culture. This celebration shows clearly that Welsh is a living language that can be used every day. The aim of the organizers is to inspire the participants of the festival to learn the language or at least to be less hostile towards it.

Since many English speakers also live in the 2005 Eisteddfod area and thousands visit this area over summer, the hope is that some will also attend the festival and appreciate the language. One of the proposals how to increase the number of visitors to the Eisteddfod was to print bilingual (Welsh, English) materials. This idea, however, was not readily accepted by the traditionalists.

The message in the Cywydd Croeso is, therefore, aimed at not only Welsh-speakers but also at those who have moved here.

Source: Eurolang News, Abergele, May 29, 2004, by Huw Morgan, http://www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=4596

¹ A week-long premier cultural festival in Wales

² A welcoming poem in strict meter, which is unique to Wales

³ In Aberdaron on the Llýn Peninsula, 7 percent of the population had moved in from outside the Gwynedd area, on the Ceredigion coast 271 people had moved to Aberdyfi (10 percent of the population), and in Llanberis, a popular area in Snowdonia, again the migrants constitute 10 percent of the population.

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Updated (March 2005)

WILL A NEW WELSH LANGUAGE ACT ENSURE THAT PUBLIC BODIES' SERVICES ARE IN WELSH? 

Since the Welsh Language Board is going to be abolished soon, its work will be probably done by the Department of the Assembly Government of Wales, and thus, according to some MPs, a new Welsh Language Act will be necessary. 

To compile a new law is an excellent opportunity to strengthen what is in existence at the moment. The Welsh Language Society (Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg) is pressing for the Act that will require private companies to use the language. At present only public bodies come under the remit of the Act. 

One of the promoters of a "new Act" idea, Hywel Williams, believes that the most important objective of this Act should be to ensure that public bodies offer Welsh language services to their consumers¹ because it is better for the language if all Welsh speakers are served in it than an obligation of a large national company to have its packaging in Welsh…although this could be a long-term goal. 

Currently all public bodies have a Language Plan, they decide about its content and inform about it the Language Board, rather than vice versa, that the Language Board would tell them what should be in their plans. 

Mr Williams has now commissioned an independent study to find out whether public bodies offer their services in Welsh. If the study shows that this service is lacking, he will form the basis of a new Welsh Language Act, which will be presented to the British Parliament because the Welsh Assembly does not have the power to pass its own laws. 

Source: Eurolang News, Penygroes, March 14, 2005, by Dafydd Meirion, http://www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=4968 

1. The present Act does not ensure this.  

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Updated (March 2006)

EBLUL UK URGES SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT TO MEET ECRML TREATY OBLIGATIONS FOR SCOTS 

Tom Band, the Preses of the Scots Language Society and the President of the UK Committee of the EBLUL, wrote a letter to Patricia Ferguson, the Scottish Minister of Culture. In the letter, he expressed disappointment with her not meeting the obligations under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect of the Scots language even though she has managed to set up the long awaited Gaelic Language Board. 

Moreover, Band urged the Minister to establish a working party on the line of the McPherson Committee, the outcome of which led to the setting up of the Gaelic Development Board, to launch the process of protection and development of the Scots. 

Source: Eurolang News, March 17, 2006 by Davyth Hicks http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2563&Itemid=1&lang=en 

IRISH LANGUAGE NGO POBAL CALL FOR IRISH LANGUAGE ACT 

At the beginning of March, delegates from the Irish language NGO POBAL went to Brussels to campaign for an Irish Language Act NI. They met with members of the European Parliament from Ireland, Catalonia, Malta, Hungary and Wales. 

POBAL are proposing a strong, rights based language act that would clarify and strengthen the rights of Irish speakers to use the language in areas such as education, courts and employment.

In a press release, the Chief Executive of POBAL, Janet Muller, stated that the Irish Language Act for Northern Ireland is proposed to revolutionize the debate over the needs of the Irish speaking community because at present there are no domestic legal protections for the Irish language in the north of Ireland. In addition, she said that in the south, Irish is under constitutional protection and in 2003 the Official Languages Act was brought in as well as it is also recognized as an official language in Europe. Therefore, according to her, the Irish Language Act NI would set the situation right: it would make it a lot easier for civil servants to know what their responsibilities are and it would help all the Irish speakers understand their entitlements. However, she pointed out that the relatively weak implementation of the provisions of the ECRML by the UK Government on behalf of Irish underlined the need for new legislation. 

POBAL won the support of international experts in law and language rights, such as Rob Dunbar, Wilson McLeod, Ferdinand de Varennes, Colin Williams and the former Northern Ireland Ombudsman Dr.Maurice Hayes, who helped to draft the proposal. The proposed legislation draws on previous experience and best practice from other language acts and features innovative proposals such as having a government appointed language commissioner to ensure linguistic rights. 

Source: Eurolang News, March 17,2006 by Davyth Hicks http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2562&Itemid=1&lang=en

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Updated (February 2007)

"STRATEGY FOR SCOTLAND'S LANGUAGES" RAISED DISAPPOINTMENT 

"A Strategy for Scotland's Languages" has been drafted by the Scottish Executive and put out to consultation. It "aims to raise the profile of the diverse languages spoken in Scotland, to ensure that Scotland's linguistic heritage is recognized as a national resource and to encourage citizens to learn languages other than their own". This document also offers a number of guiding principles to shape the development of language provision in Scotland. These guiding principles are largely derived from the language activity that is currently being promoted and will seek to ensure that: 

• As many people in Scotland as possible will be equipped with fluent English language skills  

• There will be fair and equal linguistic access to information and services  

• Linguistic diversity will be celebrated and multilingualism will be valued  

• Language learning and acquisition will be promoted  

• Respect for the languages spoken in Scotland will be promoted  

• The Gaelic language will be protected and promoted  

• The Scots language will be treated with respect and pride.  

While Culture Minister, Patricia Ferguson, has stated that the strategy aims to provide a "coherent approach to guide the development of languages in Scotland", the document has been criticized by Scots and Gaelic activists and by those involved in language development in general, for failing to make any significant new provision for Scotland's languages. 

No new initiatives or expenditure are announced for either Scots or Gaelic. Moreover, the document contends that Scots is not an endangered language. Concern has also been expressed as to its timing. Despite being a manifesto pledge of the current Executive, elected in 2003, it has been published just three months before the next Scottish Parliament election which is to be held in May and which makes the strategy vulnerable to any reshuffle or change of emphasis within the governing parties or any change in administration following the election. 

In regard to the draft strategy, Michael Hance, Director of the Scots Language Centre, said: "I have examined the proposals in the strategy today and can't understand why the Executive has taken four years to produce this document. From the point of view of the Scots language, there appears to be very little on offer that doesn't exist already". 

Furthermore, language policy specialist, Dr. Wilson McLeod of Edinburgh University, similarly stated: "The Executive's languages strategy is seriously disappointing. It doesn't even deserve to be called a 'strategy', which implies some kind of coordinated plan and a designated goal or destination. This document is simply a list of various things the Executive is doing already, most of which are inadequate to meet the needs of the language communities or learners involved." 

However, now all the activists should work and communicate their points of view to the government in the hope something better will emerge from the consultation. The consultation process on the Strategy for Scotland's Languages runs until 9 March 2007. 

Source: Eurolang News, February 13, 2007 by Màrtainn MacLeòid http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2817&Itemid=1&lang=en and the Scottish Executive website: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/01/24130746/0 

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Updated (May 2007)

POST-ELECTORAL LANDSCAPE IN WALES MAY MEAN PROGRESS FOR THE LANGUAGE 

Following the elections to the Welsh National Assembly on 3 May 2007, commentators in Wales speculate that language issues may now play a part in putting pressure on the new administration. The campaign group "Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg" are expected to intensify their campaign for new legislation having presented a 10,000-name petition some months ago. The petition calls for specific rights to use Welsh in dealings with private businesses, public authorities and the education system. 

There will also be pressure to react to the lack of affordable housing for local people in the face of the increasing influx of wealthier English-speaking people into the Welsh heartland. 

The Chair of the Welsh Language Board (the government body responsible for promoting the language) has said in a magazine article that immigration to Welsh speaking areas is the "biggest challenge" facing the language. 

Welsh is rapidly disappearing from its heartland as the natural beauty of the Welsh countryside and comparatively low levels of income lead to a housing market geared to wealthier people from England who seldom learn the language of the communities they move into. 

In the past, the Board has avoided arguments regarding immigration fearing that the English media would accuse them of being racist. However, the situation has changed over the years. Meri Huws¹ in an article in "Barn" (Opinion) magazine stated that Wales has "moved on from the days when subjects like migration and immigration were subjects that people feared to discuss". She added that discussing "safe" subjects such as bi-lingual signs and Welsh classes for adults is not enough, "there is a need to discuss demographic trends as well. 

Moreover, the organization "Parents for Welsh Medium Education" (RhAG in the Welsh acronym) in their recently published manifesto² have called for a doubling in the number of Welsh-medium schools within ten years as the current number of schools are inadequate to meet parental demand. 

Surveys have shown that there has been a dramatic growth in Welsh language education in the past thirty years and the growing demand for education in Welsh is particularly strong in the less Welsh-speaking areas. 

At present, only 23 percent of children attend Welsh-medium schools. This is "because there are not enough Welsh schools close enough to everyone in Wales", the organization noted. "Welsh-medium education is the only effective way of delivering the Assembly's admittedly praiseworthy desire to increase the number of Welsh speakers," said Heini Gruffudd, chairman of the RhAG. 

Source: Eurolang News, May 7, 2007 by Huw Jones http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2870&Itemid=1&lang=en 

1. Director of the School of Lifelong Learning at the University of Wales, Bangor and a member of the Welsh Language Board  

2. The text of the "Manifesto for the Welsh Assembly Elections 2007 with the slogan "50 % of our pupils in Welsh medium education within ten years" can be found at http://www.rhag.net/maniffesto07_eng.pdf  

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Updated (June 2007)

A RENEWED CALL FOR THE IRISH LANGUAGE ACT 

"Irish speakers are an essential part of the fabric of the northern diverse society and we need a rights-based Act" - this is the message from POBAL, following the end of the second consultation for an Irish Language Act for Northern Ireland. 

The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure have been overwhelmed with thousands of submissions about the legislation. Although the official figures and detailed breakdown of the responses from further consultation process have not yet been announced, they believe that the majority of submissions have been positive. 

In addition to the thousands of written responses to the consultation sent in by Irish speakers, 3,000 people, young and old, joined in Belfast on 10 June to celebrate the language and to call for a comprehensive, rights-based Irish Language Act. 

Janet Muller, POBAL Chief Executive, said: "We have bright and lively new generations of Irish speakers. The language links us all on these islands. The Gaelic language in Scotland is our sister language, related also to Welsh, Manx and Cornish and to other languages as well. All of us who are users of an endangered indigenous language share common experience at an international level - this links us with the Basques, the Catalans, the Sámi, the Corsicans and millions of other people throughout the world." 

The 2001 Census shows that 10.4 percent of the population of Northern Ireland has a knowledge of Irish. People aged between 12 to 15 years are the most likely to know Irish (23.8%), followed by those aged 16 to 24 years (16%). Generally, the younger the age group, the higher the proportion of Irish speakers. 

Source: Eurolang News, June 12, 2007 by Davyth Hicks http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2898&Itemid=1&lang=en

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Updated (August 2007)

DEMOCRATIC UNIONISTS WANT TO BLOCK IRISH LANGUAGE LEGISLATION

The leader of the Democratic Unionists (DUP), Ian Paisley, has said that his party will not support the creation of an Irish Language Act, which should be passed in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

As a reason for his stance, he noted that a proposal of the Language Act was made by the two governments (British and Irish at the St. Andrews talks) and was never agreed to or even discussed with his party.

Sinn Féin MEP, Bairbre de Brun, on the other hand, said that an Irish Language Act is important to ensure that services are provided through the medium of Irish for its speakers. He also added that effective language legislation could also help de–politicize the language issue which now threatens to be the first major row of the power–sharing administration led by the two parties.

Sinn Féin pointed out that the legislation was part of the deal it signed up to in last year's St Andrews agreement. But Edwin Poots (DUP), currently Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure at the Northern Ireland Assembly, said that the agreement was not agreed by his party but by the previous Prime Minister and Northern Ireland secretary. He concluded: “Ultimately we have to achieve cross–community consensus and cross–community support to win this one”.

Source: Eurolang News, August 27, 2007 by Davyth Hicks http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2940&Itemid=1&lang=en 

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Updated (October 2007)

AN ATTEMPT TO STOP IRISH FROM BEING SPOKEN IN THE NI ASSEMBLY DEFEATED 

An attempt to stop Irish from being spoken in the Northern Ireland Assembly's debating chamber has been rejected by two votes – 46 votes to 44.

The devolved parliament is based on the principle of power sharing in order to ensure that both unionist and nationalist communities participate in governing the region following years of bloody conflict.

The St Andrews agreement, signed last year between Tony Blair, Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley, included a commitment to legislation giving official status to the Irish language. However, some unionists are still unhappy about any recognition of Irish and do their up most to block new legislation.

Source: Eurolang News, October 15, 2007 by Huw Jones http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2966&Itemid=1&lang=en

DEBATE OVER BILINGUAL SIGNS IN IRELAND AND WALES

Debates over bilingual road signs, which have occurred in many European countries with more than one language spoken on their territories, have taken place also in Northern Ireland and Wales.

In both countries, road safety arguments have been just recently used against the use of bilingual signage. Some politicians have argued that including Irish and English on road signs in Northern Ireland will be expensive, dangerous and liable to cause accidents.

Supporters of the Irish language in Northern Ireland often refer to the status given to the Welsh language in Wales where, after years of campaigning, nearly every road sign is bilingual. From the 1960s and to the 1980s members of the Welsh Language Society (Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg) painted over or pulled down monolingual English language road signs, resulting in court cases, fines and imprisonment.

Just recently, shocking news has been received from the Welsh city of Swansea – its City Council intends to put up monolingual English road signs due to road safety reasons.

The Council has justified the decision by saying: “following a road safety assessment on the Ynysforgan roundabout near the M4 motorway the Council decided that erecting bilingual road signs would lead to complications and added danger to drivers”.

The Language Society criticized the decision and noted that detailed official studies have concluded that bilingual road signs are not dangerous. Dafydd Morgan Lewis of the Language Society went on to add that if the Council decides to carry out this policy, the Society will have to consider picking up the paint brush once again.

Source: Eurolang News, October 4, 2007 by Huw Jones http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2961&Itemid=1&lang=en 

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Updated (September 2008)

TWO YEARS PASSED AND THERE IS STILL NO IRISH LANGUAGE ACT

POBAL, the umbrella organization for the Irish-speaking community in Northern Ireland, is again calling on the entire community to participate on marches in support of the Irish Language Bill on 11 October in the centre of Belfast.

Janet Muller, POBAL's CEO, explained their decision by saying that they have been waiting for the UK Government to fulfill its commitment it made by signing the St Andrews' Agreement to enact the Language Act for two years. They see that now it is time to get together again and to show the politicians and both governments that the Irish speaking community is still determined to have fair treatment and a rights-based, comprehensive Irish language Act.

Janet Muller explained: “Feeder marches will be leaving from north, south and east and west Belfast at around 11.45 a.m. and meeting together in the city center, at Bank Square.”

Irish language organizations from all over Ireland will come to support the event.

Pádraig Mac Criostail, Director of Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge, said: “The event being organized will give another chance for the community north and south to get together and demonstrate to both governments once more its support for the Irish Language Act in Northern Ireland. I hope people will come out for the marches to show how necessary the Irish language is and to celebrate the importance of the Irish language for people all over the country.”

Réamonn Ó Ciaráin, Regional Manager of Gael Linn, also supported the event: “An Irish Language Act based on the rights of the people who speak it is needed in the north, exactly as it was promised two years ago at St. Andrews. This kind of legislation already exists in Scotland, Wales and the south of Ireland, and the Irish speaking community here should have the same rights. I fully support POBAL's campaign for the Irish Language Act.”

And Cormac ó Briain, Development Officer with Glór na Móna, Upper Springfield, Belfast, agreed that there is a need to come out and show how serious the community is on this issue. He said: “The Upper Springfield area is amongst the worst affected areas in terms of poverty and deprivation. It is a constant battle for us to get the local statutory authorities to understand that we have no better resource in this area than the Irish language. One fifth of the population of the area has Irish and the authorities have not yet recognized our attempts to use this resource positively. It is clear that legislation is needed so that the Irish language can be protected and so that areas like Upper Springfield can move forward. But when we have to fight even for bilingual signs as well as dealing with ignorance about the Irish Language Act, you have to ask how serious the government really is about creating a new society here as part of the peace process, and also so that the Irish language can be promoted and protected from those who have another political agenda entirely.”

Source: Eurolang News, September 25, 2008 by Davyth Hicks http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3098&Itemid=1&lang=en

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