Technorama

Right then. Where can I make a start on this little number ???

1.It's a shame how things have gone in the last 10yrs regarding Welsh, from being a dead language only spoken by a few in the North West of the country (Snowdonia etc)

Nope. Wrong. There are more Welsh language in Cardiff than in as you like to say 'Snowdonia'. Now of course you might say, Welsh language education. No, in 1921, there were four times more speakers of Welsh in Cardiff than in Caernarfon.

It has had the political bellows firmly wedged into it, and they have managed to keep the embers burning at great cost to the UK and to the people of Wales.

Great Cost? £40 million a year mate, tops. Do you know how much that accounts for the Welsh government spending in Wales ? 0.284%. The Health budget is 41%. So we only get pennies.

The economic cost is plain:

There is no economic benefit to speaking welsh when everyone in Wales speaks English.

Really? Is there no benefit to speaking Welsh ? There are plenty of benefits to speaking two languages. You can pick up a third or a fourth easier than a monolingual (or as we say around here, the English). Plenty of studies have shown this. The Belgians in Antwerp speak Flemish, French, Dutch and English. One of the richest areas in Europe. So speaking more than a few language is an advantage, no matter how small the pool of speakers are.

It costs the UK millions and millions to translate all official documents and leaflets into Welsh, when they are already struggling to assist "genuine" non-native English speakers to understand the paperwork they need to complete.

But its my right to recieve information in my first language and I pay my taxes just like everybody else.

The strategy which should have been fostered:

Assistance provided to the elderly generation who live in the North regions which don't have English as their first language.

Seriously jon,What planet are you on mate ?


All schools teaching pupils in English.
Encourage take up of a "genuine" foreign language in school, French, German, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese etc

They already are mate. And are doing it much better than the english. There is crisis in Schools in England because take of foreign language is so low.

Then:

After the benefits of a workforce fluent in an international standard language and an equally useful second language are realised, phase out Welsh completely. Leaving Welsh like Cornish and Gaelic, Scots and Latin.

Phase it out, like how mate ? Have kids wear 'Welsh Not' signs around their necks everytime they speak Welsh in class? So you want me to stop talking the language I have spoken for most of my life, the language I speak with my family, mum,dad, Grandparents, uncles, friends and my girlfriend on some unfounded claims of 'economic efficiency' ? Do you envisage someone how the police could arrest me for speaking illegal language ? As Ken Hale said:

"Languages embody the intellectual wealth of the people that speak them. Losing any one of them is like dropping a bomb on the Louvre."


My welsh friends all broadly see Welsh as a waste of learning time when we live in such a connected world where English and another international language would be very useful.

Well I bet those Welsh friends don't speak another language do they? Be honest with me john.

The economic benefits of a workforce which can live and work in other areas of the UK and the world are a key point. I've seen no evidence to support teaching Welsh and reviving it further, everything points to it just being a nationalist political exercise which will do Wales no long term good. Will the Nationalists have the last laugh? or the citizens?

Well mate, I'm a Liberal Democrat and one these 'citizens'. I feel just as strongly about the development of the Welsh language. I will work hard to make sure that Welsh flourishes, including replying to narrow-minded ingorant ingoramus like you.
 

Hi there. Thanks for your reply. I'll follow your points with my response below.

I don't doubt Welsh in Cardiff is more than it was in the 80s/90s now it is being revived. All my Welsh friends from Cardiff don't speak Welsh. They speak English and other European langues, mostly French. I don't think 1921 has much to do with the current situation.

£40 Million to translate all documents into Welsh from English? That isn't an accurate figure, where did you get it? And what about the loss to industry of English speakers? All those who will only be skilled in Welsh will have to take extra classes when they want to work in the wider world.

There is no benefit to study Welsh, when that same person could be having French, German or other common langue lessons instead. People could pick up 3 common languages instead of 1 dead and 2 common, it doesn't make sense to waste time.

Flemish is basically Dutch, you included them twice. I don't know of any Antwerp residents who are fluent in all 3. Just like Switzerland, most know French or German, plus English. (I only know of two Belgians to check this with)

It's only your first language because the politicians wish to keep it that way. Are there really any Welsh speakers who find English so hard to understand? Even my Welsh friends from Snowdonia who speak Welsh still speak fluent English! I'm not sure if it is your right as such, my polish friend doesn't get their tax coding notice in Polish. Also, when I work aboard I get letters in my second languages.

I'm pleased to hear useful foreign langue are being taught in Wales. It's a shame if England's uptake is really as low as you say. That in itself doesn't justify a different policy for Wales though. As you will know, everywhere from Canada to Australia speaks English, and countries like India which have no common language (not even Hindi) communicate in English between people of each different region.

Schools which teach in Welsh mean children will grow up not being as skilled in English as they could have been. Don't stop people speaking Welsh in their own time, but help everyone get the most out of the opportunity of education.

You don't have to stop speaking your language, and it's not an offence to speak it!. But equally when you visited other places in this world you can't help but notice that they don't speak Welsh, and that other people understand English, and French, German etc. English is linga franca.

Yes, my Welsh friends mostly speak English and French, their lack of fluency in French is probably due to all that time being spent trying to get them to learn Welsh!

Thanks again for the reply, I hope you see there is a wider world out there.. my argument applies to all small regional languages which are on the way out.. Don't take it personal, this is just a weblog ;)
Cheers, Jon
 

Here we go again, right from the top:

I don't doubt Welsh in Cardiff is more than it was in the 80s/90s now it is being revived. All my Welsh friends from Cardiff don't speak Welsh. They speak English and other European languages, mostly French. I don't think 1921 has much to do with the current situation.

Wrong again.Cardiff has always had a large proportion of Welsh for hundreds of years, it is in Wales after all.

£40 Million to translate all documents into Welsh from English? That isn't an accurate figure, where did you get it?

You misunderstood me. There is more to this than merely translating documents. There is payments for Eisteddfod, language projects etc. The answer is here:
http://wales.gov.uk/publications/accessinfo/DLnewv2/DL1100-1199/1353829/?lang=en

And what about the loss to industry of English speakers? All those who will only be skilled in Welsh will have to take extra classes when they want to work in the wider world.

Again, what the hell ? What extra classes ? I never taken extra classes to improve my English nor anyone else I can think of. I speak,read and write English perfectly well, even better that some of my English-only peers. I read plenty of English language books (again much more than some monolingual English), George Orwell, Jonathan Safren Cohen, Douglas Coupland, J.M Coetzee, Aldous Huxley, Iain Banks,Margaret Atwood, George Sillitoe etc

There is no benefit to study Welsh, when that same person could be having French, German or other common language lessons instead. People could pick up 3 common languages instead of 1 dead and 2 common, it doesn't make sense to waste time.

As Professor Felipe Fernández-Armesto said: ‘any acquired language enriches experience, broadens minds, empowers expression, enhances life’. I have fancied learning Estonian and Hebrew, one day I will because I want to learn about their cultures. But in your line of thinking, these two minority languages we can do away with (If you want to persuade people of Israel to stop reviving a language that was only spoken by a few thousands thirty years ago and learn English instead, well….the best of luck
On top of that, there are 10 times more speakers of Mandarin Chinese than there is of German and French. So, in your line of thinking, do away with German and French and make everybody learn mandarin Chinese instead. Make much more economic sense doesn’t it? Because China is going to be the next economic powerhouse.

It's only your first language because the politicians wish to keep it that way. Are there really any Welsh speakers who find English so hard to understand? Even my Welsh friends from Snowdonia who speak Welsh still speak fluent English!

Eh? Its my first language because I spoke it with my family at home, with friends in my area and the local community. I didn’t get any politicians telling me to speak Welsh. People such as me have been campaigning for years to get things in Welsh, from letters to applications forms because it is much easier for us to deal through the medium of Welsh. Its only the last few years that political parties have begun to take notice.

I'm not sure if it is your right as such ,
Yes it is, laid down
1.in the Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations: Article 2
2.Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union Article 21
3.Welsh Language Act 1993.
my polish friend doesn't get their tax coding notice in Polish.

That’s because their not in Poland.

I'm pleased to hear useful foreign language are being taught in Wales. It's a shame if England's uptake is really as low as you say. That in itself doesn't justify a different policy for Wales though. As you will know, everywhere from Canada to Australia speaks English, and countries like India which have no common language (not even Hindi) communicate in English between people of each different region.

Ah yes, that proud remnant of British imperialism and American economic power. On top of that, your attitude shows the main problem of low interest of the people in this country to learn another language because people think “Why bother ? Everybody speaks English anyway.”

Schools which teach in Welsh mean children will grow up not being as skilled in English as they could have been. Don't stop people speaking Welsh in their own time, but help everyone get the most out of the opportunity of education.

Well excuse me, I don’t think because I was taught in Welsh doesn’t hold me back or anyone else to that matter. My friends have become journalists, doctors, Cambridge-educated city lawyers, UN Workers and Bio-Chemist researchers were all from a Welsh speaking background and were taught in Welsh school and that never held them back.

But equally when you visited other places in this world you can't help but notice that they don't speak Welsh, and that other people understand English, and French, German etc. English is lingua franca.

Nope I don’t expect them to speak Welsh to me but I don’t expect them to speak English to me either because I am in not in Britain. I don’t want to be associated with those English tourist and ,as Felipe Fernández-Armesto says, ‘the contempt they currently attract as doltish, oafish, lumpish, boorish, brutish and British. ‘

I hope you see there is a wider world out there.. my argument applies to all small regional languages which are on the way out.

I think this applies and your fellow monolingual. Of course there is a big world out there, I have been there you know. When I go out to this ‘big wide world’, I notice the diversity of languages and culture and how important it is to have this diversity. Unfortunately, a lot of people in this country doesn’t see this, they only want to know ‘do they speak English?'
 

Hi there, thanks for your reply. I reply below:

"Aided by Welsh-medium education and migration from other parts of Wales, the number of Welsh speakers in Cardiff rose by 14,451 between 1991 and 2001; Welsh is now spoken by 11% of Cardiffians." - Source Wikipedia.

11% is tiny. That is hardly what I would call a "large proportion". I expect there are more Europeans in Cardiff than Welsh speakers.

Thank you for the link. That does not include costs of the UK Welsh service, I can get all my documents in Welsh too, from HMRC etc.

Learning to enrich is a valid point. I am learning Latin for instance as a hobby because I am interested in the origins of English and French. I would never advocate anyone tries to revive Latin as a main language, and I would be very disappointed if some nationalist politicians tried to mandate on to us all.

I actually said Chinese in the original post. Location comes in to it as well, so while Chinese, Russian, French, Spanish and English are all good candidates for a popular second language, pick one which is somewhere you will visit.

There are 2.9M people in Wales, of which how many have Welsh as their first language? 1%?

BTW, your English is so good, I do wonder if it is really your second language. Could it be more of an joint first language?

I posted about Scots too recently, I hope you don't think that should be revived as well, only 60k people have any knowledge of it.

On the contrary, I advocate learning more foreign languages, especially useful common ones.

It's lucky your friends speak English well enough to compete in the world economy.

I wonder if you are just anti-English because it originated in England, and Wales lost it's powers to Westminster like Scotland did when the Union was formed.

Do you really think increasing the population of Welsh speakers is a worthy excercise?

I'm not interested in being associated with foreign "beer belly" holiday makers either. But if you visit Swtizerland, Japan, Russia or anywhere else, what language will you in reality communicate in? I know what language everyone starts speaking to me in when I am there. Everyone assumes you speak the international language that English is.

I'm not sure how I could be classed as monolingual when I speak/write in French/English/Japanese, and have knowledge of a couple of other languages like Russian, and Spanish.

Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations: Article 2 - this doesn't seem to support your claim. I don't doubt the Welsh Language Act does though.

Re your final point, I speak French when I am in France, I get the first word in as it's more fun to speak in French ;) I go for English when in China ass I don't speak it, or Germany, or Italy etc. You may be surprised to hear that nearly everyone in Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and Norway speaks fluent English. You may not like an integrated world, but that is progress, and you can't stop progress unless you get Nationalist politicians mandating the language!

You may be interested to see my other post: Political revival of Scots Gaelic

I predict in a few years time you will give up this Welsh advocacy, and accept that people will consolidate and speak more popular languages like Chinese, English, French etc.
 

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Jon,

I think you're the one living in la-la land. The Welsh language is alive and kicking in many parts of Wales - and yes, that includes Cardiff. 30,000+ speakers is not insignificant, and I would hazard a guess that a large percentage of this figure are first language Welsh speakers. People are crying out for Welsh language schools in Cardiff. What have you to say to that?

And no matter what you say, no laws or political gestures can in themsleves make people speak a language. They can certainly help to create a climate whereby that language can be used more normally on a day to day basis, but not force anyone to speak it. Are you insinuating that Welsh people are automatons, susceptible to brainwashing by our AMs and MPs? Surely not?

It is the will of the people that speak a language if they speak it. It is the will of 600,000 people living in Wales (and many more outside). If you want to believe that that is a dead language, then so be it. But don't expect anybody to take you seriously!
 

nwdls,
Going on to your comment about Welsh, the development of the next generation is at stake here, we have to give them a solid start and limiting people to living in a section of Wales which speaks Welsh is far from ideal.

And then there are the Welsh dialects, the difference between North and South.

611,000 speakers nationally is a large number, 20% of the population, the revival indicated on Wikipedia has been successful by the politicians.

Regarding Cardiff, yes the revival in Cardiff is doing well.. 30,000+ of a proportion of 317,500 is only 11%. How many of those really do *only* understand Welsh? 11% can't be used as a rationale for increasing Welsh speaking. Next you'll be expecting everyone in the former English county of Monmouthshire to be forced to take up Welsh speaking.

Learning any language is better than no language. But learning a viable one which many many other people know how to speak/write in both he UK, Europe, Americas and Asia will always be the best option. The only case where a minority language is needed is when there is an existing population who can't be communicated with, an example is the many different languages in India. The government need to have local officials who can actually speak each of the languages.

I do agree with you on your final point, the people will decide, let's hope the political influence doesn't affect it too much along that journey. As Scotland is still moving in the best direction
 

I've been reading up on Welsh and it seems to me that as a spoken language Welsh is moribund. Now before the Welsh nationalists start adducing facts and figures, let me explain why I say what I say. I have been living in Pakistan since the age of eleven. Before that I used to live in America, but had a passive knowledge of Urdu as my parents usually spoke it to each other.
Nonetheless, English became my primary language, probably because I acquired my primary educaton in America rather than Pakistan. The fact that I now have a perfect command of the Urdu language does not and cannot change the fact that English is my first or default language, which means unless I married a person whose first language was Urdu my children would certainly have English as their first language. Now if Pakistan were populated by people like me, the Urdu language could be considered dead, for it would have no real speakers. Urdu would continue to be taught across the country, but that would not count for anything, for Urdu would have gone the way of Latin, i.e. it would have ceased to be a spoken or living language. The term "spoken language" is to be interpreted as "a language spoken as the first (or default) language".

Given the fact Welsh not only has very few speakers (i.e. people whose first language is Welsh), but also that only a fifth of the population has any knowledge of the language at all, it seems clear Welsh's days are numbered. Would somebody from Wales care to comment on my assessment?
 

Personally, as a fluent welsh and english speaker. I think you are a typical arrogant THICK English man. The english are so stuck in a world where they believe they reign, that they do not realise that the reason their children speak only one language is that people like you JON dont allow them to learn something new. What makes the english so special? oh yes you speak a language spoken by nearly 75% of the world? how unique you must feel?
 

and to your comment about the dialects between the north and the south of wales. Are you unaware of cockney riming slang? or maybe a few phrases or words used only in Yorkshire or anywhere else in England? Is this not dialect Jon? if you werent so ignorant you would realise that the dialects are not completely different. And to Ahmed, if I or any other person was to claim that your language the "urdu" was diying or its days were numbered, wouldnt that be classed as racism? Im pretty sure it would.
I am merely 16 years old and my range of languages span to 4 different languages. Without being big-headed, isnt this intelligence? or maybe even pride? Many many career advisors have assured me that in the future, should I go for a job interview agaisnt someone who could speak only one language, against my 4; my chances would be stronger as my ability to comunicate with the rest of the world is far better than theirs. Because i dont know if you noticed Jon, but there is a land far larger and more exciting than England.
 

No, I don't think it would be classed as racism. Please feel free to comment on my post.
 

abi92,
Thanks for your comments.

More than one language is a great asset -- providing it is command and therefore useful. There is only a tiny demand for workers who speak Welsh, typically tourism (in Wales) and now the polical and coucil institutions of Wales.

I hope of your four languages, the others aren't Cornish, Scotts and Manx. If you are lucky they would be something common and (even more) useful than your Welsh is, i.e. like Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese etc etc etc

As I've highlighted in my post, I live travel abroad a lot. Most recently Germany, Holland, France, Poland, Czech Republic. My French+German experience came in very handy, as many people speak it. Had I only known Welsh, Cornish, and Manx I'm sure I would have had difficulties!

Langues aren't race, they come and go based on their successfulness in the economy + area typically. It sounds like you have a Welsh bias because you live there, I on the other hand favour popular languges. If I lived in France, I wouldn't want to waste my time learning Breton when I could be learning German, English or something else common and useful to my life. However, I can bet some of the people of Bretagne like you, are still keen to retain their language, and keep yet another generation speaking it! It needs about 3hrs of school per week to learn a language, if the 6hrs per week on the timetable is used up with Welsh and English, that doesn't leave the students the opportunity to learn a useful second language.

BTW, luckily for France, it has not yet recognised Breton as an official language of France.. there is still hope yet for it's people! (5th republic constitution states France is the official language)

In the current economic climate there is even more reason to be more competitive, and speak useful foreign languages.

Thanks again for your thoughts.
 

Ahmed, Thanks for your post. I agree, definitely when a language ceases to be spoken as the default language of communication its days are numbered.

Slightly different point.. but in India from age around 8 English is the language used in all lessons, also English is the common language across all states. All government material is in English, so despite Hindi being popular, if someone goes to a different state for work, they will communicate in English. I'm not sure how the situation differs in Pakistan, are there also many languages?
 

I'm sorry, but you're one of the most arrogant people I've seen on the internet. I'm sorry, but go and play in the fireplace if you want my language, and countless others' to die.

Being brought up with a second language, especially the language of your area makes it so much easier to learn more languages.

Oh, sure, couldn't you just bring children up in German or Chinese? No. If there is no geographical or social connection between the person and the language, there is no inspiration for them to learn it.

You've only inspired me to encourage my friends to bring their children up in Welsh, if only to watch you write "BAWWWW I HAET WLESH Y R IT NUT DED >:( >:(" in 50 years' time.
 

Thanks for your reply Aled. It's not a case of "bringing up" children in German or Chinese -- we're talking about what time is now "used up" in schools on a language which was fading away until the politicians got involved. Hours at school and homework time which could all be spent on a learning a useful modern language. I'm sorry, but in these touch economic times, being less competitive for cultural nostalgia isn't viable!

p.s. Hopefully in 50yrs time you'll realise Politicians do things for their own ambition to gain more powers.
 

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You are a genuine English nazi! Shame on you and on those who think like you! End the oppression, give freedom to Wales! You do not think that 800 years is enough?
 

Give freedom to Wales? I hope you're not advocating reviving the dead language even further?
 

You deluded little fool. Please define a 'dead language'? Seeing as Welsh is spoken by 700,000 plus people, often their language of choice for day to day discourse, it's hardly dead is it? Me and my family and my friends speak Welsh not because of political pressure or having it forced upon us, but on our own volition. Language is for communication, so hundreds of thousands of people speaking THEIR NATIVE LANGUAGE.... it's alive, it's vibrant and is growing in stature, no more so than the South Wales Valleys, the traditionally English speaking area of Wales.
So why the rhetoric bigotry? Are you afraid of people speaking an 'arcane' language? You seem to be spewing putrescent bile, I'd see a doctor mate.
Mewn cenhedlaeth neu ddwy rydw i'n rhagweld y canran o siaradwyr Gymraeg cynyddu'n arwyddocaol, ac yma yn y Cymoedd mae'r darlun yn iachus iawn. Efallai bydd y Cymraeg un trechu Saesneg fely iaith swyddogol. Ha, mae sefyllfa'r iaith heddiw yn gwrthgyferbynnu'n gryf a'r 90'au a cyn :D
Yes, English is the language the world wants to speak and is certainly the most useful language to conduct business etc etc. But to have the ability and the choice to speak your native language and a fine second langage like English is a gift. English is of vital importance but to posess a language as mysterious and as beautiful as Welsh is a joy you'll never experience condisering you'r horribly biased view. I doubt there are many languages as poetic as Welsh. Iaith hynod o brydferth, mae ysbryd y iaith yn disgleirio!
 

Your figures are wrong, Welsh Language Board indicated 611,000 speakers!

Given the choice, do schools have the choice to choose a modern popular language which gives the young the best start, or something that will limit them to only Welsh+English speaking countries? You're advocating wasting 2 hours a week, for 5 years of secondary school!

Aramaic is almost dead, but there are still 2.2M who can speak it as well.

p.s. French and Italian are lovely poetic languages!
 

Hefyd, hoffwn i weld sut ydych chi'n ymateb i sylwad mewn Cymraeg yn unig. Mwyaf tebygol byddech chi'n gwawdio'r iaith neu ceryddu'r siaradwyr mewn un ffordd neu'r llall. Ydych chi'n ymwybodol rydych yn gwahaniaethu yn erbyn y Cymry? Cywiro fi os ydw i'n anghywir ond mae gwahaniaethu yn anghyfraethlon, ond yn amlwg rydych yn rhy trahaus i sylweddoli.
Rwyt ti'n llysnafedd llwyr!!!
 

Welsh is not yet dead, thanks to Nationalists inserting bellows and frantically pumping, making schools teach in Welsh, dropping French, German, Spanish. Teaching English as a foreign language! ooops
 

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Ahmed,
I admire the rationality of your comment. I agree that a thorough assessment must be made regarding the Welsh Language, particularly regarding how it is to be funded and supported. Before the government invests in it, it needs to be ascertained if there is need to make it compulsory in schools etc etc.
But I lament John's deplorably misinformed views. You say that it's a 'dead language' and 'spoken by a few in Snowdonia'. Both of these assumptions are incorrect, in fact the majority of people in Gwynedd ( over 70% ) and Ynys Mon ( over 60 % ) speak it as an everyday language, not 'a few' then? It's not dead either, hundreds of thousands of people speak it everyday not just in the North but also the predominantly English speaking South. Nor is it 'forced' on people, you have a choice whether to send your children to a Welsh medium school or not. It may be compulsory in English speaking schools but that's not to say it's being rammed down their throats. You study French and German in English secondary schools yet you wouldn't say it's being forced upon them?
Please think before making such assumptions.
Regards
 

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Morgan, you are certainly one of the 80% taught at Engish speaking schools then. Go read Wikipedia if you were unaware 20% of schools have been switched by nationalists to teaching in Welsh!

The nationalists are the bigots, moving Welsh people into a narrow niche and limiting the future of youngsters.

Be more pluralistic, definitely continue with your modern language studies in addition to English!

You are one of the lucky ones Morgan, 20% of children will leave school with a poor command of English compared to you.
 

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Hi Morgan.

Just to clarify, people should continue to speak Welsh, that's not my point in this blog post. It's the massive ramping up of Welsh language schools by nationalist politicians, and the squeezing out of modern foreign languages and English fluency as 1st language I see as the main loss for the hard working welsh youngsters.

Unfortunately that "minority" have been successfully in mandating Welsh speaking schools. The same nationalists are pushing for it as "community language" like you say. Like the revival of Hebrew, they've been pretty successful so far!

Good for you that your school (where lessons are conducted in Welsh) teaches modern foreign languages too. However, you've lost 6hrs a day English speaking (meaning you will be under-skilled at presenting in English and discussing technical and complex topics in English when you start work). Also you've lost 2-3hrs per week which are taken up by your Welsh lessons/homework.

With your option of two modern foreign langauges, is uptake that high considering you are also study both English and Welsh? 4 languages? The addition of Welsh in that list squeezed out one more GCSE subject.

I don't think it is you that is fanning the Welsh revival, it's the nationalist politicians. That's their niche, it's in their interest to build their own zone. Next step is more powers being moved from Westminster. They'll want to break up the UK after that.
Cheers, Jon
 

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You may be surprised to hear that nearly everyone in Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and Norway speaks fluent English.
Yes, but alongside their own native language. What's wrong with Wales accomplishing the same thing?

20% of Welsh students study in Welsh-medium schools. And according to the BBC, "Demand for Welsh-medium education is overtaking supply" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7060486.stm). If this was just political, then why do more than 1/5 of Welsh parents want to send their children to Welsh-medium schools? In any case, where on Earth do you think the Welsh nationalist politicians actually get their votes?
 

To Ahmed, yes, this is true. However, it is possible for two L2 speakers raise their child as a mother tongue speaker. In fact, languages have been created (called Creoles) where a pidgin (grammatically simplified for communication between different language groups) became the native language of people. This was also done with Hebrew in Israel, and even with English in Wales.

If a majority of Welsh parents spoke Welsh, which is achievable within a few generations, then they will speak to their children in Welsh and the native-speaker pool of the language will expand. I'm not saying that this will happen, I'm just saying that it's not impossible and that hence Welsh is far from dead.