little Englander

So not many children attend school in Wales Ana ,

You're doing it again. Misinterpreting. Of course they go to school, but that doesn't mean they all end up being fluent in Welsh.

You made no mention of being fluent in Welsh, you said Welsh speaking, if children are taught Welsh they speak Welsh, they may choose not to ,

Please re-read my post of 9.34.

When we were on holiday in West Wales last week the traffic signs, with the Welsh names followed by the English, were downright confusing. We encountered no one actually speaking Welsh. Actually, they were mostly English (in shops and pubs) Totally unnecessary.

According to this YouGov poll from last year most Welsh children learn Welsh as a second language because they learn in what are called English-medium schools where English is the language used for teaching.

A minority go to Welsh-medium schools where welsh is used throughout.

64% of those polled said they didn't think learning Welsh should be compulsory.

Seems almost aggressive.

That was following on from my last post.

Ana what motivates you to be so scathing? 11% is still a tiny proportion .

No way would you call an 11% savings interest or mortgage rate a tiny proportion nor something like '11% of children will be involved in a RTA before they are 10' (I made that up) would ring alarm bells as being a huge proportion. It depends on context. How about 'in some parts of Wales 90% of local residents are fluent in Welsh' or '95% of residents on Barra can speak Gaelic'. In raw numbers there are more Scottish Gaelic speakers in Canada than there are in Scotland but as a percentage of the population there is a vast difference.

But DO carry on with your put downs Ana - you are the answer to the question - What is a Little Englander?

suppose you don't know of the cutting down of road signs - at night - which was part if the fight , caused lot of problems
I remember the turning round of signposts, must have been 1967 or 68 when we toured round Wales, getting completely lost because at every crossroads the signs were pointing the wrong way. Found some lovely unexpected places, though!

There isn't and X , j or k either
is there such a thing as a Welsh joke then?

How strange that a thread about 'Little Englanders' and the question of what it means has been taken over by Wales and Welsh language.

Not a criticism, just an observation. I suppose threads do meander like the Afon Gwy.

There was no need for that, Granny23. I was not being 'scathing', merely pointing out that not many of the population of Wales actually speak Welsh fluently despite Annie giving the impression that the proportion was far higher.

Plenty of Welsh surnames begin with J.

that is a very rude remark Granny23!

I find the discussion very interesting and do not read Ana's posts as 'put-downs', rather they are factual.

It would be interesting to know how much it costs to translate everything into two languages - bills, road signs, notices etc, how much it costs to teach Welsh as a compulsory language (not an option as with other subjects at GCSE) and how much money has been taken from other budgets eg the NHS, education, to pay for this.
Again, not a criticism, but it would be interesting to have facts and figures.

I am British by the way.

It has turned into a Welsh bashing thread because it's what little englanders do

Ana,i learn so much of Wales and the Welsh from you , you must enjoy googling so much

What is it they say about sarcasm? Oh yes...

Well said Granny23 , little englanders are so easy to spot

Bet you wish you'd thought of saying it first though!

It's impossible to have a reasoned discussion with you, Annie - I'll join jingl on that.

Maybe it is time for the thread to end now, not that I can end it personally.
I am glad I started it though, as I think it has been quite informative.

obieone not as informative as it could have been!

Off to take the car to the garej

It turned out as I expected, no way we're the few little englanders here going to allow an honest discussion

This one will run and run...

Probably Ana if you are enjoying yourself

Hardly - but you obviously are! Any time the thread grinds to a halt you're always there to start it up again. Carry on, I've got better things to do.

Missing the point again ANA - the proportion of fluent Welsh speakers is much higher (and growing) where Annie lives.