Re: Language row over station signs

On 13 Sep, 18:09, "Ken Ward" <ken.g1...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"bobrayner" <bobray...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:1189530963.593020.94900@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx





On 11 Sep, 15:46, "Ken Ward" <ken.g1...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"bobrayner" <bobray...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
<SNIP>
Get yourself a Local Council (at least here in the Northwest)
information
leaflet. You will find a very long list of different languages. The
one
you
will NOT find is that of our next door neighbours in Wales.

KW

How many people are there living in your local council area who need a
translation into Welsh? (That is, they're fluent Welsh readers but not
English readers). I suspect the number is tiny if not zero.

Across the UK as a whole, I suspect some "Indian" languages (Urdu,
perhaps, or Punjabi, or Bengali?) have more speakers than Welsh -
despite the latter enjoying special treatment.

Rather than "enjoying special treatment" the Welsh are completely
ignored.

Really? Looking at the law for a moment, what about the Welsh Language
Acts of 1967 and 1993? Or the Government of Wales Act 1998?
Alternatively, what about all those bilingual documents & signs? How
about the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages? And
isn't it compulsory for schools in Wales to teach Welsh up to age 16?
The Welsh Language Board has even been set up (with modest funding
from Westminster) to "promote and facilitate" Welsh.

Welsh is obviously not being "completely ignored". On the contrary,
Welsh gets disproportionate attention compared to other minority
languages in the UK.

I daresay the UK has twice as many Punjabi-speakers as Welsh-speakers.
Are many schools required to teach Punjabi to all their kids? Are many
government bodies, courts &c required to give Punjabi equal treatment
to English?

Sorry if the meaning did not come across but I was refering to the earlier
comments about my English local councils stance on Languages.
ref..

Aha. Sorry if I misunderstood you.

In that case, I presume your local council "completely ignores" welsh-
speakers because it doesn't have any monoglot Welsh residents. Is that
fair? ;-)

.

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