The Welsh Assembly Government is working hard to promote Welsh language learning among all age groups of the population. Welsh language classes are running locally, under a special initiative and in tandem with Cardiff University. This promotion means that classes are free of the usual restrictions on LEA-run adult education and community learning programs. So even if class numbers are small, the subsidy means that tutors and groups can keep running. What’s more, terms are longer than other LEA-run language courses and there are more levels and conversation classes/learning opportunities too. All this is meant to promote appreciation of Welsh history and culture and so, of course, is A Good Thing.
But is it appreciated? Do Welsh people want it? The 3 generations of a family sitting behind me on the train to London yesterday didn’t. They were unanimously against it. The Gran told her son and daughter-in-law about a school she knew of in Cardiff, where they were ‘trying out’ teaching Spanish instead of Welsh and that, if it worked, the scheme would be spread out across Wales and would reach their schools, too, in the south Wales Valleys. The son-in-law commented that “if people want to learn Welsh they can go to the Welsh schools”.
This unbidden and unprompted exchange surprised me. What about you? What do you think? Should the WAG keep spending upwards of £30,000,000 a year

promoting Welsh language? Or, are Welsh children being deprived of the opportunity to learn other more mainstream European languages? Does it matter?