Welsh Language

Welsh Language

Welsh (Cymraeg or y Gymraeg, pronounced ) is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it has also been known in English as "the British tongue", "Cambrian", "Cambric" and "Cymric".

A 2004 survey by the Welsh Language Board indicated that 21.7% of the population of Wales (611,000 people) were able to speak the language, compared with 20.8% in the 2001 Census. Of those 611,000 Welsh speakers, 57% (315,000) considered themselves fluent, and 78% (477,000) considered themselves fluent or "fair" speakers. 62% of speakers (340,000) claimed to speak the language daily, including 88% of fluent speakers.

A greeting in Welsh is one of 55 languages included on the Voyager Golden Record chosen to be representative of Earth in NASA's Voyager program launched in 1977. The greetings are unique to each language, with the Welsh greeting being Iechyd da i chwi yn awr ac yn oesoedd which translates into English as "Good health to you now and forever".

The Welsh Language Measure 2011 gave the Welsh language official status in Wales, making it the only language that is de jure official in any part of the United Kingdom.

Read more about Welsh Language:  History, Distribution of Welsh Speakers, Official Status, Vocabulary, Orthography, Counting System, Dialects, Registers, Welsh in Education, Welsh in Information Technology, Welsh in Warfare, Use of Welsh At The European Union

Famous quotes containing the words welsh and/or language:

    “Thy tongue
    Makes Welsh as sweet as ditties highly penned,
    Sung by a fair queen in a summer’s bower,
    With ravishing division, to her lute.”
    —William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    “It is impossible to dissociate language from science or science from language, because every natural science always involves three things: the sequence of phenomena on which the science is based; the abstract concepts which call these phenomena to mind; and the words in which the concepts are expressed. To call forth a concept, a word is needed; to portray a phenomenon, a concept is needed. All three mirror one and the same reality.”
    —Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794)