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Abieuan
'Our Scotland' = 2nd Job!
Joined: 29 Sep 2005
Posts: 481
Location: Carrick
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 Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 10:50 pm Post subject: Cymraeg |
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http://www.eurolang.net/index.php...;id=2585&Itemid=1&lang=en
| Quote: | Welsh Language Board embraces IT
Brussel - Bruxelles, Saturday, 08 April 2006 by Davyth Hicks
A strong place for the Welsh language in the field of new technologies – that is Welsh Language Board’s aim in its new Strategy Document for I.T. and the Welsh language, launched this week.
The final strategy was developed after extensive consultation and includes a number of targets that will be a framework for Welsh language IT work in the future.
Meri Huws, Chair of the Board, said:
“With Information Technology playing an increasingly important role in all our lives, it’s essential that we see more developments through the medium of Welsh in this field. I’m extremely glad, therefore, that we as a Board have grasped the opportunity to be at the forefront of such work by creating this strategy, a strategy that will, without doubt, provide a major boost to the status of the Welsh language in the future”.
Alun Pugh, Minister for Culture, the Welsh Language and Sport, added:
“The Welsh Assembly Government’s strategic plan for a bilingual Wales, Iaith Pawb, notes the need to mainstream the Welsh language in a large number of areas, including information technology. I.T. is constantly developing, and this strategy clearly shows how we can ensure that Welsh plays a part in this all important field. The Board is to be congratulated for this work.”
In addition to the strategy, the Board is also publishing a technical support document for those who work in the field of information technology. The purpose of this document is to show how easy it is to offer a language choice to anyone who uses Information Technology in their everyday lives.
The documents will be launched at the Board’s new office in Ruthin. The office is one of various centres that the Board has in different regions of Wales. The other main offices are situated in Caernarfon, Carmarthen and Cardiff. (Eurolang 2006)
www.bwrdd-yr-iaith.org.uk
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Cymro
I need ma own bl**dy forum!
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 1409
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| Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 7:08 am Post subject: |
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| I was at the launch in Rhuthun. The developments with IT and the Welsh language are exciting even for a person with next to no IT knowledge like myself. Hopefully this will happen with the other Celtic languages soon too. |
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Abieuan
'Our Scotland' = 2nd Job!
Joined: 29 Sep 2005
Posts: 481
Location: Carrick
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| Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 10:28 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, Welsh leads the way in language rights and usage, let's hope that the rest of us can follow soon.
It is important that our languages are seen to be relevant in the modern world. |
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Cymro
I need ma own bl**dy forum!
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 1409
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| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 8:39 am Post subject: |
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| The irony with the press release you've pasted is that Alun Pugh wasn't at the lanuch and wants to abolish the Welsh Language Board and bring it under direct Assembly Control. |
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SLG
Born Again..........and still Scottish!
Joined: 16 Sep 2005
Posts: 5515
Location: Dùn Eideann
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| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 10:28 am Post subject: |
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| Cymro wrote: | | The irony with the press release you've pasted is that Alun Pugh wasn't at the lanuch and wants to abolish the Welsh Language Board and bring it under direct Assembly Control. |
Is that necessarily a bad thing? Do you not trust the Welsh Executive to act competently in this area? |
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Cymro
I need ma own bl**dy forum!
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 1409
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| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 1:22 pm Post subject: |
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| SLG wrote: | | Cymro wrote: | | The irony with the press release you've pasted is that Alun Pugh wasn't at the lanuch and wants to abolish the Welsh Language Board and bring it under direct Assembly Control. |
Is that necessarily a bad thing? Do you not trust the Welsh Executive to act competently in this area? |
It wouldnt be a bad thing if you could trust the Labour Assembly Government. However the Labour party are probably the most anti Welsh language party in the Assembly. I feer under Labour it will revert to being a political football and the only thing that will suffer from this is the language itself.
The Welsh Language Baoard was set up by the Tories in 1993 under the Welsh Language Act. It has a role in monitoring the Welsh language schemes of public bodies. However if it gets abolished the Assembly will be responsible for overseeing the schemes - including its own policies on the language.
The WLB is a quango, and the quangos used to be hated in Wales - English bodies spending millions of £'s in Wales with no Welsh accountability. The quango leaders of the quangos tended to be appointed too. However since devolution htese quangos have become accountable as they are funded by the WAG. The parites in the Assembly have a chance now to question and demand answers.
If WLB became a government dept it would not be able to do a lot of the work it does now as its hands will be tied by government rules. Also the WLB's internal language of work is Welsh. Within a greater civil service (and our civil service is still 'England and Wales' it would become English lnnauge thus leading to the Welsh language becoming more of a professional language as well as social language. |
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SLG
Born Again..........and still Scottish!
Joined: 16 Sep 2005
Posts: 5515
Location: Dùn Eideann
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| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 1:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Fair enough, I thought that might be the case. The problem with some of the quangos in Scotland, is that they are still populated with Labourites, so in-house can sometimes be better as it may add a greater degree of parliamentary scrutiny. |
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Abieuan
'Our Scotland' = 2nd Job!
Joined: 29 Sep 2005
Posts: 481
Location: Carrick
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| Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 10:30 pm Post subject: Survey shows increase in use of Welsh |
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| Quote: | Survey Shows Increase in Use of Welsh
Bruxelles - Brussel, Tuesday, 09 May 2006 by Davyth Hicks
The Welsh Language Board has published a report on its 2004 Welsh Language Use Survey today which shows that a high proportion of Welsh speakers use the language daily. The Survey showed that 62% of all those who could speak Welsh and 88% of the fluent speakers said that they spoke Welsh daily. However, the Survey showed that, while the percentage of people able to speak Welsh had increased, the percentage and number of fluent speakers has decreased. 57% of Welsh speakers considered themselves fluent. In 1992, the corresponding figure, according to the Welsh Office’s Welsh Social Survey, was 61%.
Meirion Prys Jones, Chief Executive of the Welsh Language Board, said, “The results from the survey are positive on the whole and show that a high proportion of people who can speak Welsh use it on a daily basis. This shows that people are very willing and eager to use their Welsh in all aspects of their life and that’s good to see”.
One of the Survey’s most striking results is the connection between fluency and language use. There is an obvious link also between how many people speak Welsh in an area, fluency and the level of use of the language.
Mr Prys Jones said, “The Survey shows that we need to concentrate our work on two areas in particular in order to further increase the use of Welsh. We need to build people’s confidence so that they are ready to use Welsh as part of their daily lives and at the same time we need to develop the opportunities that are available for people to do so.”
Speaking to Eurolang Alun Pugh, Minister for Culture, Sport and the Welsh Language, said: "The survey's results that show the level of Welsh language use on a daily basis are encouraging. Iaith Pawb, the Assembly Government's national action plan for a bilingual Wales, identified the need for more comprehensive, targeted and regular data on the Welsh language. Studies like this one are invaluable in giving us a picture of the position of the language and steering future policy. I'm pleased that the additional money provided by Iaith Pawb has made this study possible.”
Summary of the main results
21.7 per cent (611 thousand) of all those aged 3 and over could speak Welsh. This compares with 20.8 per cent in the 2001 Census.
57 per cent (315 thousand) of Welsh speakers considered themselves fluent in Welsh. In 1992, the corresponding figure, according to the Welsh Office’s Welsh Social Survey was 61 per cent (363 thousand). Therefore it is estimated that approximately 12 per cent of those aged 3 and over are able to speak Welsh fluently.
Of those who said that they could speak Welsh, the percentage who considered themselves fluent increased with age. Of speakers aged 3 to 15, 44 per cent were fluent, compared with 72 per cent of speakers aged over 65.
Of those who could speak Welsh, 62 per cent spoke Welsh daily. 88 per cent of fluent speakers said that they spoke Welsh daily.
In order to assess what proportion of common conversations are in Welsh, respondents were asked about the language of the most recent conversation they had had (not including conversations with family members). Welsh was the language of their most recent conversation in the case of 58 per cent of fluent speakers. (Eurolang 2006)
2004 Welsh Language Use Survey pdf
2004 Welsh Language Use Survey graphs.doc |
http://www.eurolang.net/index.php...;id=2616&Itemid=1&lang=en |
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