"Steve Freides" wrote in message ...

Welsh children are given the choice (at least last time I heard) of
going to school up to the 6th grade in Welsh, or in English. Many, many
young people speak Welsh fluently, including a young man in his 20's I
ran into here in the US about a year ago. There was a significant
separtist movement in Wales, and the option to go to school in Welsh was
one of the results.

My wife's mother's family came from the North, from the island of
Anglesey, near the town with the longest name in the world, usually
referred to as Llanfair P.G. My wife's grandmother barely spoke
English, and my wife's mother's and Aunt's first language was Welsh.
Being from Anglesey is at least somewhat like being a hillbilly here in
the US - my wife's grandmother had such a thick, country Welsh accent
that when my wife first opened her mouth in a Welsh language class she
took in NYC in the 1980's, the teacher laughed out loud and asked her
where she's gotten that accent from - very sing-songy.

When we visited the house her grandmother had lived in before moving to
the US in 1984, the house still had no electricity or running water.
When we visited again in 2005, it had only just been given those things
about a year or two prior - it was a magical visit. The owners were
nice enough to let us in and show us what they'd done, and they also
showed us and asked us about a picture they'd found, which was a family
photo that included my wife's grandmother that no one in the family knew
existed.

The average young person would likely not speak Welsh to his peers, but
there's 50/50 chance or so that he'd be able to.

-S-

~~~~~~
What an interesting message--too interesting to snip any of it. Thanks for
posting it.

MaryL