Storytelling Starters ~ What language?
Golwg is a Welsh word with a number of related meanings among them sight, appearance and view. Golwg is also the name of a Welsh language magazine, which pops through my letterbox in London towards the end of each week.
An item in Golwg this week describes how a Muslim woman, Hanan Issa, who lives in Grangetown in Cardiff, recently shared a story about racism in Wales. According to her account, a woman wearing a niqab was chatting with her son on a bus when a stranger turned to her and said that, as she was in Britain, she ought to be speaking English. Upon hearing this, another woman immediately turned to the man and pointed out, ‘She’s in Wales and she’s speaking Welsh.’
This story reminded me of a horrible incident which I’ve never forgotten. Indeed, I’ve probably included it in some previous blog. I was sitting in a second-tier box in the Royal Albert Hall for a Proms concert devoted to BBC Radio Six Music Cerys Matthews, the presenter and singer, who was one of the main performers on that occasion was introducing an old Welsh tune from Tudor times by its Welsh name. A man shouted down at her: ‘Your language is dead.’ I felt outraged then. And I feel outraged now in recollecting it.
I was very aware of my feeling that there was no way I could express something of my outrage directly to the man who’d done the shouting out. I am aware that I did nothing. Too shy? Too shocked? At least it’s possible for time and thought to make a difference. For by now, I’ve thought about the incident so many times and with such disgust that I think I could manage better – if only to say quite plainly, ‘’What you have said is racist and completely unacceptable. Please don’t ever do it again.’
Of course it is a strange and wonderful thing that two completely unrelated languages, Welsh and English, can live side by side within such a small space as the British Isles provide. Yet the same thing is true in many other parts of the world. Surely by now, we can begin to appreciate the richness of such linguistic diversity and value what it offers rather than be frightened by it.
Enough said. Back to this week’s copy of Golwg, which offers me another rich view of the world. I do love hearing the sound of its arrival here as it pops through my letterbox. Long may it continue.
PS: The picture is of this week’s issue of Golwg.
Tags: Cerys Matthews, Golwg