Storytelling Starters ~ What language?
Saturday, April 2nd, 2022
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. (more…)
