Author Topic: Cymraeg - Welsh language issues  (Read 26432 times)

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Offline Fester

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Cymraeg - Welsh language issues
« on: June 20, 2011, 09:32:38 pm »
It seems that a serious issue, involving firearms, erupted when a New pub manager objected to locals ordering thier drinks in Welsh!  $walesflag$

See here   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-13829967
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Offline DaveR

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Re: Cymraeg - Welsh language issues
« Reply #1 on: June 20, 2011, 09:44:07 pm »
I thought the locals' response was a tad restrained, if anything.  :twoface:  :laugh:


Offline Pendragon

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Re: Cymraeg - Welsh language issues
« Reply #2 on: June 20, 2011, 09:48:51 pm »
I was talking to a lady at the boot sale on Sunday and she was telling me all about it.  She said the manager was a lad from Manchester he'd told the locals to speak in English while in his bar, of course the locals kicked off.  He then went upstairs and returned to the bar with a shot gun and cartridges which he placed behind the bar and announced "he wasn't afraid of anyone" bloody idiot, I mean if your not scared you wouldn't pull a stunt like that would you.  He has since had his licence revoked and been kicked out by the pub-co.  The lady who was temporarily running the place while tenants were being sought has since returned.  I was gob smacked when I was told, he will undoubtedly serve a sentence for that as according to her the gun was loaded.  :o
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Offline Merddin Emrys

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Re: Cymraeg - Welsh language issues
« Reply #3 on: June 20, 2011, 10:35:56 pm »
We used to live not far from there and I have to say the local Welsh people were always great with us, but to have someone move there and tell the locals not to speak their own language in their own area make my blood boil, it's idiots like that that stir up resentment big time!   $angry$  (and I was born in England!)  How was someone who is clearly nuts ever taken on in the first place?
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Offline dwsi

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Re: Cymraeg - Welsh language issues
« Reply #4 on: June 20, 2011, 11:24:44 pm »

Offline DaveR

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Re: Cymraeg - Welsh language issues
« Reply #5 on: June 21, 2011, 09:22:03 am »
Article in the Telegraph:

Fancy a cwrw down the tafarn? Then you will be glad that the Royal Oak in Penrhyndeudraeth is back under Welsh-language friendly management.

Ordering a beer down the pub in the native tongue used to be a straightforward exercise in this village on the edge of Snowdonia – after all, this is Welsh Wales, where 60 per cent of the population are native speakers.

That fact failed to impress the recently arrived (and now departed) manager of the pub, however. On Friday night, it has been reported, a row broke out at the bar when some customers insisted on ordering their drinks in Welsh. A weapon, thought to be an air rifle, was allegedly brandished and the manager, aged about 25, was arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Such passionate fall-outs over language have been rare of late, even in Gwynedd, a redoubt of Welsh nationalism. People in Penrhyndeudraeth are mystified as to why the landlord and his partner, understood to be from Tyne and Wear, and employed under a temporary contract, should end up alienating the majority of their clientele.

“They tried to ban people from asking for their drinks in Welsh, not because they didn’t understand but more so because they seemed to want to rub people up the wrong way,” says Dewi Lewis, the village newsagent and a member of Gwynedd county council. “This is a Welsh-speaking community and people speak Welsh first, English second. People have always ordered their drinks in Welsh. No one has a problem speaking English if others don’t understand them but you can’t really come into a Welsh-speaking pub and demand that people speak English. It’s bound to antagonise.”

Penrhyndeudraeth may be forgiving of the linguistic limitations of the English but it is a haven to nationalist sentiment.There are an estimated 600,000 Welsh speakers in Wales, a fifth of the population, and Gwynedd is the principality’s linguistic heartland.
A place where a little diplomacy and cultural sensitivity might come in handy, then. Trouble is, it seems this was not the strong point of the managing couple. The two were employed to run the pub until the end of July by an agency operating for the brewery Marstons. Apparently, relations took only two days to break down irrevocably.

It was just after midnight on Friday when Anglo-Welsh hostilities commenced. Village rumour has it that a number of young men, who were incensed by the ban on Welsh, insisted on calling at the Royal Oak and ordering drinks in their own language. They were soon running from the pub, allegedly following threats from their host.

The Royal Oak (Derwen Frenhinol), which offers pool and darts (pwl and dartiau) and bar food (bwyd bar) is now under the management of Pauline Williams, who ran it before the arrival of the temporary pair. A Welsh couple will take up permanent residence at the pub next month.

A centre for walkers, drawn by the beauties of Snowdonia and the coast, Penrhyndeudraeth has its share of English residents. A Cheshire-born woman who has lived here for 22 years says she has never encountered discrimination: “If someone says something you don’t understand, and as long as you are polite and explain you’re English, no-one has a problem.”

Down at the Royal Oak tonight they will again be ordering their pints of cwrw, their English foe vanquished. Still, being generous in victory, they may just be persuaded to accept an order in Saesneg.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/wales/8587445/In-Wales-mind-your-language.html

Offline Merddin Emrys

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Re: Cymraeg - Welsh language issues
« Reply #6 on: June 21, 2011, 09:36:20 am »
I still wonder how such an idiot with such strange ideas was ever taken on to be a manager, I can't believe that his previous history was good?  Also if he had such strange ideas why did he accept the post in Penrhyndeudraeth?
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Offline DaveR

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Re: Cymraeg - Welsh language issues
« Reply #7 on: June 21, 2011, 09:57:48 am »
He no doubt thought that what he perceived as the 'ignorant Welsh' would do as they were told by their English masters.  :laugh:

Offline Merddin Emrys

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Re: Cymraeg - Welsh language issues
« Reply #8 on: June 21, 2011, 10:06:23 am »
He no doubt thought that what he perceived as the 'ignorant Welsh' would do as they were told by their English masters.  :laugh:

yes,he was wrong about that too! hopefully he will serve time and never return to Wales!  $walesflag$
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Offline Hugo

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Re: Cymraeg - Welsh language issues
« Reply #9 on: June 21, 2011, 11:03:44 am »
It's just unbelievable, the ignorance and arrogance of some people never ceases to amaze me.    $walesflag$

Offline dwsi

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Cymraeg - Welsh language issues
« Reply #10 on: January 20, 2012, 05:33:46 pm »
Welsh motorists in parking ticket language protest - Telegraph http://tgr.ph/ywHVCL
Read the comments at the bottom of the page, very borderline racist.

BBC iPlayer - The Radio Wales Phone-In: 20/01/2012 http://bbc.in/xgAQDn
The first hour is given over to discussing the issue

What's the forum's members views on this subject?

Offline DaveR

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Re: Cymraeg - Welsh language issues
« Reply #11 on: January 20, 2012, 05:38:35 pm »
The usual response from Little Englanders, the very same people that vote BNP and complain bitterly when someone speaks a language other than English.

Offline Yorkie

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Re: Cymraeg - Welsh language issues
« Reply #12 on: January 20, 2012, 06:37:30 pm »
What a lovely insult to the English, Dave!   Not my fault that my school did not teach me the language of an ajoining country - and I have never voted BNP in my life!

However, I may not speak Welsh apart from the few words I have learnt, but I do speak  other European languages.

I don't know of any other Country that makes such a fuss about their language which is only spoken by the minority.  >>>

I have nothing against Welsh, Gaelic, or Erse and am all in favour of preserving the old languages but slating those who do not speak it will do nothing to get those people on your side.
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Offline Merddin Emrys

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Re: Cymraeg - Welsh language issues
« Reply #13 on: January 20, 2012, 07:00:08 pm »
I read the Dave's comments as applying to the comments left on the Telegraph article, quite rightly too! I'm sure you and I were not the targets :)
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Offline DaveR

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Re: Cymraeg - Welsh language issues
« Reply #14 on: January 20, 2012, 07:02:49 pm »
 Absolutely right, Merddin, I was specifically referring to the 'Little Englander' subset of the English. Most English people are perfectly pleasant.