What Is The Official Language Of Wales?

Someone has given you an initial bad rating, which is clearly not justified, for your answer is quite spot on. Please accept a superior rating for your efforts, which answered exactly what was asked.

As a resident of North Wales, where the language is far more widely spoken than in the South (and where there is far more anti-English sentiment, sadly), I must disagree that most people are bilingual. Even here in North Wales, there are many who do not speak Welsh. It is true that many employers consider it a beneficial skill, which sadly makes it hard for some of the native Welsh folk to get jobs who do not speak or write Welsh. You will also find many speak the language but cannot write it, which also holds them back with certain jobs desiring that skill. At my workplace, some of the Welsh happily converse in either language, whilst others have a surprising tendency to prefer English as their primary means of communication.

Welsh is not an official language, neither is English. English is the de-facto official language of the UK however and this includes wales. ÉÓG1916

Welsh is an outdated, unnecessary language. I think that sometimes people lose sight of the purpose of language, which is to communicate effectively with other people. Therefore, logically English is the best choice, as it allows communication with a far broader range of people. Isn't that the whole concept of language? The emphasis of Welsh is now holding back children in Wales, leaving them as young adults with only a relatively poor command of English, which reduces their viability in many respects outside of Wales, especially with attaining good jobs in the rest of the UK. The Welsh language also borrows heavily from the English language; if one overhears a conversation in Welsh, one will hear many English words interspersed with the Welsh, as they simply do not have the words available, perhaps due to the language being archaic and not having advanced with the times as other more widely-used, dominant languages that are more in the foreground. Yet they largely profess to dislike English, claim it is pushing their language into the background, and then happily borrow from it constantly, sometimes using whole phrases when speaking in Welsh. It is about time that Welsh was confined to history where it belongs - no longer functioning adequately in the modern world, and stop holding onto something they seem to think is the only thing that makes them who they are.

You deserve an excellent rating for your efforts. Someone wishes only to hear the answer they devised, whether this is user Chapster or some one else,, but do not be discouraged, since your answer was quite accurate and intent to answer the question asked honestly.

I gave an 'average' rating, Yergamon. My answer also intends to answer the question honestly, and also includes some of my opinions, as is to be expected. The general consensus here is that Welsh is thrust down people's throats, and heavily pushed as the sole language that should be used. A friend of mine from work pointed out how, after pressure from the Welsh Language Board, one of the big high street banks started issuing pamphlets in their branch in Welsh and English, yet the English language ones were always gone in no time, and the Welsh ones hardly touched. He then asked some Welsh friends of his why this was, and their response was that although they speak Welsh, they prefer to read in English. Interestingly, or oddly, he also found (I don't know why he thought to investigate this) that every Welsh speaker he asked turned out to use English when doing mental arithmetic. Apparently, when asked, they said it was because the English words for numerals were much easier and quicker to use and 'say' in their inner monologue. Naturally, they dislike the English language, though.