Preserving Languages

Some languages are being preserved and protected. The United Nations has had a program since 2003 to preserve endangered languages. The European Union has identified 60 local languages that people are trying to preserve.

Recent efforts have bolstered languages belonging to the Celtic branch of Indo-European. Preserving Celtic languages is of particular interest to English speakers because these languages offer insights into the cultural heritage of places that now speak English. Celtic languages were spoken in much of present-day Germany, France, northern Italy, and the British Isles 2,000 years ago. Today, Celtic languages survive only in remote parts of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland and on the Brittany peninsula of France

Celtic Languages

Brythonic Celtic

The Celtic language branch is divided into Goidelic (Gaelic) and Brythonic groups. Speakers of Brythonic (also called Cymric or Britannic) fled westward during the Germanic invasions to Wales, southwestward to Cornwall, or southward across the English Channel to the Brittany peninsula of France.

Welsh

Wales—the name derived from the Germanic invaders’ word for foreign—was conquered by the English in 1283. Welsh remained dominant in Wales until the nineteenth century, when many English speakers migrated there to work in coal mines and factories. A 2014 census found 580,000 Welsh speakers in Wales, 23 percent of the population. Another 150,000 Welsh speakers live across the border in England. In some isolated communities in the northwest, especially in the county of Gwynedd, two-thirds speak Welsh.

Instrumental in preserving the language has been the Welsh Language Society (Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg). Britain’s 1988 Education Act made Welsh language training a compulsory subject in all schools in Wales, and Welsh history and music have been added to the curriculum. In 2011, the government of the United Kingdom made Welsh the official language in Wales.

All local governments and utility companies are obliged to provide services in Welsh. Welsh-language road signs have been posted throughout Wales, and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) produces Welsh-language television and radio programs. Knowledge of Welsh is now required for many jobs, especially in public service, media, culture, and sports. Nonetheless, despite these efforts, 73 percent of people living in Wales reported on the 2011 census that they had no Welsh language skills.

Cornish

Cornish was the Celtic language spoken in Cornwall, the southwestern-most county of the United Kingdom. Its last-known native speaker of Cornish died in 1777. Cornish was revived in the twentieth century. A major step forward was an agreement in 2008 among several Cornish language advocacy groups on a standard system of writing. A 2011 census found 557 people in the United Kingdom who claimed fluency in the language. It is taught in grade schools and adult evening courses and is used in some church services. Some banks accept checks written in Cornish.

Breton

Brittany, like Cornwall, is an isolated peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean. As part of France, Brittany has a language containing more words borrowed from French than do the other Celtic languages. The number of Breton speakers has declined from around 1 million in 1950 to around 200,000 today, and three-fourths of the remaining speakers are over age 65. The decline in speakers has placed Breton on the lists of endangered languages maintained by Ethnologue and the U.N. Around 15,000 students learn Breton in schools, but the government of France requires French to be the principal language of instruction in public schools.

Goidelic Celtic

This group of Celtic languages originated in Ireland. Two Goidelic languages survive: Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic.

Irish

Irish is one of two official languages in the Republic of Ireland, along with English. According to a 2011 census, Irish is spoken by 94,000 people on a daily basis, and 1.3 million say that they can speak it and use it at least occasionally. As with Welsh, the percentage of people speaking Irish is higher in the more remote areas of the country. An Irish-language TV station began broadcasting in 1996. English road signs were banned from portions of western Ireland in 2005.

The revival is being led by young Irish living in other countries who wish to distinguish themselves from the English (in much the same way that Canadians traveling abroad often make efforts to distinguish themselves from U.S. citizens). Irish singers, including many rock groups, have begun to record and perform in Gaelic. In the 1300s, the Irish were forbidden to speak their own language in the presence of their English masters.

Scottish Gaelic

In Scotland 59,000, or 1 percent of the people, speak Scottish Gaelic. Scottish Gaelic should not be confused with Scots, which Ethnologue considers to be an Indo-European Germanic branch language separate from English, not merely a dialect of English. Scots is said to be the first language for 90,000 people in Scotland and the second language for 1.5 million. Scots is more prevalent in Scotland’s southern lowlands nearest to England, whereas Scottish Gaelic is more likely to be found in more remote northern highlands and islands.

Pause & Reflect 5.4.3

In your translation app, enter something in English and see whether similar words are used in Irish and in Welsh and whether the words are similar to English.