Welsh / English speakers in same house

[iolaus]

If the older three had Welsh and the youngest both it wouldn't have surprised me it was the option of one or other but not both

[Ruskie]

But if Welsh was spoken at home, and English at school, then the child would pick up both languages, surely? Or are you saying that on the census form they needed to choose one language not both? 

Mabel, your relative's experience with gaelic is very interesting, and something I did not realise, but can understand the reasoning behind as regards past attitudes.

[iolaus]

But if Welsh was spoken at home, and English at school, then the child would pick up both languages, surely? Or are you saying that on the census form they needed to choose one language not both? 

On the census form there was the option to pick both - but that option wasn't chosen, just one or the other language for all members of the family - had it been Welsh/Welsh/Welsh/Both I wouldn't have been surprised - when the censuses for now become available my own family will have adults being monolingual and children bilingual.

[iolaus]

think it depends on the period - my welsh speaking grandfather was schooled in Bethesda at the turn of the last century and recalled experiences of being punished for speaking welsh.

And now my kids get in trouble at school for 'Siarad Saesneg' (speaking English) - not the corporal punishment from back then, but shows how times change

[queenwillow]

My mother grew up in Cardiff in the 1930's to 1950's and told me she was punished for speaking Welsh in school. So much so she refused to teach me when I was a child!

[davierj]

In my case my father spoke Welsh and English but my mother spoke only English.   When I was born he was away going about the King's business, so I did not learn Welsh.   All his family spoke it and I can to this day read and pronounce Welsh but understand very little.

[Cell]

Hi,
Most certainly the punishment carried on well into the 1900's,  I know that my grandfather was punished for speaking Welsh.

My grandfather was totally Welsh speaking (didn't know a word of English as a young child) he used to tell me he was punished in school for speaking his own tongue, hit with a rule and  made to stand in a corner( this would be in the early 1900's in school, he was born in 1898). He learned his English at school.   This was in South Wales  (Aberdare).

The  1911 census for him  says Welsh (as with his parents and siblings)  - I assume he must have knew a little English at the time , but he was not that fluent in it  and only had to speak it in school, so the family didn't write both - Even as an old man when I knew him he had trouble with the  English Language , he could speak it ok,  but he'd begin a sentence in English to me  and slip  straight into Welsh  without him realising it. ( He had to think of the words before he spoke in English , where his thoughts were in Welsh - so his words would slip out in Welsh ).



My husband's dad who today only speaks English  started life only speaking Welsh. Up to the age of about 6  he only could speak Welsh - Then his dad went away to war. When he came back ( the war changed his father  - screwed up, usual story for some of them , drink, temper you name it) he absolutely forbid his children to speak any Welsh (and I mean forbid!!!), don't ask me why ( perhaps something happened in to him in the army). My father-in-law still won't speak Welsh , he pretends he has forgotten it all , but I do not believe him -you can't be fluent in one language only  (even though he was just  a young boy) and then totally forget it all- He knows it alright ,you've only got to swear in Welsh and he grins.

I blame the government of my childhood for myself . My Mother ( who is Irish,) tried her very best to send me to our local Welsh (as in language) infant and primary school as she wanted me to be taught in my country's mother tongue (My dad's Welsh) - but the policy of the schools in those days (in the 1970's) was at least one parent had to be fluent in the language, my dad is not fluent  enough . I can imagine  my mum strolling up to the school and giving them her  best  with an Irish accent lol.

This has  apparently has all changed now, my husbands cousin sends her 2 boys to a Welsh school, neither her or her husband can speak  one iota of Welsh. One of the boy's is doing really, really well at the school ,top grades in all subjects - but the other is struggling to the verge of pulling him out .

The  Welsh that I do have  has come from all over the place (life) and also from my compulsory Welsh lessons in secondary education .( Schools in Wales had compulsory Welsh language lessons during the 80's  for  the first few years in secondary. I don't know when it first came in, or even if it's still compulsory today)
Kind Regards

[Griffl]

I completely disagree with North Wales being the heartlands for speaking welsh as Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire are equally or were equally just as welsh speaking.

My great grandfather(as an example)...
Was born in Aberdare, 1900.
The language at home was Welsh and only Welsh...after he married a woman who preferred to speak English he had great difficulty in the other language which makes me wonder how they managed to get on haha.

I have been told that even in his 70s he could still not string a good sentence together and instead used "pig" English.His father was from Aberdare but grandparents from Carmarthenshire.His mother on the otherhand was a Glamorgan girl with possible distant "not born in county" ancestors (around 1800).

Although it is clear that the language is looked down upon in the south today, that was clearly not the case in Coal Mining communities at the start of the century where a family could survive by only speaking Welsh and no English.