Wales possess an especially strong Celtic culture. It is to be said that Many Celtic languages have almost disappeared in the last several centuries but Welsh has showed an interesting resistance and is still used. Until 1825 about eighty per cent of the country population spoke Welsh. During the 19th century the number of Welsh speakers decreased and the reason for this was that many English workers and Irish workers traveled to South Wales. On the contrary Welsh people moved to the cities where population spoke less Welsh.
At school, children were punished for speaking Welsh. Recently, there has been more interest in Welsh. It is now spoken as a first language by more than 20 per cent of the population. It is used as a first language in more and more schools and it is studied as a second language in all other schools in Wales.
Welsh is recognized as a minority language by the EU and Wales receives money to help its language stay alive. There are television and radio stations with Welsh-language programs, even soaps.
The Welsh Language
