Sunday, February 24, 2008

Prince William learning Welsh

Some of you may have heard the rumours that Tywysog Gwilym was intending to learn Welsh for his official role (Prince William of Wales) This would be a very welcome move. There is a sense that Welsh speakers are more conservative than English speakers, more linked in to the History of our Island, certainly Loyalty, as seen by service in the forces, is 50% higher in Wales. One could be forgiven for believing that all Welsh speakers are raving antimonarchists after the Queen was refused entry to the opening ceremony for the National Library of Wales because of a few student protesters. The issue there however was one of Language not of pro or anti Royal. Of course the provision for Welsh Medium education within the University of Wales is so poor that William may find it hard to get a course anyway. He could always have a word with the Chancellor (his father).

A quick look at the royal.gov.uk website will show you some of the Queen and Charles' pages are available in Welsh (not all) but none of Williams or other members of the Family. This begs the question of why such key resources are not available in Welsh - can we really expect Welsh children doing royalty research projects to provide their own translations. The attitudes have changed and the absence of Welsh, whilst probably an oversight, can be read as a slight.

Bank of England supports Welsh

The Bank of England rep in Wales was recently encouraging business in Wales to use more Welsh, a nice gesture indeed. However apart from a few factsheets aimed at 9 year olds the 'central bank for the UK' has no Welsh on its website, clearly it needs all the money to buy Northern Rock. Does this body actually serve the Welsh people, does it serve the thousands of Welsh speakers in England? These old beurocratic attitudes - ignoring, delaying and fogging are not acceptable in the 21st century. I am awaiting a reply to my email...

On the issue of Blogio yn y Gymraeg Draig Wen reader rhys wynne said... "I wouldn't hold my breath for a Welsh version of Blogger, even though it's available in 40 languages now. If you're after a blogging service in Welsh try www.nireblog.com/cy
or www.cy.wordpress.com" thanks for that Rhys.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Campaign for dot Cym


The unused .cym for the Cayman Islands is by right ours for Wales/Cymru and for all Welsh language users around the world. The Cayman Islands, with just a few thousand people, very nice ones, actually have two .names .cym and .km - they use the .km in fact. Whereas cars all over Wales drive around with cym on the back oblivious to the existance of the Cayman Islands as a country.

Draig Wen

I have decided to continue the blog as DraigWen to ensure no confusion with the Pagan web-magazine WhiteDragon.org which is unconnected to our aims. I welcome the interest which Pagans show in things Celtic and hope it does lead them to explore Welsh language and culture and form a new silver thread in the tapestry of our culture. I also Welcome a Welsh speaking Archbishop of Canterbury and the growth of Welsh speaking muslim communities. All are welcome to use the Welsh language.

See DraigWen from here on.

Pwrpas y gwelog hwn yw i ganiatau y rhai sy'n chwilio dan 'White Dragon' dod o hyd i ddeunydd am y Gymraeg.

Blogger in Welsh

High time that Blogger was available in Welsh, certainly Welsh Wicipedia is amongst the strongest languages, and use of Welsh on the Web is exploding. Campaigns for a Welsh domain name .cym (cymru) are well advanced and .cy (cyprus) is being used by many people already. The Welsh Facebook campaign has 1000s of signatures and Welsh is definitely very active on facebook.
At some future date teh Welsh assembly will assume responsibility for regulating IT, businesses and services and at this point legal and social pressures for the inclusion and normalisation of Welsh will be strong.

White Dragon February 08 Draig Wen


Welcome to the Anglophone blog about the Welsh in England. Our rights and our role in the Emerging English state. The future role of the Welsh language as a core identity marker of Britishness, of deep Englishness and of a pluralistic and open England.
Croeso i Loegr.

Over 100.000 Welsh speakers live in England and this is increasing. Mobility between Wales and England is probably one of the highest inter-nation exchanges of population on the planet at over 100,000 per annum (50,000 each way) that's a million movements per decade - the effect on a nation of only 3 million is obvious.

Increasing visibility and status of Welsh in Wales means that England and Wales government agencies now need to provide bilingual services, increasing interconnectedness and the eWorld provide access in a way never before possible to Welsh language resources.

Of the two futures:
An independant England, Scotland and a Wales with a strong Cambrophone tendency. or;
A federal British state with a strong Cambrophone Wales.

Both of these will see a positive response to Welsh within England and some aspects of the Canadian French-English policy will occur. White Dragon will seek to ensure quality and sensitivity in these developments.

Why the symbolism? The White Dragon represents one of two legendary dragons that fought for supremacy, the Red Dragon of Wales and the White Dragon - Draig Wen of LLoegr (England). Both dragons are British and both are Cymry. The oldest poem of England was written in Welsh - about the battle of Catterick (Yorkshire), King Arthur was Welsh. the place names of England are richly speckled with Welsh words from Avon (river) to Penge (woods edge) from London (Llundain =Lughs city) to Carlisle (Caerliwelydd=Lughs fort on the wall). The legend has them locked in an embrace to the end of time.