YouTuber condemns ‘snobbery’ of Welsh speakers

A YouTuber, who recently came under fire for promoting the far right in Wales, has condemned the “snobbery attached to Welsh speakers.”

Faith Jarvis, the treasurer of an evangelical church in Neath, hosts the Faith Speaks Louder series uploaded to YouTube and other social media.

In a recent seven-minute video titled ‘Learning Welsh Needs to Change’, Faith explained why she believes the “absolutely shot” Welsh education system is hampering the language’s spread.

She said: “For some reason, it’s a real contentious issue in Wales because some people feel that you’re not ‘properly Welsh’ unless you speak the Welsh language.

“This is where I think we’ve got to get to the root of the problem because Plaid want to chuck more money at the educational system, so do Labour, in order for us to be able to speak Welsh. So they want English medium schools to become Welsh medium schools.

“I think that is already a bad idea because our educational system in Wales is terrible. It’s absolutely shot. So I think the way that we approach learning Welsh has to be different.”

She goes on to say that, while she believes everybody in Wales should speak Welsh, the want and passion to do so “isn’t there”.

Faith states: “I believe one of the roots of the problem is there’s a snobbery attached to Welsh speakers…So non-Welsh speakers feel like they’re looked down upon and that there’s this hierarchy out there, they are more Welsh because they can speak the language of Wales.

“I’ve experienced this firsthand. I was driving past mid Wales, went into a shop in a little village to buy some things. And the woman behind the counter, she was obviously the owner of the shop, was so rude. She refused to talk to me in English. She was so rude and then asked me to leave. She literally said, ‘please leave’ because I was an English-speaking Welsh woman. And I think that attitude is disgusting.

“We wonder why, then, non-Welsh speakers refuse to speak Welsh. It’s because of that attitude from the Welsh speakers. So we have to bridge the divide.”

Faith’s solution is “introducing [the language] into our everyday lives. Like every time we go to a coffee shop, if the Councillors worked alongside businesses and say with a coffee shop, now we go in and instead of saying, oh, ‘can I have a cup of tea?’ Just ask for a panad, or you know, if it’s a panad o goffi, right?

“Then I think they will filter into our society, into our communities a lot faster than if we try to do it through the schools and force the Welsh language onto the youth…

“This is again why I’m not voting for Plaid because they’re not looking at us culturally and communities understanding that there’s a massive divide right now in our nation and how to bridge that divide. Do you know what they’re going to do? Just chuck more money at it and hope that it heals itself and that is not it.

“That song, ‘there’ll be a welcome in the hillside, there’ll be a welcome in the vales’. That is what Wales is. We are a country and a nation of friends and we welcome friendship, right? So Welsh needs to come back but not via education, via community projects.”

Problematic 

Faith Jarvis has previously come under fire for interviewing problematic figures, including Bishop Ceirion Dewar, known for his nationalist Christianity, as well as far-right ‘activist’ Dan Morgan.

In a previous post, a Welsh Christian leader told Nation.Cymru: “[Faith] presents herself as apolitical, yet many of her talking points closely mirror those found in the alt-right and Reform UK playbook. Taken together, [Faith Speaks Louder] has the appearance of a soft-launch campaign aimed at drawing a section of the Christian vote towards Reform ahead of next year.”

Resources

The 22 Welsh-language initiatives, Mentrau Iaith, across the country “create opportunities where anyone and everyone can enjoy using Welsh every day within their communities.” Find out more about the events and activities, as well as traditional ‘lessons’, they host here.

A partnership between the National Centre for Learning Welsh and Mentrau Iaith, Hapus i Siarad promotes businesses and workers happy to speak in Welsh to learners with a bright orange sign or badge. Learners with a mentor can receive a stamp on their ‘learner’s passport’, but anyone wishing to practice can participate.

The National, International, and Urdd Eisteddfods are hosted every year in Cymru, bringing together speakers and learners from across the country to watch and participate in Welsh culture.

Shwmae Sumae Day celebrated on the 15 October each year since 2013 encourages learners and speakers to share conversations in Welsh starting with the simple greeting ‘Shwmae’. Information on last year’s campaign is available here.

Additional useful resources include language-learning apps such as SaySomethingIn and Duolingo, as well as the Welsh-language magazine for learners, Lingo Newydd.

For further discussion on the political and social relationship in Wales between those who speak Welsh and those who do not, read Stephen Price’s ‘Taffia and the Illusion of Welsh Privilege’ here.