From Cardiff to Spain: The surprising benefits of bilingualism

Mati Haf Davies

Living away from home can cause issues from loneliness to culture shock, but one unexpected advantage for me has been rediscovering and strengthening my Welsh language skills.

I was born in Cardiff to parents from the Swansea Valley and grew up speaking some Welsh, mostly because my mother encouraged it. But I never reached real fluency.

I attended an English-medium school in Cardiff and, like many young people, Welsh was something I could speak, but rarely did.

In 2022, everything changed when I moved to Spain for boarding school.

My school has more than 450 students from 45 different nationalities, many of whom speak two, three, or even four languages fluently.

Suddenly speaking Welsh, a language no one around me understood, was so cool.

Even though Welsh isn’t one of the world’s major global languages like Chinese, Italian or German, it is an international minority language and that became part of what made me stand out and gave me a sense of cultural identity.

Living abroad has also made me realise that in an international environment where everyone understands English, Welsh became my “privacy”. It gave me a way to speak freely to my parents and stay connected to Welsh.

I now speak the language on a daily basis when I call them. My confidence has massively improved, probably more than it would have done if I had spent the last three years living in Cardiff.

But beyond my personal story, speaking Welsh offers real benefits.

It brings cognitive, academic and social advantages – stronger memory, better reading and writing skills and improved problem solving.

Bilingual people often perform better academically and have wider opportunities in the workplace.

Friendships

Speaking more than one language makes it easier to form friendships because you can communicate with more people, understand their humour and emotions, and connect with their culture on a deeper level.

In an interconnected world, bilingualism is increasingly recognised as a key skill for success.

Being able to understand and speak Welsh is a gift – learning it has been empowering and unexpectedly life changing for me.

Mati Haf Davies is 17