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
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An excellent article. I was born in Neath, grew up in Swansea / Abergavenny when Welsh was not taught in schools. Learning Welsh has always been an aspiration; but since I live in England, the only Welsh I hear is on the Transport for Wales trains from Crewe to Manchester / Chester / Cardiff that I travel on. Learning to communicate can be done in different ways. In 1998 I worked in Montreal Airports procurement team for six months (covered Rolls-Royce plc, Air Canada cargo, Lufthansa Maintenance and a few order organisations). Montreal at the time was one of Canada’s… Read more »
One of my long-standing frustrations is that my Welsh-speaking grandparents never taught me the language. I went out into the world and learned French and Spanish instead, tools that helped shape my career in mining.
Speaking another language broadens your perspective. It deepens your understanding of how other nations and communities think, and why they hold the views they do.
That’s why the linguistic hubris of the Anglosphere is so damaging. It narrows outlooks and holds back the development of a genuinely progressive, liberal culture.
Well said Mati, dwi’n hollol cytuno!