Taffia and the illusion of Welsh privilege

Stephen Price

A memory from 2022 popped up on my Facebook recently, detailing a Conservative Senedd Member’s warning that there is a danger of Wales creating a “two-tier society” that “excludes those who do not speak Welsh”.

Joel James MS, the Senedd Member for South Wales Central, said that supporting the Welsh language and Welsh heritage was “one of many priorities to the Welsh Conservatives”.

However, writing in the Barry and District News following a visit to the National Eisteddfod he said that to attract businesses “we need other languages in Wales as well”.

“While we recognise that Welsh identity is a hugely important aspect in helping communities to flourish, we need also to be acutely aware that we do not end up creating a two-tier society which excludes those who do not speak Welsh,” he said.

“As a modern economy it is important that we can attract businesses to set up here, create jobs and encourage those with specific skills to move to Wales, and therefore we need to be mindful that if we are to compete in a global market we need other languages in Wales as well.”

He added: “I argue that while it is good to encourage the Welsh language and its use we should not forget that to be part of a global world we need to embrace other languages too.”

Privilege

Whilst these comments are almost three years old, they could have been written yesterday, and they could have been written during my 1980s childhood.

There’s a pervasive myth here in Wales that there is, indeed, a two-tier society – that Welsh language speakers have got it made.

Every job they apply for is theirs, the media, the film industry, the council, you name it – it’s all a revolving door with jobs for the boyos.

The Taffia, as they’re widely known, put even the Freemasons to shame, controlling all the council purse strings, taking the lead in all educational matters, and dominating all levels of Welsh media and political life.

Looking at a select few job applications where Welsh is desirable, you might even think that’s the case yourself, but how Welsh are most of these roles themselves? Who are the recipients of their emails, or the people on the other side of the phone?

The reality of how things really are here in Wales for Welsh speakers is quite the opposite. There is, indeed, a two-tier society, and for the most part it’s not Welsh language speakers that come out on top.

Of course, within the home, within Welsh-language communities, workplaces, chapels and such like, Welsh is very much a living, breathing, functional and evolving language. But step out of one’s confines, and there the two-tier society reveals its true face.

Switch on the television, with a remote control featuring English language buttons, and you’ll find just one Welsh channel among the thousands – and one that had to be fought tooth and nail for.

Head to pretty much anywhere in Wales without prior knowledge of the desired establishment for a meal, a hotel stay, a drink in a pub and it’s a guessing game. But you can generally guess Welsh won’t be on the menu.

To find a school for your child, again, another minefield, with counties in Wales still without an all-important Welsh language secondary school.

Heading to the supermarket and using a manned till, it’s a case of ‘spot the Cymraeg pin badge’ and more often than not it’s a losing game.

The labels on the shelf, the ingredients on the products we buy, the songs on the radio, the voices and accents of the majority of those around us. Two tier, indeed.

Scratch the surface of how Welsh Wales really is, and it’s quite the dystopian exercise.

Is asking for equal treatment really a two-tier privilege of Welsh speakers?

Wystopia

Of course, there are work-arounds – we can choose ‘Cymraeg’ at the hole in the wall, but if we want to go into a bank (if such a thing still exists), then good luck finding anyone who speaks your language.

We can (sometimes) use Welsh for our operating systems, our phones, or apps such as What Three Words.

We can order a coffee with an app, or change the language on the McDonald’s touch screen, but using Welsh in the wild is still very much a guessing game, a ‘did your accent just give you away?’ – and a very different reality than the media would like to admit.

Growing up in an ever-evolving globalised world, with devices linking direct to YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and the like, is this, too, a two-tier world that favours Welsh and, indeed, speakers of any other minority language?

Outside the confines of the school yard, Welsh speaking children make headline news when they’re not socialising the way they oughtta, but how can they be blamed when we give them little chance to do the basics outside of one-to-one conversations? When Government, both UK and Wales, ensure they exist in minority, with all the loaded feelings that might contain.

As a ‘new speaker’, who grew up on Wil Cwac Cwac, Pam Fi Duw, Welsh cinema and so on and so forth, I get little chance to use Welsh in the wilds, and it’s a nice little bonus if I get to chat to someone here and there, but for first language speakers, outside of the house, and outside of a few pockets in our heartlands and the like, these little ‘bonuses’ that comprise a supposed two-tier privilege are cold comfort.

Now, in typical vegan fashion, I must mention my diet if only to draw comparisons with the assumed privilege Welsh speakers walk around with in our hallowed country.

Much like my joy at a new vegan product, or the inclusion of a vegan friendly section in a supermarket, it’s a very blinkered joy. The focus on four or so measly shelves of products in an entire supermarket, betrays the wider truth of the rows upon rows upon rows of products that contain meat and dairy.

Thus, the Brit nat, anti-Welsh language commenter will see the little leg-up, a piece of funding, a job advert, or the building of one new school in a town with a choice of English language schools in all faiths and sizes, and completely overlook the background noise of the dominant language and the business-as-usual.

And similarly, I walk around with a smile on my face most of the time because I’m generally an upbeat fellow (despite the impression my writing here might give), but beneath that is most definitely a term labelled ‘vystopia’ by other herbivores – a vegan dystopia. A term to describe the very unsettling feeling that the beings we share this earth with aren’t being treated too kindly by mankind, and most people couldn’t give a toss.

And thus, perhaps, we have ‘Wystopia’ – a Welsh dystopia if you will – a parallel world, a parallel Wales even, designed for Anglophones, where a crumb of equality becomes headline news. A life-or-death road sign in two languages, or a place-name put right, and ‘they’re at it again’.

Or a call for a Welsh speaker to fulfil a role to, would you believe the audacity, provide services to other Welsh speakers.

Give them a bloody inch!

Welsh language technology

Alas, until our schools teach our children in the language of their forefathers and mothers, we can only expect token changes, but there are things we can do to bring more Welsh into our daily lives.

Many Welsh speakers, both new and old, will perhaps be surprised to know that a lot of the technology we use day to day is also available in Welsh.

Whether your business needs a Welsh digital spelling and grammar checker or you’re looking to develop new software, resources and services, Helo Blod’s list of Welsh and bilingual resources is the perfect place to start. And together, we can perhaps make Wales that little less ‘Wystopic’.

Microsoft 365

Do you use Microsoft 365? The Welsh language interface is available free of charge.

LibreOffice

This collection of office programs is free of charge but what’s even better is that they’re available in Welsh!

Vocab

Ever come across an unfamiliar word when reading a Welsh web page? Move the mouse over that word and Vocab will show you the translation.

Thunderbird 

Use more Welsh in your everyday life with this open source e-mail, news feed, chat and calendar app.

‘How to’ technology videos

Do you want to install a Welsh interface on your computer but don’t know where to start? Watch this collection of videos which are easy to follow and show you exactly how to go about it.

Mapio Cymru

Thanks to this interactive Welsh map, you’ll never need to feel lost again! The place-names all appear in Welsh and you can embed the map on your own websites too.

Linguaskin

Do you or your company offer a service in English only? Perhaps Linguaskin can help you offer it in Welsh too.

Hir-iaith

An extension to the Chrome browser that highlights Welsh words so you can understand them more easily if you’re learning Welsh.

Helo Blod translation service

Helo Blod can also provide your charity of business with Iaith Gwaith badges and lanyards that let customers know you have staff who can speak or are learning Welsh. And for those who need anything extra, they’ll put you in touch with someone who can help.

To give your business the edge, and to shout loud and proud about your Welsh identity, not to mention opening doors to customers old and new, Helo Blod is an invaluable service just waiting to be used, and might do something to dispel any ‘Wystopia’ felt by the natives.

Privilege

Sadly, despite the beliefs of more than a few people in power and the obligatory keyboard warriors on any and every post about the Welsh language, there is no such actual thing as the Taffia, however much I’d like it to be true.

If only Welsh speakers really did have such wicked, omnipotent, and privileged ways.

The word ‘privilege’ has been spun on its head since Covid times and is a bad word now, however.

It’s a negative to be well-heeled. But the speakers of a minority language that has lost its footholds and strongholds in a land adjacent to and controlled by a colonial superpower are most certainly not the superiors in an imagined two-tier society.

It is, however, an enormous privilege to speak one of Europe’s oldest languages, to resist assimilation and to raise your voice, raise your flag, live your life with your own voice.

I just wish Wales’ Cymraeg speakers and learners, our children, and the generations that come after them, could be given that chance more often.

Click here to find out more about SaySomethingInWelsh.

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