We’re asking people in Newport if they’re excited for the Eisteddfod yr Urdd to come to the city, and if they think it’ll get more people talking Cymraeg.
00:00I can remember all the people of me telling me that they were told off in school and even hit with a ruler for speaking Welsh, you know, and they were trying to kill the language off.
00:11Thousands of people from all across Wales and plenty more from around the world are all in Margan Park right now enjoying the Eisteddfod Ur Urth, the Youth Eisteddfod.
00:20It's said to be one of the biggest of its kind anywhere in Europe and in just two short years it will be making its way here in Newport.
00:27It brings all things Welsh together in one place with music, artistic competitions, Welsh language organisations, youth groups, cultural institutions and basically anything with a dragon on it.
00:37It's a celebration of Welsh culture and it's virtually all Welsh language. So it being in Newport might have raised some eyebrows when it was announced last year.
00:46Newport is far from a Welsh hotspot. We've got some of the lowest rates of Welsh language anywhere in Wales, besides some parts of the valleys.
00:53So some people could argue that this is a strange place to hold one of the biggest Welsh language festivals on the calendar.
00:59But you could also argue that it's exactly the kind of place that needs a nice Eisteddfod.
01:04It'll undoubtedly bring the Welsh language into Newport. So I'm here asking people if they think it'll encourage more Newport-tonians to take on the Welsh language as the festival approaches in two years' time.
01:15I think it'll be amazing. I think, obviously, you know, I think down like South Wales especially, it's not as patriotic, but I do think it's coming back.
01:25So yeah, I think it coming here, I think it'll be amazing. I know a lot of people who want to get involved, so it's a good thing, yeah.
01:31All right, the children in school now are being brought up to speak Welsh, which is great. My granddaughter, she's one of them. But like I say, us golden oldies never got round to it, you know what I mean?
01:43I'd like the Welsh language to be spoken, don't get me wrong. And, you know, there's some lovely music in the Welsh language as well.
01:53I think it'll promote the Welsh language. It'll be a good thing for Newport, somewhere for people to go and be entertained. I think it's a good thing.
02:02Yeah, I think it was a good idea. The thing is, you should have done this years ago, not now, because all the shops in Newport are all shutting up.
02:12It's like a ghost town, really, because you bring the Stedford down here, you bring all the people down and the shops are liven up again.
02:22Yeah, if it makes, if it can do something to get the city up and running a bit, no problem.
02:31I mean, I myself, I'm on Duolingo now, wanting to learn more Welsh. And I see it online, I see more sort of like Welsh-based language things coming up.
02:43You can see that people want to learn Welsh. And it's a nice turnover from, you know, I'd say that when I was in school, it wasn't really something.
02:52There was even talk of it being dropped in school, whereas now people want to actively learn Welsh. I think that's a really good thing.
02:59people want to learn Welsh and Welsh. It's all that often.
03:04They're all struggling to learn Welsh and Welsh. But in my memory, it's all that often, but as well as well as well as well as Welsh.
Be the first to comment