The Endangered Status of the Welsh Language

Welsh people all speak English; however, relatively speaking, the Welsh language is thriving nowadays. Welsh is an Indo-European language; its immediate ancestor languages are the Brythonic languages of Roman Britain. The early Welsh language was developed when Britain fell to the Scandinavians, from then  Old Welsh became the official language of Wales between the ninth and eleven centuries.How old is Welsh? How is it related to other languages, such as the Gaelic languages? Can Gaelic speakers understand the Welsh language?Welsh is one of the Celtic languages spoken, and most perhaps it is one of the languages that consists of big numbers of speakers. Aside from Wales, some of the native speakers of the Welsh language migrated to Argentina, England, Australia, and the United States of America.However, some experts and linguists argued that Welsh language is a dialect rather than a language. The Welsh language is no more closely related to English than are languages like French, German and any other Scandinavian languages. There may be a number of English words which have been absorbed into the Welsh vocabulary; however, it doesn’t mean that English speakers can communicate nor understand the Welsh language. In fact, they most probably require the use of a translation service.Perhaps, all languages are not really mutually intelligible. A Welsh speaker may be familiar with some of the vocabulary of the Gaelic language or languages; however, he may or not fully understand a Gaelic language. Hence, when it comes to communication, it is necessary to utilize proper and accurate Welsh translation and interpreting services.However, nowadays scholars and linguists still consider the Welsh language as one of the endangered languages in the world. Researchers believe that Welsh is an endangered language and thus should be preserved. According from the recent statistics of the research conducted by some experts; they believe that the numbers of Welsh speakers have consistently fallen in the first half of the twentieth century.Native Welsh speakers are alarmed about losing of their own identity and culture, and thus, Welsh people have started to conduct some campaign in persuading the locals to use and save their own language. Today, the Welsh language is still officially used in school, government, and in the media. It is true that despite of the significance of England and the English language itself to Wales, the Welsh government is still determined to save their own identity as a whole. There may be plenty of campaigns in order to preserve a particular endangered language; however, it may still be useless if the people within the community don’t show interest, dedication, and love on their native language. It should be noted that the easiest way to save the image and culture of a certain community or to sustain the language of the people is to speak, read, and write that language. The present status of the Welsh language may be vague and uncertain; however, it is still possible to save it for the future of the Welsh people.