Offering 0pen and Honest Professional Advice
The Welsh Language
The Welsh language is a integral part of the Welsh national identity and Welsh culture. The Welsh language has been taught in schools for many generations. When Wales plays sport, the Welsh National Anthem, “Mae hen Wlad fy Nhaddau” that is passionately sung, ends with “Long may the Old Langauge Survive.”
The brutal reality is that there a tends of thousand of English speakers who have devoted the time and effort attempting to learn Welsh, often studying for years, but most have failed to even reach G.C.S.E. Welsh Language capability. Obtaining anything near Welsh Language fluency is a very long journey.
Professor Sarah Eaton, who now a professor of Education and she also
being a Canadian research insitute, who has not political interest in the Welsh Language, states that there is no easy way to learn a
new language. This is what she says:-
"Let’s be honest. Learning a language is not easy. There are companies out there who make big bucks selling slick packages with audio programs and pocket books, touting the idea that you can listen to their CDs or MP3s in the car, or on the bus and learn a language. There’s even been an idea circulated that if you listen to these programs while going to sleep, that you’ll magically wake up with that knowledge embedded in your brain and words will flow from your mouth with ease."
"I have heard that there are those people with a rare gift, for whom learning a language this way is possible. But in over a decade of teaching languages, and a few more decades of being alive, I’ve never met such a person myself."
"What these
companies are selling is hope. They are selling the idea that learning a
language is effortless. What is more common is that people struggle. Even
Mahatma Gandhi, who was deeply intelligent and patient, confessed to finding it
difficult to learn languages."
and:-
Remember the “10,000 hours to become an expert” rule. If we consider fluency to be the same as being an “expert” in speaking a language, then a learner may well invest 10,000 hours in their language studies to attain fluency. People will shake their heads when they hear that. No one wants to believe it really requires that much work.
The challenges of learning another language are immense. There's vocabulary to be acquired, grammar to master and verb conjugations to memorize. All of this information must be internalized, synthesized and then reproduced spontaneously as interactive speech. It's an enormous feat. It's an enormous feat that millions have undertaken. Those who achieve fluency put in lots of hard work.
What is meant by the word speak a language is ambiguous. It can mean absolutely anything. The vast majority of English and Welsh speakers in Wales who have learnt their native language(s) have no appreciation of how hard and long it takes to learn a new language.
It has claimed that anyone in Wales can learn Welsh. Anyone in Wales can take a A'Level Maths course but this does not mean they will suceed in learning it. There appears to be far too much political marketing in Wales encouraging learners to learn Welsh and or coerning them making them learn Welsh to obtain employment, and far too little attention to offering learners quality learning experiences.
Doctors are trained in schools of medicine. Solicitors are trained in schools of law. Teachers are trained in school of education. University maths teachers do not teach maths up to A'Level in the community. Teaching skills are needed. Not the ability to speak Welsh. All in Estyn inspected services are registered. They are required to be open and honest.
Those who lie and decieve the native English speaking exploiting them as cannon fodder to pursue their person, political and money making interests are engaging in xenaphobic prejudice. The nonsene does not occur in other furher education disciplines, because they are registered and they protect children and students from such exploitation.
Professor Sarah Eaton aslo stated:-
"We need to have some basic requirements taken care of: clean water, nutritious food, clothing, shelter, a sense of belonging, electricity and basic education that provides us with enough skills to contribute back to society. Learning other languages is something we do after all those other basic needs have been met. Learning a language is about growing as an individual, broadening our horizons and deepening our understanding of the world around us."
Qualified Q.T.S. teachers doing a 60 hour week and other should not be confronted with a time wasting tacking an endurance test.
The Welsh Government want learners to learn Welsh, but they do not appear to want to offer quality learning experiences to them. This appears to xenaphobic prejudice.
There are not alternative quality course for Welsh of Adult learners. The service is a publicly subsidised state monopoly. The service is streaming through methodology. It appears to be far too political. It does not appear to be catering for learners of all learning potential needs.
Dick Mortimer - A Welsh Learner recognised the lack of professional teaching 2014