Meredydd Evans: The Power of the Welsh Language and Cultural Identity

Meredydd Evans, Professor of Philosophy, writer, and performer has long been an advocate for the Welsh language. In this 2008 interview, he discusses how language is an inseparable part of cultural identity.
[Catalog No. CFV10514; Copyright 2013 Smithsonian Institution]

Пікірлер: 71

  • @TomorrowWeLive
    @TomorrowWeLive5 жыл бұрын

    'It's not that your culture is better than anyone else's. It just happens to be yours.' Perfect--couldn't have put it better myself.

  • @kevinjenkins6657

    @kevinjenkins6657

    22 күн бұрын

    Welsh culture is better than English culture, witnessed the two myself, and it's just a fact the Welsh way of life is better.

  • @alicemi4155
    @alicemi415510 жыл бұрын

    "You make sense of your life in the terms of your language / cultural identity". What a wise man! Thank you for your video

  • @freeeeeeedomnorulers4803
    @freeeeeeedomnorulers48039 жыл бұрын

    wise Welshmen respect to you boyo from australia

  • @alexandrhoda
    @alexandrhoda5 жыл бұрын

    such wise words ... a prayer for all the languages of the world .. the mighty and the meek

  • @syanturioevans9952
    @syanturioevans99527 жыл бұрын

    Welsh wisdom.. it's unique.. not because we are better... because it's ours.. ;)

  • @MathewChild
    @MathewChild11 жыл бұрын

    Yes, its very much still spoken as an everyday language :)

  • @eifionjones559

    @eifionjones559

    3 жыл бұрын

    well I do

  • @ethanlewis1132
    @ethanlewis113211 жыл бұрын

    this is lovely. I'm ethnically Welsh and living in the United States. I would LOVE to learn Welsh

  • @ThePumpingiron27

    @ThePumpingiron27

    7 жыл бұрын

    Ethan Lewis Hey me too!! I am pretty Welsh and Irish, with a few others mixed in. I am actually learning Welsh. It's pretty fun!

  • @EllisRobbo

    @EllisRobbo

    5 жыл бұрын

    Dysga heddiw, a gwen ddaw i dy wyneb / learn today and a smile will appear on your face. 👍😀

  • @gaynormainwaring1853

    @gaynormainwaring1853

    5 жыл бұрын

    Go for it!

  • @MrIanhsm

    @MrIanhsm

    5 жыл бұрын

    Crack on then. Duo Lingo and Saysomethinginwelsh are both excellent apps. I’m 70 days into the first and two weeks into the second and feel like I am going to crack it this time.

  • @TheBrotherOfPeter

    @TheBrotherOfPeter

    4 жыл бұрын

    Same!!!

  • @maldito_sudaka
    @maldito_sudaka6 жыл бұрын

    Welsh language and folk music are a gift to humanity

  • @JohnPanto
    @JohnPanto7 жыл бұрын

    I did my driving test in Welsh. I will do all the official forms in Welsh but my greatest test was trying to register my mother's death in Welsh. In Llandudno to a lady who came from Blaenau Ffestiniog where I am living. It nearly came to blows! It was my bother in law that restrained me. She insisted that it had to be in English but I managed to persuade her & this was only 25 years ago. Every day is STILL a struggle as shown this week with LIDL's in Porthmadog

  • @materdeimusicd.buckley2974

    @materdeimusicd.buckley2974

    3 жыл бұрын

    I sympathize. Death of a loved one is hard enough, without having to fight for the right to speak your native language. Officials can be difficult, though not always the individual concerned is at fault. Here in Republic of Ireland where Gaeilge is officially our first language, we face similar situations. I remember when teaching in a Gaelcholaiste, ringing the dept of education and asking for an roinn ceol ( music dept) . They put me through to the canteen. The next time I had to wait 20 minutes before they got someone who could speak Gaeilge. We called it an roinn oidochas ( hopeless) instead of an roinn oideachas. (Education)

  • @Inquisitor_Vex

    @Inquisitor_Vex

    Жыл бұрын

    What happened at Lidl Porthmadog?

  • @johnkelly3549
    @johnkelly35494 жыл бұрын

    I’m Irish and find a lot of comparisons between Wales and Ireland when it comes to language, influences and culture. Ireland needed/needs a Meredydd Evans to keep the lamp lit.

  • @tombartram7384

    @tombartram7384

    3 жыл бұрын

    Welsh and Irish are like French and Polish. They have very few similarities.

  • @johnkelly3549

    @johnkelly3549

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@tombartram7384 culturally speaking I disagree and would say there’s a big overlap. A working class, laborious happy nation with a common enemy. The languages sound different but the pride and social coding behind them seems fairly similar. Keen rugby players too.

  • @tombartram7384

    @tombartram7384

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@johnkelly3549 Welsh is increasingly the language of well educated middle class and it's politically fashionable. The average bloke and blokette in places like Cardiff has zero interest whatsoever. In fact, they're likely to roll their eyes in irritation if they hear it spoken in a pub by a "clever dick" like me, because I'm obviously only doing it to make everyone else feel guilty. England is only a light hearted pantomime "enemy" in six nations etc. I knew a boy called Mick Mc Goldrick from Co Louth who was a keen Irish speaker and he said the situation with Irish is exactly like i described with Welsh but the langs themselves are like chalk and cheese.

  • @yddraigoch

    @yddraigoch

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@tombartram7384 siarad y Gymraeg bob dydd 'ma ger Abertawe ;-)

  • @briton3851

    @briton3851

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@tombartram7384 its because gaelic and cyrmu have splintered from the original celtic tongue, scottish gaelic is far more similar to Irish than to welsh because of the heritage of the language

  • @syanturioevans9952
    @syanturioevans99527 жыл бұрын

    and to celebrate the incredible diversity of this wonderful pot of cultures is what it's all about.! Wise words indeed.

  • @Sittingonacushion
    @Sittingonacushion3 жыл бұрын

    What a pity this was filmed on a wet day. Wales is so beautiful in the sunshine....

  • @awaytolearn1770
    @awaytolearn17709 жыл бұрын

    So beautifully said...

  • @timphillips9954
    @timphillips99543 жыл бұрын

    What a great man.

  • @kennethfrawley
    @kennethfrawley7 жыл бұрын

    Beyond wise!

  • @fabrizio-evans
    @fabrizio-evans6 жыл бұрын

    LOVED IT!

  • @Happy_HIbiscus
    @Happy_HIbiscus5 жыл бұрын

    dude, this is cool

  • @serviustullus7204
    @serviustullus72045 ай бұрын

    Welsh grew up in situ at the dawn of the Bronze Age (2100 bce). It spread from the Irish Sea to the rest of Europe. Welsh was the language of all Britain, once.

  • @harlech52
    @harlech52 Жыл бұрын

    the music is played too loudly in the editing. It interferes with what he has to say. Far better when there is no music.

  • @nwdls
    @nwdls9 жыл бұрын

    Diolch Merêd.

  • @jasonivancontreras9340
    @jasonivancontreras934011 жыл бұрын

    Is the welsh language still used as an everyday language?

  • @TheChildFreak

    @TheChildFreak

    7 жыл бұрын

    Ivan Contreras yes it's taught in primary and secondary school and every sign in Wales has Welsh and English translations

  • @DieFlabbergast

    @DieFlabbergast

    6 жыл бұрын

    Yes, but only about 20 percent of the Welsh population can speak it.

  • @andrewphillips3973

    @andrewphillips3973

    6 жыл бұрын

    DieFlabbergast Its increasing all the time, all of my children have come through school via the medium of welsh whilst I and many other parents are predominantly Saesneg(English) speakers. It is very much a growing language once again and many of the schools opened in the last 10-15yrs in Wales are Welsh medium or at least bi-lingual.

  • @johnjohansson6277

    @johnjohansson6277

    5 жыл бұрын

    It is spoken as the main language in loads of parts of both and West wales

  • @robinanna5531

    @robinanna5531

    4 жыл бұрын

    IAWN!

  • @JonnyValleyBoy
    @JonnyValleyBoy8 жыл бұрын

    Cwsg mewn Hedd Meredydd... #arwrcymraeg

  • @3tangle3

    @3tangle3

    8 жыл бұрын

    +JonnyValleyBoy cytuno....newyddion trist iawn. colled mawr

  • @mariavon22
    @mariavon2210 жыл бұрын

    'pressure which threaten your very existence'? One can still exist irrespective of one's language surely?

  • @fodz9040

    @fodz9040

    7 жыл бұрын

    mariavon22. As a Welsh speaker, our culture is intertwined with the Language, some identity exists outside the language but the power of the language is incomprehensible

  • @DieFlabbergast

    @DieFlabbergast

    6 жыл бұрын

    You realise that statements like that are an insult to all those Welsh people who cannot speak Cymraeg? Are they less "Welsh" because they speak only English? What if they like rugby, support the Welsh national teams in all sports, listen to Welsh male-voice choirs, like typical Welsh foods and beers, etc., etc., but happen to speak only English? I think that, apart from discriminating against non-Welsh-speakers, by greatly overestimating the importance of language generally (what applies to Welsh must ipso facto apply to all languages, surely) you also insult the Scots and the Irish! The percentage of Scots and Irish people who can and/or do speak their native languages is minuscule, and has been so for a very long time, yet their cultures are, in fact, more different from that of England and more distinctly "Celtic" than is the case for the Welsh! If all people in Britain were forcibly brainwashed and turned into speakers of Mandarin or Swahili, it's my guess that their cultures would nonetheless remain distinctly English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish.

  • @andrewphillips3973

    @andrewphillips3973

    6 жыл бұрын

    DieFlabbergast Thats an overreaction from where i see things. as someone who grew up speaking english I agree that i feel just as Welsh as any other despite even now being less than fluent in my home language. However, I am massively proud of my country, culture and especially Cymraeg and this pride has resulted in my children being raised as Welsh speakers. Our language is central to our culture and even non welsh speaking Welsh men and women are I'd guess regretful of the fact that they were born before the revival really started and are mostly jealous of the younger welsh speaking generation.

  • @johnjohansson6277

    @johnjohansson6277

    5 жыл бұрын

    Spot the Englishman

  • @timphillips9954

    @timphillips9954

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@DieFlabbergast There was insult intended or given to English speakers. As an English speaking Welshman I feel insulted by the way you describe your own people and culture. For what ever reason Wales has more than her share of people like you.

  • @deborahstevens9587
    @deborahstevens95879 ай бұрын

    Music annoying.

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