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Do the Welsh hate the English?
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Of course no one would force you to learn. But it really would be your own fault if you didn't fit in and got the impression we hated you.
If you make the effort to assimilate, everyone makes the effort to help you. Mutual back scratching.
And my last point was to say that, how can you judge the merits of any language, seeing as you clearly have very little respect for any but your own?
Usualy accompanied by a hat with Klan symbole on it. You live in a place adjacent to somewhere where they speak a different language. Time to get over your nationalistic sentiment and be flexible.
That's my point, though. You Don't need to force people to learn skills when it is an advantage for them to have them. Why would I assume that someone hated me because I don't speak the same language as them?
A language is just a tool of communication. Therefore I can judge the merits of learning it based on the likelyhood that I will need to use it. It's nothing to do with lack of respect. I don't know hundreds of other languages in the world either, because the likelyhood that I will need to use them is small. Do you also lack respect for every language in the world that you happen to not know?
You wouldn't need to assume any more would you, now you know - As far as I know it's a big factor in these parts.
You go to France and start shouting "How-much-is-this??" and they're not going to invite you 'round for lunch...
again, we're in agreement. You seem to have just repeated the message I was trying to get across.;)
No these aren't just people I "hang out with". These are people who live within a certain distance of me. They are people who live in the North West of Wales. And in the South West too.
Now I don't mind English people, so long as they don't come up to me and start bashing me for being Welsh. Then I'd get angry.
That sentiment isn't a Welsh/English thing - it's the feelings of anyone! How would you feel if someone from California came up to your State and started saying "Oh yeah, you suck. We're so much better." - wonder if it'd piss you off too.
Welsh is not merely a "local dialect". If you want to attack Me or my Country I suggest you adopt a certain degree of subtlety. Such a crass approach is no fun.
I think THRO, you are just associating with a certain sort of person. The Welsh friends I know, all from the North, (where the 'problem' with English is at its greatest (?!)) dont have any idea that English people should be speaking the language. My friends have tried to teach me it, and it is a hard to language to grasp. Both you and the other locals will understand this, however you will have been taught it as a youngster, when it is easier to pick these kind of things up.
Secondly, I have just come back from my holiday from the South West of Wales, and I found everyone I met to be friendly and helpful towards me. There was absolutely no problem with my being English.
I personally, and I am therefore not talking on behalf of the whole of my nation, as you seem to be, think you have a chip on your shoulder about the English. Someone in the past has said something to you, or done something...
Not all Welsh people are like you, and I can assure you, many other Welsh people would be disappointed in your attitude!
And to all of you. Doesn't it tell you something that my English is now so much better than my Welsh that I'm going to study it at university?
Amen to that! :thumb:
Regarding language, I don't doubt that Welsh is a difficult language to learn, but so is English. Neither have a shortage of grammatical rules and idiosyncracies that make them incredibly complex and hard work for any linguist wishing to learn them, there's absolutely no point in debating which is more difficult to learn. But for what it's worth, a language has no more inherent value because it is spoken by fewer people or is perceived as being more difficult to learn. It is not a crisis of contemporary English people's doing that Welsh is a somewhat "endangered" language; I do so hate these blame games.
I have met any number of lovely Welsh people in my time, but on the flip-side there is no denying that when it comes to their relationship with the English many of them have a chip on their shoulder the size of Ynys Môn.
Then I became defensive after a few people who clearly didn't like the Welsh (Matadore, anyone?) grated me.
But I haven't changed my mind. The Welsh do NOT hate the English. The only possible reason I can imagine why the OP had a bad experience is if they said or did something which a few people took offense to. And frankly, that could happen anywhere in the World.
The two things that do annoy me however, and it's off-topic so it doesn't really deserve much of a mention - is when people (most often) non-British people think Wales is an extension of England. Not only is it untrue, and annoying but also a common error people make.
However, again I try to be civil and correct them in a friendly way. In fact I've struck up many a good conversation with people the World over after explaining that Wales is not the same as England. They want to know how it's different and discuss how they feel about misconceptions people have about them.
And the other thing that annoys me is the lack of Welsh representation on the Union Flag. Something I blame on a thousand years of history, not a Country.
Of course, there certainly are sport and celebrity rivalry - and each country claims to hate the other. But that's all healthy.
But seriously, try saying half the derogatory stuff you've said to my face and see how things turn out.
Wow. Threats over the internet. Scary.
Why won't this thread just die?
Can I!?!!?!! I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a childhood dream of mine!
Yeah, I did register just to reply to this thread. But to reply in such a way as to deny the OP's suggestion. Along the way some of you seem to have taken my rantings the wrong way.
Meh... See? That's being indifferent not argumentative :yes:
I lived in Wales for 21 years in a town where hardly anybody can speak Welsh (although they are making it compulsory in schools now, thus impeaching on a child's right to choose whether they actually want to learn it or not... In my school my Welsh class - I studied it before it became compulsory- was very small compared to other more useful languages) and I did encounter a lot of prejudice, being England born. Especially when the England Vs Wales matches were on, I was working bars and got called everything under the sun.
The fact is that (in my experience) there does seem to be an anti-English subculture in my home town, we've also had race riots, the Polish cafe was kicked in and most of the takeaways that aren't run by white people have cracked windows. I've seen people yell all sorts at the Turkish guys in the takeaways and a little old man shouted "I'll make me own chips you black bastard" at some Indians when he found out he had to pay £1 for a large portion of chips. I have experienced so much racism there, it is unreal and my parents are even considering moving away because they feel intimidated, my Mumbeing English.
If you go a little bit further out from Wrexham you have "Welsh speaking pubs" which are only Welsh speaking when somebody comes in and orders a pint in English. I know a lot of English people who have experienced this in Wales and it is sad because it's a beautiful country and the Welsh look after you if they decide you're one of them. Different areas also have different attitudes and you can't generalise, there are a lot of wonderful Welsh people out there...
But really... So many have a chip on their shoulder, as if they're trying to keep on to a childish grudge. I mean move on for God's sake and stop making your country look crap.
P.S. The picture in this link appears anti-English... Doesn't it?
http://www.bigleader.co.uk/titlesites2/detail.asp?catid=1&officeid=5&type=0
That really is such a painful lie, perpetuated by myth, borne of misunderstanding.
It only works on the presumption that the regulars were speaking English before you entered. Wherein most cases, they would have been speaking Welsh - and it only seems as though they switched languages.
I don't believe your link shows any particularly Anti-English sentiment. It's a group of residents who object to having waste left in their area. It's completely understandable.
And finally, I have never, and I mean that with all conviction possible, never seen anyone act maliciously racist in my area ever - And I condemn whichever town you refer to for being so maladjusted.
and coming from the top end of the party ...nuff said.