How many welsh people dont speak english

The latest statistics offer a more detailed snapshot of the population in and a new level of geographical detail relating to the characteristics of those living in England and Wales.

On the make-up of homes in England and Wales, there was a total of In , there were People living in London and south-east England recorded the highest percentages of "very good" or "good" general health, and those in Wales and north-east England the lowest. In London, over a fifth of people gave something other than English as their main language, but in the North East, it was just 2. Redcar and Cleveland, in North Yorkshire, is the place with the highest proportion of people with English as a first language Not every language is spoken, though.

The census specifies spoken English, so a deaf person who is able to read and write English perfectly but cannot speak it would be included in the , figure. The Census data does not break down how many of the 22, people with sign language as their main language fall into that category, but for obvious reasons, it is likely to be higher than the 3 per cent which is normal for spoken languages.

Welsh language learner Benjamin Siddall, 26, concurs. I ask him how he feels about the criticism, often levied by English settlers, that Welsh is useless outside of Wales and therefore there is not much point learning it. The more language you have, the more excitement you are going to find in those day-to-day experiences. This article includes content provided by Facebook. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'.

It might be that, in trying to protect Welsh heritage, the Welsh language lobby has not always been inclusive. Mymuna Mohamood, 29, is a research assistant from Butetown in Cardiff who identifies as Somali Welsh.

She speaks Somali, Arabic, English and Welsh. She had Welsh lessons in school and is now learning on a course through work. Last year, partly in an effort to be more inclusive, the Welsh Eisteddfod — the annual Welsh language cultural event usually held in rural locations — took place in Butetown, where people from ethnic minority backgrounds make up around a third of the population.

We were like a minority within a minority. It was so odd. Expanding conceptions of what it means to be Welsh can only be a good thing, though there is clearly still much work to be done. As Mohamood notes, Welsh classes need to be affordable and accessible if the assembly is to reach its one million speakers target. As exciting as it is to see Welsh embraced for its cultural capital, as Rhys notes, that might not last for ever. Personally, I quite like the idea that Welsh could become a secret language of resistance against international tech companies.