Assembly reinstates Welsh records

The National Assembly for Wales restores bilingual records of meetings

Welsh records, Y Cofnod, will be produced alongside English records (photo: MB)

The National Assembly for Wales is set to restore full bilingual records of plenary meetings from January 2012.

This move comes as a result of mounting pressure from Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, The Welsh Language Society in English, after Welsh translations of meetings were abandoned in September last year.

The Record of Proceedings, Y Cofnod in Welsh, will be translated using a computer programme, then proofread and edited by professional translators.

This process will result in a five-day wait between English and Welsh transcripts, which Cymdeithas considers a sign of inequality.

Bethan Williams, chair of Cymdeithas, says, “While this move is a step in the right direction, we will be continuing our campaign until the Welsh language is treated no less favourably than English.”

A national language

Welsh is a language whose popularity has long been at the hands of government policy, but its modern day status was secured thanks to the Welsh Language Act 1993 and the Government of Wales Act 1998. To read more about the history of the language, see the Linguata article on Welsh.

The work of organisations such as Plaid Cymru and Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, the Welsh Language Society, has also been important in cementing Welsh within today’s culture. Bwrdd yr Iaith, the Welsh Language Board, was set up in 1993 to maintain the language and ensure it is used in years to come.

For anyone interested in picking up the language, there are a number of courses available at the Welsh for Adults Centre, a taster of which can be viewed below.

[youtube width=”236″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI5CEnuW6fw[/youtube]