Originally Posted by
Marco
As a small example, there's a little village just outside of Wrexham, called Coedpoeth, and if you walk into any shop there, or the local pubs, they'll all be speaking Welsh, and if you go there with an English accent, speaking English, they'll give you a filthy look - and worse probably ignore you and mutter something unpleasant!
Honestly, that's the scene mostly throughout North Wales, which outside of Wrexham consists of nothing else but farms and small towns/villages. There are more sheep than people! Different story in South Wales, near Cardiff and Swansea, where things are rather more 'England-fied', although in the valleys there are still plenty of Welsh speaking towns and villages.
I just wish that Gaelic was spoken more in Scotland... Celts rule!
Marco.
The last time I was staying in Wrexham for 4/5 weeks (25 ish years ago) I was working in Gwersylt (If my memory spells that right) I well remember that I could walk into most pubs that were handy to Errdig Rd and the locals would speak English until they heard my Essex accent, then they started speaking the Welsh with a scouse accent.
My own experience has been that its the West Coast that are the natural welsh speakers even in a biggish and student town like Aberystwyth,
You could have 6 locals in a small shop all happily chuntering away inthe Welsh.
Here in Cardiff it appears to my jaundiced eyes, that speaking the Welsh is a political yuppie thing, I'm in Whitchurch in North Cardiff and the only Welsh speakers I hear are young scruffy but affluent couples with badly behaved kids.