How many speak Welsh as a first language?

Question

I am English, but I can speak all the Celtic languages, including Welsh....In South Wales, barely anyone speaks it, but towards the North, don't a lot of people speak it?

Answer 1

Anghywir, Anghywir, Anghywir

You couldn't be more wrong,

I am from Dyffryn Aman (The Amman Valley which is 17 miles from swansea city centre and 80%+ speak Welsh here as their first language.)

We are in South Wales last time i Checked, It always get's on my nerves when people assume all the north speaks welsh and all the south speaks English, Its spread out by county

In Carmarthenshire my home county 63% speak Welsh and 55% of the whole population's first language is Welsh,

In Cardiganshire, Southern and mid Wales - 60 % speak Welsh and 58% of these speak Welsh as their first language,

Anglsea, Northern Pembroke, Western Clwy, South Western and Northen Powys and Northern Swansea and Neath and Portalbot are all Welsh Speaking (I,E Welsh is the common language spoken and heard)

Gwynedd which is in the north does retain the highest percentage of Welsh speakers 75% but Carmarthenshire retains the highest number 90 000.

Flintshire, Wrexham, Denbigh are all in the North were Welsh is still spoken anyway but not has predominant as the counties above.

The Same can be said for, Cardiff, All the counties of Glamorgan and Gwent, also Southern Swansea and Southern Pembrokeshire, These areas may not be predominantly welsh speaking but Welsh is still spoken Everywhere in Wales,

Around 800 000+ people in Wales today can speak Welsh,The language is increasing in it's prominence, It's my first language and most of my friends also.

Around 500 000 to 800 000 people across the world's first language is Welsh,

The number across the world able to speak Welsh wouldnt suprise me if it was above the 1 Million mark.

If you take into acount

200 000 - 300 000 people in ENgland can speak Welsh

25 000 people in Argentina can speak  Welsh.

133 000 people in the USA,

5000 New Zealand

7000 Australia

and many other countries in the World,

You say you speak all the Celtic languages? Well your knowledge of the culture based around welsh and where it is spoken seems pretty staggerd.

Wyt ti'n gallu siarad Cymraeg yn rhugl neu dim ond ychydig?

Mi a Kewsel yn temmik byghan Kernewek agos as yw tebys an mamyeth i,

Ta cupla focail gaelige agam

Conas atha tu?

Go rabh math agat

Diolch yn fawr

Meur Rasta

Answer 2

According to wikipedia, upwards of 750,000 people speak Welsh, but they seem to be spread out around the world. Maybe that's why no-one in your area speaks it! :)

Research done courtesy of www.liveandlearnlanguages.com