Language - Life of a People
New Crown English Series 3 (Showa 55) pg. 76-81
| Language - Life of a People | |
|---|---|
| ? | |
| Details | |
| Word count | 345 |
| Book | New Crown |
| Grade | 3 |
| Year | 1980 |
Do you know anything about Wales? It is in the west of Great Britain. The people there love singing. The song they love best is "Land of My Fathers." It is a song about their lost country and their lost language.
In some pubs when they close at night, people begin to sing "Land of My Fathers"; they never forget their unhappy history.
Before 1536 Wales was an independent nation. They had their own language and all the people spoke Welsh. But Wales was conquered by England, and it became part of England through the Act of Union passed in 1536.
The Act of Union made England the official language in Wales. Now the people could no longer use their own language officially.
Today there are about 2,700,000 people in Wales. But only twenty percent of them are able to speak their own language. Eighty percent of them speak English only. Some people say that Welsh will die at the beginning of the 21st century. They are really sorry about that.
Welsh children had to use English at school. If they spoke any Welsh, they were punished. They had to wear a piece of wood round their neck. The wood said "Welsh Not." It means that you must not speak Welsh. The children with a piece of wood round their neck were flogged as soon as school was over.
Quite a lot of nations have had this kind of experience. Korea is one of them. Korea was governed by Japan for thirty-five years. The Japanese government told the Koreans to use Japanese only. It was really painful for them to stop using their own language. They could not begin using it again until the end of World War II.
Imagine that your mother tongue is conquered and you have to use another language. It must be painful as well as sad. There should not be another tragedy, therefore, like that of the Koreans under Japanese rule or that of the Welsh people under English rule.
Language is the life of the people who use it.
