Nigel Owens has said every road sign and emergency alert should be bilingual with Welsh first, after a UK Government wildfire warning sent to phones in Welsh then English sparked an online furore.
The former referee, writing in a WalesOnline column, said Welsh is his first language and the first language of around 18% of people in Wales according to the last census. He said 30, 40 or 50 years ago it would have been the first language of many more people in Wales.
Owens said he speaks Welsh to most people on a day-to-day basis, and that Pontyberem near where he lives has one of the highest numbers of Welsh speakers for any village in Wales.
Pride in the language and national identity
Owens said he is a firm believer that without the language the nation would lose its identity. He said he has travelled to many countries and noted that in New Zealand the Maori are very proud of their language, and in Ireland they are envious that Wales still has a good percentage of people who can speak Welsh.
He said he does not count himself as more of a Welsh person than someone who is proud to be Welsh but does not speak the language, but he is very proud of the language and thinks everything should be done to at least maintain the percentage of Welsh speakers in the country.
He said many people who do not speak the language regret not being able to speak it, and a lot are happy putting their children through Welsh-medium education. He said it is who we are and a huge part of our identity.
Hypocrisy and the emergency alert row
Owens said there are some hypocrites who will happily sing along to Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau at rugby and football but be among the first to complain when an emergency message comes through in Welsh first.
He said every road sign should be in Welsh first with English underneath, and the same should apply to the emergency message received last week. He said he understands that for someone who cannot speak Welsh it must have been confusing and even frightening receiving that message, and that some Welsh speakers may not understand every written word in it.
He said the big mistake was not that the message was sent in Welsh first, but that the Welsh text and English text should have been in the same text message, with Welsh first, which would have stopped a lot of panic.
Criticism of prominent figures and divisiveness
The biggest disappointment for Owens was seeing some very prominent people in Wales belittle the fact that the message came in Welsh first, rather than making the point that the message could have included both languages.
He said it is totally unacceptable that some people who are not living in Wales and are not Welsh will tell the country what should be done with the language. He said these people are just being divisive and have a bigger issue with the language for whatever reason.
In the days after the message was sent, Owens said he spoke to a lot of people who either panicked or had a relative panicking because they could not understand the message. He said those people are not divisive, they just wanted to know what the alert was for. But he said those trying to blame the Plaid Cymru government for pushing the Welsh language when the message clearly came from the UK Government are just trying to cause uproar, and that is disrespectful to Wales and Welsh-speaking people.
Owens said the next emergency message should be sent bilingually with the Welsh version first, and he would like to think 95% of people would be happy. He said for those that still would not be happy, that is their problem.
He said the Welsh language should have the same rights as any other. He attended the Eisteddfod earlier this month and said it was brilliant, full of Welsh speakers, people learning Welsh, and non-Welsh speakers enjoying Welsh culture, and the whole event was a credit to everyone involved. He said the language should be promoted and people should be proud of it, because without its language, a country loses its heart.
