Spreading the use of Welsh in the private sector will require demonstrating its commercial potential, writes Wyn Mears
The Welsh Government’s five-year strategy, Iaith Fyw: Iaith Byw A Living Language: A Language for Living, focuses on the role of technology and new media in boosting the language.
“Our ambition and expectation is that Welsh speakers should be able to conduct their lives electronically,” said Education and Skills Minister Leighton Andrews, when he launched the strategy last month.
The headlines fail to mention the key role of business in helping to achieve the Government’s aims, but the strategy does explore a number of areas that relate to business and pose some challenges that relate to those companies which come within the scope of Welsh language legislation, and private sector enterprises which are encouraged to adopt new initiatives on a voluntary basis.
Ultimately the availability of quality services provided by business has to meet the expectations and demands of the consumer, whether as a fluent Welsh language user of services, or, for example in the tourism sector, as someone who wants to experience the value and impact of the language as a reflection of Wales’ distinct culture and identity. The strategy rightly stresses that “the experience of the consumer through the medium of Welsh should be first-rate not second-rate.” Read More.
See: Wales online
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