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Welsh today by Prof. Peter Wynn Thomas

According to the 2001 UK census, 582,000 people in Wales claim to be able to speak Welsh. These represent 20.8% of the total population.

The number and the percentage of Welsh speakers are increasing. In 1991 there were 508,000 speakers, or 18.7% of the population.

Listen to a Welsh story from Pamela Jones, Wrexham.

Apart from some very young children, everyone who speaks Welsh in Wales can also speak English.

The ability to speak is one of four language skills. The other language skills are reading, writing, and understanding spoken language. According to the 2001 UK census, almost 798,000 or 28.4% of the population claim to have at least one language skill in Welsh.

You're more likely to hear Welsh spoken in west Wales than in the east. For example, 69% of the population of Gwynedd, in the north-west, can speak Welsh. But only 11% of the population of Cardiff, in the east, can speak Welsh.

There are more Welsh speakers in southern Wales than in the north. The 69% of Gwynedd represents almost 78,000 Welsh speakers. But the smaller 50% of Carmarthenshire in the south represents more than 84,000 speakers.

There are also more Welsh speakers in the cities and towns than in the countryside. For example, there are almost 26,000 speakers in rural Powys in mid Wales, but in the south-east we find almost 28,000 in Rhondda-Cynon-Taf, 29,000 in Swansea, and 32,500 in Cardiff.

Listen to how Welsh and English intermingle in Gwynedd.

Welsh speakers are increasing on two main fronts. The first, and most obvious, is amongst school children. Welsh-medium schools are flourishing and in 1990 it became compulsory for children in English-medium state schools to learn Welsh up to the age of 14. In 1999 the upper age limit was raised to 16. These changes are reflected in the 2001 census, which recorded that 40.8% of all school children between the ages of 5 and 15 can speak Welsh.

The second growth area in the number of Welsh speakers is the many thousands of adults who are learning the language. As well as the increase in numbers, it is becoming easier to see, hear, and use Welsh from day to day.

A Welsh television channel, , was established in 1982. This was followed in 1998 by S4C Digital, which broadcasts over 80 hours of Welsh television a week. There are several local radio stations and a national Welsh radio station, , which broadcasts about 126 hours a week.

Several hundred Welsh language books and periodicals are published a year and more than 50 local Welsh papers are produced several times a year by volunteers. There are plans to produce a daily newspaper in Welsh in 2005.

The use of the Welsh language is promoted by the Welsh Language Board. The Board was set up by the 1993 Welsh Language Act which states that Welsh and English should be treated equally in the administration of justice and in public business. Public bodies in Wales must submit schemes to the Board which describe the provision they make for the language.

The aims of the Welsh Language Board seem to have general support. According to a recent opinion poll 67% of people in Wales thought that more should be done to promote Welsh.

Listen to students from Bethesda, Gwynedd, talking about Welsh in their lives.

One particular area where emigrants from Wales continue to speak Welsh is Patagonia in the Chubut province of Argentina. The first settlers arrived in 1865, hoping to found a 'New Wales'. Many of their descendants are bilingual in Welsh and Spanish.

Welsh has two main regional dialects: northern and southern. People sometimes claim that they can't understand speakers from the opposite end of the country but in reality there are very few problems.