wales fact #11 - welsh language
The Welsh language has two additional vowels - w and y - to add to the English a, e, i, o and u.
The Welsh alphabet is also different and contains 28 letters:
A, B ,C ,Ch, D, Dd, E, F, Ff, G, Ng, H, I, L, Ll, M, N, O, P, Ph, R, Rh, S, T, Th, U, W, Y
(Note that Welsh/Cymraeg does not possess the letters J, K, Q, V, X or Z, although you’ll often see words that borrow these letters from the English language)
It’s estimated there are about 610,000 Welsh speakers in Wales, and surprisingly about 133,000 in England (50,000 of them in the Greater London area).
Welsh as a first language is largely concentrated in the less urban north and west of Wales, but is very much alive across the whole country. In fact all road signs should be in English and Welsh, including the Welsh versions of place names. Also, the teaching of Welsh is now compulsory in all schools in Wales up to age 16, which has helped reverse the decline of the ancient language.
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