...Welsh if an English person enters the pub?
It's a ridiculous idea for many reasons:
1) If they were Welsh speakers they'd be speaking Welsh to each other in the first place.
2) If they were non-Welsh speakers they'd be unable to switch to Welsh even if they wanted to.
3) Do they think that we have lookouts outside every pub who texts us every time an Englishman approaches..."Englishman coming in...change to Welsh...now!"

Why is it so hard for some English people to accept that there are many places in Wales where Welsh is the predominant language ( here in this part of NW Wales over 80% speak it every day as their first language).

Would English people in rural Enland be speaking in, say, French then only change to English if a Frenchman enters? It's the same thing.
Here's the type of thing I mean:

Welsh speakers: why did people suddenly start speaking in welsh when an english man appears?

I am a keen nature photographer and LOVE the welsh countryside. So i often go hiking round wales for photography oportunities.
BUT! when i visited a pub in Afon Dwyryd for a quick drink after hiking. Everybody in the pub was speaking in english as soon as the locals notice that i am Englishman they all suddenly switch to speaking in welsh....why?

I'm from Wales and you know I believe that the history behind this hatred has been downplayed. Many years ago the old Welsh (or Britons as we were called at the time) had an empire that ruled as far as Galicia (Spain), this Empire brought the Legend of King Arthur, druid (or prophet) Merlyn (Merlin) sword excalibur (or in welsh caladwlch) used by the irish knight under the briton king so on so on.. either way the Celtic people werent guilty of torture (no historical physical evidance). One day many ships crossed the waters 1066 the battle of hastings and by 1078 the dungeons and torture chambers were built, in excess of maybe thousands of torture devices, 80% of the people tortured by medieval law would be deemed innocent by todays stanards. they burnt the women alive as an attack on our religion, hung the children for speaking thier own language, burnt our books, poetry paintings, completely abolished celtic music so that Ireland Scotland and Wales had to have revivals just so that it was played again, the list is simply endless and people wonder why the fuck we dont like them?
fair enough this is history, but they treat my country like a dumping ground for rubbish, and can become so petty as to say we speak welsh wen they are around and this is rude.
after turning the london dungeons where william wallace died into a touist attraction £35, you still can't seem to see why the Scottish may be a tad annoyed. or us for dying there... or the Irish. ?????
after the callapse and defeat of our empire in 1295 ish I'd just like to say "you were no King Arthur", and no this isnt simply only "british" history, Its Welsh history.
opinions........
sorry the question is, why is it that English people cant understand why they annoy us?

im an irish-american who almost studied irish. at that point i found out that most irish people hate their language. after telling this to my friends, they all said, "irish and english people are the same god damn thing, they speak the same language", to which i protested, but i admit they had a point. "a people without their own language arent a people at all", some author, icant remember. at least the welsh have kept their language.

im an irish-american who almost studied irish. at that point i found out that most irish people hate their language. after telling this to my friends, they all said, "irish and english people are the same god damn thing, they speak the same language", to which i protested, but i admit they had a point. "a people without their own language arent a people at all", some author, icant remember. at least the welsh have kept their language.

Hey, I'm from Ireland & I really want to go to Wales. I know allot of English people who tell me that there is no real difference between Wales & England. I've been to Scotland before & it's different to England but doesn't feel like a total different country but you can definitely sense the different culture.
From what I know Welsh people are very proud of their culture such as their language, countryside of north Wales, accent & descending from different people to the rest of the U.K. But is this enough to seem like a different country to England because its in the same state as England (U.K).
Since I'm from Ireland of course there are similarities to the U.K. but we have enough to be a different country. What we use that's different to the U.K. is kilometers, euros, we have a total different culture, there are areas in Ireland called Gaeltachts where people speak Irish as their first language, we have our own sports like hurling & Gaelic football, we have our own tv channels and programmes. I could list allot more things but I think you have the point.
Any help is really appreciated!

Does anyone know why when did people in what is now England stop speaking a Celtic language if English people are more Celtic than Germanic how come they speak a Germanic language instead of a Celtic language the Scottish the Welsh and the Irish still speak a Celtic language as well their national language which is Germanic i'm just wondering why English people don't speak a Celtic language as well as a Germanic language their national language is Germanic how come they don't speak both a Celtic language and a Germanic language like the Scottish the Welsh and the Irish do.

In Scotland there have been quite a few cases of people being attacked because they're English, or being attacked because they're wearing an England football shirt or something equally retarded.

However, in Wales there seems to be significantly less overt aggresion towards English people. Obviously, there's tossers everywhere, but I haven't heard many cases, if any, of English people being attacked in Wales simply because they're English, and I can't imagine anyone wearing an England football, or even rugby shirt in Wales getting any trouble providing he didn't shout about it.

I also can't imagine many Welsh people these days having any profound resentment towards English people, of course, you might get drunk idiots who start going "English bastard", etc, but I don't think there is much in the way of profound hatred for English people and I think these days an English person could live in most places in Wales and not have any trouble.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against the Irish or the Scottish, but I have noticed there is a significantly higher proportion of the population in NI and Scotland who dislike the English, and as we all know, in NI it is often extremely violent.

Some of the issue with Scotland is there are a growing number of people in Scotland who I would describe as "Little Scotlanders', who think they should close the border to any English person.

Not so many of these people exist in Wales, ok, I know Wales has Plaid Cymru, but their main concern strikes me as being to protect and maintain the Welsh language. They don't strike me as being anywhere near as obnoxious and biligerant as the SNP.

Generally speaking do you think Irish people and Scottish people look more look like Welsh people than English people You know Irish people Scottish people are both Celts just like Welsh people they are Celts

I've noticed a lot of Welsh, Irish, Northern Irish and Scottish people always deny themselves as part of Britain, a lot of them hate and criticise England, are disgusted by being under the same category as it, and from what I've seen online, almost every Irish, Scottish and Welsh person brag about their culture, have usernames related to it and go on and on about themselves and their country.

Do you see me or any English people coming online, slagging off the Welsh, Irish or Scottish, writing stuff in Cornish, going on about English history and pride in our culture and giving ourselves usernames to do with England? NO, YOU DON'T.

It's OK to love your culture and take pride in your country, I do take pride in England and I also have admiration for the Scottish, Welsh and Irish and I do truly feel that we are all British united (Ireland needs to join Britain, they're just making excuses to not be involved with the English because its a self-obsessed nation). We're all part of the same thing and I don't know why non-English Brits or Irish hold things against us for events that happened centuries ago, or deny themselves to be connected to us and part of Britain and thinking of Britain as "England" simply. I find it unfair.

Now I imagine I'll be getting Scots, Welshmen and Irishmen on here having a go at me, going on about how great their culture is and how England is an atrocity.

I understand that English is a major language, but I don't understand why we have to have English lessons at school, when English people don't bother to learn Welsh? It's the co-language of the UK! Some English people even live in Wales & don't bother at all to learn it ?? :@ Grr...