Back Wallies Afrikaans Walisisch ALS ዌልስኛ Amharic Idioma galés AN Wilisc sprǣc ANG वेल्श भाषा ANP اللغة الويلزية Arabic لغه ويلزى ARZ Idioma galés AST Vall dili Azerbaijani
| Welsh | |
|---|---|
| Cymraeg, y Gymraeg | |
| Native to | Wales and Argentina. |
| Region | Spoken throughout Wales, in border-towns between England and Wales, and in the Chubut province of Argentina. |
| Ethnicity | Historically white Welsh, now Welsh people of all ethnicities |
Native speakers | 721,700 total speakers (2011) — Wales: 562,000 speakers, 19.0% of the population of Wales,[1] with 14.6% of the population (431,000) considering themselves fluent in Welsh — England: 150,000[2] — Chubut Province, Argentina: 5,000[3] — United States: 2,500[4] — Canada: 2,200[5] |
Early forms | |
| Latin (Welsh alphabet) | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Wales |
| Regulated by | Meri Huws, the Welsh Language Commissioner (since 1 April 2012)[6] and the Welsh Government (Llywodraeth Cymru) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | cy |
| ISO 639-2 | wel (B) cym (T) |
| ISO 639-3 | cym |
| ELP | Welsh |
| Linguasphere | 50-ABA |
 Percentage of Welsh speakers by principal area | |
The Welsh language is a Celtic language and the national language of Wales, a country that is part of the United Kingdom. In Welsh, it is known as Cymraeg, or yr iaith Gymraeg, which means "the Welsh language".
Welsh is spoken throughout the country: of of the 2021 census about 17.8% of people living in Wales over the age of 3 can speak Welsh, which about 538,000 people.[7] Many people in Wales say they can understand some form of Welsh and can speak, write or read Welsh even if they do not speak it all the time.
Even though almost all Welsh people can understand and use English, Welsh is still an important part of Welsh culture and so children in all schools in Wales have to study it. There are some schools that have almost all of their classes in Welsh, but most schools teach mainly in English. Welsh is taught as a second language in these schools.
- ↑ Office for National Statistics 2011 http://ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/key-statistics-for-unitary-authorities-in-wales/stb-2011-census-key-statistics-for-wales.html#tab---Proficiency-in-Welsh
- ↑ United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. "Refworld | World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - United Kingdom : Welsh". UNHCR. Retrieved 2010-05-23.
- ↑ "Wales and Argentina". Wales.com website. Welsh Assembly Government. 2008. Archived from the original on 2012-10-16. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
- ↑ "Table 1. Detailed Languages Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over for the United States: 2006-2008 Release Date: April, 2010" (xls). United States Census Bureau. 27 April 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
- ↑ "2006 Census of Canada: Topic based tabulations: Various Languages Spoken (147), Age Groups (17A) and Sex (3) for the Population of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2006 Census - 20% Sample Data". Statistics Canada. 7 December 2010. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
- ↑ "Welsh Language Commissioner". Archived from the original on 2018-12-26. Retrieved 2013-03-06.
- ↑ "Welsh language, Wales - Office for National Statistics". www.ons.gov.uk. Retrieved 2025-01-06.