We’re asking people in Newport if they’re excited for the Eisteddfod yr Urdd to come to the city, and if they think it’ll get more people talking Cymraeg.
00:00I can remember all the people of me telling me that they were told off in school and even hit with a ruler for speaking Welsh, you know, and they were trying to kill the language off.
00:11Thousands of people from all across Wales and plenty more from around the world are all in Margan Park right now enjoying the Eisteddfod Ur Urth, the Youth Eisteddfod.
00:20It's said to be one of the biggest of its kind anywhere in Europe and in just two short years it will be making its way here in Newport.
00:27It brings all things Welsh together in one place with music, artistic competitions, Welsh language organisations, youth groups, cultural institutions and basically anything with a dragon on it.
00:37It's a celebration of Welsh culture and it's virtually all Welsh language. So it being in Newport might have raised some eyebrows when it was announced last year.
00:46Newport is far from a Welsh hotspot. We've got some of the lowest rates of Welsh language anywhere in Wales, besides some parts of the valleys.
00:53So some people could argue that this is a strange place to hold one of the biggest Welsh language festivals on the calendar.
00:59But you could also argue that it's exactly the kind of place that needs a nice Eisteddfod.
01:04It'll undoubtedly bring the Welsh language into Newport. So I'm here asking people if they think it'll encourage more Newport-tonians to take on the Welsh language as the festival approaches in two years' time.
01:15I think it'll be amazing. I think, obviously, you know, I think down like South Wales especially, it's not as patriotic, but I do think it's coming back.
01:25So yeah, I think it coming here, I think it'll be amazing. I know a lot of people who want to get involved, so it's a good thing, yeah.
01:31All right, the children in school now are being brought up to speak Welsh, which is great. My granddaughter, she's one of them. But like I say, us golden oldies never got round to it, you know what I mean?
01:43I'd like the Welsh language to be spoken, don't get me wrong. And, you know, there's some lovely music in the Welsh language as well.
01:53I think it'll promote the Welsh language. It'll be a good thing for Newport, somewhere for people to go and be entertained. I think it's a good thing.
02:02Yeah, I think it was a good idea. The thing is, you should have done this years ago, not now, because all the shops in Newport are all shutting up.
02:12It's like a ghost town, really, because you bring the Stedford down here, you bring all the people down and the shops are liven up again.
02:22Yeah, if it makes, if it can do something to get the city up and running a bit, no problem.
02:31I mean, I myself, I'm on Duolingo now, wanting to learn more Welsh. And I see it online, I see more sort of like Welsh-based language things coming up.
02:43You can see that people want to learn Welsh. And it's a nice turnover from, you know, I'd say that when I was in school, it wasn't really something.
02:52There was even talk of it being dropped in school, whereas now people want to actively learn Welsh. I think that's a really good thing.
02:59people want to learn Welsh and Welsh. It's all that often.
03:04They're all struggling to learn Welsh and Welsh. But in my memory, it's all that often, but as well as well as well as well as Welsh.
