SPEAK CORNISH WEEK

In my column for this week’s Cornish Guardian, I have written about the importance of Cornish and the need for better support from the UK Government and bodies such as the BBC.

It is as follows – Cornish first and English second:

Seythen rag Kows Kernewek yw ha my a wayt hemma dhe gennertha pobel dhe hwithra moy a-dro dhe yeth kenedhlek Kernow. 

An vledhen ma, y fydh nerth fogellys a-dro dhe vedia sosyel, korsow warlinen ha keskussulya-gwydheo awos bos goredhom yagh, mes hwath yma lies chons dyski nebes lavaryow ha godhvos moy a-dro dhe studhya Kernewek. 

Y’n eur ma, y karsen vy godhvos gras a bub bodhek usi ow kul ober marthys da rag dyski an yeth ha’gan gweres merkya an rann meur a vri ma a’gan ertach. 

Rag drehevel war an ober ma, res yw dhe’n yeth kavos moy skoodhyans dyworth governans kresek ha korfow kepar ha’n BBC. 

Diskudhus yw, pan erviras an Governans RU kavos tamm skrif arwedhyek dyworth yethow Keltek RU yn y dremengummyas nowydh glas – Kernewek o skonys bos aswonys. An skrif aral o marnas yn Kembrek, Albanek hag Iwerdhonek. 

Gweth ages henna, an Chartour Riel BBC a ambos dhe “skoodhya an yethow ranndirel mynorita a’n RU” mes y hwra nagha Kernewek yn arbennek. An rol a yethow mynorita BBC yw; “Kembrek, Albanek, Iwerdhonek hag Ulster-Skotts.” 

An seythen ma, yth esov vy ow skrifa dhe’n Governans RU ha BBC yn unn hwilas skoodhyans gwella rag an yeth kernewek, honanieth ha gonisogeth.

It is Speak Cornish Week and I hope that this will encourage many people to find out more about Cornwall’s national language.

This year’s efforts will be focussed around social media, online courses and video-conferencing because of the health emergency, but there are still plenty of opportunities to learn some phrases or find out more about studying Cornish.

At this time, I would like to pay tribute to all the volunteers who are doing so much fantastic work to teach the language and help us to celebrate this important part of our heritage.

To build on this work, we need the language to have greater support from central government and bodies such as the BBC.

It is quite telling that when the UK Government decided to include some symbolic text from the UK’s Celtic languages in its new blue passport – it snubbed Cornish. The extra text was only in Welsh, Scots Gaelic and Irish Gaelic.

Even worse, the BBC’s Royal Charter promises to “support the regional and minority languages of the UK” but specifically excludes Cornish. The BBC’s list of minority languages is “Welsh, Scottish-Gaelic, Irish and Ulster Scots.”

This week, I will be writing to the UK Government and the BBC seeking better support for the Cornish language, identity and culture.