Everyday spaces across Wales key to thriving Welsh language

Welsh should be a natural part of everyday life across Wales - in workplaces, sports clubs, online and in local communities – for the language to thrive in the future.

A new report from the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities highlights the importance of investing in the social, cultural and digital spaces that shape how people live and connect so that Welsh can be used more in everyday life, beyond the classroom.

The Commission was established by the Welsh Government. Its report, Cymraeg in every community: strengthening the Welsh language, focuses on communities where fewer than 40 percent of people speak Welsh. It explores how the language can become a stronger part of daily life in these areas.

 The report recommends strengthening the language across community settings including within families, workplaces, youth provision, sport and culture, to complement the role of the education system.

While education is vital to the language's future, the report shows it cannot and should not bear the entire responsibility alone and young people need  the opportunity to experience Welsh beyond the school gates, as they are doing the activities they enjoy. The Commission also recommends establishing a dedicated fund to grow Welsh-language presence online, including support for young creators producing digital content in Welsh.

The report follows the Commission's first publication, ‘Empowering communities, strengthening the Welsh language', published in August 2024, which focused on higher-density Welsh-speaking communities.

Commission Co-chair Dr Simon Brooks,  said: "It is our privilege as Co-Chairs to present this report to the Welsh Government. To ensure Welsh is a national language that belongs to us all, its future as a community language must be secured in every community across Wales. Taken together, the two phases of the Commission's work now provide a comprehensive, evidence-based foundation for that task. I urge the next Welsh Government to act on our recommendations with the ambition the language deserves."

Commission Co-Chair, Professor Elin Haf Gruffydd Jones, said: "As we carried out our work, we found a real appetite to use Welsh, but that the spaces to do so are too often absent.

"A little more than half of all Welsh speakers live in areas where Welsh is spoken by less than 40% of the population. Public policy must focus on cresting much more favourable social conditions for Welsh to be a vibrant community language, with real investment in the social, cultural and digital spaces where people spend their time. 

“International examples show what can be achieved. In the Basque Country communities have created spaces for Basque to be used naturally. Wales can and should learn directly from that experience."

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Welsh Language, Mark Drakeford, said: "I thank the Commission for their important work. We established the Commission to help us achieve our ambition of one million Welsh speakers by 2050. Wide-ranging legislative and policy developments over the past five years, including the Welsh Language and Education Bill, have set the conditions for the long-term growth of the Welsh language and for ensuring that everyone has a fair chance to become independent and confident Welsh speakers.

“Real progress is already being made in terms of acting on the Commission's recommendations, with 17 recommendations from the first report already implemented within this Senedd term. The second phase report provides a foundation to build on that momentum and secure a thriving Welsh language future for every community in Wales.”