Dear Helen Its all part of lifes rich pattern. In the seventies I lived in Indonesia - out to lunch with some nice USA folk. One asked me if I was English, so I replied, No I'm Welsh. She replied, "well you speak English very well for a Welsh person."  - I was, for a change, speechless. Jen ________________________________ From: Helen Mitchell <helenk@vision.net.au> To: glamorgan@rootsweb.com Sent: Wed, 22 June, 2011 3:57:18 Subject: [GLA] Just adding to discussion of Speaking Welsh I enjoy reading all contributions on Glamorgan list my husband being  born and bred in Caerau.  He was schooled at the time when Welsh was  only offered half an hour a week, and most of his mates didn't speak  Welsh.  His grandparents were immigrants, and in some cases  neighbours who considered themselves "Welsh" gave her the impression  that the family were inferior because they were non Welsh speaking.  In my research with his families genealogy, it didn't take long to  scratch the surface to see that "family" who he considered "true  blue" Welsh were immigrants going back only two generations.   In our visits to Wales we have come across most welcoming and  friendly people, and enjoy it very much, but on a visit to St David's  this memory sticks in my mind.  We were watching stone masons  repairing fences around the site, my husband being in the building  trade, watched for sometime, and asked some questions relating to  their work, which we found so interesting, and asked did they have to  be registered to carry out this type of work on historical buildings.  The reply from one of the workers,  that you had to be born in Wales,  my husband mentioned that he was born in Wales, and made a light  remark something about being eligible,  with a little bit more chat,  the worker said that if you couldn't speak Welsh you weren't Welsh.  The language in this case was "exclusive" not "inclusive".  My  husband's Welsh heart was hurt, I certainly felt for him. Helen, Tasmania -- To send to the list send to glamorgan@rootsweb.com GLAMORGAN Family History Mailing List archives etc. are at http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/WLS/GLAMORGAN.html - A large amount of information, and a wide variety of useful links, may be found at http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/GLA/ - The South/West Wales Lookup Exchange and Gareth's Help Pages http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~walesle/wal/AW.html and http://home.clara.net/tirbach/hicks.html ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GLAMORGAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message