The Welsh language in society

You have ten weeks before Unit 5. Divide them between the history, the local research and the Welsh, and justify the division from the weighting.

1. 01Establish the minimum material

   Weeks one and two: learn six of the eleven named landmarks properly — what happened, roughly when, and what changed as a result. Six is enough to build an argument from and few enough to learn securely. Learning all eleven at a shallower level is worse, because an unusable fact is not material.

2. 02Do the local research early

   Weeks three and four: the local half of Section A cannot be revised, only gathered. Visit or contact the Menter Iaith, look at what a local Welsh-medium school does, find out what the Urdd runs near you, notice which local businesses and services operate bilingually. Three or four concrete local facts, written down with dates, will serve every version of the question.

3. 03Convert both into Welsh

   Weeks five and six: write about the material in Welsh, not in English. Six landmark paragraphs and three local paragraphs, checked and corrected. This is where the two earlier stages become usable, and it is also where you discover which vocabulary you are missing — deddf (act), mesur (measure), comisiynydd (commissioner), polisi (policy), statws (status), hawl (right).

4. 04Then work on the writing itself

   Weeks seven to nine: timed practice. One composite answer a week, then swept for accuracy and rewritten once. The unit is AO3 15, so this is the stage that most directly earns marks — and it is the stage most candidates skip in favour of more reading.

5. 05Week ten — the sweep and the register

   Rehearse the six accuracy passes until they take eight minutes rather than fifteen. Reread three pieces of factual Welsh and steal five constructions. Then stop learning new material: a fact learned in the last week is rarely usable, whereas a construction rehearsed in the last week is.

Result: Two weeks on history, two on local research, two converting both into Welsh, three on timed writing and one on accuracy. Only four of the ten weeks are spent on content — which is the right proportion for a unit marked on AO3 alone.

An examiner can ask what the history of the last sixty years shows. Build a single argument that uses six landmarks rather than listing eleven.

1. 01Choose the argument first

   Argument: over sixty years the Welsh language moved from being something people had to defend by breaking the law to being something the state is obliged to provide — and that is a real gain, but it has moved the question from rights to use. Choosing the argument first is what decides which landmarks you need.

2. 02The first two landmarks — the problem stated

   Tynged yr Iaith in 1962 and the founding of Cymdeithas yr Iaith in the same year. Ym 1962 dywedodd Saunders Lewis y byddai’r Gymraeg yn marw oni bai bod pobl yn barod i weithredu. Sefydlwyd Cymdeithas yr Iaith yr un flwyddyn i wneud yn union hynny. (In 1962 Saunders Lewis said Welsh would die unless people were prepared to act. Cymdeithas yr Iaith was founded the same year to do exactly that.) Note the impersonal sefydlwyd.

3. 03One landmark for the grievance

   Tryweryn. Roedd Tryweryn wedi dangos yn barod nad oedd barn Cymru’n cyfrif. (Tryweryn had already shown that Welsh opinion did not count.) One sentence, using the pluperfect to place it before the lecture — which is chronologically honest, since the Act was 1957 even though the water came in 1965.

4. 04Two landmarks for the legal turn

   The 1993 Act and the 2011 Measure. Erbyn 1993 roedd yn rhaid i gyrff cyhoeddus drin y Gymraeg a’r Saesneg yn gyfartal, ac erbyn 2011 roedd gan y Gymraeg statws swyddogol yng Nghymru. (By 1993 public bodies had to treat Welsh and English equally, and by 2011 Welsh had official status in Wales.) Two dates, one movement, and the erbyn construction does the work of showing change over time.

5. 05The last landmark, and the turn in the argument

   The Strategy of 2012 to 2017, used to make the point rather than to add a fact: Ond mae strategaeth yn dangos rhywbeth arall hefyd — bod y cwestiwn wedi newid. Nid hawl i ddefnyddio’r iaith ydy’r broblem bellach, ond a ydy pobl yn ei defnyddio hi. (But a strategy also shows something else — that the question has changed. The problem is no longer the right to use the language, but whether people use it.) Six landmarks, one argument, and the sixth is the one that turns it.

Result: Six landmarks in service of one argument about the shift from rights to use, with the impersonal, the pluperfect and erbyn doing the historical work. Five landmarks were left out, and the answer is stronger for it.

The question asks what difference the Welsh Language Measure of 2011 made. Write the answer in Welsh in five moves, avoiding a list of provisions.

1. 01State the change in one sentence

   Newidiodd Mesur y Gymraeg 2011 y berthynas rhwng yr iaith a’r wladwriaeth: cyn hynny, roedd y wladwriaeth yn annog; ar ôl hynny, roedd yn rhaid iddi ufuddhau. (The 2011 Welsh Language Measure changed the relationship between the language and the state: before it, the state encouraged; after it, it had to comply.) A claim, not a provision.

2. 02Give the institutional fact that supports it

   Diddymwyd Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg a phenodwyd Comisiynydd y Gymraeg yn ei le. (The Welsh Language Board was abolished and a Welsh Language Commissioner was appointed in its place.) Two impersonal past forms — diddymwyd, penodwyd — which is exactly the register a paper about legislation wants. Note phenodwyd after a, the aspirate mutation.

3. 03Explain why the substitution matters

   Bwrdd oedd yn hyrwyddo; comisiynydd sydd yn rheoleiddio. Dyna’r gwahaniaeth pwysig. (It was a board that promoted; it is a commissioner that regulates. That is the important difference.) Two emphatic sentences in parallel — the A2 word order used to make a contrast do work.

4. 04Add the status point

   Yn ogystal, rhoddodd y Mesur statws swyddogol i’r Gymraeg yng Nghymru am y tro cyntaf. (In addition, the Measure gave Welsh official status in Wales for the first time.) One further provision, chosen because it supports the same argument rather than because it exists.

5. 05Qualify honestly and close

   Ond dydy statws ddim yn ddigon ynddo’i hun. Mae’n bosib cael hawl i wasanaeth yn Gymraeg a pheidio â’i defnyddio hi. Dyna’r cwestiwn sy’n aros. (But status is not enough in itself. It is possible to have a right to a service in Welsh and not to use it. That is the question that remains.) Note peidio â plus the aspirate — and note that the qualification connects Section A’s history to Section A’s current-situation half.

Result: One claim, one institutional fact in the impersonal, a parallel emphatic contrast, one supporting provision and an honest qualification that bridges to the second half of the section. No list of provisions anywhere in it.

The question asks: what is being done today to promote the Welsh language, and how effective is it? Build the answer so that the national and local halves support each other.

1. 01Open with the national frame, briefly

   Ers 2011 mae gan y Gymraeg statws swyddogol, ac mae’n rhaid i gyrff cyhoeddus gyrraedd safonau penodol. Mae’r Llywodraeth hefyd wedi cyhoeddi strategaethau iaith. (Since 2011 Welsh has had official status, and public bodies must meet particular standards. The Government has also published language strategies.) Two sentences. The history is a frame, not the answer.

2. 02Move to what is actually delivered

   Ond mae gwahaniaeth rhwng polisi a phrofiad. Y cwestiwn ydy beth mae rhywun yn ei weld yn ei ardal ei hun. (But there is a difference between policy and experience. The question is what somebody sees in their own area.) One sentence to turn the answer towards the local half — and it is also the sentence that turns a list into an argument. Note phrofiad after a, the aspirate mutation.

3. 03Give the local evidence, named and dated

   Yn fy ardal i, mae’r Fenter Iaith yn trefnu clwb ieuenctid bob nos Wener a chyrsiau Cymraeg i oedolion. Es i i un o’r nosweithiau y llynedd, ac roedd tua deg ar hugain o bobl yno. (In my area, the Menter Iaith organises a youth club every Friday night and Welsh courses for adults. I went to one of the evenings last year, and there were about thirty people there.) Named, dated, first-hand, and countable.

4. 04Evaluate honestly, using the same example

   Roedd hynny’n galonogol, ond sylwais i fod y rhan fwyaf ohonyn nhw’n siarad Saesneg â’i gilydd cyn ac ar ôl y noson. Felly mae’r ddarpariaeth yno; y defnydd sy’n anodd. (That was encouraging, but I noticed that most of them spoke English to each other before and after the evening. So the provision is there; it is the use that is difficult.) The evaluation comes from the same observation, which is what makes it credible.

5. 05Close by joining the two halves

   Dyna, yn fy marn i, ydy’r gwahaniaeth rhwng 1962 a heddiw. Mae’r hawl wedi’i hennill; mae’r arfer yn dal i fod yn ddewis. (That, in my view, is the difference between 1962 and today. The right has been won; the practice is still a choice.) The close uses the history the answer opened with, so the national frame and the local evidence turn out to have been one argument.

Result: Two sentences of national frame, one turning sentence, one named and dated local example, an evaluation drawn from that same example, and a close that joins the two halves. The local evidence is what makes the whole answer specific — and it came from one Friday evening.

The question is: ‘Mae’r Gymraeg mewn gwell sefyllfa heddiw nag ym 1962.’ Trafodwch. (‘Welsh is in a better position today than in 1962.’ Discuss.) Plan the answer with a word budget.

1. 01Decide the position before anything else

   Position: yes in status and provision, no in everyday use — and the second matters more, because a language survives by being spoken rather than by being permitted. Writing the position with a comparative and a reason built in prevents the answer from becoming a survey.

2. 02Budget the history at one third

   About 150 words: 1962 as the starting point, Tryweryn as the grievance behind it, and the two Acts plus the Measure as the change. Four landmarks, not eleven. The purpose of this section is only to establish what has actually improved, so that the second half has something to push against.

3. 03Budget the present at one third, with the local evidence inside it

   About 150 words: what exists now — official status, standards, Welsh-medium education, the mentrau iaith — followed immediately by the named, dated local example that shows what that looks like on a Friday night in one place. The general claim and its evidence in the same paragraph, in that order.

4. 04Budget the argument at one third

   About 150 words: the honest weighing. Concede the gains fully — Does dim amheuaeth bod y sefyllfa gyfreithiol yn well o lawer (there is no doubt that the legal situation is far better) — then state the difficulty and support it. A concession that is genuinely generous makes the following objection much harder to dismiss.

5. 05Close on the position, changed

   Felly, ydy, mae’r Gymraeg mewn gwell sefyllfa — ond nid yn y ffordd roedd Saunders Lewis yn ei feddwl. Enillwyd y ddadl am hawliau; mae’r ddadl am arfer yn dal i fynd. (So yes, Welsh is in a better position — but not in the way Saunders Lewis meant. The argument about rights has been won; the argument about practice is still going on.) Note enillwyd, the impersonal past, and the parallel that closes the two halves together.

Result: Roughly 150 words of history, 150 of present with the local evidence inside it, 150 of argument, and a close that answers the question in its own terms. Four landmarks used, seven left out — and ten minutes still available for the sweep.