Cambria Magazine - Mrs Patel, the chippie, and the Language Act

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Mrs Patel, the chippie, and the Language Act

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10th Anniversary Issue

Mrs Patel, the chippie, and the Language Act

Quite a few language enthusiasts will be feeling pretty sore when they see the government proposals for a new language Act due after the Assembly returns in September.

To be presented and shepherded through Cardiff and Westminster until they become law by none other than Plaid group deputy leader Rhodri Glyn Thomas, the bill will fall a mile short of what Cymdeithas yr Iaith have been demanding.

The language may indeed at last find a legal place within the private sector – until now its legal life been confined to areas where government was formerly or is currently engaged. But any advance will be accompanied by whispered references at the Assembly to “Mrs Patel”, or to the “fish and chip shop in Connah’s Quay” (or, for southern audiences, in Chepstow).

I think the CQ chippie was first mentioned by the Assembly Tories. But Mrs Patel was the invention of Alun Ffred Jones, the Plaid AM for Caernarfon (and former leader of Gwynedd county council). Mrs Patel keeps a corner shop “somewhere” in Gwynedd; she speaks enough English to do business; but is much better in Hindi; in Welsh, she’s got nowhere (although her children are likely to be pretty fluent).

After Mr Jones spoke about her and the language in an interview for the Welsh monthly Barn, Cymdeithas went bananas. The problem with that society is that common sense is hardly one of its virtues; rather, it demonstrates all the excitability of its younger student members; and interaction with the wider population in Wales is minimal.

Now, the same message which Mr Jones was conveying has been spelled out in official detail by the new heritage minister, the AM for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, Rhodri Glyn. Mark well the comments he made within minutes of being announced to his new Cabinet post. “We have a commitment to a new Welsh Language Act, and we will deliver on that,” he said. Will it be the Cymdeithas yr Iaith version? asked Cambria.