Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:15 pm on 12 December 2017.
Well, first of all, we have to make sure that people who have learned Welsh at school to a high standard or—. First of all, in English-medium schools, it's hugely important that Welsh is taken seriously. Of course, the Welsh short course has been a difficulty, and that is something that we are addressing, and to get rid of what I think is an artificial barrier between first and second language. How do you define that with any language? And to look at whether that actually works in terms of the Welsh language.
Secondly, it's hugely important that those who receive their education through Welsh and who don't live in a community where Welsh is spoken widely, who don't come from a Welsh-speaking family background, don't lose their Welsh as a result of leaving school, because of a lack of practice and a lack of opportunity to use it. That's why, of course, we've invested in hubs across Wales in order that people can go there and use their Welsh in a natural way in parts of Wales where it's not spoken on the street. So, that is part of it.
How do you get people to become more confident? That's a more complicated question. Individuals see themselves in different ways. We know, for example, looking at other surveys, that in other surveys the numbers of Welsh speakers can go up to 750,000, because people see the surveys as less formal than the census, whereas in the census, people tend to focus very strongly on what they think their level of proficiency is in a language. They might answer about their proficiency in English, but their proficiency in Welsh—. I do think a lot of people, and this is based on anecdotal evidence, tend to identify themselves as 'Welsh understanders' rather than Welsh speakers, particularly in some parts of Wales—Holyhead, parts of southern Carmarthernshire—even though their Welsh is good enough to be regarded as a native speaker. Encouraging those people to make that jump to see themselves as Welsh speakers is an important part of what we're trying to do.