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Vol/53 No/2 2014 FEATURES 'forgotten' in terms of the language revival efforts in favour of Gwynedd, until Carmarthenshire council sets up a network of designated Welsh-medium primary and secondary schools. Although the Welsh Language Board's February 2012 report predicted that the census results would show a drop in speakers, caused by the death of older speakers, and emigration and immigration to and from the Welsh-speaking heartlands, it had been hoped that the decline in the heartlands would be partly compensated by growth in other areas. This increase has not materialised – Cardiff has only seen a small rise of 0.1 percent (to 11.1 percent) and Monmouth, an increase from 9.3 to 9.9 percent. The movement of Welsh speakers to places such as Cardiff continues to be seen as problematic, and there are frequent calls for certain Welsh institutions to be transferred westwards. The television channel S4C announced this year that it would relocate some of its production to the Fro, possibly to Carmarthen in the south-west or Caernarfon in Gwynedd. As fewer areas have a concentration of Welsh speakers and more speakers live outside the heartlands, Welsh speakers are less likely to come across each other and to transfer the language to their children. There have therefore been many attempts to safeguard Y Fro Gymraeg. In the 1970s, the Adfer (Restoration) movement called on all Welsh speakers to abandon their homes and populate the heartlands in an attempt to halt the language shift. Language activists have been calling for property restrictions to favour local residents (which could include non-Welsh speakers) to prevent locals having to move away because they cannot afford houses in their own areas. In the 1980s, there were arson campaigns against holiday homes, which were seen as a threat to the language and the community spirit of these areas. There is no official status or even clear geographical definition given to Y Fro Gymraeg. This differs from other countries, such as Ireland, where the Gaeltacht area, in which Irish is a living community language, is clearly defined and officially supported. Resistance comes from many Welsh speakers, who do not want to live on 'reservations', split the country or endanger support for the language in other areas. However, the census results have led to more strident calls for such a status, with Dr Brooks going as far as to call for a separate parliament for Welsh speakers. The Welsh Government's taskforce proposed some solutions, including creating city regions in Bangor, Aberystwyth and Carmarthen to encourage economic regeneration at the same time as growth in the use of Welsh. Other recommendations included language impact assessments for planning proposals, targets for a bilingual workforce, more consistency with Welsh- medium education and encouraging social and business use of the language. Campaigns have been launched to encourage ordinary speakers to use Welsh more often, including the 'start every conversation in Welsh' and 'say sut mae (hello) day' campaigns. Many are wary of speaking Welsh until they are sure that their interlocutor will understand, hence the use of badges to identify Welsh speakers working in customer service. These badges have proved popular with many, but critics point out that Welsh speakers should not have to be marked as different. They also argue that speaking Welsh, at least in the Fro, should be seen not only as normal but as the default. S4C recently showed an entertaining documentary following the poet Ifor ap Glyn as he carried out all his conversations in Welsh in various parts of the country. Former Archdruid Robin Lewis attracted police attention for refusing to pay for his shopping in Nefyn, Gwynedd, until he was told the price in Welsh. More recently, protests erupted after a pharmacist in Bangor, Gwynedd, refused to accept a prescription until the patients had driven to the surgery for an English version. Despite all this, we should not be too pessimistic. The accuracy of the 2001 census, in which 55 percent of children between 10 and 14 were reported to be Welsh speaking, has been questioned, and the apparent drop in 2011 may not be as serious as it might seem. In 1961, Saunders Lewis predicted that Welsh would cease to be a living language at the beginning of the 21st century. This has not occurred and Welsh speakers prefer to echo the words of their unofficial anthem: R'yn ni yma o hyd ('We are still here'). Esyllt Meurig writes on behalf on Business Language Services, based in Cardiff (www.businesslanguageservices.co.uk). There is no official status or even clear geographical definition given to the Welsh heartlands SIGN OF THE TIME Public signage must be in Welsh and English ''W ELSH|E NGLISH', GARETH MORGAN 1/6/10 VIA FLICKR (CC BY-NC 2.0)