Welsh speakers should do more to welcome incomers - academic

Prof Nathan Abrams said identity "doesn't depend on the person themselves, it depends on the people around"

Native Welsh speakers need to do a lot more to help incomers feel more welcome, an award-winning learner said.

Prof Nathan Abrams said he felt like an "outsider in north Wales", despite having lived there for 16 years.

The Welsh government wants to have one million Welsh speakers by 2050, a goal Prof Abrams thinks Welsh speakers must help accomplish.

Welsh language minister Jeremy Miles said the Welsh language belonged to everyone.

Prof Abrams won the best Welsh ambassador at work award for 2018-19 after inspiring his colleagues at Bangor University to start learning.

Originally from London, Prof Abrams and his wife Danielle - who has also learnt Welsh and is from Birmingham - send their children to their nearby Welsh school in Bangor, Gwynedd.

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"I haven't been allowed to feel like a Welshman. I speak Welsh, the children speak Welsh, but I don't come from the area," he said.

"The community isn't making an effort to open the doors to people like us, because I haven't married someone from Wales."

Prof Abrams, who works at Bangor University, said it was hard for his family to "fit in" at first

Prof Abrams also believes Welsh speakers should do more to help immigrants feel part of the community.

Gwynedd Council has plans to try to help immigrants settle into Welsh life, including Hunaniaith, an initiative aimed at increasing the opportunities for people to access the language through things such as walks, quizzes or "a chat and a coffee".

Hunaniaith principal officer Iwan Hywel said: "I think we could do more in general as entities and as Welsh people.

"But maybe one thing is that we have to consider the next step, when someone has learned Welsh, how they can step into the Welsh world."

Prof Abrams believes it is hard for people to "feel Welsh" when they do not fit in certain categories.

"People think, what is identity in Welsh? Speaking the language, coming from Wales, going to chapel, being a Christian? I don't fit into the categories."

Hunaniaith's principal officer Iwan Hywel said he believes more can be done to support Welsh learners

Mr Hywel said helping new Welsh speakers feel they belong was vital.

"Yes there's more we can do as Welsh people to welcome people and also it's worth remembering I don't think people who aren't minority language speakers need to think about these things.

"I think there need to be two elements - the confidence to step in from the learners, but also guide Welsh people to show what is possible.

"Hopefully we can give people guidance on how to talk to learners. We have to remember, it's not something you can just walk into."

Welsh language minister Jeremy Miles said: "We want to grow our language and, as Welsh speakers, we should do everything we can to support people who want to learn Welsh.

"It is our priority to maintain and protect Welsh as a community language and to increase opportunities for adults to learn and use Welsh in all aspects of their lives."

He said free lessons for 16 to 25-year-olds and people working in education would be available from next month.

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