the final product you heard in Manchester singing in the first clip in this thread.
This one is at Aberdare Rugby Club:
People in Wales speak English with a distinctive accent, not unlike much of the southern English countryside, Welsh is still spoken fluently as a language by most of the people in the area, but no longer taught in every school, but most adults and seniors speak some Welsh at home, swear in it, or use it in certain clubs and groups. Most children learned Welsh first at home, and had little further school training in it in the last 20 years; English language training starts in first grade, and English is spoken fluently by most people of the area, except the elders who may not have gone to much school 50 years ago. As a language, Welsh is alive in some ways, in song, in poetry, in churches. Welsh appears on traffic signs, much as French does throughout Canada, (most Canadians do NOT speak French, only in Quebec and some of New Brunswick and a bit of Nova Scotia). In Wales, everyone speaks English, some elders CAN speak Welsh as a first language, but few younger people ever do, and some kids learn it at home and a bit at school, but Welsh fluency, (one of the oldest languages known to modern man, perhaps older than modern Latin), is now being lost quickly. Kids under 20 may learn some, may pick up some at home, but most kids prefer English for conversation.
What a great way to unite 10-12 distinct, distant small town communities, isolated by hills, than by teaching them their common ancient language that their great grandfathers fluently spoke? It's a special distinction for these guys. Welsh is herd and some still speak it, but less and less, as the years go by. Guys from little towns and hamlets find their roots and common bond first, from their ancestral language. Few places in the world can unite teen boys from rival towns in such a unique way.
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